As a career professional who is focused on marketing every day, you can often take your knowledge and expertise for granted. Your clients seldom have time to focus on their marketing the way you can.

The knowledge, expertise, ideas and concepts you bring to busy clients and prospects, can have real value to them.

We recently had one of our SoundADvice member account executives suggest our SoundADvice; the weekly radio e-marketing system, was `too basic’. We monitored the SoundADvice responses from that account executive’s clients and were amazed at how many advertisers had really appreciated and used their SoundADvice.

Some of the knowledge you have that you might consider to be basic, might be a great revelation to your clients. Never underestimate the value of your expertise to your clients.

In a worst-case scenario; if you share an idea or principle with a client that they were already aware of, it might serve as a timely reminder of your expertise.

It’s been said, "The smartest person you know probably thinks just like you".

When you share your marketing knowledge with your clients, if it aligns with their beliefs, you can become the smartest person they know.

Click here to arrange a no-obligation online overview of how the SoundADvice radio e-marketing system can make you the smartest marketing person your prospects know.

I counted no less than 11 emails I received this past Monday offering to reveal ‘secrets’ to me. I’m well aware that there are words like ‘free’ or ‘new’ or perhaps ‘secrets’ that are proven to capture attention.
Here’s my big ‘secret’. The words you choose have to be the truth if your claims are to be believed and sustainable.

So I looked up ‘secret’;

One of the emails I received was from a ‘business coach’ who claimed his ‘secret’ has helped thousands of upstart businesses to succeed. Is it really a secret if thousands know about it?
Another email claimed, "This secret is so big it won’t be revealed until after you join my webinar." Wow! It’s not just a secret, it’s a BIG secret.
In sales and in advertising, building trust is paramount, and making false claims or exaggerated claims, simply compounds the skepticism for your message.
I know of one station that changed its format two years ago and still promotes itself as ‘the new 103." Don’t you think listeners who’ve been tuned to that station for 730 days know it’s no longer ‘new’? And doesn’t this claim cast a doubt on the validity of other claims made by that station or their reps?
In a world of hype and exaggeration, maybe the secret magic words used to capture attention should be replaced with honesty and integrity. Being real is so unusual that just telling the truth stands out amidst all the hype today.

Remember when your prospects agreed with the emotional power of the human voice, music and sound, but insisted they needed print for pictures in their advertising and to laundry-list details and features? Of course we told them about the intrusive nature of radio and better pictures via ‘the theatre of the mind’, but not everyone bought in and they still insisted they needed longer copy than we could accommodate in a 30 second commercial.
Well those days are gone. Thanks to the internet and your website, radio now has pictures and lots of room for more details and copy! And those pictures do not have the high production, printing and delivery costs of print (remember when advertisers paid extra for color in their pictures?). Color is free on your website, and those pictures can move, just like on TV!
Using the ENS Media strategy of ‘broadcast inspires, internet informs’, stations are increasing their sales and advertisers are achieving greater results.
We say, ‘broadcast’ because admittedly, radio’s TV brothers and sisters also inspire because they have the emotional power of sound as well, and frankly, it’s just not credible to suggest that radio is the only intrusive or emotional media.
TV is NOT radio’s enemy, nor vice versa. Print, including glossy brochures, colored flyers, Yellow Pages, coupon envelopes, newspaper ads, catalogues and more, still collectively capture the lion’s share of local ad budgets, even though it’s the electronic age.
In the electronic age, local advertisers can be much more successful dropping dated print in favor of a broadcast/internet combo. When you sell your clients on an integrated multi-media campaign (broadcast and digital), you can scoop those print dollars, and your clients will get better results!

Our Winning in the New Media Economy advertiser seminars are helping stations across the continent to convert local advertisers from print to TV or radio everyday. Click here if you would like to arrange an appointment to discuss how to bring us to your market to tell your clients and prospects the "broadcast inspires, internet informs" story.

I’m frustrated and annoyed with many of the managers in the broadcast industry. We manage the most powerful and persuasive media in the world and we don’t use it to market ourselves!
When was the last time you heard anything on a newscast about new research outlining broadcast’s continuing dominance in the new media landscape?
Let me answer; "Probably never"!
And yet, the news of our strength is often important enough for other media to report.
Look at this excerpt from a recent article in USA Today;"The digital revolution may not be as revolutionary as believed according to a Nielsen 360 Music Study that found listeners more in tune with friend’s tips and radio, than blogs and social networking. Results indicate that the airwaves remain a dominant influence; 43% discover music most often through radio, while 13% are alerted to new tunes and acts via friends and relatives and 8% by watching YouTube".
If this kind of news is important enough for other media to publish, shouldn’t it be important enough for the benefactors of this news; radio, to publish?
And I seldom see or hear any ads on the air about the power of radio or TV advertising.
Yet daily, I’ll pass signs and billboards that say something like, "You just proved signs work".
I guess it’s because the outdoor folks have avails and we’re sold out.
If you search most station websites, you wouldn’t believe they sell advertising. Most sites have nothing about advertising, how to use our media, or even who to contact if you want to advertise.
I’ve actually had sales managers tell me, "We can’t budget for branding or advertiser education. We need immediate, measurable results that branding can’t give us" (I hope their advertisers never hear them say that!).
Then they claim ‘accountability’ by ‘measuring’ and taking credit for a package blitz to known advertisers who were already going to buy. Seldom do they actually convert non-advertisers to their stations.
Based upon what I hear, or should I say, "don’t hear", around the country about broadcast advertising, I can only surmise we’re all happy with the old system of churning through poorly-trained reps as our only means of marketing and new business development.
The irony is, there are a few stations around the continent that actually do brand and market themselves very successfully. And even though they face increased competition, they do experience growth, and more importantly, maintain profit margins that would be the envy of almost any other business category.
The catch words in marketing today are ‘accountable’ and ‘measureable’.
In our business, the only sustainable ‘measure’ is annual sales increases and profit margins. Annual sales are a combination of renewal increases and new business development, and sustainable margins can be as much a function of rate integrity as cost control.
And as for ‘accountable’? That’s what mirrors are for!

If you want to increase your local-direct sales in 2013 and beyond contact Wayne Ens , of ENS Media Inc. at [email protected].