It seems that most radio stations manage their websites in a programming silo, segregated and sometimes alienated from sales.

Lately, I’ve been spot checking some of my station client’s websites, and I’ve yet to find one that did NOT have a mistake. Have you clicked on every banner, Icon or link on your website? You should do so regularly.

I clicked on a banner for a pizza chain on a station’s website today, and it mistakenly linked to a location in another state more than 1000 miles away.

If the sponsor is tracking results, and you can bet they are, that station won’t be getting a renewal of that pizza banner ad.

I Googled one station’s site but the link took me to their sister station’s site in a different market. It was obviously managed corporately, and no one ever Googled it.

Some of the common errors I find on station websites are;

• No phone numbers, or they are hard to find
• No way to access sales, only programming contacts are published
• Contests or special offers that expired last month still posted
• Links that don’t work
• Concert announcements for concert dates that have long since passed.
• No mention of sales, advertising or radio advertising anywhere
• Sponsored promotions are hidden or take a back seat to programming promotions…it’s not fair to the advertiser who paid for it.

These are just a few of the many common errors, and as I said, I’ve yet to find a problem free station website.

It’s probably time to get a part time student or non-staffer to safety check your website every week, if not every day.

I understand why programming manages your websites rather than sales. But it’s time the two worked together to everyone’s benefit; listeners, staff, and sponsors.

And whoever manages your website should be aware of the difference between audio communications and written communications.

Live audio programmers have to be careful not to do anything to cause audience tune out.

Programmers of written content have no such limitations. A feature that’s of no interest to part of your audio audience can cause them to tune out.

Irrelevant written information can simply be ignored while the reader skips to the next feature….we have eye lids, but we don’t have ear lids.

You wouldn’t publish ‘news’ about a sponsor’s store opening in your on air newscast, but you can certainly have a page full of various sponsor news on your website, because disinterested parties can simply ignore that page without ignoring your entire site.

As I travel across the continent, virtually and in reality, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that programming, your webmaster, and sales, need to work more closely together.

Marketing practitioners have long known about the power of ‘New’ and ‘Free.’ Buyers have always been attracted to that which is new, and can’t resist offers that include something free. The problem with these two words as marketing tools is that neither is sustainable.

Nothing is new forever, and you can’t stay in business giving away your product for free. Can you say, “Facebook”? Much to the chagrin of businesses that flocked to build a Facebook fan base, it is no longer new or free.

You didn’t have to have a crystal ball to know that emerging social media platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and more would steal Facebook’s “new” label. And it was inevitable that Facebook would have to monetize their “free” product.

What is a bit of a mystery, however, is how so many businesses succumbed to the free fad and willingly lost control of their marketing and fan database. Organic reach on Facebook is fast becoming a thing of the past, and other social media networks will inevitably follow their steps towards the pay-to-play space.

Businesses that focused their resources on creating large fan or follower bases are finding that Facebook is now charging businesses for the chance to be seen on the newsfeeds of the database they built!  That reality means marketers still looking at Facebook as an organic channel must rethink their strategy.

As the boundaries between earned, owned, and paid media become more blurred, smart marketers are going back to the old strategy of driving traffic to a business’ owned media, websites, blogs, and apps, with intrusive paid broadcast media.

While a business has no control over the number of followers, fans, posts, or likes they attract in an evolving and fragmented social media space, they certainly have control over content and can create their own social communities on their websites.

What social media did teach us is the need to build communities and to have shareable and interactive content. The new business websites will be more interactive; they’ll listen to their communities, and have content to help their communities make more informed buying decisions.
And smart radio advertisers will advertise, “visit our website” instead of saying, “follow us on [some social media] site.”

Marketers are learning that having 50,000 people registered on their website for email campaigns is more valuable than having 500,000 Facebook fans. These businesses can connect with the 50,000 users who cared enough to register as often as they wish, without having to pay each time. Having to pay to reach your own Facebook fan-base makes no sense.

The old strategy of utilizing Broadcast to inspire and Internet to inform is making more sense each passing day.

Click here to arrange a free demo to learn how you can win more radio advertisers every day with our local Share-of-Mind research and SoundADvice radio e-marketing system.

Those of you who have attended my advertising seminars know that I’m a proponent of selling the ‘warm and fuzzies.’ I’m committed to the concept that people buy from their hearts, and only rationalize the decision their heart has made, logically.

Our Electronic Media Marketing Funnel, where “radio inspires and internet informs,” has helped hundreds of radio sales people convert previous print advertisers to a radio and internet media mix.
But I’m also the first to admit that warm and fuzzies, or emotions alone, won’t make the sale. Your advertisers need both emotions and logic to close a sale. That is why many ‘buy local’ campaigns fail…they create a nice warm feeling, but no results.

Selling your ‘buy local’ campaign to local advertisers may be lucrative for your stations, but you owe it to your clients to turn the emotional Buy Local campaign into increased sales with some solid reasons why consumers should buy local.

When Japanese auto manufacturers started to penetrate the North American markets in the mid sixties, we launched ‘buy American’ campaigns only to see the import auto makers’ market share continue to grow.

Simple flag waving was not enough to stem the growth of import auto sales. Their growth was only tempered when ‘the big three,’ General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, woke up and started making better cars.

Your local advertisers have to do the same. ‘Buy Local’ is a great umbrella theme, but without some teeth, some solid logical examples of what’s in it for the consumer to do so, the emotion alone won’t motivate more sales.

Do you want your local businesses to discover how important radio can be in the new media landscape? If so, contact [email protected] to arrange an online meeting to discuss how our radio e-marketing system can work for you.

It never ceases to amaze me how many stations do not utilize their best salespeople.

Who are your best salespeople? Your clients!

No one on your sales staff can make a more credible case for radio and your station, than a happy advertiser on your station.

Look at an email one of the regional sales managers we work with sent to his market managers this week. (The names have been changed to protect identity)

Hi guys,

As I mentioned in the call this morning, we have been running our ‘Ens Testimonials’ on-air at WKRP since the beginning of January.  The formula we set up has always been promoting radio first, then WKRP working for the client in the spot and I’ve been rotating 4 spots per day. 

While the leads haven’t been pouring in, we never get any call ins at WKRP but since running these we’ve received 20-25 leads and the team has definitely closed SEVERAL.  I estimate about $40,000 so far.

Here is a station that “never gets call-ins” that is now getting leads and sales from airing on-air advertiser testimonials.

So why aren’t you airing, mailing, publishing and printing client testimonials for radio and your stations?

P.S. Our SoundADvice member stations receive two monthly, free 10-minute videos on how to capture testimonials and how to use them more effectively. Contact [email protected] to inquire about your station becoming a member of SoundADvice, the radio e-marketing system that helping convert more radio advertisers every week.

Advertising often reflects what society wants rather than moving society in the best direction.

For example, everyone seems to want things the ‘fast and easy way.’ In 1925 Lucky Strike cigarettes advertised that women could lose easily lose weight if they simply “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.” The campaign was able to fuel a Cigarette Diet fad that lasted nearly ten years because people wanted to believe in fast and easy results.

Today, you can still hear Marie Osmond promoting “Lose 5 pounds in one week with Fast Five Plus.” There still seems to be a huge appetite (pardon the pun) for fast and easy.
Doing my research for this ENS on Sales I discovered there was no shortage of promises to achieve your goals, fast and easy. I even found a company promoting a conference called ‘Succeed Faster.’
At ENS Media we have a less appealing, but proven success formula. Our motto is:

“Extraordinary revenues require extraordinary effort, extraordinary innovation and extraordinary creativity”.

A little common sense dictates that if the fast lane to success sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.

We have seen some companies succeed with only extraordinary effort, or only extraordinary innovation or extraordinary creativity, but our bet is always on combining all three in a proven road to success.

If you’re ready to put a little effort  behind some of the innovative and creative revenue producing systems we have, we’d love the opportunity to work with you. Contact  [email protected] to arrange an online meeting to learn how we can help increase your local-direct sales.