It really doesn’t matter what line of business you’re in or what your title is, if you are working, you’ll have problems! Some have more than others and some are certainly bigger than others.
I learned a lesson a long time ago when I walked into my General Manager’s office late one day and said, “I’ve got a problem”! He looked at me, smiled a bit, shook his head and replied, “No you don’t”. I said very matter of factly, “YES, I have a problem!” Again, he replied with a grin, and I will never forget these words, “No, what you have is an OPPORTUNITY to create a SOLUTION to a certain SITUATION!”
I can’t honestly even tell you what the problem situation was, but I can tell you those words have turned a lot of “problems” into “situations”, and ultimately into “solutions”. This way of thinking not only helped the business we were working with, but equally as important, it helped create a better relationship between the business owner and the Marketing Rep. When they turn a SITUATION into a SOLUTION, everyone wins!
The next time someone comes to you with “I have a problem”, look at em’, give them a grin and say, “No you don’t!”
….and good luck creating SOLUTIONS to your SITUATIONS!
With Memorial Day behind us, the unofficial beginning of summer is here. In just 30 days (July), the 2nd half of your year begins. Are you ready? Is your team ready? Do you need to make any adjustments?
We have seen many different ways to set individual and team goals. Some do it at the beginning of the year and stick to them. Some do them every six months. Some readjust along the way. Any of these are fine and all are FAR better than not having goals at all. Without a plan and discipline, it’s pretty tough to get to where you want to be.
Here is something to think about, and again, we have seen it done both ways. Are your reps setting their own goals or is management setting them? We highly recommend the reps set their own goals. It goes along with Henry Ford’s way of thinking, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” Of course, like anyone, they may need some coaching and guidance. Goals too high and unrealistic are better than goals set too low, but both are dangerous and can have negative effects.
So, as we approach the 2nd half of the year, I will use the analogy of a coach at halftime. It doesn’t really matter whether you are winning or losing at this point, either way, it’s time to make adjustments. If you’re winning, don’t rest on your laurels. Now is the time to dominate! If you’re tied or losing, pump them up, readjust, give them a game plan with the tools to go out and succeed. If you believe in them, they will believe in you!
Now, go out there and have FUN, and have a GREAT 2nd half!
If your goals are to grow in 2018 and beyond, we can help. Click here to request an online overview of how we can help train and brand your stations and your account executives as professional marketing consultants.
The radio station marketing model is unique in that we serve three distinctly different target customers. Most other businesses only target those who can spend money with them.
But in radio, we have three target groups that affect that “spend” and we need a strategic marketing plan for each of those target customers.
One, of course, is our audience. Most stations do have promotional and marketing plans to attract and maintain audiences.
Our second target group is our paying customers…our advertisers. Most stations are fairly effective at reaching and influencing this group as well.
It is important to calculate the per capita value of each of your target customers. If a station has annual revenue of $2 million with a listening audience of 50,000 people, then each listener is worth $40. Using that same revenue base and a total of 250 advertisers, each advertiser is worth an average of $8,000.
But it is our third target that is by far the most valuable per capita and yet we often have no marketing plan to attract, motivate, and keep these customers.
The third target is our internal customers; our staffs. If that same $2 million station has a staff of 20 who sell, create, administer and invoice the $2 million in revenue, then each staff member is worth an average of $100,000.
When the lights go off, your biggest assets go home!
Do you have a marketing budget and plan to attract and create customer satisfaction for your most valuable customers…your internal customers?
We open every advertiser workshop and seminar with this statement; “Advertising can’t make a bad business a good business.”
You can begin more realistic advertiser relationships the same way. While every other advertising vendor out there is claiming advertising can solve all of a business’ problems, your credibility will jump to the head of the pack when you start your conversation honestly…advertising cannot make a bad business a good business.
It’s a simple matter to define “a good business” that will benefit from advertising. The Litmus test of a good advertising prospect is to ask, “Do you already get repeat and referral business?” If the answer is “no”, there is something inherently wrong with the business that advertising can’t fix.
But, once your prospect says they’re proud of their repeat business and word-of-mouth track record, you know you can accelerate the success of that business with great radio advertising and build a mutually-beneficial long-term advertiser relationship.
Internet marketing guru Seth Godin explains it this way:
In a competitive business like the local taco shop, here’s how it’s supposed to work:
Keep the place clean. Hire friendly staff. Make better tacos. Offer a fun, connected, even memorable experience.
What often happens instead is that you coin some clever slogans, worry about coupons, cut corners on ingredients and expand as fast as you can. What happens is that you build a moat around your business, get defensive about the status quo and race to the bottom. You’re generic now, and you fight the price-battles that being generic forces you to fight.
When in doubt, make better tacos and offer a fun and memorable experience worth advertising.
Your mission as a radio marketing consultant is to uncover businesses that you know are worthy of your time and can benefit from your advertising.
Ever since John Wannamaker coined his famous phrase, “I know half my advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half,” bewildered business owners have welcomed the message from vendors suggesting they can cut their advertising budgets.
The list of “anti-advertising” salespeople is longer than you might think.
Sales trainers, for example, are telling business owners they do not need more traffic or awareness, they need sales training to capture higher closing ratios from their existing traffic. And mall leasing managers claim it’s more efficient to capture their mall traffic than to try to draw traffic to a stand-alone location…. they’re all persuading advertisers to cut their advertising in favor of other marketing tools.
And then there is the CRM (customer relations management) software folks telling the story that “It costs 20 times as much to attract a new customer with advertising as it costs to keep an old customer coming back using our software.”
So here is the thing. Are you taking for granted that your prospects and clients truly value advertising’s role in the marketing mix? Do your salespeople know how to sell advertising in the marketing mix, or are they focused on selling your media as the best advertising media to prospects who are increasingly skeptical of advertising?
You should not allow a written presentation to leave your office if it does not have a customer-focused “Why advertise?” proposition. To not continuously sell advertising in every radio presentation is doing a huge disservice to our industry, our clients, and ourselves.
Have you considered using our local TOMA, Top-of-Mind Awareness, surveys to validate how advertising on radio drives more online traffic for our advertisers?
Click here to arrange a free online overview of what TOMA surveys can do for you.
