Do you know what radio is really good at? It’s good at promoting other businesses, events, and even other entertainment mediums. I shouldn’t just say radio is good at it… we’re actually GREAT at it!

Now, let’s turn the table to what radio is bad at. We’re bad at promoting ourselves, our own advertising medium!!! Let me rephrase that… we’re not just bad at it, we suck at it!

That may seem a bit harsh, but as my dad said from time to time, sometimes the truth hurts!

A couple of years back, I wrote an article titled, If We Could Turn Back Time. It said that if the radio industry could turn back time there would be two things we should have done differently. One was to promote ourselves better, and two was to train our media reps better. That article spoke primarily to training our reps better. Today, I want to speak about promoting ourselves better from the advertising sales part of radio.

As I travel through many markets, small, medium, and large, there are several common things I hear on local radio stations like, follow us on Facebook, like us on Twitter, and tune into our podcast, but I rarely to almost never hear a message promoting what we sell – RADIO ADVERTISING! Why is this? We have FREE airtime, and we don’t use it to promote our own medium! This seems ludicrous!

Just imagine if radio stations across America never mentioned, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or listen to our podcast. Do you think they would be nearly as popular as they are? The answer is an emphatic, NO!!!

We (radio) gave them billions of dollars in free promotion. (We did the same for Amazon.) These are the same mediums that have taken billions of advertising dollars from radio and we still are promoting them constantly!

Ask yourself this question …what if we ran promo ads that spoke to our listeners, many of whom own businesses, handle the advertising, or are influencers to the aforementioned. Promo ads that have testimonials from satisfied advertisers, ads that talk about the correct, different, and better ways to advertise, messages that speak to the daily concerns a business owner deals with, and positive messages that simply promote the power of radio! If we all did this, do we think people would have a better perception of our industry as an advertising platform? The answer is an emphatic, YES!

If you’re not promoting your industry and your stations, you’re missing a great opportunity to establish yourself as the advertising expert in your market. We should not be ashamed of what we do, instead, we should promote the hell out of it and brag about what we do. Are you? If not, shame on you, and shame on radio because they have set a horrible example.

Self-promotion is a good thing! We should all be doing more of it! ENS on Sales is designed to give our readers ideas and tips to help media reps and managers be better at what they do. It’s also our promotional and marketing piece. Our SoundADvice program is the easiest, least expensive, and most powerful way to promote your stations or yourself.

If you want to learn more about how SoundADvice works and the pricing options, click here to arrange a quick call with Rick.

Here is what our satisfied SoundADvice subscribers have to say:

• “It was the ‘bridge’ I needed to get him to see I was there to HELP and not SELL. The SoundADvice was a great conversation piece and segway into getting Brad on the radio!” – Media Rep

• “More Training? All well and good but how ‘bout actually changing the landscape to make it easier for your well-trained sellers to succeed?  We’ve found SoundADvice is far and away the easiest, turn-key way to position yourself and your team as the local “go-to” experts. It’s true, when it comes to marketing ourselves, we don’t practice what we preach AND we’ve got the stations! I know you’re busy and more time-poor than ever. All the more reason to use SoundADvice. They do the heavy lifting. You reap the referrals.” – Sales Mgr

• “Not to swell your head but your SoundADvice has been invaluable to us over the past 2½ years. To end that relationship would be a letdown to our reps”. – General Mgr

• “Exciting news! A client of mine requested your last SoundADvice “How to Leverage Your Suppliers” and I visited with her today. I geared my proposal towards the issue and sold her a SIX-MONTH contract in January!” – Media Rep

• “I just wanted to share with you that I had a call from the manager of Grand Stay Hotel saying ‘Thank you’ for the inspirational messages through SoundADvice! She even forwarded it to their corporate headquarters, and they were impressed! That’s all from you, so I wanted you to know about it:) Thank you for all you do to help us!” – Media Rep