Friday Poll: Does Your Station Have an Advertising Blog?

    • 1373 posts
    February 13, 2015 12:01 AM PST

    Happy Friday, everyone!

     

    This week's poll question was suggested by one of our members who is putting together some copy for his station's new sales website; he'd love to hear what other members have tried:

     

    How does your station promote the advertising sales department? Does your station have a radio advertising blog?

     

    Looking forward to reading your replies!


    This post was edited by Rod Schwartz at June 29, 2017 8:26 PM PDT
    • 9 posts
    February 13, 2015 5:54 AM PST

    Two of our competitors, already are doing this.  One fellow owns something like 74 stations, and is constantly 'in need'.  The advertisers consider his place to be a 'puppy mill' for salespeople, or a 'revolving door', and for that reason alone,

    we don't do it.  It's amazing, if it's heard 12 times a day, (overkill, IMHO) the listening audience draws their own 'conclusions'.

    • 455 posts
    February 13, 2015 6:46 AM PST

    The best ads promoting radio advertising are dynamite customer testamonials...key on the dynamite. We have customers come in to the studio and record a conversation with them. We're looking for key info: Where was your business before you started with us? How much has your business increased? Were you skeptical at first? What do you think now?

    • 14 posts
    February 13, 2015 6:46 AM PST

    So Mark, is it your take that advertising that you do advertising somehow leads to high sales person turnover? Not sure what to conclude yet.

    • 14 posts
    February 13, 2015 6:50 AM PST

    That would of course, be great, Jack. But we are a pure play startup and are just now ready to begin selling advertising. Trying everything we can think of to get the word out. But when we have success stories, you can bet we'll follow that course of action.

    • 56 posts
    February 13, 2015 7:21 AM PST

    We use a integrated marketing approach to creating a very accessible in bounding lead generation system for potential new clients. I have always been of the opinion that asking for new clients on air is like a big piece of smelly cheese on air. 

    However, in this day and age of a mélange of digital distribution platforms and traditional ones alike; many business owners aren't learned enough nor do they have the time to delve deep into what marketing cocktail would work best for them.... but they do want to know how to grow their businesses.... without talking to a " Radio Sales Person."  They want to talk to a marketing expert; trust that expert and make things happen that are measurable. Here's what we do......

    we have contracted a U.S firm .. New Ad Revenue to create a website for us that is specific and optimized for my market.

    The website is designed for anybody to wander through a self-discovery of radio marketing they have never thought of before. Most importantly... No salesperson will call them if they have gone to the site... UNLESS... they ask for more information and request to be contacted. We receive the email leads, assess, and quickly do some research on them if we can and have a game before we contact them. 

    We actively drive interest and visits to the site via a relevant commercial schedule and invitation to help us help them. This is a 3.0 frequency market share building schedule... basically dripping on our brand fans and potential clients over time. Nothing stoooopid .... slow and steady. 

    Hard stats and facts substantiate that this program has been very successful since we started it nearly 2 years ago. The leads are quite warm if not hot; and if handled properly, virtually  80% of the time... result in this inbounding process being successfully monetized.

    I will throw a caveat out there as far as why our success rate for these leads are so high. If your sales process used by your station(s) is more concerned about selling your inventory and not primarily concerned with delivering measurable results by way of great creative, and integrated marketing savvy on the part of the entire team ( Sales, marketing, creative , production ect) ... the warm or hot lead quickly turns cold. We act as a Marketing agency that happens to own to very successful station and loyal brand fans. And there is a RIGHT way to do this or the conventional way... we don't like conventional. The sale team must be very adept at research, salesmanship, superior presentation skills, understand marketing and the synergies that exist between radio and digital; combined with a superior sense of what the creative must actually achieve and create a very visual plan via Power Point to convey absolutely everything that the client must understand to do this properly.If the inbounding process works ,,, and it does... then we have to be very aware that these leads require the full agency treatment. It is more the norm than the exception that the companies that have requested a meeting actually come into the station to start the process. They are always blown away by what they thought they knew but didn't , and what they didn't know at all, and that their idea of radio marketing was dead wrong. Does that last bit sound familiar. This process is all about control(ours) and their confidence in the process... works everytime. 

    • so inbounding and " advertising " for those leads works.
    • the creative used must be relevant.
    • how the sales team approaches the leads is tantamount to the success of the marketing and  development for the client.
    • You need to have " Communicators," not sales people; yes they are the same , but the first has a better chance of closing.

    I have attached one sample of the creative used to drive potential prospects to the website/ our sales team. Special care was taken to not have the commercial that supports this program be read by an announcer.. it was read by myself as the GSM. The ad is refreshed quite often delivering new nuggets of information. After two years ... it is amazing what type of equity that my sales team and myself have... we are real people, delivering real results.   

    Feel free to drop me a line if you want more info on how we do this

      

    • 14 posts
    February 13, 2015 7:31 AM PST

    Darren, I'm not catching the website you mention there for some reason. Sounds like www.doubleradioadvertising.com but it's not coming up

    • 56 posts
    February 13, 2015 7:33 AM PST

    www.bellevilleradio advertising.com

    • 56 posts
    February 13, 2015 7:37 AM PST

    hey Jack..... my  concern about testimonials are the same ones echoed by the Program director......

    they aren't relevant to the brand fans that listen to our stations for music, entertainment ect.

    While I'm sure that the client loves the idea.........( as they all do.) ... it's not great radio.

  • February 13, 2015 7:49 AM PST

    A bit off-topic, but...

    Our company once ran spots to recruit new salespeople.  Okay, fine.  Most GSMs/GMs want good sales reps; what they REALLY need is paying accounts on the air, but, I digress.

    The spot included the usual 'suspect' copy, but one line really stood out: "...you'll handle existing accounts..."  It was topped off with "...no radio sales experience is necessary..."

    Oh, okay, then.  Can you IMAGINE being a current account on the air, hearing that spot, and then wondering which inexperienced neophyte FNG-type newbie was going to "handle" your company's on-air presence?  I mentioned this, with firm determination, to both the GM and GSM; neither one understood the nature of that problem.  (The GM is now at the firm's flagship in the big 'upstate' market and the GSM now makes more money than before working for a huge radio conglomerate on the other side of town.  Me? I was so disgusted that I took the promotion they offered to sales rep/station manager for one of our semi-automated stations.  That ended, sadly, when I took five hours of "Smooth Jazz" off the air to run a special on Herb Morrison's famous coverage of the Hindenburg disaster.  Why the big boys upstate saw no value or humor in that, I'll never know.)

    Anyway, they did hire a guy off the street based on that spot.  It was many years ago, but I think he's now the GSM in one of the company's other markets.  In addition to running for president of the U.S., I'm a neophyte FNG-type broker of small-market stations.  Hey, it's a LIVING!  But at least it's higher-up the food chain than being 'on the street' or on the air.

    • 39 posts
    February 13, 2015 9:46 AM PST

    That's a great case study! Thank you for sharing it. I've been wondering how concerted and consistent efforts at inbound marketing have been working for radio stations.

    • 56 posts
    February 13, 2015 10:00 AM PST

    couldn't agree with you more Joel. People can bitch and whine about spots sets or the size of them; but statistics prove that 97% of " Most People" won't punch out if the " content "of the programming once it resumes, is what they want... and are waiting for. Granted there are some crap, cliché, absolute rubbish commercials that squeeze their way on air ( and that's the fault of the account rep).... but if a responsible radio broadcaster can assure great commercials being scheduled into spot sets, then you have a win , win... brand fans of both your content and your spot set content. Either way.. commercials are a necessary evil, if you want to look at that way.... and you're right Joel... the bitching comes primarily from the internal customers... the Jocks and PD's. What they think is irrelevant. Spot sets need to be as good as the content that surrounds them,, and the care and due diligence required to deliver great spots sets actually is harder  to do and takes more time than the PD spends on logs .    

    • 39 posts
    February 13, 2015 10:00 AM PST

    Whenever we have the opportunity, we record testimonials from our valued clients and produce spots like this. They get some extra exposure, and we get a great testimonial. Win win.

    Testimonial Spot

    • 2 posts
    February 13, 2015 10:54 AM PST

    We promote our website www.medfordadvertising.com with fairly creative ads driving potential clients to that site. We change the ads on a quarterly basis. The website has helped brand our sales team as a more sophisticated and marketing focus group of sellers than spot peddlers (TV and radio) that are pervasive in our market..

    We get a consistent number of clients inquiring about radio after they reviewed our site. Its a great way for clients to stick their big toe in the water and do some basic research. As the GM, I call every client/inquiry, usually within 10 minutes, and I do a quick CNA to discover what their trying to accomplish and then pass the lead along to a rep on the team. Our conversion rate runs nearly 70%. 

    Gregg Murray at Relaunch radio manages the websites. http://relaunchradio.com, it has been a fantastic lead generation tool for our group

    • 5 posts
    February 15, 2015 5:36 PM PST

    We have a combined FM and AM station here, and the AM stations sales have been down, so we specifically targeted the AM business' with 5 second and 30 second campaigns that ran for 1 week only and on a high rotation during breakfast and drive (sales jumped by 200% in the first two days and continued to climb as a result of it... the basic scripts are below - if they help anyone:

    5 Second attention grabbers:

    #1 Your clients, like you, are listening to RADIO STATION CALL SIGN.  Call PHONE NUMBER to start advertising… to them.

    #2 Have a website? Call PHONE NUMBER and ask how advertising on RADIO STATION will boost your website activity.

    #3 Advertising on RADIO STATION works… ask us how.  Call PHONE NUMBER.

    #4 Be where your customers are listening… RADIO STATION. Call PHONE NUMBER and ask us about radio advertising.

    30 Second Attention Grabbers:

    #1

    Radio Advertising gets results!

    And partnering with RADIO STATION allows you to be where your customers are listening.

    They’re already listening to:

    “SHOW NAME 1”

    “SHOW NAME 2”

    “SHOW NAME 3”

    And more…

    RADIO STATION is reaching out to customers that you don’t even know exist… and… they don’t know you do either!

    Call PHONE NUMBER and ask for details, or check out STATION WEBSITE.

    #2

    ((CLICKS AS A COUNTER TICKS OVER SLOWLY))

    So… you’ve got a website.

    Have you checked to see how many people visit that site…

    Apart from yourself to see if it’s working?

    Surveys show that if you advertise your website on the radio, people are 6 times more likely to remember your website name, AND visit your site!

    ((CLICKS SPEED UP 6 TIMES FASTER))

    And, when you advertise with RADIO STATION you are where your customers are listening.

    Call PHONE NUMBER and ask for details, or check out STATION WEBSITE.

    Then the following week we ran a couple of creative spots (created by a committee of reps + station management) of different lengths on medium to low rotation and run of station...

    #1 - 15 second

    ((PHONE RINGS ONCE – PICKS UP))

    FVO: STATION NAME radio sales…

    MVO: Do you solve problems?

    FVO: Yup… but, why are you whispering?

    MVO: There’s a bull in my shop!

     ((SMASH OF CHINA/GLASS/BULL ROAR!))

     Our Sales people can solve most problems!

     Call PHONE NUMBER and ask for details, or check out STATION WEBSITE.

    #2 - 45 seconds

    ((PHONE RINGS ONCE – PICKS UP))

    FVO: 6 double em radio sales, how can I help you?

    MVO: My business partner calls me an insulting name…   ((WHINES))

    FVO: I’ll bite… What is it?

    MVO: Chunky Monkey!

    FVO: Seriously!

    MVO: Yup, he uses it all the time!!

    FVO: So call him something like… Princess! OR try turning up the radio to drown him out!

    MVO: Really?! Here he comes…

    BOB: Hey Chun…

    ((BURST OF RADIO SONG or GRAB FROM SHOW))

    BOB: Chunk…

    ((BURST OF RADIO SONG or GRAB FROM SHOW))

    BOB: Ch…

    ((BURST OF RADIO SONG or GRAB FROM SHOW))

    BOB: That’s it!

    ((DOOR SLAMS))

    MVO: He’s gone… now; Let’s talk about radio advertising…

    ((MUSIC UP))

    See! Our Sales people solve problems!

    Call PHONE NUMBER and ask for details, or check out STATION  WEBSITE.

    I hope that helps someone out-there!

    • 5 posts
    February 15, 2015 5:48 PM PST

    I like the concepts behind these Joel - would it be okay if I reworked these for our market?

    Cheers and thanks.

    • 89 posts
    February 15, 2015 6:03 PM PST

    Amen, Joel!

    • 993 posts
    February 16, 2015 4:55 PM PST

    Earl,

    Any chance you'd upload the audio versions of these?  Would love to hear how you executed the scripts.

    Thanks!

    • 993 posts
    February 16, 2015 5:14 PM PST

    Wish I could say we were still doing this, because it's a great idea.  Sadly, we've fallen out of the habit.  It's been years since we last had a campaign of commercials for our own advertising sales department.

    Personally, I think it's a good idea to use the medium we sell to other advertisers to promote our own services.  Short testimonials are a great way to do this, particularly if they're kept refreshed, so that the campaign leaves the (correct) impression that lots of advertisers are having success with the stations.

    The last campaign we ran here in Pullman involved a rather lengthy (at nearly 9 minutes) presentation that we put on cassette and handed out liberally to prospects. It was filled with engaging, unscripted advertiser testimonials and opened a lot of doors for us at the time. We also ran a series of 60-second promo spots on the air using excerpts from these same testimonials.  If you're curious, you can listen to the presentation here.

    At the stations I worked for in Minnesota back in the late 70's, we also ran a campaign for our advertising department. Each salesperson, in fact, had his or her own commercial, voiced by the GM.  They sound dated now, of course, but the idea is still valid. Check out a few examples here. Would love to hear your thoughts on how a contemporary execution of this idea would work today.

    • 180 posts
    June 30, 2017 11:29 AM PDT

    Some body up there wrote "We use a integrated marketing approach to creating a very accessible in bounding lead generation system for potential new clients." 

    Pure jibberish. Techno-speak does not sell. The first thing a salesman sells is himself

    • 121 posts
    June 30, 2017 3:15 PM PDT

    Good conversation everyone...

    Going back to the original questions: How does your station promote the advertising sales department? Does your station have a radio advertising blog?

    Our company's General Sales Managers were urged to start a sales/advertising podcast.  My boss and the GSM of our country station asked if I would consider creating one and it gets promoted online.

    The backstory is I've been writing on my own for years and now that my weekly articles are now also in podcast form, this all counts!

    The blog is at: http://www.scotthoward.me/ ;  and you can scroll down to get links or just go to this page on WOWO.com for the podcast.