What would you say, using your best estimation, is the percentage of trade your station does in an average month?
Or, if you are a salesperson, how much of what you sell is trade―percentage wise. Please indicate your market’s population size, i.e. +100,000, under 20,000, etc.
This is for a research project. Many thanks!
Fran,
We have always viewed trade as an expense, and were very conservative. If we as a company felt the need to purchase something for any department weather it be for programming or sales we would then possibly trade. However trade never represented more than 5% of our total cash budget. This was in Fort Wayne roughly a city of 300,000. At my current station in Indianapolis trade is still less than 5%, and city population with just over 800,000 and a metro just over 2 million.
Fran,
The amount of trade depends on management.I work for many radio stations and have for many years. I have seen as much as 30 percent and as little as none.Trade should be considered a management tool. Factors such as salesperson compensation, barter ratio and abuse of privledges come to mind as reasons to carefully control barter..O&O's and stations with less ratings seem to use trade more. If controlled and used properly trade can be a powerful tool. Not long ago a station in Florida was asked if they would barter their FCC attorney fee for a deep sea fishing trip!! Fran,I think I've worked with you in the past, you look familar,did you ever work with one of Eddie Hoilday's stations?
Thanks for your input. I would love to hear from more of the café gang!
I also worked with companies where trade was nonexistent. Unfortunately, there are companies where the dictum is, if you need it, trade it, or do without.
I have a story similar to the FCC attorney story above. I was told I could trade out an apartment for six months, the one I wanted was next to a marina and it was usually filled up―I traded out paint and carpeting and for the next six months I had a great oceanfront view!
Per the above question. I never have worked for the Holladays―I hear that they are excellent operators.
