Somehow, we made it to 2019. Congratulations!
By the time you’re reading this, I’m guessing 60% of us will have already broken certain parts of our resolutions and those that haven’t are probably doing what I like to call “the push back,” where resolutions start either the first Monday of the year or some other time after January 1st and before January 15th, or so! Hey, whatever works.
From a sports radio sales perspective, I do like to spend time looking back and thinking what I might’ve done differently if I had the chance to use a mulligan. I think it’s incredibly important for all of us to not only look at those things, but to also look back at what was accomplished. Even in the toughest of years, some good things have happened which you can use as motivation moving forward.
I always think it makes sense to look back on a month by month basis and see where the peaks and valleys were and if that is or is not consistent with the last couple of years. If there’s some consistencies developing, what can you do, in advance, to prepare for those months in 2019?
There is no time of the year where there isn’t something happening in sports that you could tie advertisers around. Or, think outside of the box and look for opportunities for tie-ins with a charity or local cause, anything that can get you excited about taking out and pitching, but plan ahead as you know you’re going to have to develop some new business in order to find the extra revenue.
Once the calendar flips and the first week of the year is upon us, the first thing I like to do is update everything I can. I always like to keep a list of certain things near me or open on my computer, such as event and promotion dates and programming features. Most likely there were some changes made from last year, so make sure you have the 2019 versions of everything.
Make sure to review sponsorship opportunities and ask questions if there might be certain renewals on the fence. If the head coach does a call in with your morning show once per week and last year’s sponsor has yet to renew, it may be something to start thinking about if the opportunity opens up for you to pitch it to one of your clients. Better to have an idea now than to be scrambling a couple of weeks before the season starts.
Mostly, the new year is a reminder that it is time to meet with our clients again, as it should be at the beginning of every quarter. You have new things to talk about for 2019 and chances are, your clients have new things to talk about as well. Even if it turns out the client strategy is the exact same as it was before, you make them aware of the new opportunities you have so if it comes up later in the year, it might be something they call you for rather than looking elsewhere.
Perhaps a copy change or freshening up is needed and this is always a good time to review with your clients. Assuming this is a happy client, any time is a great time to ask for a referral and the first of the year might be the best time.
In the end, as with everything, have a plan. If you need to write it down or post it on Facebook to make it official, do it. One-third of your business is going away because it does every year, and your employer is expecting growth. So, figure out how you are going to find that gap and more, make a plan and stick to it. Hopefully we’ll all meet back here one year from today, wealthier than we are now.
Happy 2019!
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
