Are you tired of SELLING radio? Would you like to WORK with advertising buyers? For years, I have strived to work with clients who understood the value of advertising, radio advertising, and spending money to make money. And, it helped if they listened to my station, loved sports, BBQ, and a good deal.
Yea, it helped if they ‘liked’ me. Too bad it’s not 1993 anymore.
Today, I can still work with value-oriented ad buyers, maybe not by relying so much on relationship goals but by working with digital buyers on campaign goals. And I can still sell as much radio as I want, maybe to the same clients. According to the RAB and Borrell, radio will hit $2 billion in digital sales this year. Digital is almost 20% of all radio industry ad dollars, a lot coming from streaming video advertising.
It’s time to adapt or die.
Most of your managers now think they can only drive digital sales with only digital reps who “get it.” If digital is driving growth, and we are selling more video streaming ads than audio, it’s time to flip the script. And why not? Isn’t it better to build relationships on results instead of ribs and cheaper spots? You may like it cause you will work with buyers and not have to sell radio so hard.
More and more of our small business owners are working with digital ‘experts ‘on SEO, geo-targeting, and ad words. Those clients understand digital more than you. Advertisers are hungry for digital education and will no longer tolerate sales reps that know less about digital than they do. We need to speak fluent digital and know more about our tools than they do.
Study digital at your station, the RAB, or the IAB, because digital buyers are a different animal.
They want detailed reporting and insights to demonstrate the impact of their advertising campaigns. They buy Google ads, Facebook ads, and streaming video where they can set their budgets and bidding strategies, and the success of their campaigns is largely determined by their efforts to optimize their ads and measure their results. Most seek conversions from ads to leads to sales or appointments.
They like to test different ads and see what works. They are much more open to refining the approach and less likely to lose confidence in the medium. Imagine a world where they don’t say, “nobody listens to the radio” anymore.
But remember, this is not a buyer that you can set and neglect. They crave education, outside insights, and reporting.
The best news is that your radio advertising clients are three times more likely to buy streaming audio/video and have nearly twice as much potential as nonbuyers to purchase email sponsorships and banner advertising.
We are only selling digital to less than one-third of our radio ad customers. There is so much room for growth! You have the relationship and the prospect; now, all you need is education.
If you understand the importance of digital but rely on one sheet or your digital sales manager to close a sale for you, start taking control of your future. The future is now, and it is digital.
Jeff Caves is a sales columnist for BSM working in radio and digital sales for Cumulus Media in Dallas, Texas and Boise, Idaho. He is credited with helping launch, build, and develop Sports Radio The Ticket in Boise, into the market’s top sports radio station. During his 26 year stay at KTIK, Caves hosted drive time, programmed the station, and excelled as a top seller. You can reach him by email at jeffcaves54@gmail.com or find him on LinkedIn.
