Picture this. You live in a city your whole life. You root for the local sports teams. You listen to the local sports radio station. You dream of working there. You get the job and then…WHAM. The station goes off the air. Circumstances beyond your control lead you down a road of uncertainty and despair.
As it was famously put in Godfather II, “This is the business we have chosen.”
For better or worse, these things tend to happen and they’ve been happening all across the country. It’s happened to me several times, through no fault of my own, I found myself in a state of confusion, anger, sadness and hope, all at the same time. It’s a terrible feeling.
In San Diego, the longest running sports station in America’s Finest City, and its highest rated, the Mighty 1090 has gone silent. A dispute between the owners of their transmitter tower in Mexico and the station caused the former to pull the plug. Leaving a lot of very good and talented people wondering what will happen to them and the station they love.
It’s a station I was associated with, during my time with the Padres in San Diego. I grew very fond of the vibe of the station. Many who are there are still friends of mine and I feel for them having gone through this before.
The swiftness of this decision is leaving a lot to the imagination. Darren Smith, host of the Midday show on 1090, along with his co-hosts, Marty Caswell and Jordan Carruth, reached listeners via social media with an audio “message” in the form of a nearly 22-minute explanation of the situation.
“We are wondering if this is it for the Mighty 1090”, said Smith who has been with the station since its inception in 2003. “There’s not a lot of optimism about our future as a sports radio station. It’s heartbreaking. There are people who are in tears at this radio station. There are people who have genuine and sincere fears about their own futures about health benefits and bill paying and it sucks. Everything about this today is miserable.”, said Smith.
From a management standpoint, the situation had been known for a bit. But it came to an ugly head Wednesday. “We have lost our connection in Mexico and are working to get this resolved,” said Mike Glickenhaus of JMI-owned Broadcast Companies of America.
So, what now? For those that may be out of work soon, it can be a scary and exciting situation at the same time. Leaving what’s familiar is scary, but what may lie ahead can be terrific.
This isn’t the first time something like the 1090 situation has happened. In February of 2007, Sporting News Radio moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Employees were given the chance to go with the network to the West Coast. The company was offering only a 3 percent “cost of living” increase to move almost 2000 miles. Many turned it down, including a couple of people in executive positions at stations around the country.
Matt Nahigian was the PD of Sporting News and after the move, he found work in Philadelphia at 97.5 The Fanatic in the same capacity. He has now relocated to San Francisco at 95.7 The Game.
Tony DiGiacomo, worked at Sporting News as well and was among the many not moving to the coast. He’s now the Program Director at WFNZ, in Charlotte. He recalled vividly the feelings of receiving the news of impending unemployment.
“When we were notified that Sporting News Radio would be moving to Los Angeles from Chicago, and that we had to accept the move or take a severance, it was a punch to the gut. Heartbreak, in a way.”, he said. “The uncertainty of your future sinks in real quick. Especially for those of us who love the format and know we have a lot more to offer it. It’s a passion that unless it leaves you, it’s scary to face what could be next.”
Dustin Rhoades was an Executive Producer at the network and also didn’t go to LA. He eventually landed at 670 The Score in Chicago as the EP of the Mully and Haugh morning show. But the road was long.
“I thought I was fine. I had 26 weeks of severance. I thought 26 weeks would be enough time to find a job in the market, but it wasn’t.”, said Rhoades in the hallway of the Illinois Media School where he is also an instructor. “I was delivering pizzas and selling “pull tabs” at a Bingo Parlor. About a year later, I found work at ‘Talk Radio Network’ as producer for a show and within 2 and half years after that, the Score came after me and I’ve been there ever since.”, added Rhoades.
In the meantime, for San Diego sports fans, the station is only available through the 1090 app and on the station’s website.
Should management have made a plan “B” since it was rumored this may happen months ago? Yes.
What is it about the company in Mexico that is pushing them to remove a beloved station from the market? I don’t know.
What I do know is it would be great to see the two sides reach an agreement so that the Mighty 1090 can live on. Now, careers, lives and families are being impacted by something that seemingly could have been avoided.
I wish nothing but the best to all my friends at the Mighty 1090, I hope there can be a solution implemented to keep you all on the air in San Diego.
I want to tell you a story about one of the meanest clients I ever worked with who actually taught me some of the best lessons I’ve learned in sales.
One afternoon in my first year of sales management, a newer sales rep asked me to join her on a call at a jewelry store. I hadn’t been planning to go, but she asked last minute and so I got some very basic information from her and met her at the store.
The meeting was with the owner, and as we walked in, she immediately said “You guys are going to have to wait, I’m the only one here and I have to take care of the customers first.” I asked her if she wanted us to come back at a better time and she declined so we sat and waited. Watching the owner interact with the customers gave me an impression she would not be easy to work with, but one of the customers bought something so I figured she’d at least be in a good mood.
“Ok, you guys gotta go quick,” she said as the last customer walked out the door. Immediately, the rep hands over a one sheet, thanks her for the time and tells her she has a “great idea.” What the rep proceeds to pitch was a promotion on our 35-54 female dominant station, with a big giveaway, a concert tie-in and all the bells and whistles. It was well presented, and the idea sounded like a fun, traffic driving promotion. When she finished, the rep asked, “Is this something you think you’d be interested in?”
“Absolutely not!” she said without hesitation. “It’s a good idea and you presented it well, but I don’t have a problem getting women in here, I’m focusing on younger males buying engagement rings and you would have known that had you ever bothered to ask.”
I, fruitlessly, tried to spin it in to a similar concept for men, but this woman wanted to make a point and she wrapped up the conversation pretty quickly and out the door we went. In the parking lot, I told the rep that I didn’t realize that when I’d asked her for some details about the client, she was giving me assumptions, not information she actually knew.
About a week later, I went back to the store by myself and fortunately there were no customers and the owner was again at the counter. I told her I wanted to thank her as I was certain what had happened would be a big benefit to the growth of that sales rep, in the long run, as she, and I, learned a few very valuable lessons.
Turns out, the owner had previously been in media sales. She agreed that what the rep did was something that happens too often in our field, which is making assumptions about businesses instead of asking great questions and getting the answers needed. She also pointed out that the rep was “all in” on the idea she was pitching, which on one hand had her presenting with a ton of passion, however, it made it seem as if it was a fully flushed out promotion. Her suggestion was to pitch general concepts in order for the decision maker to get a feel for the idea, but also made to feel like they would be involved in formalizing it.
She did eventually become a client, never letting us forget she had given us a “second chance.” Whenever I would see her, she’d always have some more media sales wisdom to share. I remember thinking that she would probably have made a pretty good sales manager. A very mean sales manager, but a good one, nonetheless.
Baseball broadcasts on radio these days are not just about calling a game. Broadcasters have to sell products, keep up interest in the team, entertain guests and oh yeah, deliver a quality call so you, the listener know what is happening in the game.
Things have changed from the old days of baseball play-by-play. It’s no longer a “straight forward” broadcast that deals with the game in front of them and really nothing else.
Now broadcasters have to be up on all the news from around the league, their team and be up on all the new statistical information provided to them. Plus, they have to entertain an audience no matter what the score or how their team is doing in the standings. It’s not as easy as it may sound.
Longtime Diamondback’s play-by-play man Greg Schulte, now in his 21st season behind the microphone agrees, these aren’t your father’s baseball broadcasts. Innovation is alive for some teams.
Courtesy: Major League Baseball
“Candy (partner Tom Candiotti) & I have gotten in to more discussions about current baseball happenings,” Schulte said. “We’re doing twitter polls on-air. Incorporated a Dbacks minute in place of a pair of half-inning commercial breaks. It’s a lot different listening to a radio game now, than it was when I was a kid growing up.
“I loved using my imagination listening to Harry Caray & Jack Buck describe Cardinals baseball. I still love talking about the stadium, team uniforms, scoreboard, hot dog vendors, as I bring people inside the ballpark. Try and be as descriptive as I can each and every night.”, Schulte said.
Ted Leitner who is calling his 40th year of Padres baseball (and my former partner in that booth) has a style that’s all his own. The beloved broadcaster shared a thought on how he likes to keep an audience entertained.
“I’ve always thought baseball play by play should include stories-even occasionally non-sports stories and humor in a sport where there really is only about 12 minutes of action in a three hour broadcast.” Leitner added, “Just ‘ball 1 ball 2 and reams of stats I believe is insufficient.”
The downside of trying to entertain is not everyone is doing a non-traditional broadcast. Leitner says, “Doing that can lead to criticism from fans and you’ll get the ‘just shut up and give the score’ comments from listeners. (It’s a) Matter of taste.” says the veteran broadcaster.
I also wanted to know how broadcasters balance the game with everything else going on around.
“I’m still a stickler on letting the listening fan know what’s going on, handling the play-by-play duties,” Schulte says. “Nothing worse – in my mind – than someone listening and hearing the crack of the bat against the ball, and not get a description of what just happened. That’s tough to manage when we have a guest in the booth.”
It is becoming a little more common for teams to put front office members, celebrities at the park, and draft picks on the air for a half inning or more. The problem is the guests don’t always understand that on radio every pitch needs to be called.
I’ve had situations come up where a guest just won’t stop to let me get a call in. It’s frustrating but at the same time, it’s important to be a team player and allow for that possibility because the team wants that person or group on the air to promote something.
Lastly, I was curious how each of these broadcasters handled replay reviews. Obviously listeners can’t see the play that is being challenged, so what do you do?
“On replays, Candy (Tom Candiotti) and I usually take a couple looks at the replay in question and form an opinion, right or wrong.”, says Schulte. “I may throw in a few out-of-town scores if it turns into a long delay, maybe recap the scoring, but I’m always ready to move right back to what the ruling is from New York.”
Leitner’s approach is just slightly different.
“I think the focus on review has to be solely on that play. Watching the TV replay and passing that on to the listeners from every angle shown. We really don’t need to fill much time for the average review span so there’s no need to refer to any other play or subject.”
No matter the era, or changes to the game, no matter the changes in philosophy for what a broadcast should be, baseball is meant for the radio. There’s nothing better on a Summer afternoon or evening than sitting in your car or house hearing the crack of the bat, the murmur of the crowd, the vendor hawking his wares and a familiar voice. The Voices of Summer are on the case bringing you the National Pastime in its purist form, even if that art form has changed a little bit.
If there’s one pet peeve of mine in the sports media industry it’s that people can get way too jealous and nasty over other people’s success. Rather than focusing on their own situations and ignoring the outside noise, many waste energy bitching and moaning about things beyond their control. This is especially true when money is involved.
If you want to see what that looks like scroll thru Twitter or Facebook and look at the sea of negativity directed at ESPN for reportedly being willing to pay their franchise player Stephen A. Smith 8-10 million dollars per year as part of a new contract. It’s the same type of public outcry from fans and media members whenever a professional sports team signs a major superstar to a rich and lengthy contract.
The story which was first reported by Andrew Marchand of the NY Post has created a lot of buzz over the past 24 hours. ‘Why would ESPN pay someone that much money?’ ‘They’re going to pay a guy who doesn’t keep up with the sports he covers?’ ‘For all the mistakes Stephen A. makes on the air they reward him like this?’ And my personal favorite ‘I work my tail off and this guy gets paid this? What a joke.’
I’m not sure why high dollar amounts for celebrity figures trigger such negative reactions but they do. It doesn’t seem to matter that the company which agreed to the deal was comfortable with it, only that the public decided the number was too high. Making the matter more amusing is how many people say they don’t watch, listen or care about an individual yet can recite numerous examples of what they’re about.
As far as Stephen A. Smith’s contract drama is concerned, fans aren’t the only ones worked up over it. A number of media people were too. I saw a barrage of negative comments on social media, many displeased by what the reported salary was, and who’d be earning it.
It made me wonder ‘why do media people care?’ It’s not like the situation impacted their paychecks, or limited their company’s ability to make future investments. If it’s doing neither then what’s the big deal?
The reality of this situation is simple. Stephen A. Smith is a high profile personality who commands a lot of your attention. Whether you hate him or love him doesn’t matter. He has an innate ability to lure eyeballs to the screen and create instant chatter. He’s not a middle of the pack talent who industry executives would need to be convinced to hire. If ESPN doesn’t give him a lucrative deal, someone else will.
Is 10 million per year excessive for a television and radio personality? Perhaps. But how can you say it is or isn’t worth it to ESPN? Do you know what they generate financially off of Stephen A. Smith? Do you know what they’d lose from a revenue standpoint if he wasn’t on radio and television? Do you think the company hasn’t studied how his presence on First Take, SportsCenter, NBA programming, and other shows improves their ratings? We seem to forget that the company knows this information better than anyone else. If they didn’t think it made business sense, they wouldn’t do it.
What I don’t understand is why so many in our business get bothered by it. You should be thankful that ESPN is willing to invest that type of freight in top people. It makes the market better for everybody else who’s trying to earn a better living as an on-air talent. Isn’t that a good thing? The only ones who should hate it are the companies themselves who’d rather not spend a fortune on talent, and advertisers who will eventually be asked to spend bigger dollars to be associated with the network’s top talent.
Over the past few years these type of headlines have become a more frequent occurrence. People took exception to ESPN paying big money to Mike Greenberg. The same occurred when FOX Sports lightened their bank account to sign Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless. Were those guys supposed to apologize for agreeing to deals that would pay them well? Did their prior performances for their employers not show they could consistently deliver results? If you were in the exact same situation you would be rushing to your agent’s office to sign the contract before the company reconsidered.
What’s interesting is that I don’t hear a lot of people lose their minds over the annual earnings of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Howard Stern. All are making more than 10 million a year and they should be. Whether you like them or not doesn’t matter. They’ve built brands, produced results, and would have no shortage of suitors waiting with enticing offers if they hit the open market. Smith is no different.
Say what you want about Stephen A’s loud aggressive style and his recent struggles with presenting facts (that issue does deserves criticism) but you’re not going to win an argument trying to convince me that he hasn’t performed. He’s had a lot of success at ESPN for a long time, and if you polled most sports fans across the country asking them to name the 3 most recognized personalities on ESPN he’d be on the list.
There’s also something to be said about when your contract comes up and if it’s a buyer or sellers market. Right now, it’s a sellers market. If Stephen A. were to hit free agency, it wouldn’t take long for him to land a record contract. Do you think it’d be smart business for ESPN to allow one of their franchise talents to hit free agency when brands like DAZN, FOX Sports, Turner/Bleacher Report, and possibly Amazon and Facebook could be ready to pounce and spend silly money to get him?
Too often people get bent out of shape over what someone’s pay check is instead of stepping back and assessing the situation logically. They look at the individual and the dollar figure attached to their name, and start trying to poke holes in that person’s success. They’ll also rip the company for what they consider a poor financial decision simply because they don’t like this person.
In this particular case, if ESPN decides to fatten Stephen A’s wallet, I’m pretty sure they’ll have plenty of cash left to continue running their empire. So I’ll ask you again, why exactly do you care if the nation’s top sports media outlet opens up their wallet to pay a man who they consider a prime asset? If it’s about production, consistency, brand, and buzz, Stephen A. checks all those boxes. He’s worked hard to ascend to the highest level and ESPN understands his value to their company.
You don’t have to like Stephen A. Smith or agree with him, but you’re not the one signing his paycheck. ESPN is. If you really want to render him extinct from your life, don’t watch his show, listen to his radio program or follow him on social media. But if you did that, you wouldn’t have anything to bitch about when his next contract comes up.
I’ve had some good questions come my way lately and I thought I’d share my responses:
Question: You talk about not letting clients air bad commercials, but what if it’s the client who put together the commercial and it isn’t good?
Great question, and like anything we deal with on the client side, they have the final say in what happens. Our job is to be the advertising and marketing consultant, which literally means a person who provides expert advice. If the person we are providing this advice to chooses not to accept it, that’s ultimately on them. What we can do is provide an alternative.
Come up with something better and present it just as you would any other idea. Perhaps you start by suggesting they run multiple ads to break things up and split the rotation, maybe they’ll get a better response with your ad and make the change on their own.
Question: Other than percent to goal, what things do you use to evaluate Account Executives?
One of my favorite parts of what we do is that success and failure is generally pretty clear by the numbers, however, there are certainly other factors to consider. I believe the second biggest indicator of any seller is their level of activity. Are they constantly working the entire playbook (Prospecting, Contacting, Needs Analysis, Presentation, Closing & Servicing) and spending most of their time in front of decision makers? Or, are they having coffee and returning emails until lunch, writing an ad for a couple of hours in the afternoon, shooting out a few emails and out the door at 4:59?
New business is always another very strong indicator of whether or not you have someone who will succeed long term.
Lastly, do I enjoy talking with them? If I don’t, clients and prospects probably don’t either.
Question (from a client): I have one location, does radio across the whole market really make sense for me?
It depends, are you a destination? Are you a golf course where people are willing to drive a bit? Or, are you a bar and grill with the best prices, friendliest staff and coldest beer in town? If you’re the ladder, it probably doesn’t make as much sense for you now that we have the ability to target through digital audio, video and display.
I’ve worked with enough one location restaurants in my day to know that radio can absolutely drive traffic, if done correctly. However, because most restaurant owners know food better than they know marketing, they aren’t always willing to stick with it for the long haul. Whatever you do, do it consistently, but in this case starting with a targeted digital campaign and then growing out from there may be the best way to go.
Question: How much more weight do you give an endorsement ad over a non-endorsement ad?
If the client can afford to do them consistently, and your station has a personality who delivers a great ad that matches well with their target market, it’s always the best way to go.
Without knowing the exact numbers, I would guess that in my days I’ve seen a 40-50% greater success rate with a campaign that includes endorsements over one that doesn’t. I’m absolutely certain that of the most successful campaigns I’ve run, nearly all of them involved some form of endorsement.
Question: You wrote about some bad billboards you saw, are there any you see that you really like?
Yes, you know who does a great job on billboards? BILLBOARD COMPANIES!
Few words, large font, right to the point, simple call to action.
At the end of each year I take time to reflect on the year that was and the one that lies ahead. I spend most of my time listening to radio stations, talking to people, and creating content, but gaining knowledge of new technology and business opportunities, developing trends, and areas where the radio business should further invest its energy is equally important to me. I read a ton each day to stay sharp, but there’s no substitute for on-site education. It helps me grow personally, relationships increase, and it serves as a benefit to my clients who can’t always leave their office for industry shows.
One goal I had entering 2019 was to change up where I was spending my time. I’ve been a steady presence at a number of industry conferences over the past few years, many of which are excellent. But I began to find myself more focused on networking and supporting friends because the subject matter wasn’t stuff I hadn’t heard before. That doesn’t mean the content wasn’t good, just that I was probably at too many similar events.
As a result, I decided this year to go to CES instead of NAB Las Vegas. I also decided to trade my attendance at the Podcast Movement conference to see what Social Media Marketing World 2019 was all about. I discovered that CES was interesting, but not vital for me to be at each year. On the other hand, SMMW was tremendous, and an event I will go to again. The fact that it takes place in a gorgeous city like San Diego and provides an opportunity to connect with friends from all three local sports stations is an added bonus.
Unlike past conferences though I didn’t want to rush my recap of the event. There was so much to absorb, and rather than trying to rush out the content, I wanted to step back, process the information, and share what I felt was most valuable from the sessions I attended.
At the 2019 BSM Summit, I hosted a session looking at opportunities for sports radio to grow its business. I talked about the industry needing to take advantage of new categories because the reality is that advertising dollars are projected over the next few years to grow in digital and not much else. We can bitch and moan about it all we want, but this is where dollars are shifting. I urged format folks to get more serious about merchandising and education because there are revenue opportunities in both. Maybe I’ll tackle that further in an upcoming column.
That’s a big part of why I went to Social Media Marketing World 2019. I saw it as an opportunity to gain information in an area that is critical to our business from people who understand and use it better than radio does. Over the course of three days I took a ton of notes and captured nearly two hundred photos from Powerpoint presentations on stage. It was a productive use of my time, but there was one thing missing.
More than five thousand marketers, influencers, social strategists, and business people were present at the event, but guess how many were there from the sports radio industry?
ZERO!
Even worse, I went thru SMMW’s Whova app (which is fantastic) which shows you the profiles of every person attending and allows you to search for people by job title, company, industry, etc.. I looked for people by the name of their radio companies, and with the key words ‘radio, podcast, host, sports, media’, etc. hoping to find others from our industry there. All of that searching resulted in locating 5-6 radio people at the conference, all from other formats and smaller radio groups.
I didn’t expect a room full of hosts and programmers at this show, but I was stunned by the lack of attendance from radio’s digital, marketing, and sales members. We are operating in a digital world. The audience starts and ends their day on social media, and the last time I looked radio wasn’t king of the financial jungle on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Google. If an event is offering information and access to people who can help you further grow your audience and revenue in the spaces you need help in, why wouldn’t you take advantage of it?
Though we all realize that digital is key to the present and future, it changes rapidly. Look at these images below which show the top global brands over an 8 year period. The same thing happens in media. It’s why you constantly have to educate yourself because what exists now, may not tomorrow.
What I loved about this conference is that whether you were a host, programmer, seller, GM, marketing/digital director, there was something for everyone. It was impossible to attend every session since there were 5-6 happening at once, but there were a few that stood out which I want to relay some details from.
For content people, the sessions with Alex Khan and Chris Strub were excellent. Khan shared tips of how to improve content with the apps BIGVU, Shakr and Belive.TV. He also showed how to schedule and promote your live streams on Facebook and Instagram, create split screen conversations, and circumvent algorithms to reach more of your audience using Facebook Live. One particular trick he shared involving the Like button drew a lot of laughs and was very clever.
Strub meanwhile dedicated his focus to Twitter and introduced the room to Twitonomy. The app gives users a deeper dive into their Twitter data which helps with identifying your Alpha’s (Radio’s P1’s), what days and times they talk to you, and the topics they’re most interested in. Strub recommended using Hashtracking to find others who are similar to your most passionate fans. He also cautioned to keep an eye on who’s interacting with you and not be afraid to unfollow those who aren’t adding value to your Twitter experience.
The session with Strub also included strategic tips on how to best utilize Twitter lists and three ways to improve your authority on the platform: Leveling Up Your Circle, The Thank You Economy, and Becoming a ‘Prosumer’ (a person or individual that both consumes and produces media, content, or even goods). Strub gave six tips to improve ‘prosumer’ status and shared a personal story along with examples of how it’s helped him gain business opportunities.
On the business end, Neal Schaffer of Maximize Your Social was excellent. His points on brands being built to advertise not socialize was right on the money. I wrote about this subject two years ago and highlighted how many sports radio brands weren’t actively engaging with their fans. We tend to do the same thing on social media that we do on the radio, push content at people. Except we don’t control the outcome on social channels like we do on our airwaves – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram do. There’s nothing ‘social’ about pushing articles and advertiser discounts at the audience.
Schaffer showed some case studies to support his stance on why brands are wiser to build social businesses around influencers rather than thru brand pages. He highlighted the advantage influencers have of forming a personal bond with the audience, engaging more, and being able to tell stories that a brand can’t. The costs are more affordable and clients are made to feel part of something special and intimate rather than lost in the noise. The ROI is also greater over the long-term.
For those interested in data and how to perform better on the web, Dan Shure and Andy Crestodina did a fantastic job. Each of their sessions covered a range of topics including campaign tracking for email and ads, how to rank higher in Google Search, how to improve your click thru optimization, tricks to improving conversions, and how to better use and understand Google Analytics. Crestodina supplied a video link which is worth your time if you’re interested in learning more.
As far as key takeaways are concerned, Shure mentioned that 95% of SEO Success for blogs involves planning topics around ranking gaps. That was very interesting. I was surprised by Crestodina’s comments on 1 in 3 marketers not knowing which tactics have the biggest impact on the success of their campaigns. He also made a great point when he said “it’s not always the best content that wins, it’s the best promoted content that wins.”
There was plenty of big picture analysis provided as well. I specifically enjoyed Michael Stelzner and Mari Smith‘s presentations. Stelzner’s session stressed the importance of making a big difference with a small group of people rather than creating a small impact on a large group. Michael went over why Facebook has been less successful with video than YouTube, reminding the audience that Facebook is a platform that thrives on people connecting, NOT on content. The opposite is true of YouTube.
It was interesting to learn that YouTube has 1.9 BILLION users per month, and 1 billion hours of content watched daily. Instagram Stories has also grown from 100 million to 500 million daily users in less than 3 years. Stats like that further supported Michael’s position that marketers need to make both a bigger part of their business strategy. According to Stelzner, 43% of marketers don’t use YouTube and 62% aren’t using Instagram Stories. Sports radio brands should be thinking about this as well.
Mari’s time on stage covered a ton of ground too starting with the evolution of Facebook. Smith said you can learn and understand the platform’s future direction best by simply paying attention and reading thru the lines. She gave some great examples to support that position.
Like Stelzner, Mari has great confidence in Instagram Stories being a valuable and cost friendly space for marketers. She took time to draw attention to the expected rise of chatbots and messenger marketing and relayed some great information on apps delivering big audiences overseas such as WeChat, which she says Facebook could look to create their own version of in the states. The app TikTok was another one she highlighted which I’ve since been getting familiar with.
The highlight though of her session involved her strategic approach to helping businesses create successful marketing campaigns on Facebook. She shared her ‘Mari Method’ which stresses 70% of content on Facebook being video, 20% images, and 10% a combination of links and text. She explained why it’s best to keep video content between 7-20 minutes, build custom audiences, and necessary to put ad budget against your content. I was stunned to hear how little of our content is seen by those who follow us on Facebook.
Trying to capture all that transpired over the span of 3 days is impossible. If you’re interested in learning more, I’d suggest going on to Twitter and typing in the hashtag #SMMW19. You will have a sea of tweets to navigate but there’s no shortage of great stuff in there.
If there was an overlying message from the event, it was that social media requires human interaction, constant adjusting, and the opportunities for business are endless. This was my first experience at SMMW and I felt they provided a strong group of speakers who covered a ton of subjects that relate to our industry. I walked out of the door smarter than I did when I walked in.
I would encourage my friends in radio to get out there next year. There’s an abundance of information available to help your brand make a bigger impact in the social space, and if digital is where the money is moving, then that should be incentive enough for you to be in San Diego. The sunshine and scenery aren’t bad either!
Let’s go way back to August 30th, 1936. The New York Yankees have a doubleheader that day against the Chicago White Sox. Lou Gehrig goes 1-for-4 in the first game and is now hitting .379 on the season. Then, starting with game two against Chicago that day, Gehrig fails to get a hit in twenty straight at-bats spanning six consecutive games, suffering the longest hitting slump of his career.
Less than two months later, on October 6th, the Yankees beat the New York Giants in game six to clinch the World Series. Nine days later, Lou Gehrig was named the American League MVP after finishing the season hitting .354 with 49 home runs, despite his worst batting slump ever.
I recently had a couple of reps, who are in horrible slumps, come to me and ask for advice. The first thing I told them to do was go to the dictionary and look up the definition of a slump, which is “a period of substantial failure or decline,” and I pointed out to them that the first two words in that definition mean we know it won’t last forever, it’s simply a period of time.
Next, I told them both that the amount of time it’ll take to get out of the slump will greatly depend on the way they handled themselves moving forward. Finally, I pointed out the words of Hank Aaron, who famously said about slumps, “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.”
In our world of sports media sales, swings are presentations. And as mentioned several times before in this space, there’s not a sales problem of any kind that can’t be fixed by making more face-to-face presentations to qualified decision makers.
There is no magic formula, there is no new way and there certainly is no low dollar package that will get you out of a slump. What will get you out of it sooner rather than later, is getting out and meeting with more people and making more creative presentations to business owners that are solutions for their challenges.
Since having the discussion with the two reps about sixty days ago, the results have been very predictable. One has looked for excuses, gone back to the same people over and over again, spent more time in the office than out of it and hardly any time on the phone. This rep’s fortunes haven’t changed and the slump continues.
The other has kept a positive attitude, went through her list and crossed off people who had been in pending too long. She continued to get out, have lots of meetings and made more and more presentations. Earlier this week, this rep walked in my office and exclaimed, “I think it’s finally turning around!” as I was handed her third order of the week and a new pending/pipeline report with several, solid, new business opportunities listed. So, I asked, “What do you think has been the difference?” The reply, “It was what you said it was, I just needed to keep talking to more and more people and finally some yes’s started to come.”
I’d like to take all the credit for the turnaround and tout my incredible skills as her manager, however, this isn’t rocket science. Reps have a tendency to get in their own heads and look for the magic answer to the problem, but it just doesn’t exist.
The more face-to-face meetings you have with qualified decision makers, the more sales you make. Period. That’s how you get out of a slump.
Now, I don’t know whether or not this rep will end up being named our Most Valuable at the end of the year like Lou Gehrig. But, I do know that if she didn’t follow Hammerin’ Hank’s advice and “keep swinging,” she’d have no shot at all.
In this time of madness, I present to you a “Sweet 16 List of Reasons We Might Not Get the Sale”
1 – You
I wouldn’t know anything about this, but I’m told there are people out there that some people just don’t like. They don’t mesh well with others. Sometimes, in the end, it all comes down to someone buying you and, unfortunately, a lack of a personal connection can cost a sale.
2 – Not Selling The Value of the Product(s)
Did you take the time to really present the value of what you’re selling? I’ve seen sellers who will throw in “added value” in such a way that completely disregards the actual value of what the client is buying. Doing this may not just have one sale get away but could become the beginning of a trend if you, yourself, don’t believe in the value.
3 – Lack of Persistence
Last year, the Center for Sales Strategy wrote: “Research shows that the majority of appointments are set after five or six contacts but that the majority of salespeople give up after two.” If you aren’t getting to clients simply because you’re giving up too easily, you’ll end up with a career full of sales you didn’t get.
4 – Coming Off as Desperate
We’ve all been there, where you’re trying to get something (anything) sold and you skip just about every step of the sales process. Next, you start throwing value on top of value while lowering the price just to get a deal done and done quickly. See above, “The Value of the Product!”
5 – Not Listening
A lot of sellers never acquire the proper listening skills to really be at the top of the game. Ask great questions, shut up and listen. If you listen carefully enough, you’ll hear your presentation, the client’s ad copy and much more.
6 – Presenting What You Want to Sell
It goes hand in hand with not listening. Many sellers have a tendency to hear what they want to hear and somehow tie the client in to the idea they’ve really been wanting to sell. It’s much like a client telling you they don’t like a station even if it’s a huge hit with their target audience, it’s not about us, it’s what’s best for the client and their business.
7 – Not Identifying the Key Marketing Challenge
If these were being ranked in order, this would be in the conversation for a top 3 seed. We cannot present a solution to a problem without knowing what the real problem is. Most of the time we present a good idea, that is a clear solution to the most pressing marketing challenge of a client, we will win the business.
8 – Not Knowing Anything About The Budget
If the right questions weren’t asked to at least come up with a budget range you should be in, your pitch has a significantly higher risk. Come in way too high and risk the client believing they can’t afford to work with you, or worse, you come in too low and leave money on the table.
9 – Not Bringing an Example
In the sales process, when we go to present, we have the advantage of having thought for a while about what we’re presenting. We have to be careful and remember that when a client is hearing about it, it’s for the first time, and the idea you’re pitching may not come out as well “on paper.” Anything you can demonstrate with audio or a visual can make a huge difference in winning business. Put the client’s name in lights!
10 – Not Taking Yes for an Answer
Sometimes the client wants to buy but doesn’t want the exact thing we proposed. While it is ok to push back and ask more questions, at some point you have to accept that they’ve said they wanted to buy but may need some adjustments to be made. Don’t ever lose thousands of dollars over hundreds of dollars.
11 – Not Discovering the Main Target
The client has to help us dig in to who the real target audience is. The more we know about who it is they’re trying to reach the better chance we have of identifying the correct solution. If the client doesn’t believe what you present will work for their key targets, they won’t see the value in the proposal, and it may come back to us not having asked the right questions during the CNA.
12 – Overpromising and Underdelivering
Most of the time we think of this as something that happens after the sale is made. Some sellers, however, will start to overpromise in the brainstorming phase and get a client’s hopes up before even knowing if something can be done, then risk the chance of having to disappoint the client when the presentation doesn’t include the idea they liked so much. Never a good look for a first impression.
13 – Neglect
This was the topic in this space two weeks ago. Don’t work as hard as we have to work to get a client and then make an “unforced error” and not take care of that client. Remember, we are in the business of renewals and referrals and a happy, well taken care of client is the pathway to both.
14 – Not Negotiating in Good Faith
Either negotiate or don’t negotiate, but don’t land somewhere in the middle. Negotiation is a key skill in media sales and if you haven’t spent time learning about it, you need to. The person on the other side of the table, if it’s an agency, has generally been well trained in negotiation, you should be, too.
15 – Not Being Consultative
People want to buy from someone they believe they can trust and who they think has the knowledge to know the best course of action. If you come off as a “know-it-all” or push too hard to get to the close and the client feels uncomfortable, your great idea may not matter. If the business owner sees you as their new in-house marketing consultant because you appeared prepared, confident and knowledgeable, you may have a new whale on your hands.
16 – Not Calling on Businesses
The undisputed, undefeated, defending champion and #1 seed. The reason we don’t get many of the sales we miss out on is because we simply didn’t call them in the first place. Business goes where it’s invited and that goes for both our clients and for us.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, for a sports fan that is. Its Spring Training baseball with the season not too far off. It’s the Masters golf tournament in April, but before that of course it’s March Madness. A busy time for college basketball teams, coaches fans and yes, even broadcasters.
With so many NCAA Tournament games available on television these days, the networks are grabbing up announcers from near and far to cover these games. Many of these names are familiar to baseball fans, because their local, hometown voice could be doing radio or television broadcasts as part of CBS, TNT, TBS, TRU TV or Westwood One’s coverage of the tournament. This is in addition to getting ready for the baseball season.
Brian Anderson of the Milwaukee Brewers, Jason Benetti of the White Sox, Gary Cohen of the Mets and Tom McCarthy of the Phillies are just a few of these guys that have pulled or are pulling double duty.
For Benetti there really isn’t any reason in his mind to think he’s done a lot of heavy lifting by doing double time. “I don’t want to make it sound like I’m digging ditches or anything”, said Benetti now entering his fourth season with the Sox. “It’s not manual labor in any way shape or form. But the fun of it is making sure that you spend as much time on the game as much as possible if it were the only game you had. It is about having requirements for what goes into your prep on a game to game basis. For me it’s about self-restraint.”
Benetti also does a college football package for ESPN which keeps him away during the season at some points. But he realizes he’s not the Lone Ranger here, “Again, a lot of people do it and it’s great fun, but you have to make sure that what you’re doing is more than enough.”, added Benetti. “It’s always about self-reflection and making sure that every game gets the diligence it deserves because the audience and the people playing do not care what your schedule is and they shouldn’t.” He has a deep appreciation for the White Sox for allowing him to do these games.
Is there an advantage in the fact that these broadcasters know their baseball teams, giving them the opportunity to dive deeper into basketball? Not necessarily according to Benetti.
“It is easier, but it’s also harder, because if I show up and say the things I used to say about all these guys, then I haven’t really done anything. So, it’s about getting there and talking to guys and being around and making a presence. Every day I read clips about the Sox it’s just part of my routine on a day to day basis.” he said.
Benetti continued, “I kind of think of it as college football coaches think about periods in practice. If they go three days without special teams practice because it wasn’t on the schedule, they’re going to be worse at special teams. So, if I make sure I bake into my day the stuff that I need to bake into my day, I’m doing it the right way, whatever the right way is, that’s what I feel the right way is, but it’s got to be regimented in that regard like a college football coach does.”
As you get ready to watch or listen to the NCAA Tournament, these guys will be earning their frequent flyer rewards. They do it all in the name of bringing the game home to you, the audience.
Westwood One has announced a multi-year contract extension for Howard Deneroff, EVP/Executive Producer of Westwood One Sports. Deneroff is celebrating his 30th year with the company, having been the division’s executive producer since 2008. As part of the extension, Deneroff will continue directing, coordinating, and executing all of the on-air coverage and production elements for Westwood One’s live national radio play-by-play broadcasts and continue his role in talent and rights negotiations between Westwood One and its many prominent broadcast partners.
Deneroff’s storied career at Westwood includes contributing to 29 Super Bowl broadcasts, 17 Final Four broadcasts, 12 Stanley Cup Finals, 8 World Series, and 8 Olympic Games. Earlier in his career, he served as CBS Radio Sports’ Coordinating Producer for Spanish-language coverage of the NFL and Major League Baseball. He’s been a featured speaker at a number of universities, and for the past 13 years has also been a faculty member for the radio portion of “NFL Broadcast Boot Camp” and “NFL Journalism Boot Camp” week-long seminars, hosted by the NFL, to teach broadcasting skills to current and former players.
Suzanne Grimes, EVP Marketing, Cumulus Media and President, Westwood One, said, “Howie Deneroff’s encyclopedic knowledge and uncompromising commitment to creating the highest quality sports programming is recognized universally by coaches, athletes, our affiliates, our audience, and advertisers. We are privileged and proud that Howie will remain at the helm of our exceptional sports broadcast coverage and league partnerships.”
Bruce Gilbert, SVP, Sports, Cumulus Media and Westwood One, added “There are a million reasons why so many in the industry refer to Howie as ‘the best in the business,’ because it’s true. Howie’s professionalism, work ethic, and passion for the audio presentation of the world’s biggest sporting events are second to none.”
Said Deneroff, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue working at a job I love and have loved since day one. There is nothing that replicates the excitement and drama of live sporting events, and to be able to produce broadcasts for so many great games and historical events for Westwood One over the years has been a pleasure and an absolute honor.”
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