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Top 10 Web Revenue Mistakes of TV & Radio

August 25, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

TV gets 10% of local online ad spends. Radio gets less than 2%. Newspaper shares are in decline. Compare these lowly numbers to online-only companies like Patch, Reach Local, and Google that are now getting over 50% of local ad budgets. Anybody in local media think that’s a problem that needs a little fixing? For sure, we bet the investment folks at Angelo Gordon and Oaktree Capital are getting a little un-easy about this issue.

All is not lost. Even though the local competition continues to grow stronger, Broadcasters (and Newspaper) can still get back in the game, and significantly grow their web revenue share.

The solution is simple and indisputable: address and remedy the common web sales errors committed by most local media properties. The list below captures and identifies what we refer to as: the 800 lb. gorilla in the room.

1.  Management, owners & CEO’s lack specialized Web training

• How can you manage what you don’t fully understand?

• Expensive research and consultants are not enough.

• Delegating all sales strategy to content focused VP Interactive, is risky without knowledgeable oversight.

2.  Dangerous thinking: ‘selling Web cannibalizes Broadcast sales’

• Your clients are moving more dollars online. They’ll buy from you, or someone else.

• Web revenue, though still relatively small, is the fastest growing, local revenue stream.

• It’s best to grow overall revenue share by smartly leveraging your traditional and digital assets.

3.  Limited or in-effective Web training of sales reps

• How can they sell new products without seasoned direction & regular training?

• Is your staff taught by qualified trainers or by the station ‘web-geek’ ?  Is your staff  forced to endure tech-heavy theory & classroom lecture, or are they getting real world training ? Broadcasters need to look OUTSIDE of their industry for fresh and seasoned perspective on Web sales.

4.  Management structure conflicts

• Web managers typically report to broadcast managers (who’s comp package favors spot sales).

• Programming/News departments are the primary operators of most websites, including where and how advertising is placed. Would you ever allow the PD or News Director determine your on-air spot load? Then why do we allow them to determine online units and placements on our websites?

• Like your station, your website must ultimately be run by those with ‘profit & revenue first’ goals.

5.  Poor attention to fast changing, online environment

• Advertisers are learning how to go directly to consumers via digital.

• Newspaper, Cable & Directories are stepping up their game.

• New competitors like Patch and Reach Local are even more of a threat.

6.  Setting Web budgets too low

• Allows sales reps to quickly hit web goals, then immediately stop selling web. Money is then left on the table, and gives the false impression of successful web selling. Making matters worse, this encourages local web spends to be redirected to online-only companies.

7.  Poor inventory & yield management

• Over reliance on Google AD Sense and remnant networks.

• In-effective ad placement.

• Limited & non-use of premium, high value units.

• Inability to quickly price based on supply & demand

8.  Confusing media kits, sales packages & pricing

• Local business owners prefer simple offers, delivered in Broadcast friendly vocabulary. They’re usually not sure of the value of 1 or even 10  million page-views. Excel spreadsheets with ad units, cpm’s and other confusing data only frustrates the advertiser. It also freaks out the sales rep who’s trying to clearly explain the features & benefits of a cross-platform marketing program.

9.  Director of Interactive; tech & content background only?

• Lots of eyeballs and slick websites do not equal revenue & profit.

• Is Director of Interactive, or your web manager, qualified to implement a realistic revenue strategy?

10.  Over-reliance on vendors & research for sales strategy

• Just because I just  built you a kitchen & gave you a cookbook, doesn’t mean you’re now a chef.

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, Hyperlocal Networks, TV and Radio Tagged With: , , , ,

Radio vs Patch, Groupon, Hyper local

August 11, 2010 By admin 1 Comment

patchCan Radio win against Patch, Reach Local, Groupon and Hyper-local competitors? Click below to view the training presentation given to 200 Radio broadcasters on August 10. In this session, we revealed how these competitors went to market, how Radio can effectively compete against them, while increasing Radio’s overall revenue share.

Radio’s NEW Online Competition 8.2010

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, TV and Radio

Can Radio Beat New Web Competitors?

August 3, 2010 By admin 2 Comments

Can Radio compete against Patch, Reach Local, Pandora, Groupon? Are your reps & managers familiar with these online companies?

On August 10 @ 3p et, we team up with Marketron to expose the new competitors, and share tactics that will help Radio defend against, and beat these new players.

This session will help Radio close more Web deals, and increase it’s overall revenue share.

This free webinar is NOT focused on pie-in-the-sky theory and research. Instead, you’ll get fact-based and proven instruction on how to position your station to win more Internet deals and grow overall revenue share.

Your team will easily overcome these NEW, client objections:           

  • We rank high in Google, we don’t need you.
  • We’re going to try Groupon and Foursquare.
  • Radio / Cable / Newspaper is enough.
  • Newspaper site has more page-views than you.
  • How much web traffic can you send me?
  • I’ve tried web before, but didn’t see any results

Click here to register for free Webinar. Space is limited.

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, TV and Radio Tagged With:

NAB Radio & TV Executive Web Training

July 22, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

National Association of BroadcastersWhen it comes to Internet business models for broadcasters, one size does not fit all. We’re looking forward to addressing this critical issue when we conduct a special training session for the NAB; National Association of Broadcasters, on July 28 in Washington, DC.

This fact-based session will feature a comprehensive overview of the leading online business models gaining traction in the marketplace today. Specific steps and rationale will be presented on how broadcasters can select and implement the most appropriate of these models for their specific properties and competitive environment.

Steps, case studies and recommendations will be presented through the prism of general management, programming, sales and marketing benefits. Additional topics to be covered in this session include:

  • Using the web as a tool to grow overall share
  • Inventory management, pricing and packaging
  • Should you buy, build or partner?
  • HR, job descriptions, compensation
  • Technology and vendors: pros and cons
  • Overcoming the new, common client objections
  • Social, video, mobile, database
  • Hyper-local ad and content networks

Whether you’re looking to manage your financial reports, your Digital business, facilities or your people, the NAB Executive Development Seminar gives you the tools & training to broaden your business skills and enhance your overall business value.

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch

AOL PATCH: Hyper-Local Sales a Priority

July 8, 2010 By admin

Patch; AOL’s bet on hyper-local news, is now executing the next phase of their highly anticipated roll-out. Many markets have reported recruiter inquiries, private meetings, and attempted poaching of traditional newsrooms. Some local bloggers are saying ‘no thanks’, while others are accepting the (reportedly) mediocre offers.

The employment boards are brimming with Patch job posts looking for editors, regional publishers and most importantly: seasoned local & regional sales executives. Hmmmmm. Sales hires already? Now that’s smart.

AOL’s decision to hire for sales expertise early in the process, is a game changing move in the local online news space. They are one of the rare few to put early emphasis on sales. To date, most hyper-efforts have foolishly made sales a secondary concern during editorial ramp up, preferring to build traffic first. That’s been a far too common, fatal flaw for most hyper-local experiments like NYT’s The Local, and McClatchy’s project with the Miami Herald. Even The Seattle Times’ linking to blogs falls short: watch clip that reveals how they leverage free editorial coverage from indie journos, with no revenue or compensation discussion.

Will Patch succeed where NYT’s The Local, SDNN, and other blogs have struggled?

While we don’t think Patch will have an immediate impact on local editorial coverage and online revenue…….we do think it’s more proof of the immense opportunity in hyper-local news and small-biz advertising dollars…..and we do think AOL’s early and smart focus on sales will give them a leg up, and a substantial chance for succeeding, where others have failed.

This is FAIR WARNING to any independent site, news blog, or traditional media organization. If you want to financially thrive in this new media eco-system, it’s time to run your site like a business, not a hobby. Even if your selling some ads and making a half decent living, your still quite vulnerable to those (like Patch) who will try to steamroll you with deep pocketed, editorial and sales fire power. 

Patch is now building local advertiser directories, using good old fashioned face-to-face client calls. They build a relationship with small business in order to sell them something at a later date. Patch is serious about the revenue piece of hyper-local’s puzzle. They’re well aware that without revenue and profit, there’s no serious chance of consistent and self-sustaining, local news coverage.

How can a local news site win against Patch? We recommend the formation of local ad and content networks that SHARE resources. Especially sales, marketing and business resources. Online News Incubators are just one example of how it’s being done. Contact us for additional info on how to quickly and effectively, set one up……with little or no cost involved.

Here’s the job posting for the AOL Patch opening in Philadelphia:

_________________________________________________________

Title :  Regional Publisher, Online Advertising Sales, Philadelphia area

Patch  Market Pennsylvania – Philadelphia Position Type : Full Time 

Are you passionate about online sales and advertising? Are you entrepreneur at heart? Do you love the idea of establishing emerging markets? Are you equally comfortable with client visits and web analytics? If so, keep reading….

We’re Patch.com an internet startup owned by a major global online media company looking to re-invent local online advertising, and we’re seeking a web- savvy sales person with management experience. The person will serve as our Regional Ad Manager over seeing ad sales for dynamic new sites devoted to news and information about suburban markets throughout the Philadelphia area and beyond.

In this job, you’ll be managing a sales team and working closely with local advertisers –from mom and pops to large regional clients, as their local online advertising expert. You’ll know your own platform (and others) backwards and forwards so you can present complete advertising solutions. You may even decide to host a local seminar on how to achieve the best results by advertising on the web. As the top local business executive you will attend chamber and trade functions, get involved in community groups, head up charitable efforts, and maintain a highly visible presence in the business community.

It’s the right job for an utterly self-motivated individual who gets an adrenaline rush from starting up a business, obsesses over numbers and analytics, and can work flexible hours. Ideal candidates will have in-depth understanding of current and emerging media. Preferably, you’re a local resident yourself and you’re plugged into the local business communities we are covering.

It will be a huge, live-and-breathe-it endeavor, which is why we’re offering competitive compensation, benefits and performance-based bonuses.

Job Responsibilities:

• The Regional Advertising Manager is responsible online ad sales and management of the advertising sales team in Philadelphia.
• Responsible for all advertising revenue and metrics in the region
• Manage the marketing and promotional budget for a group of 20 sites, responding to requests from editorial and advertising.
• Recruiting and hiring of local sales representatives.
• Develop existing sales team members by frequent coaching of sales efforts, overseeing the general direction of the team and individual sellers by reviewing pipeline, non- selling activities, and market place trends.
• Attend, sponsor and/or host business events; become the regional expert and evangelist for Patch and online advertising generally
• Become a visible business leader in the community, and develop strong relationships with small, mid-size, and regional advertisers; and key local players.
• Drive local and regional marketing initiatives (including Give5 which is Patch’s charitable program)
• Present promotional opportunities and display options to store owners/management,
• Identify and pursue opportunities to increase sales of current and new offerings.
• Ad sales, inventory management, and “owning” the online advertising for assigned local markets.

Required skills:
• Top notch sales and marketing instincts.
• Should have the willingness to act as a media consultant and the ability to close/ask for the sale.
• Must be a born leader with ability to hire, train, coach, and mentor junior sales staff.
• Will understand online advertising and also have ability to manage sales, inventory, design and other aspects of online advertising simultaneously.
• Deep understanding of online and local ad markets, trends, metrics, etc.
• Ability to publicly represent Patch as the future of local news and information

Desired skills:
• Passionate about the web, social networking, and online community websites.
• Be able to quickly grasp the interests, rhythms, and identity of a community.
• Unparalleled organizational skills.
• Must have great interpersonal and communication skills and enjoy working hard.

Educational and Experience:
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in marketing, business, or related discipline.
• 5 to 10 years of Media sales experience, with significant online advertising sales
• 3 to 5 years experience managing a sales team to include field and remote staff

Unique requirements:
You will work from home, the coffee shop, your car, and in and out of businesses daily. Must own a car and be able to provide your own transportation throughout region assigned. Must be willing to relocate or live near or in the markets we are hiring. Ability and willingness to work various hours outside of the typical M-F and 9-5.  To include some weekends.

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch Tagged With: , , ,

Battle Heats Up. Hyper Local News & Revenue

June 24, 2010 By admin 4 Comments

The hyper-local, online news space is getting crowded. Maybe it’s time to start throwing some elbows?

Digital marketing dollars of most small business, are still up for grabs. When you take these tiny but high volumes of mom & pop budgets, and combine them with the ‘asleep at the wheel’ efforts of traditional media, you can see why AOL/Patch, Reach Local, Groupon, Hyper-Local Incubators, and other indie efforts are doubling down and are going in for the kill.

Yet, when it comes to big media’s foray into this space, it’s full of well intentioned, but often misguided efforts. Here are recent items of note, on what’s working and what’s not…..in building profitable, hyper-local initiatives:

  • Jan Schaffer from J Lab was recently asked if any online news projects will be ‘sustainable’. She answered: “time will tell”. We absolutely adore Jan, but we absolutely hate that answer. Since Jan is not an expert in sales and advertising, why do we even ask her questions like that? These so called ‘elusive’ business models we’re supposedly looking for…already exist. Pure-plays (Reach Local, DataSphere, Groupon, etc) are already using these models to grab local market share right now…right from under our noses……while we continue to “discuss and explore”.  Read Jan’s speech here.
  • Philly.com’s incoming CEO; Greg Osberg recently told Poynter: “His top focus initially, will be on building audience, especially online. While conceding the point that small growth in unique visitors and other measures may not greatly impact ad sales, I think we can get 100 percent more audience, and that would make a difference.” Whoa. Since revenue is likely the top priority of his bosses (including the investment firm of Angelo Gordon) we are confused with Osberg’s statement. We believe Philly.com (and most news sites) have a sales strategy problem, not a traffic and page-view problem. Driving zillions of page views = inventory glut = lower effective cpm. Even MSNBC declared: pageview ‘dead’. Osberg also hinted of  his plan to find local collaborators, especially in the suburbs where editorial coverage has been cut. We think this will be tough in the fiercely independent, Philly blogosphere, where some indie sites are getting bought up. (see next item)
  • A Philly sports blog called 700Level, was recently acquired by Comcast. Another local sports site called Beer Leaguer was also just snapped up by the cable giant. This should give local, independent site owners a much better sense of the value of their work. If your stuff is good, why give it away for peanuts? If your not sure how to value your site, contact us for assistance. Indie-sites like Philebrity.com, Philly2nite.com and SuburbanOneSports.com are not likely to sell out for the relatively small pay day and employee status that the 700Level & Beer Leaguer jumped on. (we think much too quickly). Kudos to Comcast Sports Net vp; Eric Grilly, for making this smart move, while the 2 sports Radio stations in town 610WIP.com, 975TheFanatic.com, as well as Philly.com, were snoozing.
  • Early efforts from Tribune showed promise, but stumbled a bit. Read why a local blogger pulled out of ChicagoNow network.
  • The Washington Post hoped local bloggers would drop everything to work with the legendary site, for what some say, free. Read the laundry list of rules you need to follow, if you want to work with the WashPo.
  • AOL/Patch reaches out to local website publisher in Alameda, California…. tells Patch: ‘no thanks’.
  • SacPress.com is the self-funded news project that reportedly reaches more Sacramento online readers than the daily Newspaper (Sacbee), by leveraging their Sacramento Local Online Ad Network (SLOAN). The network is now over 40 sites strong, even repping the web inventory of 4 local Radio stations. (stations owned by digitally-challenged, Entercom)
  • Radio & TV taking a shot at hyper-local news. Some broadcasters admit their weakness, and are outsourcing web strategy to DataSphere. Others do it themselves, and make clumsy mistakes (out of date obits) and leave money on the table. But promising Radio efforts like WYDaily.com and the forthcoming Baltimore Record, are signs of things to come.
  • Albritton’s TBD.com in DC, won’t pay bloggers directly — instead, the sales staff will work with interested advertisers. This does not sit well with local online writers.
  • CUNY’s New Business Models for News, and NYU provide excellent editorial guidance for The New York Times’ hyper-local effort, called The Local. But for some reason, they were also given the responsibility for sales & revenue leadership. With little advertiser support, we fear that The Local could be considered a failure and potentially shuttered, due to poor financial performance. It’s local sales strategy seems non-existent. We wonder if NYU’s Jay Rosen will be making sales calls, once he launches the East Village NYC version of  The Local. UPDATE: July 1, 2010…NYT unloads their Jersey hyper-sites to indie-blog; Baristanet.
  • YouTube is experimenting in San Francisco, inviting local VJ’s and digital journalists to contribute. But we gotta ask….why just post your video on YouTube? Sell your footage to local TV or Newspaper instead!
  • Sites like TheBatavian, NewzJunky.com and NewJerseyNewsroom, are gaining traffic and advertiser support. They use the not-so-secret formula of “running their sites like a business”. They spend less time with research and theory, and more time on the streets closing deals, and making sales calls.

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, Hyperlocal Networks Tagged With: , , ,

Gannett Web Fumble, Punts to DataSphere

June 15, 2010 By admin

gannett logoGannett Broadcasting is putting some of their local  web sales on auto pilot. The media titan announced they’ll join Raycom, LocalTV LLC and other digitally frustrated media properties in outsourcing some web efforts. No surprise, they’re punting to DataSphere; the master of call-center web sales and quickie blogs. Was this surrender by local media predicted many years ago? Yup.

Back in 2003, the local media analysts at Borrell Associates republished a report about the Disruption of Local Media. The study was conducted with Clark Gilbert, a protege of Harvard Prof. Clayton Christensen, author of business best seller; Innovator’s Dilemma. (a must read on how incumbent companies, run by really smart managers, are unable to build new businesses while focusing on core customers) Read Chapter 1 of Innnovator’s Dilemma here. The report tried to answer the question that was a recurring theme in the book:

Can local media tackle the Internet with existing management, content and sales personnel?                     

The answer was no back then. Seems like that answer still stands today. Historical analogies suggest, that traditional media will try to win on web, but will ultimately fail.

Despite smart management and a high degree of awareness, no company – including newspapers armed with this knowledge – has been able to achieve new net gain by tackling a disruptive technology with an integrated management approach. Traditional managers tend to disbelieve the implications of what is happening to their own industry.

So let me get this straight…..

  • If the TV GM and/or news director is responsible for the TV station website, it will fail.
  • If the Radio PD, GM or Marketing director is responsible for the Radio website, it will fail.
  • If the Newspaper publisher or news editor, is responsible for the Newspaper site, it will fail.

The key take-away from this 7 year old report?  As long as a traditional media manager is calling the shots at the local media website, it will most certainly fail. Whoa.

Solution? Separate general management, sales, programming, editorial……separate everything. Build a business that can, and should attack the mother ship. Not following this path of action will allow pure-plays like Patch, ReachLocal and DataSphere, to make serious inroads into the local marketplace, in what once was the wholly owned domain of mainstream media.

Other online-only and hyper-local business models to watch: Hyper-Local Incubators, The Batavian, Philebrity, NewzJunky, WestSeattleBlog, SacramentoPress.com, MainStreet Connect, BrooklynBugle.com, and Nashville24.7

 

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, TV and Radio Tagged With: , ,

Starting Hyper-Local News and Ad Networks

June 10, 2010 By admin

Whether you’re a big Media company, or an up-n-coming indie-journalist/content creator…. participating in Hyper-Local Advertising & Content Networks could be critical to your online success.

FACT #1: Small businesses are quickly moving their ad budgets to web. In addition to your own direct sales efforts, there are substantial revenue & cost reduction benefits when you take part in the efficiencies of a shared sales and service “Co-operative”, or ‘Hyper-local incubator’. (see below)

FACT #2:  Your work as a writer/reporter has incredible value. Especially to big Media. Why ‘donate’ it or sell it for peanuts? Understand online journalism business models, before you act.  See the 25$ per post sweat shop known as Demand Media, and how some journos are just saying NO! to offers from Patch.

HyperLocal News.Incubator UPDATED 8.3.2010

Local online competition is on the rise….and now, at a much faster pace. Don’t be fooled into thinking that hyper-local news doesn’t work. Those early journalist-lead experiments from CUNY, New York Times and ChicagoNow still struggle for financial stability due to this common flaw: revenue & sales expertise seemingly took a back seat to editorial & tech in the start-up phase. Indeed, ‘build it and they will come’ does not work so well on the web. Today, a growing list of hyper-local news efforts are being lead by those with deeper revenue & business experience. It’s about time. Well-funded projects from outsiders like Patch, Main Street Connect and Reach Local, are proof of the substantial opportunity that exists in all markets. Even though these big dogs have financial muscle, indie-journos from the neighborhood still have an excellent chance to own this space. Take a look at the strategy they are using: Hyper-Local Ad & Content Networks. (See below) Who wins the local, online revenue game? The winners will likely be organically-grown websites and independent content creators from the community. These online publishers take their efforts seriously, and are exploring realistic plans for revenue. These future, local online titans are not encumbered with legacy business concerns that need to be ‘protected’. Need some advice on how to proceed?  Send us an email or let’s talk. Maybe we can help, or at least point you in the right direction. Some of our Hyper-Local services:

  • Content networks
  • Advertising networks
  • How to work & partner with other media
  • Platforms, tools, training
  • Shared resources & co-operative efficiencies
  • How to effectively beat PATCH, DataSphere, ReachLocal and others
  • How to quickly attract local advertisers
  • Syndication and licensing arrangements
  • Attracting investors & partnerships
  • Web 101 Workshops for Local Business
  • Creating rate cards, sales packages, media kits
  • Business plan development

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, Hyperlocal Networks Tagged With: , ,

Local Media Eco-Systems

June 2, 2010 By admin

Local news & info sites need more than just a banner sales strategy. While display ads are still a major part of online advertising, they’ll certainly not be the cash cow you hoped for. Instead, consider a variety of other revenue streams, like Local News Incubators, to quickly move to sustainability. Counter-intuitively, some of the best revenue producers are offline.

Here’s a graphical look at the business plan we developed, and are deploying in a mid-size market. This road map uses proven tactics that are already working independently, in many markets. We’re rolling this out in measured increments, not all at once. This allows for ability to build a solid foundation, prior to adding more complex elements.

hyper local online news and eco-system model

hyper local online news and eco-system model

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch Tagged With: , ,

Radio Websites, a Hyper Local Opportunity?

May 30, 2010 By admin

Warning: If you have responsibility of managing the station website and you think web sales is un-appealing, or just not worth the time and effort……you may not want the big boss to read this!

Can Radio get into the hyper-local, and online news business? That all depends if they run their online assets as a business, rather than a hobby. Can they move from old school tactics like mascots and remotes, to offering local business owners a portfolio of online solutions they are clamoring for?

Radio remote, cat country, atlantic city

What's Better for Radio; Silly Remotes or Web ?

Radio purists, Broadcast vets, Wall Street and even hardcore music geeks agree on one simple fact: without profit to pay the bills, there’s no programming excellence. So when it comes to the Radio station website and the hyper local opportunities it provides, why aren’t they run in the same financially disciplined way?

When a Radio GM wakes up each morning, what’s likely on their mind? What new Lady Gaga song should be added to the playlist? A morning show bit to post on the station site? While these play a role in the overall success of a station, it’s really not the stuff that keeps the GM up at night. Rather, it’s the sales and profitability issue that makes them toss and turn.

For Radio’s digital initiatives to dramatically drive more cash to the bottom line, they simply need to be operated under the same strict financial, programming and operational pressures of their on-air brethren. It’s really that simple, and there’s no two ways about it.

TIP  #1: Web-training for upper management: Understanding new competition, compensation/hiring issues, rate card, forecasting/inventory yield management, overcoming common objections, managers lead by example (not from behind desk), leverage web to increase overall Radio share, take share from TV, Newspaper, and direct marketing budgets.

TIP  #2: Beware of web sales trainers that haven’t sold web in years. Would you ever hire an overweight, personal trainer to get in shape? Are you following consultants that sound really smart, ‘wow’ you with gee-wiz technology and talk of ‘extending your brand’ online? Ask them to help you craft a pitch, overcome some objections and close a deal. See how they do with that one.

TIP  #3: While research, analysis and classroom lecture is helpful, you need to put money on the books NOW. Be wary of those who will have you believe that expensive data & training will lead you to web profits. The smartest ideas & concepts are worthless, until they are successfully implemented in the field.

Internet business 101 for programming & marketing. When PD’s, DJ’s, marketing execs, & webmasters understand basic online sales models, they create more advertiser-friendly digital opportunities, while developing greater loyalty with listeners. Just as sellers are trained, these non-sales departments need to also be well-versed in digital media & online revenue models. Programming knows how we make money with on-air, now they need the same understanding of our online revenue strategy.

Let me tread here cautiously, since as a former on-air and programming guy, I understand that I could ruffle a few feathers with the following. There’s too much, inherent risk when programming and marketing departments have virtual free reign in managing the online effort. Understandably and with all due respect, sales and revenue isn’t the top priority at this point, for Radio’s creative crew. Their job is all about audience, and they execute on this with great skill. That being said……just as a GM wouldn’t allow DJ talent to pick their own music, or allow the PD to push all the stop sets till after midnight, the GM needs to ensure that business-focused web rules and standards are properly set and adhered to.

TIP: Provide non-sellers with relevant background and regular training in how local businesses are spending their web dollars, the emerging online competition to Radio, and what issues the station sales reps are encountering in the field.

Manage your online inventory like on-air Nobody sells your product & audience better than your own team. Like on-air, local and direct selling of web is preferred over allowing outside middlemen to re-sell or commoditize your unsold inventory. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, TV and Radio Tagged With: , , ,
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