The Radio Advertising Bureau mini-interview: Overcoming common objections when selling website inventory. Radio sales reps can immediately sell more interactive programs to their clients by following this simple plan:
Entries tagged as ‘clear channel’
Radio Website Sales: overcoming objections
November 21, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Categories: Traditional media
Tagged: cbs, clear channel, emmis, greater media, internet, mel taylor, Training, web revenue, web sales
Broadcaster Web Assessment…Questions
February 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Here are some questions that Radio broadcasters can ask themselves, when trying to assess their online revenue strategy.
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Is your corporate Interactive VP well versed in online sales & revenue models? Is this person primarily focused on building websites, driving user & streaming numbers…then just telling you to “go sell it”? Do you rely too much on low cpm, remnant ad networks?
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Are your websites advertiser friendly (IAB compliant), and can the advertiser have an impactful presence on your site? Are your sites offering behavioral, contextual, and/or geo-targeted capabilities?
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Do you ‘integrated programs’ provide quantifiable results for client? Or are you just throwing in some banner ads to a spot buy?
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Is your site search engine optimized? Are the individual pages/sections/content coded so that Google can find them? Are your sites using SEM, Social Networking, Blogging, RSS, and aggregator tactics to grow and leverage the audience?
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Are your websites user-friendly…. or is it a train wreck full of marketing and programming content? Is your site full of non-proprietary content that users can easily get on any other online properties? How much high value, advertiser friendly, proprietary content is actually on your site?
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Are you doing more than just selling banners and streaming spots? Do you know that video, search, email and directories are some of the fasting growing revenue streams in 2009 and beyond? Do you have a plan to go after these growing budgets? Are you thinking about building a local ad-network?
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Does each seller & manager have a mandatory Web budget, as well as penalties for not hitting it? Is your Web commission structure similar or better than your new biz commission? Are you sure the sales reps are not just moving spot dollars to the Web line?
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Can your sales staff comfortably sell Web and overcome common objections? Do you know what these common objections are?
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What kind of training are you providing to your staff? Is it ongoing? Is your staff being trained by someone with proven online sales experience? Does this trainer have a background in selling against Newspapers, search, & online-only businesses?
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Do your managers have strong grasp of Web, and the competitive online environment? If not, how will they effectively manage the effort? Is your Sales management team actively involved in providing some input about the sites layout, format, and strategy?
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Do you know what your local, online revenue share is? Do you know how to find this out? Do you know which advertiser categories spend the most online, in your market? Do you have a specific plan to go after them?
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Do you know what Broadcast, Newspaper and other sites are doing to take dollars from you? Do your reps know their clients online strategy& budgets, as well as their TOTAL marketing budget? How many of your clients are spending on Google or the local Newspaper site?
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Is it OK for your on-air staff to have their own websites, MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube channels? Do you include Web in talent contracts? Do you have a plan in place to monetize and encourage these efforts?
Categories: Traditional media
Tagged: cbs, clear channel, emmis, entercom, internet, Radio, sales, Training
More Local Advertisers Moving to Web
November 2, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Local advertisers want to buy Internet advertising, it’s obvious from the outstanding turn out we get for our “Web Advertising 101″ seminars. SEE PICS ABOVE. In every city we travel to, from Chicago to Orlando, small and mid size businesses are moving more of their marketing budgets over to the Internet. Once they get some some basic education, encouragement and proof that it will work, they starting making the move to web. An article in today’s New York Times highlights how some papers want to make sure they get their hands on those new web dollars.
Who will teach the local advertiser? Optimally, it should be the traditional reps from the local media company. They have the relationships, the trust, and the ear of the local advertiser. The challenge though, is that the traditional reps need a better understanding of how to effectively sell the benefits of the web, in a clear, simple way that the small business can grasp. That is not easy, especially when many traditional reps rely on the local “web expert” to help them through the sales call.
TIP: it’s not a good thing when a newspaper or TV rep responds to a client who wants web, and says…..”let me get my web guru in here to talk to you. I’m not too sure about this web thing”. This makes the traditional rep look out of touch and disconnected from the new world of advertising.
The race in on. Ad dollars are moving online, with TV, Radio and Newspapers ramping up their local sales efforts with varying degrees of success. The current soft economy only accelerates this process. The smart local properties (usually newspaper) understand they’re primarily competing with independent dot-com companies like Google, Shop Local, and other online media companies that have their eyes set on local ad dollars.
Few will profit, most will fail. In each market, only a very few Broadcast & Newspaper companies will turn an online profit. With outside ‘pure-plays’ taking about 50% of every dollar out of the market, the remaining ad dollars will be sucked up by the most aggressive, serious players. In most cases, it’s the local newspaper, and one (not all) of the local TV broadcasters.
EXAMPLE: Radio gets less than 2% of every online dollar spent in a market.Why? Radio has yet to put together a strong plan to play in this space. The chart below shows where local, online advertising dollars are spent. Ironically, Radio’s sales force and large listenership makes them well positioned to do well online. It’s just that the seasoned radio executives can’t run the web efforts in their spare time with little or no resources, training or assistance. Thus, Radio is stuck in the mud with driving web revenue.
Categories: Traditional media
Tagged: cbs, clear channel, newspaper, philly.com, Radio, sales training, tribune, web advertising
Separate Web Sales…Or Super Sellers ?
September 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Separate web & traditional sales force, or team of “super sellers”? It’s one of the biggest issues facing local Broadcast and Newspaper companies today. Some consultants suggest that hiring ‘web only’ sales staffs is the only way to guarantee web success. 
We tend to disagree for the following reasons, and offer a hybrid solution instead.
Buyers want audience, not just ‘Newspaper’ or “Web”. Having a separate web staff for your local media brand allows your traditional rep to distance themselves from the fastest growing part of your revenue model. It’s also in conflict with the true nature of the local media business, which is audience aggregation and advertising. It’s no longer just about Newspaper publishing or Broadcasting.
Local media will once again thrive, when it realizes that they are the premiere providers of access to a quality, local audience, using a variety of platforms; print, web, broadcast, mobile, etc.
Buyer “face time” limits. The media buyer relationship is one of traditional media’s most valuable assets. The traditional sellers will always get a chance to present the latest offering from their company. On the other hand, it’s very difficult for a new, or unknown rep or media property to get a chance to present to this same buyer. In addition, and from our experience, busy media buyers prefer to have one point of contact for each media property. It’s vital that the rep getting the face time, is knowledgeable in the entire product line.
Traditional sellers leaving Web dollars on table. In this tough ad environment, marketers are pulling back and re-allocating budgets. This makes it even more important to leverage each and every media buyer touch-point. Senior sales reps can no longer be given a ‘pass’ in regards to web sales; no matter how much traditional revenue they bring in. We understand that this can be a very touchy subject. With traditional reps having the best relationships with buyers, they need to be financially motivated (or penalized) when leveraging that relationship. It’s all about pulling maximum share from the buyer, whether it’s in the form of print, broadcast, web or promotional dollars.
Finding quality sellers. Where do you find sales reps for your online only team? If they’re good, they’re likely employed and won’t come cheap. Many are already working for a dot com or other online company. Your best sellers are already working for you. Train them to become super-sellers. They need to present all of the platforms that can help the client reach a desired audience.
Must leverage the traditional business. Competitors like Google, niche sites, directories and others, are looking to grow their local online share at the expense of Broadcast and Newspaper. Traditional media must leverage the assets that these players do not have at the local level: dominant reach, client relationships, sales force, marketing muscle, and a trusted brand.
Traditional media should employ the following web sales structure and strategy:
- Immediately and consistently train all traditional sellers. Transition them to “super sellers”. These reps will sell and confidently explain all advertising products and total audience reach. At the very least, these traditional sellers will be able to uncover web opportunities and comfortably provide general web and package info. They will be motivated to bring in the web specialist if necessary.
- Simultaneously, local media must build a staff of web specialists that are comfortable selling multi-platform. In the near term, these web/multi-platform specialists will:
> Target categories that do not get consistent attention
> Target new business
> Assist traditional sellers when needed - Compensation & job descriptions must be modified to reflect equal importance of Web & multi-platform sales. Driving web and multi-platform revenue will have the greatest chance of success, once management applies the same structure and rules as they do for the traditional business.
- Special web training for mid and top level managers. How can you manage what you don’t fully understand?
Categories: Traditional media
Tagged: advertising, cbs, clear channel, internet sales, newspaper sales, web sales
