From the Corner Office
This
Month's Topic:
What's Wrong with Radio
Hello Everyone,
One of the best and most uplifting events I've participated in was the RAB convention in Dallas in February. I continue to appreciate the positive outlook that the conference had, with very encouraging remarks by Jeff Haley, David Rehr and many of the speakers about our industry. You certainly wouldn't think that this is the same radio industry that has taken so many body blows in the past two years. What I took away from those few days was the recognition that in our business today, we have people with ideas, people with energy, and people with determination to make a difference. It was invigorating!
However, as I get the first quarter reports from our markets, I continue to be baffled by how radio spends more time attacking its market competitors than trying to build the case for the true value of the medium. I know I've addressed this topic previously, but I have to share with you how perplexing it is to encounter people who continue to put their heads in the sand. We appear to have a vocal minority in radio who believe that change is not survivable; that if tomorrow isn't just like last week, something bad is going to happen. I see just the opposite: because our business is so rapidly changing, it is presenting opportunities for innovation that we've never seen before! Here are just a few:
Electronic Measurement: We are on the verge of knowing - not theorizing - about our listeners' behavior. That will allow us to put to rest age-old arguments and move forward to show advertisers the level of accountability and precision that they've been clamoring for. Yes, it will take a while to get used to new numbers from a new methodology, but radio will be able to show our clients success stories like never before.
The myth of satellite radio: is showing cracks. More and more people, including advertisers and Wall Street, are realizing that satellite radio will never be a viable alternative to local radio. I was honored to be asked by the NAB to publicly add my voice to this discussion. Merger or not, the satellite operators are having to grapple with their unrealistic business model.
Interactive media: We now have concrete research that shows that radio combined with internet applications can produce a far more compelling result for advertisers than simply putting a message out on the internet. If you haven't read "Radio and the Internet: Powerful Complements for Advertisers", the new study from the Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab, do so today. Then, share it with your advertisers; it's a guidebook to the next generation of radio advertising innovation. No other medium does "local" as well as radio; that's why it complements the web's world-wide presence so effectively.
Integrated Marketing Solutions: I've spent most of my career selling radio, and never before have I seen the quantity and quality of tools available to salespeople to bring to bear on advertisers' business problems. On-air, off-air, database, website and interactive tools are multiplying as fast as creative people can make up new solutions. This is a burst of incredible creativity, and is just now being taken to the marketplace to work on behalf of our advertisers. The days of an on-air schedule and a remote dressed up as the answer to a client's needs are well behind us. Radio salespeople can bring more sophisticated, pinpoint targeted solutions to market than ever before. Couple that with the fact that more and more, advertisers are specifically asking for idea-driven solutions from us, and you have the foundation for a new business relationship of much more value than ever before.
In light of all these new and effective solutions that are in our control, I find it inexcusable that radio stations and clusters are still discounting for share. Some operators are so mired in the past that they believe a cheaper spot rate and valued-added are the only way to protect their revenues. These are the same sellers who spend most of their time in front of the client denigrating their competitors and throwing mud on the other radio initiatives in order to make their own weak efforts seem adequate.
The time has come for all of us to call out these lame practitioners of knee-jerk selling and demand that they get on the bus, and start to sell not only the benefits of their radio stations, but the benefits of the medium overall. Many operators end up driving down and ultimately settling on rates instead of providing marketing solutions for our clients - which is what they really want. Win or lose on a given piece of business, we are still all representatives of the radio industry, and when we negative-sell or panic-discount our value, we do long term damage to the value of our livelihood. These are bad genetic traits that have to be rooted out of our industry's mindset.
You know that old saying that, "if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem"? Nobody's going to hand radio a blueprint for success; we have to forge it ourselves. Is it hard work? Yes, but it's exciting, inventive, creative work. And as always, we're bound only by the limits of our own ingenuity and creativity.
By the way, let me answer the question I posed in the title of this column, What's wrong with radio? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Please feel free to e-mail me by clicking on the "Ask Peter" icon posted below. I would love to hear your feedback or answer any questions you may have.
Best regards,
Peter April 2007