From the Corner Office
This
Month's Topic:
Inventing The Future
Hello,
This month, I want to spend time reflecting on the future of Greater Media.
As we turn the page and begin 2007, I want to share some thoughts about our business and its future. We all know that the radio business is being challenged as never before to rethink and reinvent itself once again. These reinventions are not new to radio; the industry has reformed itself after the advent of television, and again during the FM revolution.
Now, we are challenged to remake ourselves in light of the interactive technology that has woven itself into our world. Every business, not just radio, is facing this same task. The internet has redefined the ways we acquire information, the way we shop, the way we communicate. We're in a great evolution from mass marketing to individualized, personalized and customized marketing. This is an exciting and challenging journey and one that we should approach with enthusiasm. Radio can and will be a part of this evolution, but it is on our shoulders to make that happen.
In the past three years, more that 100 million dollars of radio advertising revenue has disappeared from our Greater Media markets. These dollars, which were once used to fund ad messages to broad audiences, are being redeployed to the internet in more personal, one-to-one marketing efforts. Advertisers are rethinking their approach to media marketing and are questioning their media mix. They have every right to do so, as they look to maximize their return on their advertising investments.
Today, interactive advertising is growing in excess of 25% per year, while radio revenues have been flat to negative for the past three years. In the near future, the interactive world will be a larger, yet more diverse advertising medium than radio. What are we as an organization going to do to respond to this trend, and how do we intend to grow our business by satisfying our customer's needs?
I believe that radio is and always will be a local business. We have made our mark by reflecting the tastes, values and needs of our local communities. And we've made our revenues by making people aware of the local businesses and services in their city. The internet is a worldwide medium that is looking for local content and marketing to move people to websites, and to action. One of the inherent issues for the internet is that there are literally millions of destinations that any of us as users can access. How do we choose our preference? How does a specific website become our favorite?
This is where radio fits in. We are uniquely positioned to forge an integrated alliance between these two worlds and move our listeners to action. Radio advertising is more welcome and less cluttered to its users than television, cable or the internet. We have credibility that we can share and the trust of our listeners to provide advertising that is relevant to their lifestyle.
It is time for us to more clearly define our business. Greater Media's goal is to be not just a radio company, but to become an audio entertainment company for our listeners that provides marketing solutions (not just ads) delivered locally for our clients. To begin this evolution, we have established an Interactive unit within our company. This is a recognition that our local efforts, no matter how innovative or effective, need additional support and capacity. The goal of this group will be to help our stations provide relevant, effective and welcome solutions for our listeners and advertisers using both our broadcast and interactive capabilities. I believe that the fusion of these two technologies will help move us out of the shrinking spot ad commodity world and back to where we can do our best work: partnering with our clients to solve their business problems and needs.
As a wise man said, the best way to predict the future is to invent it. My objective is to make Greater Media an innovator in the digital world by building on the strong broadcast presence we have today. We are willing to try new things; we are willing to at times fail along the way, but we are committed to finding our way to the goal of providing valuable and accountable services to both our listeners and our advertisers.
It is our future, and we will embrace it.
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 January 2007