I guess sometimes it just doesn’t matter.  You don’t have to be good.  Especially if you are employed by a national news organization.

Take news “pundits.”  They pontificate as they interpret the news and no one fact checks them.

Sometimes they even get it wrong.  Check out CNN  and Fox News mistakes on initial Supreme Court ruling on health care law.

Sports ‘expert” are even worse.  Here is the line of correct answers and incorrect for CBS on-line gurus in picking each week’s NFL games.

Predicting NFL games is tough but come on 31  and 46? How does he keep his job?

Granted if a major league baseball player succeeds 33% of the time, he ends up in the Hall Of Fame.  His job is magnified every day as well by media.

Are you succeeding 33% of the time?  probably not.  Like predicting NFL scores being successful is tough.  But you keep on picking.  Sometimes it’s luck, sometimes it’s genius but usually it always includes hard work.

Well the future of Radio sounds good.

Last week’s conclave of industry leaders gave some glowing assessments of the next ten years of Radio with a few cautionary tales.

First the good news, many broadcasters are sharing positive turns in their business.  Secondly, research contends that consumers continue to rely on Radio day-to-day and that in fact those that are streaming or listening to non traditional radio like Pandora actually have turned to those audio sources IN ADDITION to their Radio listening.  In other words at the expense of other media NOT at the expense of AM/FM radio listening.

There does however remain a couple of challenges and of course opportunities.

The music license fee debate rages and continues to concern all parties.  Both sides have respectable arguments and cooler heads should prevail.  Already record labels and some of the country’s largest owners have come to terms in what could be the new business model going forward.  Clear Channel and now Cumulus have agreements with an independent record label in Nashville called Big Machine. This development is being watched by all as a harbinger of future label agreements.  Most broadcasters are simply trying to keep the argument off the floor of Congress.

The pure plays like Pandora are also in the heat of this as their cost to bring one song to one listener is very cost prohibitive at this time and I do not see the artists changing that agreement which apparently runs through 2015.  Until then (and Pandora has enough of Wall Street Money to last till then) Pandora has time to figure out how to monetize their fledgling content.

The second challenge is of course the car dashboard.  Numerous automakers have focused (Ford Focus pun unintended) on the car’s dashboard as an information hub.  Cars will and are already being equipped with latest technology including internet sources like Tune In Radio, Spotify and I am sure your own cloud of music.  How Radio responds to this challenge/opportunity remains to be seen.

The biggest opportunity clearly is FM tuners in cell phones.  Mobile is the thing. How great would it be if you could get your favorite FM station on your cell phone without using bandwidth?  The technology exists.  In fact it’s already in your phone.  So the carrier’s just have to turn it on but they will not do it unless you the consumer asked them or better yet demands it.  When that happens, as it has in most developed countries,  the value of a FM broadcast tower will soar.

So you see things are bright.  I’m thrilled to be in Radio

We tend to get distracted.  It’s hard not to.  The survey group who studies these things, Yankelovich, projected in 2002 that a typical American consumer was inundated with 2000 commercial announcements a day. Today they estimate 5000.

We don’t even know anymore how distracted we’ve become.  We get busy but we think we are not being distracted.

Humans CAN NOT multitask.  When a computer multitasks, it is actually doing two things at once.  It may be downloading wedding pictures in one program while you are typing a blog post. But you my friend are only typing.  You can not concentrate on anything else.

Time management gurus used to suggest you plan your day with blocks of time to do certain things.  This was because there was certain times in the day that you had to do certain things.  Like you could really only call people during business hours while you were in the office.  You couldn’t even use driving time to make calls.

That has pretty much changed since you can communicate 24/7.  But the truth is you should still plan your day by hours.  You should still allow certain distractions only at certain times.  I am not saying its easy but you will find yourself more productive.

I tend to think no one is as good as me at answering emails and talking on the phone at the same time.  Yea right. My secret is out.  Now when I do talk on the phone, I try, try, try not to peek.  I tend to do a better job listening to the person on the phone as a result.

I think its funny when I am on a conference call and after the call, I will check emails and I will have had an email from one of the attendees sent during the conference call.

Oh yea we had their undivided attention. Just ask them. Then again it might take a second to get an answer.

The headline above is just to help the search engines find us because this is a nice success story.

Farmers Insurance and their agents in Arkansas have teamed up with StateNets to provide an Arkansas High School Team of The Week.

This season long promotion will bring  attention to schools throughout the state who will be highlighted on over 50 radio stations plus a website filled with information on Arkansas High School Football.

Each agent is getting rotating ads on website as well as local tags on radio stations.

Connecting to Community It’s what we do at StateNets.

Last week, leaders and members of audio distribution companies of all kinds convened in Dallas for what amounted to a positive forward-looking conference for the Radio and curated audio industries.

There appears to be an unlikely merging of combatants as internet delivered streaming services or ‘pure plays’ like Pandora sat side by side with the old guard of Radio broadcasters.

In fact at the RAIN (Radio And Internet Newsletter) Summit held the day before the RAB kicked off their annual conclave called the NAB Radio Show, Pandora’s Tim Westergren was seen sitting quietly in a conference attendee’s chair.  The mood was extremely upbeat as many speakers spoke of the return of audio to the forefront of consumer’s attention.

Video has had their hey day on the internet and now it is the audio producers turn.

There was a lot of highlights and speakers ranged from small market broadcasters making nearly a quarter of their revenue from digital initiatives to one of the leaders of the entire entertainment industry CBS’ Les Moonves.

Throw in Geraldo Rivera and Dave Ramsey and you get three educational days that will go a long way to shaping the Radio/Audio industry.

I will use this blog to highlight many of the headlines of the show which include:

-A look at how music songwriters and their appropriate licensing fees will shape the future of audio distribution.

-The FM chip in cell phones it’s a matter of time and money

-How is radio responding to the digital challenge

-News is back

-Sound Cloud- Is it audio’s answer to YouTube?

How do you generate a lot of Facebook likes?

Kinda like how you might build a friendship.

Its takes a big time commitment and a plan.  Clients wishing to incur immediate response to a campaign and improve their Facebook likes by running a few ads on the Radio are missing the mark.  Building a businesses takes time.  Generating consumer reaction to events, programs, contests or offers is a process.  Facebook ‘likes’ grow organically but not at light speed.  A funny cat picture might get a bunch of likes or thumbs up reviews but it’s not a sustaining strategy for a marketers well being.  They must speak to their tribe in their language as a friend.  I remember hearing once that selling something on Facebook is like trying to sell something to your friends at a bar.  They might listen for a minute but then for some reason you are no longer invited out to the bar with them. Right?

Retailers, bars, restaurants and service providers who treat digital media like Amway are going to be ignored by most.  Those who use such media to communicate with insight and speak to the tribe will be enduring.  Think of the person who you do want to go to the bar with. They are fun, enlightening funny and knowledgeable.  They communicate with you in a highly connected way.

What do yo think you client would say to you if you simply used that analogy?  Might they start to pay attention to the rest of your sales presentation?

Radio sellers must accept that things have changed.  People’s media habits have been altered forever.  I was at a seminar recently with a leading internet personality, which is a term that needs further discussion in another time, he gets thousands of entries to his on-line contests.  He was asked what he thinks about the internet as an advertising medium by one of the audience members.  He stopped and thought almost in shock that such a question could still be asked.

He responded, “Uh well It’s here. And it’s not going anywhere.”

In other words Radio “Man Up” and accept.  It can not be denied. It can not be shrugged off just because you don’t understand it or you don’t use it or you ignore its impact or you are yep in denial.

Clearly by now most Radio sellers no longer fall into that categorical denial but rather or in the OK so What do I do about it phase.  The best of them are now asking “How can I harness the reality of an encroaching medium and perhaps even use it to my advantage?”

Well this answer takes two forms: One of course is how you as a seller can use the internet resources for your professional improvement. You know things like Linked in etc.

But I’d rather concentrate on the how can one use the internet to help their clients?  Interesting question isn’t it.  You first must accept that your client is in the same boat as you. Uncertain, confused and time impoverished.  He or she needs answers as well.  The question is will you provide insight or obnoxiousness.  Do you think your potential clients have not heard all that PR BS about Radio reach?

Time to change up the messaging and have it be insightful.

Help your clients by presenting success stories of how other marketers nationally and locally have used the COMBINATION of digital and Radio. Help them construct a marketing plan that yes MUST include some digital components and guess what it doesn’t have to be YOUR digital assets even if your bosses says it does. If you lead your clients down the right road they will return time and time again.

comp

Numerous one sheeters are produced that preach the gospel of Radio’s continued strength as a media of consumption. Reams of paper are routinely wasted by Radio sellers that preach the latest statistics from industry funded sources about the medium’s sustained impact on consumers.

These statistics are just that- statistics.  They are important only so far as that we have a response to some of the doom-saying prophecies about the medium.  The industry generated research is important to fend off charges of Radio’s demise certainly, but what really needs to happen at every level of Radio is a belief in the stats and then an important switch to the How and not the why.

Most sellers promote the Why Radio presentations. Using statements like “use Radio because we reach 98% of the population. “ Or “use our Radio station because it is ranked number 1 in all dayparts.”  These are self-centered statements that are truly meaningless to the buying public.

If we would switch our positioning statements to How to use Radio at every level we may see an improved financial picture for our industry. Teach your client’s HOW to use our medium in this challenging climate and they will become long term clients who continue to renew because it works.  Don’t just take an order.  Help them buy you right.

More on that to come.

Sometimes the best things in life are free.  In fact this week it’s a free webinar.

There might be no better way for you to spend your lunch hour on Wednesday than hearing from the author of The Challenger Sale.

Matt Dixon is conducting a rare on line seminar on “creating disruptive insights and revealing unknown customer needs.” Dixon is co-author of the most important book written on sales in the last 10 years- The Challenger Sale.

He basically spends his day consulting Fortune 1000 companies and multimillion dollar enterprises on improving their sales team’s performance in this new world of commerce.

He is a genius. Your time will be well spent.  Trust me it will be better than Facebook.

The seminar is Wednesday 12 September 2012 at 11.00am (EDT)

Here’s the link.

Has anyone seen my blog?

Yea its been awhile since I have made an entry which speaks to a lot of things.

First it’s a busy world we live in. Time acts like water and seeks its own level.

We supposedly can multitask in an effort to save time.  We can talk and email at the same time. From Anywhere.  Yep even in the bathroom. So if you, in fact, can take care of business from anywhere and at anytime why don’t we have enough time?

I guess becasue you fill those gaps in time with more things to do.

Which brings me to this blog.  It’s not easy being a blogger.  So don’t get mad at me.

I’ll try to pick it up again and hopefully provide insight from time to time that makes this brief interlude of your time worth your attention.  In the meantime trust me I have new found appreciation for those that are consistent in their blogs and contributions to society through consistent writing.  It’s not easy.

It’s like getting mad at referees and then actually be asked to officiate a game yourself.  You learn to appreciate how hard it is.