If you work in Radio and you have not read this shame on you.

Eight reasons to be happy and working in the media industry in 2012

Thanks to Daniel Anstandig for sharing.

Here’s reason Number 7

We have more marketing options and capabilities to service our clients than ever before. Most radio and TV stations are so much more than :30/:60 second marketing clearinghouses. Today, creative local marketers can use radio and TV to achieve reach, digital media to achieve engagement, events to create experiences, and database/social marketing to maintain a direct relationship with customers. The smartest people in our industry are creating wealth by creating results for clients on and off the air.

For 20 years Arbitron and Edison have combined together to conduct a survey of people and their audio listening habits.

Here are the latest results from study released last week.

The study once again reinforces the importance of local AM/FM radio in the lives of Americans:
 93% of persons 12+ listen to radio every week – over 241 million people
 The majority of at-work radio listeners (68%) tune in on a regular radio, while 18% listen online and 13% on a smartphone; 1% don’t know
 Heavy radio users (12+ who listen 3+ hours daily) spend 6 hours and 16 minutes per day tuned in
 The “average” 12+ radio listener tunes in 2 hours 7 minutes per day. Interestingly, heavy users of TV and the Internet spend approximately “average” amounts of time listening to radio:
o Heavy TV users (5+ hours daily TV viewing) spend 1 hour 56 minutes daily with radio
o Heavy Internet users (4+ hours daily online) spend 2 hours 14 minutes daily with radio
 Digital device users are slightly more likely to have listened to AM/FM radio in the past week (indexed against AM/FM radio listening at 100)
o Smartphone owners index at 103 for weekly AM/FM radio listening
o Portable MP3 player owners index at 104 for weekly AM/FM radio listening
o Tablet owners index at 105 for weekly AM/FM radio listening
Online radio (AM/FM streams or Internet-only pure-play) listening is growing:
 39% of persons 12+ or 103 million have listened to online radio in the past month, up from 34% in 2011 and from 21% in 2008 (12% in 2002)
 29% of persons 12+ or 76 million have listened to online radio in the past week, up from 22% in 2011 and from 13% in 2008 (6% in 2002)
 Weekly online radio listeners (AM/FM and/or pure-play) report listening nearly 10 hours per week (9 hours 46 minutes), up from 9 hours 17 minutes last year and 6 hours 13 minutes in 2008
 2012 time spent per user with online radio is more than twice time spent with online video at 9 hours 46 minutes and 4 hours 20 minutes respectively
 Online listening doesn’t preclude tune-in to over-the-air AM/FM
o 87% of weekly online listeners tuned in to over-the-air AM/Fm in the last week
o 13% listened exclusively to online radio (no AM/FM)
 Pandora showed growth over 2011 reach:
o 22% of 12+ listened last month, compared to 16% in 2011
o 16% listened last week, versus 10% in 2011
 17% of cellphone owners have ever listened to online radio in their cars by listening to the stream from a cellphone connected to a car stereo, up from 11% in 2011 and 6% in 2010

Hmm… This might be interesting.

A  Dallas-based company is petitioning the FCC to approve its new targeting technology.  Their Zonecasting system “combines radio, cellular, GPS and mobile broadband technology to enable FM broadcasters to divide their programming into several different geographic zones.”

Geo Broadcast Solutions CEO Peter Handy says “Our technology will create an environment that will open up commercial availability to tens of thousands of new radio advertisers on an annual basis.”

The promise is “affordable commercials that super-serve specific selling areas.”

Instagram has no revenue, no known revenue sources and 12 employees. Facebook just paid $1B for it?

Today C-Net said “It seems like almost immediately after news broke of Instagram getting gobbled up by Facebook, the hip photo-based social app became just a little less cool. Droves of Instagram users cried bloody murder, and many went on the hunt for a new photo app to crown the coolest.”

How is one supposed to compete in a world like this?

Keep you head to the ground, remember what you are doing is truthful and valuable and you may not make a billion but you will be worth it inside.

Dunkin Donuts took an innovative approach to a recent Radio campaign in South Korea.

As their ads aired on the city’s bus systems a scent of coffee was sent through the bus.

the special technology releases coffee aroma via sound recognition technology.

The aroma has reinforced the sensory connection and experience of the Dunkin’ Donuts brand, and has boosted in-store traffic in South Korea. The number of visitors to the Dunkin’ Donuts stores increasing by 16 percent and sales going up 29 percent.

Thinking about redesigning your media kit or sales material?

Looking for something that is eye appealing and sells a bunch of your product?  Chances are what you design will be put on a shelf and rarely used by the sales people.

Why is that?

Watch this and you will understand how to make your marketing presentations more appealing to your sellers and in turn more productive for your company.

Today a simple excerpt from The Challenger Sale by Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson

“Conventional wisdom has long held that selling is about relationships and that in complex sales, relationships are the underpinning of all sales success. Yet over the last ten
years there have been some disturbing hints that relationship-based
selling may be less effective than it used to be. My own studies of what
customers value from salespeople would be a good example. When we
asked 1,100 customers what they valued in salespeople, we were surprised
at how few times they mentioned relationships. It seems that the
old advice, “Build relationships first and then sales will follow,” no longer
holds true. That’s not to say that relationships are unimportant. I
think a better explanation is that the relationship and the purchasing
decision have become decoupled. Today you’ll often hear customers say,
“I have a great relationship with this sales rep but I buy from her competition
because they provide better value.”

Personally, I believe that a customer relationship is the result and not the cause of successful selling. It is a reward that the salesperson earns by creating customer value. If
you help customers think differently and bring them new ideas—which
is what the Challenger rep does—then you earn the right to a relationship.”

Thanks Matt and Adam.

I couldn’t have said it better myself so I didn’t even try.

Jeff Haley did not know a lot about Radio five years ago when he was introduced as President/CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).  He probably knows more than most now.

Jeff was a true breath of fresh air in an industry that desperately needed it. He had  a strong media background and brought some challenging ideas to our stagnant industry. He met a lot of resistance as well.  Not a lot of Radio companies made a lot of money during Jeff’s reign and unfortunately that will be held against him. I believe, without him, it would have been calamitous.

The RAB is a tough gig. There are thousands of small station owners and a small group of companies that own thousands of stations. Often times the cultures, objectives and strategies conflict.  It’s hard to know what is right for the industry, especially one with huge economic issues.

Jeff decided to focus on the revenue part.  He believed if major advertisers were courted and provided insight into the medium’s value and presented effective strategies, all of Radio would benefit.  The legacy of new clients and those that returned to Radio during Jeff’s tenure is long. It did not however, make up for what the industry lost in automotive and other categories.  Hardly, Haley’s fault.

It’s kinda like the bailouts.  Did they prevent a disaster?  I personally know of a few national advertising managers who have changed their perspectives on Radio because of the work of  Haley and his fine national marketing team.  Did they focus too much on this aspect and neglect others?  I don’t think they had any choice nor the budget to do anything else.

It was a masterful job and Haley inspired a skeleton crew to perform at peak levels.

RAB member services have never been better and the staff is half of what Haley inherited.

The RAB Show survived and improved under extremely adverse economic conditions.

The RAB’s exclusive Account Manager (a custom CRM tool) is a gift to any member who is wise enough to use it.

The RAB has embraced previously dismissed partners like The Wizard of Ads’ Roy H. Williams and as a result he has contributed greatly to the improved state of Radio creative.

I was with Jeff Haley once when our guest asked him if he planned on being with the RAB forever.  He said, “No. Just until this important transition job is done.”

It has been done well. Thanks Jeff.

Well I am glad you asked.

According to the Media Information Bureau, news on the Radio attracts individuals with serious money to spend. It’s not the biggest population pool out there, but it is significant and its members carry some weight. They skew male, old, professional and well-to-do. There is a lot of value to sell.

This is a good format to access business owners and professional/managerial types. Earning power is excellent, more than $10K annually per household above the national norm. It also is a Radio haven for the retired as well as the Rural Lifestlyer.

And because newscasts are engaging, listener attentive programming, advertising placed in Newscasts are particularly effective, and BIGinsight data confirms that belief. Grocery, home improvement, and restaurant are three categories that do particularly well. Oh, and so does automotive. News fans will also go online for more research in response to a radio ad.

The relationship between client and advertising agency used to be much like it is depicted in “Mad Men.” Strong client relationships often times forged over good creative or good cocktails. All deployments of the marketing and advertising plan were handled by that same agency.  Companies had AOR or Agency of Record contracts and agreements and every one of them was full service.

That is changing.

Matt Nelson blogs for Fast Company and he recently intoned, “In the post-digital age, everyone’s roles are blurred and traditional agency conventions are being challenged to keep pace with ever-changing client demands.”

I tend to blog a great deal about change in the agency buyer’s world and Nelson supports this when he says, “We are witnessing a complete social transformation. The entire industry has been flipped on its head.”

Have you tried to look at your world while standing on your head?