Yesterday, on radio’s trade website Radio Ink, I read about a major radio company investing in SIXTY creative writers for advertising development.
Is it Clear Channel? Nope.
Is it Cumulus? Nope.
I’ve written about terrestrial radio many times in this space, and I love it for our clients because it’s a brilliant storytelling medium that reaches an absurd amount of people for each dollar. Our clients invest millions of dollars with terrestrial radio stations across the US and Canada.
But I’m not paid by how much my clients spend in media. We don’t take a percentage of the ad buy.
Our salary depends on how much our clients grow, and the day terrestrial radio stops working for my clients is the day we take our millions of dollars somewhere else. If that means we take our budgets to Pandora because that helps our clients grow, then… well… we’ll miss our friends in radio very much.
And that troubles me… because I want terrestrial radio companies to be truly invested in the success of their clients, and that means good writers, good strategists, and good marketing consultants who can deliver solid counsel to their clients. I need there to be enough advertisers on the air to support the existence of these stations so my clients can continue to reach so many people so well with such strong messages.
In the comments at the conclusion of the short Radio Ink article, I posted this:
If this story isn’t printed and discussed in every sales and management meeting across the country, I’ll be very disappointed. You’re seeing the future of your industry unfold in front of your eyes. Are you going to participate… or hunker down and wait for things to go back to the good ole’ days? Let me know how that works out for you.
Radio Ink Executive Editor Ed Ryan and I have been talking about a series of webinars focused on helping sales teams become better consultants, strategists, and writers for their clients… for focusing on the client relationship after the sale is made. We both see volumes of sales training about how to get the client, but we’ve noticed very little training on how to keep the client.
Is that something that would interest you?
If you run a business, it should. Once you learn how to use radio and make it work, it can help grow your business by not just percentages but multiples.
If you work in radio, it should. Once you learn how to use radio and make it work, it can help grow your business by not just percentages but multiples, too.
Otherwise, the sand’s over there. Go ahead and bury your head in it.
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