Selling Radio

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

I bet you were lulled to sleep as a child with a great story told by your parents. Or maybe you now read and tell stories to your children.

As storytellers, we join a long line of people who have received acclaim from their tribes because of their ability to pass down tribal history through stories. They kept legends alive. They inspired new generations. Stories are golden!...

15 November 2020

It's Time To Set Goals for 2021

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

How clear is your crystal ball?

2021 is looming. It's time to set goals and expectations for the new year. It's always difficult to gaze into your crystal ball and project the next 12 months. You never know what will happen: take a look at 2020! Who would have ever anticipated the past few months? And yet, we need to establish revenue budgets so that we may create total station budgets....

01 November 2020

Holidays Are Just Around The Corner: Are you Ready?

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

Fourth quarter is underway in the U.S.!

Did you...

18 October 2020

Who is that masked salesperson?

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

Every time I park in front of a business and raise my mask to enter, I hearken back to every cops and robbers' movie I've ever seen. A few months ago, businesses had signs on their doors that said, "No one with a mask can come in." Now, no one without a mask may come in.

How times change!

What does having to wear a mask mean to our sales efforts? It...

04 October 2020

Sell Schedules Not Budgets

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

"Budgets" often don't allow for effective schedules

...

20 September 2020

How Many Ads Must I Run?

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

It's the age-old question

"How many ads must I run? How many week/months must my advertising schedule continue?"...

06 September 2020

Know Your Client's Business

It's not about us: It's about them!

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

We've been espousing this sentiment for years. And yet, how much do we really know about our clients' businesses? Not much. Not enough. Especially as we move through 2020.

This year has presented challenges to us and to our clients that were without precedent. Meeting those challenges has become a moving target...

16 August 2020

What are customers ready to do now?

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

Every week that passes sees another change in the mindset of consumers. COVID numbers continue to fluctuate, restrictions vary state to state, province to province, country to country. But stores are opening up, business is slowly returning to normal, and consumers are eager to shop.

SmithGeiger, a marketing and research consultancy, and its Elevate division...

02 August 2020

Doing Business in Two Worlds

Radio Sales Direct with Pat Bryson

What must businesses know moving forward?

...

19 July 2020

Customers are coming back! Great news for radio's advertising clients.

Radio Sales Direct with Pat Bryson

The last thirty days have seen a drastic shift in consumer mindset.

On June 1, Nielsen released a second review of U.S. consumer feelings about COVID-19 and what they intend to purchase. Their first study was done April 30 to May 2. The second was done May 27 to May 29.

In the first study at the end of April, 34% of those studied...

16 June 2020

What Does The Next Chapter Look Like?

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

COVID-19 has changed many things in the world. Some of the changes are temporary: some may be long-lasting. One thing is for certain: it has changed the way we must work with our clients.

For the past decade or so, industry experts have been urging us to be "consultant sellers", "marketing experts", to "sell campaigns not packages". And, they have been correct in mapping that direction for us. My...

07 June 2020

As businesses continue to re-open...

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

As businesses continue to reopen, our jobs as their media partners become more and more important. How may we best help them to recover from the results of COVID?

During the shutdown, businesses tended to fall into three categories:

1. Events that didn't happen. They were either cancelled or postponed.

2. Non essential...

31 May 2020

Growth Categories that are ready to advertise

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

As the world begins to open businesses, we must be on the forefront of calling on target categories of business. There are categories that saw gains during the COVID 19 crisis. Other categories will rebound as states open.

Our efforts should be to identify and create messages for these companies.

AnalyticOwl uses website traffic and other...

17 May 2020

The World is Opening. Now What?

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

Most states in the U.S. have begun to re-open businesses. Some other countries are doing the same. It may be a slow process, and it will vary state by state, country by country. It's important that we keep up-to-date on our local situations. It's important that we talk with our clients NOW about what the re-opening will mean for them. Each business may be different.

...

10 May 2020

The Anatomy of a Crisis

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

Where are we in the progression of the COVID-19 crisis?

Most US states started locking down cities in mid March. Some other countries began a month or so earlier. Are we in the middle? Toward the end? We are already hearing talk about reopening the country but no one knows how or when. Some states have already begun to open some businesses....

03 May 2020

Categories We Should Be Calling On Now

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

"In times of business interruption, business doesn't stop: normal business stops. We need to think outside of the box."

These words of wisdom were imparted to me several years ago by the gentleman who managed the I-Heart stations in New Orleans during Katrina. I've never forgotten his wise counsel.

Now, more than ever, we need...

19 April 2020

Radio Sales in the Time of Coronavirus - PART 3

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson.

I was participating in an idea exchange with broadcasters from across the US last week when one person shared with us that she had been getting the above objection to advertising now. That's why we should talk with our clients about what MESSAGE they wish to communicate with customers, not what they want to ADVERTISE.

We fully understand that no one wants to be seen as...

05 April 2020

Radio Sales in the Time of Coronavirus - PART 2

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

Our clients are asking themselves this question daily. As I mentioned in last week's post, there has been research done for 90 years in periods of economic interruption.

The conclusions are always the same:

1. Those companies who continue to advertise during difficult economic times weather the downturn better.

2. After the downturn ends...

29 March 2020

Radio Sales in the Time of Coronavirus

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

If you haven't already heard this from a client, you probably will soon: "I want to cancel my advertising because of coronavirus"

Any time a large outside influence threatens to affect business, many clients have a knee-jerk reaction to pull in their marketing efforts. They are anticipating a decline in business. Some of their fears may be real:...

16 March 2020

Our Brain on Radio

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

"I can't measure radio advertising." Ever heard that?

Radio results can be hard to trace because we reach consumers even when they don't know they are being reached. The messages filter into our brains, lodge in the appropriate "file drawer" and stay there until we need to retrieve the information. So, by that time, it's hard to attribute shopping at a particular...

01 March 2020