Marketing challenges

Build it and they will come. Or so the theory goes. That is, programme your station properly, build an audience and advertisers will be lining up at your door. Ah, if sales were only that easy. Marketing your property can be a complex process throughout which you can face a series of challenges. Let's take a look at just a few of them.

As with any endeavour, producing a great product is only part of the job. If that were enough in itself, there would be many more millionaires among us. Just think of the great artists whose careers went nowhere. Just think of the stations whose mangers spent so much of their energies refining a distinctive sound that they forgot to make money.

As much as I respect great programmers, I also have tremendous admiration for great sales and promotion people.

In retail sales, profile in the community is of primary importance. Heritage and a history of delivering success at the register can carry a station through periods of waning audience numbers. Making retail registers ring often requires something more innovative than reach plan spots alone. Remotes, on-air contests, fixed time features, creative calls to action and other products of fertile marketing minds are required. Another important factor is the retail client's faith in the station and its sales representative. If you can inspire that faith, the client might just give you enough leeway to get the job done properly. A good salesperson earns that trust by being there for the follow-up after the contract has been written. Obtaining the buy order is just the beginning of the job.

Keeping the client happy and willing to renew the order is essential. Remember, it is much easier to hold on to existing clients than to generate new ones.

For national or larger retail accounts, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sell bulk audience numbers. I have often said that GRP's or cost per point based on a broad demographic is a far from ideal way of marketing a targeted medium. Clients want an effective, cost efficient campaign directed at their customers. Radio can excel at this. BBM's single source qualitative data along with the recently released RTS data is an ideal, if some what underused, resource. Oddly enough, some reps and G.S.M.'s continue to manage inventory and offer pitches based solely on these demographics. Some actually provide resistance when asked to analyse the audience based on qualitative data. Why would anyone balk at providing targeted category audience information directly relevant to a prospective client? The very health of radio in the future demands that we use all of the tools at our disposal.

In some instances, stations have to convince advertisers of the value of its audience. For example, we can all site stations which are delivering remarkable shares against Adults 55+. They run into agencies or advertisers who almost hypnotically fixated on 25-54. Now the sales person has to sell not only his or her station, but the fact that seniors are viable consumers. This requires additional research and a great deal of sales savvy.

Syndicated properties are another prime example of good ideas not being enough in and of themselves. It seems like almost everyone has an idea for a good syndicated show.

That is the easy part. Getting a long-term sponsor and stations willing to barter airtime in return for the property is a daunting task. Now that the CRTC has erased all mosaic requirements, independent syndicators find themselves in an almost impossible position.

Of course major broadcasters can syndicate properties if they have a strong base comprised of their own stations. This makes sense in terms of cost savings, manpower and programming consistency.

When it comes to pricing sales inventory, sales managers face an ongoing conundrum.

Should outstanding volume and loyalty from a given client be rewarded with a preferential rate? Should the rate be the same for all customers? What increment should :60's command over :30's? How should radio be priced as compared to other mediums? Should rate be based on how well the advertiser's target group fits the station's audience profile? The latter, while being very reasonable, presents a dilemma. If a salesperson asks an advertiser about the target demographic for the sole purpose of setting a rate, he/she is instead setting up an almost confrontational relationship. Should a client reveal information which will be used primarily for charging that client a higher rate? Some salespeople feel they have a basic entitlement to the information. The key is using target information to assist the client in delivering its sales goals while achieving fair compensation for the station.

In the end, fine tuning a station's programming and building an audience results in a platform from which the sales and promotion people can work. Still, that platform is simply the first step in climbing the mountain.