Radio's Digital Divide

 

The word "digital" remains on everyone's lips, and radio's struggle to get more of it is increasing as we see more and more advertisers jumping ship for digital strategies elsewhere. It's a fact few stations want to admit -- and one that is perplexing to most, because their radio stations have digital offerings. So why are advertisers chasing digital solutions elsewhere?

I've immersed myself in the digital space. I attend multiple conferences annually outside of our own industry in the digital and digital marketing spaces, just so I can offer solutions to radio.

Though a few smart broadcasters are working on some very exciting and robust digital products, I daresay that most of us are living somewhere in the 1990s when it comes to our "exciting" digital offers to advertisers.

At a conference I recently attended, I met three people in their late 20s or early 30s who are making millions of dollars online. These young millionaires are taking common products, developing marketing strategies, and employing very exciting digital technology. And what I find particularly interesting is that it's all invisible. In other words, no one who hasn't opted into one of their campaigns ever sees what they're doing.

You won't find their offerings on any website, yet their automated campaigns find customers in the middle of the night and through the day, and walk those customers through a process until they buy. If they don't buy, it walks them through a different process until they will buy something the campaign has to offer.

I watched a young entrepreneur create a complete campaign onstage in less than an hour, and by the end of that hour it had generated orders.

If I had to suggest reasons some of us in radio are lagging, I believe it boils down to a lack of digital leadership (translation: a lack of understanding by those who lead), a belief that we are still in the radio business, and a lack of digital natives on our sales staffs.

Though a few exceptions can be found, most people managing radio stations are not digital natives, and they don't think of or relate to digital in the same way as those who were raised with it. We're still using e-mail and Facebook, thinking we're cutting-edge. My kids won't use either because they are so dated. We may know the principles of great radio and selling, but we don't have a real grasp of the digital world. The reality is that most of us don't know what we don't know. I still see dropped jaws when we expose people to new things at our Convergence conference.

The problem is exacerbated because we don't have digital natives selling our digital products. Most of the people I know selling digital also don't know what they don't know, and most of us, no matter how hard we try to be current, can't really get there -- simply because we grew up differently and have one foot in the old world and one in the new. Digital natives look at me like I have three eyes when I tell them I still sell ads in a print publication (even though revenues and readership there remain strong).

Our focus on selling radio, or on selling the "digital alternatives" we offer on our websites, is admirable, but compared to the metrics and deliverables others are offering the same clients, we look pretty, well, antiquated. Today all media are in the business of delivering customers or sales, and most have figured out that the media we started with is simply one of the tools we offer. Most media companies have tremendous digital depth today -- why doesn't radio?

Is there a solution?

The first answer lies in our leadership. You as a leader need to do everything possible to understand what you don't understand -- and that means you need to find out exactly what you don't understand.

Yes, you're busy meeting goals and managing. But that's the pickle you're in. Media has changed, and you must re-educate yourself.

Second, having non-digital natives selling or developing our digital offerings isn't the optimal solution in most cases. Find and hire some very young people who've never used a CD player and maybe don't even listen to radio (a sacrilege, I know) and have them be your digital eyes and ears. They will challenge your digital products, know how to communicate them to potential buyers, and make you stronger overall. You may have to give them sales training, but if your products are solid, these sellers will resonate more with potential clients.

Third, you need to get pitched by every digital product your advertisers are buying. You can find out who's out there by asking a client close to you who they are using. You'll never discover it on your own because most of those "campaigns" are invisible unless you're being targeted.There is probably much out there you're not aware of.

Last, remember that your job should not be to sell radio, or sell banner ads on your website. Your job is to make your clients rich. Though radio, banner ads, and whatever else you have to offer will help, your goal should be understanding what those young millionaires know, and how they are engaging audiences under the radar. There is no reason you can't develop a program under the radar that generates huge digital revenue. I've done it in my company. No one sees it, but it's there, and it's making money.

Most of us who are at this game need to sharpen our tools and discover what we need to understand -- to learn something different from what we're doing. We came in only needing to know radio. That has changed, and it's not changing back.

 

 

Comments

[Mel Taylor]

Line that sums it all up..... "remember that your job should not be to sell radio, or sell banner ads on your website. Your job is to make your clients rich"

[doug]

Max Planck the founder of quantum theory said this about scientific revolutions:

"A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

Probably the same could be said about broadcast and digital.

[Tracy Ellis]

I never comment on things like this, but I felt very compelled to recognize this very insightful post. Your leadership on this topic Eric is incredible! I don't always agree with everything you write, but I've always believed that you are nothing short of a prophet when it comes to digital. I so hope everone in radio will soon undetstand why your message can no longer be ignored. Now is the time to act, we can't wait any longer!

[Rod Schwartz]

I'm guessing that many radio veterans would agree with Michael's first comment:

"Radio still has the huge audience, still owns local, still owns the infrastructure for creating local content, still has the organization to sell it. We have time and listener habit on our side, at least for a while."

This past Monday, Roy H. Williams quantified what "at least for a while" might look like:

"We’re approaching the end of a golden time when courageous advertisers can invest money in mass media and see their businesses grow as a result. My suspicion is that we’ve got perhaps 5 to 7 more years before retail businesses and service businesses will be forced to begin playing by a whole new set of rules. No one yet knows what those new rules might be, but this we do know: the sharply rising costs of digital advertising are not being offset by a rise in efficiency."

His advice to advertisers: "Buy mass media while the masses can still be reached."

You're a great cheerleader for radio, Eric, and a thoughtful critic as well. Undoubtedly many broadcasters would love to learn in detail about the "under the radar" programs to which you've been exposed, and in fact implemented in your own business(es), to generate significant digital revenue. Will you be sharing the nuts and bolts of these at your next Convergence conference, or some other way?

We don't know what we don't know. If you're able to teach us the specifics, we'd be crazy not to listen.

[Michael S. Ameigh]

Spot on. But, we need to keep perspective. Radio still has the huge audience, still owns local, still owns the infrastructure for creating local content, still has the organization to sell it. We have time and listener habit on our side, at least for a while.
In our market Pandora is picking off advertisers drawn to hyper-specific targeting, the response to which clients can follow in real time. Very compelling, fairly priced, and Pandora reaches 'digital natives' who don't know a radio from a hand-set telephone. Unfortunately radio has stripped down to being primarily distribution with very little meaningful, nonderivative content production.
In my industry, public radio, very few stations produce compelling content. Produce content or die at the hands of those who do. Podcasting alone is one of the most exhilarating opportunities for radio I have witnessed in 40 years in the business.
Eric is correct. This is happening mostly in the shadows. Turn on some light and get in the game.

[Matt Wagner]

Thanks for the article Eric. As an agency that works with over 500 radio and TV stations, the question we consistently ask them when they pitch digital to us is 'can you show me someone who has gotten rich from digital advertising'. We love innovative ideas, but radio stations in general, unfortunately come off worse than multi-level marketers who hide digital revenue inside low spot rate high frequency packages that have an overall investment that is not broken down. I've asked a few times why big companies like IHeart, Cumulus, and Townsquare (who want 60% of their revenue to eventually be digital) etc expect us as advertisers to invest into their digital platforms when they can't offer any proven money making solutions and why they can't invest $50-100,000 into someone who can clearly lead that category for them instead of leaving it up to AE's to beg and plead their advertisers to give them money toward digital.

I would LOVE to dig in deeper on the strategies that those companies you alluded to, that can help my clients who spent over $12,000,000 last year on radio and TV to find innovative ways to use this platform.

MW