Forward and Backward

As fast as radio is changing, moving forward into new areas of influence, that's how fast it's leaving behind the old way of creating radio commercials. WE see that-- yet many who are in management positions right now don't. With so many managers coming from the sales end of the business, the old ways are not going to die any time soon.

I recently did an ad for a small market station back east. Solid ad, one that would accomplish the client's goal, entertain and work well as a sustainable campaign-- plus, it could be done without taxing the station's talent pool. What I get back from the salesperson is an email stating the following:

"My sales manager wants to go in another direction. How about two women talking, and one says this and the other says that and---"

So it ends up that, the 'other direction' of two women (chosen because the target is, of course, women) becomes an exchange of information about the clients copy points, all while pretending to take place at the client's location. The idea is something straight out of 1955, and the choice of two women taxes the station talent pool to the effect that one of the voices will undoubtedly be a secretary or someone similar doing a favor on their lunch break. This, I might ad, is not the first time this manager has decided on 'going in a different direction' and moved backwards.

Can we please stop this nonsense? Now.

One of the KEY REASONS WHY RADIO IS IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE, is because our commercial air sound is atrocious at the local level. It's time for management to understand that, BECAUSE of all the cuts on the creative side in favor of nicer balance sheets, local air sound suffered. In good times it meant nothing----now, it reveals a huge flaw----because no client loyalty was ever created. With no way to quantify results, clients have now left in droves, and our industry has been eliminated from many budgets.

The industry is changing, almost daily---creative has to change with it. It's time for management to lead, follow, or get out of the way. Outsource your creative needs to people who understand it and can offer you fresh ways of engendering client loyalty again. Old, worn out, 1955 commercial ideas no longer apply. Go forward, or risk falling further behind.

On D'Mand

What is On D'Mand?

A revolution in creative.
Totally cool.
An unmatched sales tool.
The end of your competition, as you know it.

On D'Mand lets you close business in one day, in one meeting. That's because BENMAR On D'mand allows BENMARadio to be part of your sales meeting through the internet, so you create your client's commercial right there, with their input. It takes two minutes or less to get it started. From there, you use the BENMAR netbook, and watch as BENMARadio creates an agency quality commercial ONLINE, in front of you and your client.

That's cool, but not cool enough. So once we finish the first draft of the commercial,then turn the keyboard over to your client. Remember, we're in Denver, you and your cliwent are wherever. Yet now, we're working in real time to create your client's spot. They type, make their suggestions, to which we guide them with creative consultation, then finish the ad and get them to sign off. If it's not too involved, we will have it produced and ready, FOR AIR, by the end of your business day.

Close business in one day. Period.

On D'Mand comes with a free netbook and free 30 day trial.

It's a revolution in creative.
It's totally cool.
It's an unmatched sales tool.
It's the end of your competition, as you know it.

It's time. Join the revolution.

I'm going to change the way you sell radio

Starting January 1, BENMARadio changes everything. I'll blog more later about it.

Pay attention

I work with a lot of you who like to play the grays.

You know who you are-- you're in a small or medium/small market who thinks they're way off the radar screen and your client wants to use "Legs" by ZZ Top as their music bed and you send me info asking me to incorporate it and I tell you it's copyright infringement and if you do it, you're going to get busted big time and you 'yes' me to death, then get strong armed by the client and go do it anyway. So--outside of that being one of the longest run-on sentences I've ever written (and I've written a few), here's a lesson.

Taylor Swift (yes, THAT Taylor Swift) and her legal team just busted an Idaho sports bar for playing her music wihtout paying royalites. Now, for what was probably just a stupid oversight, this small bar in IDAHO will pony up thousands between lawyers, licenses and royalties due. What does THAT have to do with YOU...?

Well, there is a very limited saense of humor in the entertainment capitals these days with regard to piracy and the unauthorized use of music and other copyrighted materials. So-- if the powers that be are willing to bust a small Idaho sports bar for playing music without paying royalties, you may not be as far off the radar screen as you think you are.

Simple advice--- if you THINK there's a copyright issue you're probably right. And don't fool yourself into believing you're too small, the flight is too short, or it just doesn't matter. It does---the entertainment biz is paying attention. Don't give them a reason to jack you when you can easily avoid it.

Five basic truths for November

Each month, we'll discuss 5 basic truths about radio, designed to help you get more out of your industry, and your career.

TRUTH NUMBER ONE---The sky is not falling

Contrary to everyone's belief, radio is far from dead. Watch what happens this fourth quarter. I'm predicting stronger than expected retail sales figures, which will leave retailers hoping to capitalize on some of that momentum in first quarter. Be ready with good rates and quality pitches---think out of the box. You will be able to make some headway in 1Q 2010.

TRUTH NUMBER TWO---Clients are tired of blending in

The reason so many are turning towards new media is because it offers exciting new ideas and challenges, something corporate radio long ago gave up due to their huge personnel cuts and lack of creative messages. Want to grab your clients back? Give them (and your listeners) something worth listening to again. Let's get creative and give them things the new media can't.

TRUTH NUMBER THREE---Retailers know they need radio

It's just that right now, everyone is petrified. Credit is tight, sales are down-- reserves are dwindling and those businesses that are surviving are doing it because they're leaner than they've been in years. Yet retailers know radio's value-- what you have to do is show them, directly, how the money they spend with you comes back 10, 20, even 30 fold. Talk to us-- we know how to help.

TRUTH NUMBER FOUR---Clients love traffic builders

Come up with a creative new contest (we have lots of great ideas). Tie a couple of different retailers together and come up with a great payoff for listeners. Get your sudience involved again--clients love to see and touch the listeners when they show up-- and it always adds to the luster of what you do.

TRUTH NUMBER FIVE---Sex doesn't sell anymore

In fact, it's reached a point where people ignore the double entendres and bathroom humor. Write creatively-- life is full of humorous situations that don't involve body parts or functions. Stretch your boundries-- the listeners will notice, and respond.

Time to retire Santa ( sort of)

Unless you have a new take on the Santa Claus story, stay away from Santa based commercials. Why..? Unless it's a new idea or angle (Santa shaves his beard and head because he loses a bet), listeners have heard it before. That causes branding confusion and tune out. Better to come up with a new angle on holiday spots ( Rudolph, corporate take over of North Pole), then to keep blasting the same old ideas over and over. It's why listeners aren't listening anymore.

Let me translate that into language the corporate suits who run the sales departments will understand :

Santa is on the downside. No positive energy or spin.

If we're going to make radio vibrant again, let's start with vibrant new ideas, not just beating the old ones to death. We can help. Really.

We got our wish

I was just doing a spot for a station rep who explained that a 20 donut hole was going to be filled by the client doing a personal read. When I asked whether they'd be coming down to the studio to cut it and what kind of read they were, the rep just said, 'they have a computer, a microphone and a small home recording program. They'll do it at home, mp3 it to us, and we'll sweeten it here.' While the technology and simplicity is truly amazing, I got a slight pang of sorrow. Here's why.

Used to be, that being 'on the air' was a big deal. Maybe not to us-- after a while radio pros get jaded about the mystique. However, to the 'civilians' (the listeners), whether we knew it or not, there was a magic to being on the air.

At one time, we treated it that way too. We used to hire professionals to do the shows, not just anyone off the street. People who were callers one week, never became show hosts the next. Plus, if a client wanted to voice their own spot, they would come to the station, and a producer would monitor the spots. It was special.

Along came corporate radio with sweeping changes, including an attitude that was all business, very little entertainment, and all about the bottom line. Now, anyone could be on air--and certainly, if a client wanted to, they could just phone in their read. They never had to see the station. What that meant was, we showed everyone the man behind the curtain-- and the magic disappeared.

Today, for about $500, anyone can have a home studio and, in fact, run their own show on the internet. We got our wish-- we demystified the business, making it pedestrian and ordinary. We showed the world that anyone could be on the air-- that it didn't take skill, experience, talent or even the ability to communicate clearly. The audience and the clients got the message.

We got our wish--- radio today is easy and impersonal. However, the magic is gone. Our loss.

There are times when it's not your fault---but there are times....

Sure, clients can be ball busters. They can exist just to bust your chops, because their feeling is, if they make it too easy on you, you won't be earning your money. These guys come along once in a while and really make life challenging.

But sometimes, it IS your fault. You get sloppy. You get careless. You fall back into old habits because they're easy. Many times when we have to redo a spot three, four and five times, it's because the client is being difficult or just plain surly. But there are times when you just forget the dates and times on a personal event or you don't focus your client and instead, take their laundry list of items back to be crafted into a commercial. Even worse-- you provide your creative team with a website and nothing more than the words, 'take a look and see what you can use.' Or you just don't want to press the client because you're afraid you'll lose the buy.

Never lose control of your client, especially when the creative process is about to happen. Make sure you are clear as to what they expect to happen and what their major problem to be solved is. Most clients are confused by the process of advertising to begin with. They don't know what they can't use all of that 30 or 60 seconds to tell the world everything they need them to about their business. It's your job to stay in control, keep them focused.

There's a fine line between just existing in this business and true financial success. Step over the line--- stay in control. Become a success story.

HOW RADIO BECOMES RELEVANT AGAIN

Face it---unless there's news unfolding, or some jock just got into hot water for pulling a moron stunt like running naked through the White House lawn yelling "Obama's my guy..!", radio doesn't make an impact. Seriously--- when did you last talk about your favorite radio show or personality on a daily basis?

Worse, when did you actually talk about a radio ad?

The time has come for radio execs--- all of you suits, corporate and local-- to understand that the 90's are OVER. O-V-E-R. The corporate radio model so successful for 15 years is now as dead as Michael Jackson.

Point? Unless you make some serious investment inside your building, you are going to become a trivia question.

So, I'm a solution guy---- and my solution is simple.

HIRE.

Spend money on your air sound, that thing you've gutted like a trout for 15 years. You said it didn't matter---NOW, IT MATTERS.

Rebuild brand loyalty (sound familiar?). Doesn't it make sense that pounding the call letters and your station slug into the brains of listeners 100 times an hour means nothing if YOU GIVE THEM NO REASON TO LISTEN?

OK, so start by hiring creative on air talent and TURNING THEM LOOSE--- though make sure they know there ARE at least SOME guildelines (refer to the White House thing mentioned above. Might be a funny idea in the staff room after a few energy drinks, but it doesn't play on Main Street).

Hire quality, trained copywriters, then marry them to production directors who can create images people actually TALK ABOUT instead of tune out.

Investing in your product doesn't mean making podcasts available for download. How lame is that-- a generation briought up on i-pod's doesn't want music YOUR way--they want it THEIR way. BUT--- if you ENTERTAIN again, that generation will tune in.

That's what we've forgotten how to do. So the message today is the same one you provide your clients with--- INVEST in your product. Build brand loyalty by giving your listeners something to listen to again. The results will save our industry. Stay the course, and we become as irrelevant as a newspaper.

Challenge your clients

It's an old trick---but it always gets a foot in the door.

Retailers and businesspeople say they don't want to advertise or radio doesn't work or name your excuse here. So challenge them-- after all, if they're not going to listen anyway, at least you might get some of them to think.

The set up happens something like this after you've been told they won't/can't/shouldn't advertise:

You say, 'Okay. Tell you what--- I'd like to do something for you because I like you and want to see your business succeed. So I'm going to put a schedule on the air for you free of charge. Fifteen spots, three days.'

This intrigues many. They listen.

'I'm going to create a spot that tells the listener you're giving away $100 bills each day to the first 50 people through your doors.'

At this point, they either throw you out or engage you (and my friend always lived by the theory that until they call security, it's all negotiation). 'Don't DO that..!', they roar. 'I can't afford to pay all those people..!'. At which point, it either hits them-- or it doesn't. All those people, all from radio, all because of a compelling message delivered in a direct, timely and compelling way.

Think about it. Radio STILL has the advantage--- let's press it. All in.

What's a good spot worth

It's budget time, which means time for the annual dance for dollars.

In the overall picture, we cost less than one-half of 1% of a client's budget----read that as less than .5%---yet many are emphatic that by eliminating creative support, it helps their bottom line. Yeah. Right. And by not refilling my car, I'm saving money on gas (even if I go nowhere).

Yet, cluster after cluster continues to cut creative--- cut voices, cut production pros, copy, air talent---and all because 99% of management comes from the sales side of radio. That means most really aren't sure what creative does, so they're perfectly satisfied with cutting more and doling out the responsibilities to salespeople, interns and on air. So the question today is, what's a good spot worth?

When the creative team targets the client properly, when production creates the sound, when the flight is right and the client is successful, what's that worth to a radio station? The fact is, more station revenues are down-- a direct result of years of not being able to prove to clients the dollar value radio delivers (how much the client makes from people responding to their ads), and thus, minimizing client loyalty needed to get through tough times.When mediocre spots leave clients without ways to quantify their media buy, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sure, anyone can 'write' an ad, but poorly written and executed ads mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses for a radio cluster. And yet, management doesn't look at it that way.

Make a note---- sales people are at their best when they're selling, not writing. An air staff is at it's best when it's entertaining, not writing and producing. And a station works best when it invests in it's product, bringing clients more success and thus, reasons to return. THAT'S what a good spot is worth.

'Hear' your spots, don't just read them

Today, I get a note from an A/E that their G/M didn’t like the negativity of one of the lines we used. In fact, they just didn’t like the whole concept so they asked if we can do it again.

After almost 100,000 scripts, rewrites are never an issue. It just amazes me how people with little to no creative experience are willing to dismiss and judge the creative just based on one or two of their own reads. Listen up---we work in an AUDIO medium. Our product is creating sounds that get attention—how then can you read copy and determine it’s too negative if you haven’t heard it in the context of how it's supposed to sound? How do you know if you don’t like a concept if you don’t hear it?

If you’re ever having trouble ‘hearing’ a spot, ask for a scratch read from your writers or production team. Even ask THEM for a dry read. It's good for your client, good for you. Or maybe you guys have some other suggestions you use to help make the spot come alive before it’s produced. Love to hear them..

Greetings

Ok so this being the first blog , it's a chance to kick the tires a little. Who am I..? Why does what I think or say matter? Well, it's simple-----it matters because since creating the exclusive Customer First System with Greg Bennett in 1992, I've made millions of dollars for radio stations all over the world in almost 100,000 original scripts. Right, almost 100,000.

I'll talk radio here but not general bitching and bellyaching. I'll have tips and ideas-- and you'll like it because I approach radio upside-down. We at BENMARadio don't just think out of the box-- we break the box open. We offer new ideas about copy and production, how to handle clients, how to use your creative to make money-- even how to control your clients better so they're not causing issues with your creative process.

Welcome to the BENMARadio rants. You're going to love what we do.