Moneyball: New Tools to Build Station Revenue

• NuVoodoo’s fearless leader, Carolyn Gilbert spent the week with radio/digital sellers at the annual Radio Sales Summit in Cincinnati, so she’s got the writing credit his week:

We heard a lot about the challenges radio sellers face on a day-to-day basis. We heard about the ways AI is being used for radio sales right now. Pierre Bouvard shared research about the impact of great creative on sales.

For our part, we had the opportunity to present results from two studies we conducted. And these results told a story that all salespeople will want to tell.

> Radio listeners are engaged – in their communities, in activities, in life.

> Radio listeners – and heavy listeners especially – are more likely to respond to advertising as a way to learn about new products and services.

> Radio listeners are more educated – and make more money – than those who do not listen to the radio.

> And radio listeners over-index in purchase intent for all 30 Home Improvement sub-categories and all 26 (consumer) Financial Services categories we researched.

A national study of over 1600 18-64 adults told us this. An additional 529 adults in the Dallas/Ft. Worth MSA confirmed it – and allowed us to show how local sellers can use these results to generate greater revenue. As an example, the chart below from the national studies shows how radio users (and heavy radio users) over-index for both incomes over $100K and college degrees – especially when compared to those who don’t use radio.

Programmers know that understanding the audience and delivering what that audience wants is a pathway to better ratings. They – and we – do research that has proven it for generations. Ratings are one tool in the toolbox for radio sellers. But as confidence in the ratings wanes, sellers need better tools in their toolboxes: tools that are reliable and consistent.

Every salesperson knows that the best way to begin a relationship is by understanding the client and their problems. And every salesperson wants to be the one who is offering the best and most creative solutions. Having information about your clients’ clients – the folks who ring THEIR cash registers – is more precious than gold. It can get you into that hard-to-open door. And as your relationship develops, providing useful and ongoing information to your client only enhances their – and YOUR – pathway to success.

Think about it. Is it worth a $5,000 investment to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue? As we remain stuck in the single-digit share of advertising spend – when we KNOW we generate results – does it not make sense to invest a little more to get a lot more?

Slapping a ratings book down in front of a client doesn’t do much for that client.

Understanding that client’s customer, sharing ways to reach new customers, generating information that your client can use, while building an actionable campaign to reach their customers is the stuff that 5- and-6-digit commissions are made of.

If you’re a programmer reading this, please pass this on to your DOS or GM. After all, their success is your success. Greater revenue means more budget to make better programming to generate higher listener engagement … which leads to even greater revenue.

Our full presentation is available here: https://nuvoodoo.com/consumer-insights/

And for information on generating true insights into your paying clients’ true interests, write to tellmemore@nuvoodoo.com. It’ time radio gets its TRUE share of the advertising pie.