The year began with careful optimism about increases in local media spending. Since then, multiple factors have kept these numbers from rising as expected. Entering the second part of the year, both radio OTA and radio digital are experiencing declines. It’s a challenging time for radio sales, but profitability doesn’t have to be elusive.
The modern radio station runs itself as a local media sales solution provider. Whatever goal the advertiser has, you can meet it with a mix of traditional and digital tactics in one campaign. The ability to build these integrated media plans, however, can be lacking, resulting in inefficiencies and thin margins.
The solution to these modern problems? Technology that connects and fosters a strong ecosystem, empowering sales.
Radio Sales Challenge 1: Digital Reluctance Leaves Money on the Table
Most radio stations across the U.S. are selling some type of digital advertising. It may be limited, but there’s no longer any argument for avoiding it as part of your offerings. While some may think that it’s not worth it because it has a lower margin than radio, or worry that it’s too complex to execute, failing to embrace it leaves money on the table.
You want to capture more of an advertiser’s budget, not less! If you don’t have digital to complement on-air spots, you could lose it all. These businesses may be more inclined to work with your competitors.
The good news is that digital advertising isn’t some big black box. Your sellers don’t need to know everything. They simply need to be able to assess what a company’s goals are and recommend a way to achieve them, using a blend of radio and digital.
Becoming an expert on suggesting requires a basic understanding of things like the sales funnel and how advertiser goals align. AEs don’t need a Ph.D. in digital. Instead, they need easy, accessible learning resources and access to people who are digital experts.
Sellers have great relationships with long-time clients, so it’s not a big risk to move digital into the conversation. These advertisers can start small to test things out. If the experience is good and the results are within their expectations, they’ll open their wallet more to you.
Radio Sales Challenge 2: AEs Don’t Have the Support to Be Digitally Confident
If reluctance is not an issue, there may still be obstacles ahead for your AEs. One of the biggest reasons why digital ad sales don’t take off is that salespeople don’t have the support they need.
Support has many avenues. It can be a commitment to training on digital sales and tactics. It can also show up as leadership setting specific budget targets for digital instead of grouping everything together.
One of the easiest ways to support AEs who are all-in on digital is to give them the tools they need. Technology that doesn’t fit radio sales processes or is overly complex undermines their enthusiasm. Before you put systems in place for AEs, you should ask them what would be ideal for them. Many would say that the new solution needs to be modern and integrated.
Radio Sales Challenge 3: Disconnected Systems Hamper Sellers
For those sales teams that are more mature in their digital sales operations, the biggest problem is usually technology that leaves them moving back and forth between systems. It adds hours to their week just to crank out proposals and enter orders.
AEs spend less time selling and more time working on admin tasks. It’s frustrating for everyone. It doesn’t have to be.
When you have a third-party digital platform that fully integrates with your traffic system, you can propose, order, report on and bill everything together. Instead of hours, proposals are ready in minutes.
With a user-friendly proposal tool, AEs can even build them in front of advertisers, allowing them to see the campaign as it’s being built, with all types of targeting options. The customer feels like they are part of the process, and salespeople aren’t “hiding” anything. It’s completely transparent, as they see exactly where their ad dollars are going.
Once a proposal receives approval, executing the radio and digital tactics requires only a few steps. This unified platform keeps providing modern solutions with reporting that’s easy to understand and always transparent. Campaign performance and telling the story of how tactics met advertiser goals are key to renewals. With this type of technology, AEs have the infrastructure to do this well.
Radio Sales Challenge 4: Payments Lag and Disrupt Cash Flow
The end part of radio sales is collecting on invoices. This can present new challenges, especially if stations still mail statements and collect checks.
Overwhelmingly, businesses want to pay electronically, but you may face snags here, too, if legacy technology can’t generate invoices with all the ad units.
The third part of your complete ecosystem to attach to traffic and digital is the payments piece. It should be a complete AR solution, including electronic invoices, payment processing, reconciliation, reporting, funding and tools for pre-payments and collections.
Making this part of your tech stack can help you realize many benefits. Days outstanding can decrease. You’ll save time and money from ditching paper processes, and all AR workflows will be more streamlined.
We’re Solving Radio Sales Challenges
We’ve been empowering the industry for over 50 years. The industry has evolved numerous times and reinvented itself, most recently by diversifying into digital. As radio has changed, so have we, building technology that works now and for the future.
Explore our solutions today, custom-made for radio sales!
