Nebraska Rural Radio Association scales third-party digital selling across markets
NRRA had never sold digital before Marketron NXT Digital. With training, a dedicated CDM and an easy platform, their sellers now upsell radio clients and win new digital business across all their markets.
Nebraska Rural Radio Association15 stations in Nebraska · Published November 28, 2022
No prior digital sales, and sellers needed training to meet advertiser demand.
Marketron NXT Digital with the Training Academy, Learning Center and a dedicated CDM.
Upsold radio clients, new digital customers and growing revenue.
The challenge
Expanding to third-party digital was necessary, but sellers needed digital training
Third-party digital isn’t something sellers can offer overnight. It requires training on the tactics, how to pitch them and how to execute them using a technology platform. NRRA had not sold digital prior to implementing NXT.
“We all had to learn third-party, how to sell it, determining the right marketing mix, order entry and creating the ads. The more we learned, the more we got comfortable,” sales manager Doug Southard said.
Their advertisers were eager to use cross-channel tactics. “We pride ourselves on having sales reps that connect with our clients and meet their advertising needs. We wanted to provide all the opportunities to help them,” Anthony Jacobsen explained.
The solution
Marketron resources and a dedicated CDM improve sellers’ digital knowledge
All the sales managers agreed that training on the tactics and the system was essential. Their resources include the NXT Training Academy, the Marketron Learning Center, Aspire sales enablement content, webinars and a dedicated client development manager (CDM).
“The Learning Center has excellent training videos and answers for everything. Our CDM has helped us grow our digital business much faster than if we were doing it on our own. They are part of our team,” Southard said.
Digital literacy for sellers has grown tremendously, and high performers have become coaches to others. “The biggest difference maker was our access to our CDM. If we have any questions, we contact her. We’ve made huge strides in a short time,” Judy Mauch explained.
NXT is more robust than other offerings. Once a sale is made, it’s much easier to get in the system and the campaign running. The analytics and stats are impressive, and anyone can run them for their customers.
The results
Third-party digital leads to profitable upsells and new deals
NRRA has been able to upsell existing clients and acquire new ones. “We’ve sold digital to existing customers with incremental ad investments. They are adding digital to their radio buys,” Southard commented.
A local bank with locations in three states made an initial digital investment of $40,000, and a local fair used a digital campaign to expand its reach and attract new crowds. In both cases, the advertisers view advertising as an investment, not an expense.
“We’ve got all the tools to do the job,” Jacobsen said.
- Radio clients upsold to digital
- New digital advertisers across markets
- Sellers confident recommending digital tactics
