Is 2008 Going To Become "The Good Ole' Days"?

Nov 15, 2008 by Mark Maier

Paul Jacobs at Jacobs Media provided another real gem as a post of theirs really does a great job outlining the need to change the current business model or die.

"I was at a family function a few months ago talking to a relative who owns a small fence-building business.  He knew I'm in media, and had a few questions about advertising on the Internet.  Knowing that he has only two employees, I immediately assumed that electronic media was out of the question.  So I asked him what his annual budget was, and he said, "Well, I spend close to $50,000 a year in the Yellow Pages and it isn't working any more."  He was searching for a place to put his money and had no clue where to put it.

Think about it - here's an extremely small business and he's got that kind of budget!  Thinking as a radio sales guy, I started considering about how the industry could tap into a small business like his, and millions of similar businesses.  Certainly not via the traditional "commercial" sales model, but this does open up the possibility for a completely new sales platform utilizing a station's web site and other digital activities."

Paul states that broadcast media has the sales platform, we have some of the digital applications, but now we need to change our business models and maybe learn something from print who is establishing web only sales teams and starting to use telemarketers to start the sales process with clients like the fencing business above.  Is it easy for clients to know what they are buying online? What they can expect in Return on Investment? Do our sites have all the tools and solutions available? 

The New York Times article referenced by Paul states that Internet-Only focussed sales staff is making a lot of sense:

"Newspapers, especially local ones, did not emphasize Internet-only sales in recent years. Instead, the sales forces sold print ads and threw in Internet ad campaigns for those print advertisers. Print advertising at newspapers was down 16 percent in the second quarter, according to the Newspaper Association of America. When print sales decline and the ads are bundled, online sales decline.

Scripps, where online revenue dropped 8 percent in the second quarter, has begun overhauling the way it sells local ads.

At Scripps, about 10 percent of the advertising revenue comes from the Internet. Of that, 68 percent is tied to print ads, said Mark Contreras, the senior vice president for newspapers.

The revenue from online advertising that is tethered to print is down about 17 percent this year compared with last, Mr. Contreras said. The online-only revenue is up almost 30 percent.

So Mr. Contreras is reshuffling ad commission plans at Scripps. Currently, 95 percent of his sales employees? bonuses is based on print sales, he said, and he will lower that to 70 percent by raising commissions for online ads. He is also adding sales staff who sell only online ads.

He is even trying telemarketing, setting up a call center where representatives will call small businesses in Scripps markets."

There are lessons to learn here: Telemarketing, Online-only Sales Staff, No Bundling of Broadcast/Interactive Media. Now let's go put it to use.

To read the post from Jacobs Media Click Here
To read the New York Times Article Click Here

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