"If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it."
Jonathan Winters 

In the old days, we hammered out spots that helped our clients "get their name out there." A good jock could "cut" a dozen spots after their airshift.

In the old days, we didn’t need "numbers", we sold with "relationships".

That’s no longer good enough. It’s now clear that growing your radio station’s revenue stream requires a better set of tools and working a little smarter.

Today, radio absolutely must offer highly targeted, multi-platform solutions for their clients. Yes, even in small markets. Campaigns must be made tangible by immediately creating revenue for the client. Copy should be researched to ensure that the message is consistent with the customer’s other branding efforts and at the same time, matched with your listeners’ interests.

Today, radio sellers still need to concentrate on building relationships with our clients but being in the Rotary with them or having a couple of drinks with them isn’t enough. Enduring business relationships are built by asking good questions, constantly researching the customer’s competitive landscape and providing real solutions with thoughtful copy and a targeted schedule. Radio’s reach remains unmatched but lousy creative or a poorly scheduled campaign can turn your customer’s branding investment into a charitable contribution just like that.

Understanding the radio audience in your market is a critical component of creating the successful campaign your customer expects and deserves. Credible audience measurement research is a necessary component in this process. Eastlan can provide widely accepted, actionable ratings information at a cost significantly less than either Arbitron or Nielsen.

One last point, in most markets, the Fall of 2010 will offer opportunity to capture significant revenue from political advertising budgets. If you can show research to the candidate that leads them to understand the strengths, not only of your radio stations, but of radio in your market as a whole, you should be able to pay for your new Eastlan Ratings investment in just one or two buys. Although tempting from an expense reduction standpoint, going without ratings just doesn’t make much sense in 2010.

So if your ship didn’t come in 2009, it’s time to swim out to it in 2010. Give us a call and we’ll help you with a better of set of tools.

Continued Success To You,