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Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast: Michael Hill, Managing Director of Radioplayer Worldwide

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Radioplayer Canada recently celebrated its second anniversary of streaming Canadian radio stations to millions of listeners each week.

On this episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast, Broadcast Dialogue Publisher, Momentum Media Marketing President & Founder – Shawn Smith in conversation with Michael Hill, managing director of Radioplayer Worldwide, on the rise of radio streaming, the future of the in-dash radio experience and the challenges of smart speaker adoption.

Momentum Media Marketing, Broadcast Dialogue’s parent company, is the designated management company for Radioplayer Canada.

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Shawn Smith is the Valuegraphics Ambassador to the Broadcast Media Sector

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Shawn Smith from Broadcast Dialogue and Momentum Media Marketing knows a thing or two about the media. We sat down to talk about how leveraging what radio and TV stations know about demographics with some new understanding of audience values might just be the answer broadcasters are looking for.

One of the most effective ways for Valuegraphics to bust into various industry segments is by teaming up with legends like Shawn Smith. You see, Shawn is incredibly well-known and respected in the broadcast media industry. There’s hardly a radio station or TV network that he hasn’t visited, and very few executives in the broadcast vertical who don’t know his name. All of which means I don’t need to spend the next ten years trying to convince the broadcast industry that Valuegraphics is worthwhile, because they believe what Shawn has to say.

He started out as an on-air personality, which is apparent by how skillfully he directs the conversation in this video podcast. He keeps me from what I like to call ‘my quirky rambling’ – a tendency I have to keep talking about whichever squirrel darts across my line of sight in the tangled forest that is my mind. My video team is well aware of how hard it is to edit out a 30 second sound bite when I don’t take a breath for four or five minutes at a time. I need to work on this. This paragraph has become a perfect case in point.

Back on track here, Shawn asks me a lot of very smart and leading questions about how an over-reliance on demographics in a post-demographic world might not be the best strategy for broadcast radio and TV stations looking to grow and thrive. And it’s true. Imagine how tough it must be for a group of people at a radio station like WKRP in Cincinnati (cough cough ) to sit around and figure out how to program the station for 18-24 year olds, when 18-24 year olds don’t resemble each other anymore. On the business side of the broadcast industry, the advertising media buyers that are the revenue lifeblood of any broadcast enterprise are still calling up and asking for an 18-24 year old demographic, despite the widespread assumption that nobody really acts their age anymore.

It’s a very large, very expensive game of chicken being played here: the media people want to buy demographically because the broadcast industry is programming demographically because the media buyers want to buy demographically. Someone needs to blink at some point, as using age and other traditional demographics to define audience behavior becomes less and less reliable with every passing year. Of that we are certain: we have 100,000+ surveys to prove it.

Valuegraphics offers a solution. A Valuegraphics Profile for an audience layers on top of the demographics for any station, which means it’s easier to determine programming choices. It also means it’s easier for media buyers to see how the listeners they are chasing on behalf of a client are best influenced, and to bring that intelligence back to the folks who craft the campaigns that run on the air.

It’s ironic that this sector of the economy is responsible for telling so many breaking news stories, but is so traditionally constructed that it’s very tough to break the pattern of demographic expectations. But Shawn Smith is just the man for that job. We’re very proud that he represents Valuegraphics in this dynamic and thriving industry sector.

For anyone who makes a living on the strength of their creative ideas, Valuegraphics is a game changer.

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What Is Inbound Marketing?

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For more than a century, marketing and advertising have been defined by interruptive marketing techniques such as print, radio, and television commercials, cold-calling, sales flyers, and telemarketing.

However, a new era is upon us where the populace is consuming media on their own terms, eschewing commercials, initiating their own search, and embracing social discovery of the products and services they need and want.

It’s no surprise then that marketers are left wondering why it’s getting harder to sell!

Inbound marketing is based on the concept of earning the attention of prospects, making yourself easy to be found, and drawing customers to your website by producing content customers value. These blogs, audio, video, eBooks, eNewsletters, white papers, SEO articles, social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing are considered inbound marketing.

Therefore, the process of Inbound Marketing facilitates and hastens client discovery of your offerings, increases web traffic, generates leads, facilitates sales conversations, and builds loyalty with consumers.

1. Generate more traffic
2. Turn visitors into leads
3. Convert leads to sales
4. Turn customers into repeat higher margin customers
5. Analyze, refine, and repeat

Inbound marketing is especially effective for those businesses with long research cycles and knowledge-based products. In these areas prospects are more likely to get informed and hire those who demonstrate expertise.

In the words of an accomplished marketing professional and new client who found Momentum as a result of our own inbound marketing techniques…
“I need to know enough to know who to hire to get the job done.”

Inbound Marketing will allow you to out maneuver your competition, and be regarded as the expert in your field at the moment of interest.

Let’s Talk Inbound Marketing

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What is a Digital Strategy?

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A well-conceived and properly developed digital strategy is absolutely critical to most every successful marketing plan. When executed, it will leverage all your internet, social, and content marketing initiatives in a way that will generate leads and result in new revenue incredibly fast.

Every business is different. The only common denominator is that all business –regardless of industry – is evolving at an exponential rate. For this reason, it is critical that marketers access the best expertise available to design and create an effective ecosystem that is optimized to deliver the desired results.

The digital ecosystem schematic will illustrate how internet traffic (demand) will be generated and how it is commandeered and routed between web site, blog, audio, video, ebooks, eNewsletters, as well as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social sharing platforms.

All internet marketing, social media, and content initiatives must facilitate discovery and inspire social sharing across all appropriate platforms. All content should be shaped specifically for the venue in which it is deployed. And above all, clear rules of engagement must be implemented to avoid public relations disasters.

When working with a good digital agency, it’s not necessary that you have all the answers. Your digital experts will guide you through the process and begin delivering results your business needs and deserves.

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How Associations Can Harness The Power Of Social

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Associations, whether national, regional, or local, are essentially communities. They are comprised of groups of tribes or individuals who are united by shared goals, interests, or preferences. Associations are, by their very nature, social.

This presents a unique and especially prescient opportunity for associations to leverage the power of new social communication, marketing, and media techniques to achieve their goals like never before. Whether they are professional, charitable, trade, political, cultural, or otherwise, associations may need to fulfill multiple mandates: advocacy, awareness, fund raising, education, communicating, lobbying, among others.

Chances are your association’s key initiatives include:

• Communicating with members
• Demonstrating value to the membership
• Advocating on behalf of consumers at large

What Social Can Do

Utilizing social marketing can open a community of engaged advocates, both members and non-members, who are willing to share your message across their respective social networks, generate awareness, and solidify your associations mandate with the public at large. However your association will have to engage with those advocates and leverage the power of social channels effectively. Here’s how.

Three Key Factors In Harnessing Social Channels

1. Be In The Community

Your association needs to be an active participant on all of the obvious networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. This means you need to go where your members are, and they are everywhere.

2. You Need A Plan

Simply signing up for an account on any given social platform does not mean your association has fulfilled its obligation. Social connections via your chosen networks are not obligations but opportunities to engage directly with your members. This direct connection requires a clear plan with regard to infrastructure, integration, and most importantly a set rules of engagement policy. There is nothing more important than a planned and coordinated process for responding to negative comments.

3. Content

Well-crafted and professionally produced text, audio, and video that clearly communicate your organization’s message are core to a great content marketing strategy. Content is the essential asset that will drive readers to your association via online and mobile. Since many associations are in the enviable position of having a business model based on providing information to their members, the raw materials for stellar content is often at their fingertips. Niche by definition, associations that create well crafted, shareable, and SEO friendly content can effectively push their message online.

Harness The Power Of Social Channels

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How to Develop a B2B Content Strategy

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Today’s consumers are like proverbial husbands who refuse to pull over and ask for directions. Folks simply want the instant satisfaction of finding their own way to their destination. Your business is the destination. But can you be found?

This phenomenon has put huge marketing emphasis on the notion of discovery. It’s all the more important because consumers are also increasingly eschewing interruption marketing. No wonder 40% of marketing dollars have been shifted to inbound marketing techniques.

It’s critical that marketers embrace content initiatives and blend them with traditional methods. It’s not a question of whether to move in this direction. It’s a matter of survival.

Getting Started With Creative Content Marketing

1. Get Clear About Your Goals

What do you want to happen as a result of mobilizing a content initiative? Do you need to build awareness for your organization? Are you educating consumers? Or do you want to sell a product or service? If the latter, do you want to incorporate a lead generation component that will deliver prospects into your deal funnel? Setting crystal clear goals will best inform your content strategy.

2. Assess Internal Sources for Content

Most businesses don’t think like media companies unless there is a printing press in the basement or an antenna on the roof. Oftentimes, marketers are surprised to find great raw material sources within the organization. Take inventory. Do you produce or commission proprietary research or industry data? Who within your company has specific expertise, industry cache, or public speaking ability and can they serve as a thought leader for your efforts? These assets are often found right under your nose.

3. Identify External Content Sources

Feeding the content machine requires ready access to external raw material. Assess what is already available from industry associations, co-owned companies, partner organizations, even trade media or publications.

4. Get Help From Content Creation Experts

A medical professional would not all of a sudden feel the need to fix their own car. Likewise a licensed mechanic would never offer a triple bypass with an oil change. Executing a creative content strategy depends on your ability to create engaging, compelling, SEO-optimized… even entertaining content on a regular basis. It’s essential to call on experienced media people who are also marketers in order to deploy content that delivers on all of the above.

5. Develop a Plan and Execute

More than article marketing, web content, or public relations, your content marketing strategy will need to be a highly integrated series of blog posts, audio podcasts, video, white papers, and ebooks – the ultimate mix, of course, will depend on the particular goals of your organization.

Get Started With Content Marketing

A stellar content strategy will flow directly from your goals and will take into consideration all the obstacles that face your business as well as capitalize on specific opportunities in your sector. An optimized approach will facilitate discovery on the part of consumers and imbue your business with credibility as a thought leader in your field.

Businesses that employ inbound marketing and content creation initiatives find it much easier to attract pre-qualified prospects that are predisposed to buy. Finally, as any sales professional will tell you, once value has been established price becomes a secondary or even a non-issue.

Let’s Develop A Content Strategy

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Is Your Business About To Get Disrupted?

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And you just don’t see it coming?

The evidence is all around us. The “era of disruption” has arrived. Is your business about to get disrupted?

Change Agents

Apple disrupted the music industry with the invention of the iPod and iTunes store. Amazon disrupted the book business. Legal Zoom disrupted the legal services business. Netflix disrupted the video business. And so on. And so on.

Indeed, disruption is all around us, hiding, lurking, ready to devour its next victim whole – that is, if the inattentive remain unaware.

The velocity of change in consumer consumption is driving evolution in every sector. And, forgive the platitude, but change does indeed breed opportunity.

As a marketing strategist and founder of a technology-driven hybrid-marketing agency, I find our best clients come to us when they begin to feel the very real pain these changes bring on. They see the writing on the wall, they recognize they need to change their perspective on their business, and they are motivated to look at new opportunities through a whole new prism and move forward. That means harnessing the powers of disruption for good, and disrupting their own undertaking before their competition does.

Often our first step is to undertake a comprehensive top-to-bottom brand review. We guide the client through a careful review of all the benefits that their product or service delivers to their customers. Then we ask them what additional services or products they should be delivering in response to specific targeted customer research results. Finally we brainstorm about what they “could” do for customers to solve their needs in a whole new way. Every idea goes on the table – the good, the bad, and downright ugly.

The especially important question we then ask of the client is: What “could” you do for the customers that your competitors simply cannot do because of cost, infrastructure, technology, corporate policy, or just plain lack of imagination.

We invite members from all the functional areas and all levels from within the organization to participate. It is surprising where the best game-changing ideas often come from.

Often, the most simple, revolutionary, and truly disruptive idea is often first met with an overwhelming chorus of “We can’t do that! It’s never been done before.” However, when prompted to view it from the customer’s perspective and assuming all things are equal, the team begins to see the light.

However the road from idea to implementation is often a rocky one and inevitably the business owner must summon the guts, gumption and green to make it happen. But when truly disruptive methods find their mark, competitors are often too far behind the game, too stuck in “that’s-the-way-it’s-always-been” to react before it’s too late. In the meantime, the disruptor has won customer after customer and deal after deal, sometimes recreating the business model within the category.

An example of disruption in practice can be found in the telecom business in our own city of Vancouver. Like most large cities, the local legacy cable company, whom we’ll call “Company A” offers a bundled service of cable television, internet, and home phone delivered via co-axial cable, at a price point of approximately $150 per month. The customer of Company A is responsible for purchasing their own HD receiver/PVR(s) (ranging from $250-$450 per unit). Additional terminal connections are extra. All other equipment, including digital television receiver is available on a monthly rental. The customer agrees to return the rented agreement upon cancellation of the account. There are no contracts.

Meanwhile, “Company B,” a telephone telecommunications company entered the marketplace in just the past few years with a broadband television technology –and the same bundle of services – but with a whole new disruptive philosophy.

Company B asked themselves, “What can we do that Company A cannot, will not, or is unable to do?” The answer was to leverage their technology and provide an array of solutions that had never been offered before, at a compelling price point (around $120 per month), and addressing key issues that have driven Company A’s customers absolutely crazy for years.

Company B turned the existing game rules upside down by:

  • Building their offering on the technical advantage that their bandwidth does not peak and crater like coaxial cable-delivered internet.
  • Providing as many additional components at no cost or with no cash outlay: Not one but two free set-top receiver/PVR boxes, both of which can be controlled and accessed from the other. Providing free phone and internet modem.
  • Including free installation from top to bottom, and basic home network computer and routing set-up and troubleshooting. Eureka!
  • No caps on internet usage (a real issue in Canada)
  • Enacting a customer service policy where the answer is always “yes.”

And finally when the value of the total package and discount incentives were just too good for any right-minded prospective customer to refuse, Company B asked what used to be a dirty question in the industry:

“Given this incredible package value we are delivering for you, will you sign for us for three years under very favorable terms, so that we can justify underwriting the value of all of this equipment and service to you?”

The answer nine times out of ten is an absolute “yes!”

Company B disrupted the local industry. They changed the rules of what was doable and they did it. Now, every day, Company A is losing hundreds of customers to Company B. But Company A is too big, too bureaucratic, and has too much invested in its existing technical infrastructure to want or be able to react to the disruption. And their market leadership is ebbing away day-by-day.

Disruption. It’s the new name of the competitive game.

Are you bold enough to be disruptive too? Or will your business be disrupted by another?

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Sales and Marketing. Why It’s Getting Harder To Sell

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(And what you can do about it)

It’s not your imagination. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are struggling to meet their sales numbers. Something has changed. That something is everything.

You may have noticed by using relationship tools such as LinkedIn that a high percentage of your contacts and acquaintances have changed jobs in the past 24 months.

This unprecedented churn should present opportunity, shouldn’t it? People we know moving to new positions usually opens up new conversations. However, in the post-economic collapse era, these folks are stepping into new roles at diminished salaries with increased responsibilities and fewer monetary resources than ever to get the job done. They are stretched thin. And from a sales perspective this repeat business and referral network is likely underperforming as compared to the past.

Furthermore, in the corner offices, baby boomers are retiring out of senior decision-making roles in growing numbers, ceding that authority to a whole new generation of incumbents who have an entirely different way of cultivating relationships.

The problem is that most consumers are tuning out traditional, interruption-based marketing methods. In fact, cold calls are regarded with utter disdain. The reaction translated is: “How dare you interrupt me with an extraneous sales communication. Do you not understand that my time is precious and I do not have bandwidth to do what I need to do let alone accommodate your need to sell me too?

In short this is why the old sales methods are gone forever. Prospective customers are now choosing to interact with the solution providers they choose, when they want, and on their own terms.

The reason you may be feeling a chilling effect on sales now more than ever is because we have just now reached a tipping point; the point at which a critical mass of customers seem to be exhibiting these traits.

The old way is gone. Now is the time to evolve your sales and marketing processes or continue to feel the increasing pain and isolation of diminishing sales opportunities and new business conversations.

It is time to invest in an inbound marketing approach so you can begin receiving and responding to the needs of qualified prospect’s rather than trying to “smile and dial” or “spray and pray” to little or no avail.

This means developing a plan that exploits the latest and evolving marketing methodologies, including content, search, web, PR, digital, social, advertorial, lead generation, and e-mail marketing. It also means reassessing cold calls, print, mail and other less than desirable practices that are falling on deaf ears and blind eyes.

It may be a rude awakening. But once you have a strong plan in place, the results can be seen quite quickly.

Get expert help to evolve your sales and marketing strategies and watch your numbers rise.

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7 Ways To Better Investor Relations

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With Improved Inbound Marketing

Here are some steps that with the help of a good marketing firm you can implement right away to dramatically improve the quantity and quality of inbound investment leads.

1. Generate More Web Traffic – Investor relations professionals constantly tell us that their single biggest challenge is getting more potential investors to visit their website. By developing an inbound marketing strategy, you will be able to attract qualified prospects to your company.

2. Create Custom Content – With the help of media marketing experts, you can publish your press stories, blog posts… even audio and video as compelling, searchable editorial content that can easily be deployed across multiple channels, exponentially increasing opportunities for investors to find you.

3. Utilize every social channel – Whether Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, or others, consumers increasingly rely on social mediums to connect and discover information. Furthermore, 81% of US consumers consider blogs to be a reliable source of advice and product information.

4. Optimize every communication – Using highly developed inbound marketing software, it is possible to determine the best possible keywords and phrases that will best appeal to your target and incorporate them into all the content, to aid in search and discovery.

5. Generate Leads – It is highly desirable to collect, monitor, and chart all your prospective investors activity on your site, to build a relationship, and pre-qualify them with a series of on-site initiatives.

6. Nurture Those Leads – Consumers will be drawn to your site to read/consume general industry information, learn about social and green initiatives, or to pre-qualify themselves on the investment potential of your business. You must harness these leads and nurture them to fruition.

7. Measure. Refine & Repeat – These essential cutting-edge must be tracked and measured. Based on the results every campaign must be tweaked for optimum performance.

Social Media Is A Valuable IR Tool

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Building A Winning B2B Marketing Strategy

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Strategy is the backbone of great marketing. However, it’s the marketing strategy that is the most often overlooked or underdeveloped component of many marketing plans. The consequences of poor strategy can amount to wasted resources or, worse, a failed business initiative.

Bottom line: businesses cannot afford not to develop the correct strategy the first time around. A double negative, I know… but it underscores the point!

Good marketers must be part strategist and part tactician.

Setting Goals

Developing a great marketing strategy requires asking tough questions and developing consensus and clarity around goals. This often requires the marketer to serve as referee among all the stakeholders. The process of goal setting should include senior management and the sales and production teams. Clear objectives will allow effective measurement of all the marketing efforts.

Identifying Obstacles

It is said that knowledge is power. By acknowledging potential impediments to success, each potential course of action considered for the strategy can then be conceived proactively to both achieve goals and thwart obstacles. Like killing two proverbial birds with one stone, it’s far more efficient to hit a goal while at the same time navigating a pitfall. Now the strategy is ready to be created, followed by tactics.

Strategy and Tactics

In order to never confuse the two, think of it this way. Strategy is a high level “roadmap for success” that defines the basic courses of action required to arrive at the correct destination – on time and on budget. Whereas, tactics comprise all the specific actions that must be taken and tools to be employed to successfully execute the strategy.

For instance, “develop a creative advertising campaign to sell the unique brand attributes of quick service at low prices” is a strategy item. “Buy a local television schedule, produce a 30-second spot, and deliver creative” are tactics that support the strategy.

Jumping to Conclusions

We all know what happens when one assumes… When developing sound strategy a true marketing pro must resist the urge to jump to conclusions. Every strategy should be unique to every brand, product, competitive situation, and time (within the product life cycle). One should never attempt to prescribe tactics before all inputs have been considered and analyzed.

Creative for Creative’s Sake

The highly creative marketer has an even harder task, and that is to resist the urge to create for creative’s sake. Strategy must drive creative, not the other way around. The fun path or the first creative thought is not often the right one for the brand. This is why the creative brief is so crucial, especially when the strategy must be communicated to the creative team of copywriters, graphic designers, and others who will be responsible for bringing the campaign to life.

Thinking Deeply

Although a Hollywood-created character, “Mad Men’s” Don Draper, Creative Director with Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, described the creative process this way. He explained that one must think very deeply about the creative problem being solved. If one thinks deeply enough, (focusing on all of the inputs), the answer will come, perhaps when least expected… even while sleeping or in the shower. Allowing the conscious and unconscious brain to deliver the creative answer is a powerful way to ensure that the work is on goal, on strategy, and will deliver the best possible results for the brand, product, or client. Nothing to it, right!?

Winning Marketing Strategy

Building winning strategy is a deliberate process. It’s not always fun or sexy. Nor is it quickly arrived at without proper evaluation of all the desired outcomes. And in the end, great creative always begins with great strategy, not the other way around.

Let’s Talk Marketing Strategy

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