Local Media's Hidden Asset

Their Salesforces

That's the word from venture capitalist Fred Wilson on his blog. His company Union Square Ventures has an investment in Target Spot among many other companies.

He writes:

Traditional local media companies; radio stations, TV stations, local newspapers, and the like, are in a tough situation. Each of those businesses had a monopoly or near monopoly on their audiences a decade ago. Now none of them do.

...these businesses have been trained to think their strengths are local and relevant content, their monopolies or near monopolies on distribution (spectrum in the case of radio and TV), and their brands. All of these assets are waning quickly.

But there is one asset that is still quite significant and the value of it is growing, not shrinking. It is their large, well trained, and well connected salesforces.

There's more:

The media business, either on the national or local level, is losing its grip on audiences as they fragment and disperse all over the digital realm (including of course mobile). But they do not need to lose their grip on the relationships they have built up with local merchants since the days of Mad Men. What they need to do, and what they are increasingly doing, is reselling the inventory of others to their customers.

If we buy into his thesis, this could represent a bold opportunity for local sellers that goes beyond the terrestrial signal. It seems to me that for as long as local stations still command high cume levels and acceptable TSL this strategy will be a tough putt. That's not to say that Fred Wilson is wrong. I think he has the right idea.

Lastly, selling in the digital space is a different animal so one has to question are the local sellers properly trained to make this transition.

Before posting this I went back and re-read the article just to be sure I captured its essence to my satisfaction. I also read through the comment section and sure enough others also questioned whether or not local ad sellers had the skills necessary to pull of the digital platform sell.

So, here we are at a crossroad...opportunities abound yet there are numerous landmines along the way.

Read Fred Wilson's entire post here.

It Could Be Worse

From e-Marketer:

And for those wondering, CAGR is the Compound Annual Growth Rate.

I know -4.3 doesn't look so good. Hard to argue otherwise. But as radio continues to better understand and deploy content for the internet we should be able to capture some of the growth from that potentially lucrative sector. Right? Exactly.

As I often like to do...let me end this post with a question.

What have you done to enhance you digital content and sales effort today?

Excellent Article

SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, TX wrapped up last week after noted participants contributed their thoughts on what lies ahead and how to best navigate. AdAge did a terriffic article recapping what was presented. All of the comments not only apply to the digital world, but the terrestrial [radio] world as well.

Seven Unthinkable Ideas From SXSW Interactive 2009

Savvy Marketers, Pay Attention to These Visions That Could Soon Be Trends

By Patricia Martin

Published: March 24, 2009

Patricia Martin

SXSW Interactive wrapped up last week, leaving the new-media mavens who attended a little more sober about the future despite the usual whirlwind of events and parties. Often dubbed the Sundance of new media, SXSWi is the bellwether for what lies ahead for digital culture.

Here are seven unthinkable ideas from SXSWi 2009. Savvy marketers should consider these the tremors that lead to trends.

1. Vision delivers ROI.
Among battle-hardened executives, the "vision" thing may feel more like a frill than a competitive strategy. But Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh proves that having a higher purpose is more than a good idea, it creates a striving culture that delivers to the bottom line. Mr. Hsieh spoke eloquently about the true mission at Zappos: to create happiness. Out of context it may sound soft, absurd even, for an online shoe outlet. But consider that he has had to double his offer to $2,000 to pay trainees to quit because too few were taking him up on it. With revenues in excess of $800 million in 2007, Zappos was projected to earn over $1 billion in 2008. Compassion for the customer and commitment to the culture have made Zappos a success. Pricing, distribution and many other standard operations are just details.

2. Marketing and customer experience are the same thing.
In the past, customer service was considered a way to fulfill on the brand promise. Witness the rise of customer service as the chief marketing tool. Here again, Mr. Hsieh made the case for redirecting what he might have spent on marketing and instead aiming those resources at an intensely customer-centric business with a 24/7 call center and operators who double as shoe therapists. In an age when reputation and word of mouth can quickly swell from ripple to tsunami, marketers cannot afford to overlook the cycle of reciprocity that good service delivers.

3. Avoid stupid, stupid.
Make the consumer brilliant. "Don't bother trying to get them to think you're brilliant," said Kathy Sierra, cognition expert and game developer, whose keynote was one of the most heavily blogged and Twittered events of the conference. According to Sierra, in a knowledge economy people hate feeling like they suck at something. Consumers like to master cognitive tasks. If your product has too many features, said Ms. Sierra, or is anything so high-concept as to be unmanageable, it will fail to find an audience.

4. You can make money from 'free' stuff.
So says Chris Anderson, author of the forthcoming book, "Free: The Future of a Radical Price," (Hyperion, July 2009). Mr. Anderson deserves credit for advancing the most unthinkable idea at SXSWi -- that businesses can make money by giving things away. His point is salient, that like it or lump it, the internet has made "free" a disruptive force -- deal with it or die. When I caught up with Mr. Anderson in Austin, he was earnest in his desire to provide a useful guide for businesses to navigate free vs. paying customers. Marketers coping with a phenomenon that is crushing many established businesses, especially those where intellectual property is what's for sale, will find insights in his rigorously researched and sharply written book.

5. Participation will be ubiquitous.
Allowing customers to voluntarily market your brand is one thing, but consumer participation will hack its way into other operations, including rarefied arenas such as research and development. A representative from Kraft Foods told me that the package-goods giant is moving toward a "participatory way for customers to share in the innovation process."

6. Dad is the new Mom.
And personal storytelling is no longer a "chick thing." In the "Dad Is the New Mom" panel, dad bloggers talked about the need to get real and personal to win audiences and advertisers. PepsiCo, a prominent presence at SXSWi, has begun working with the dad bloggers to win share of wallet as men take on household tasks including shopping.

7. Low overhead is the new currency. Especially for start-ups.
It may be very old school, but bootstrapping is back. With cash scarce and venture capital in hiding, Guy Kawasaki, author of "Reality Check" (Portfolio, October 2008), described how exploiting cost-saving web services will keep early-stage expenses very low. "A couple of talented people, time and energy are the critical resources now. So much of the costs of hardware have been converted into services." Kawasaki explained as we chatted in a hotel lobby. "The toughest part of bootstrapping in this environment is scaling up," he said.

Despite the economic climate, SXSWi is still a place where people put forth ambitious ideas. Some SXSWi veterans remarked that the tone this year was subdued. Perhaps that's what made the unthinkable ideas resound. Any one of these ideas is enough to make a marketer see how deep the change is we're experiencing. But they also point the way to many greener fields of opportunity.

It Always Starts With Content

Digital marketing agency Avenue A/Razorfish takes a short but very good look at 4 digital media trends and as always it starts with CONTENT. Take a peek.