North American radio traditionally has committed malpractice in the way it discharges its professional obligations to its clients.
All the time and money go into sales training, and nothing is invested in hiring & training the people who are charged with the task of making the client’s investment pay off.
Especially on the local level, businesses do not come to you with “advertising needs.” They come to you with their dreams.
To them, their businesses are not your “accounts.”
That restaurant, that hardware store, that supermarket, that automobile dealership, that real estate firm — all of them represent someone’s dream.
Someone dreamed of having the best pet store in the world. Of making tasty snack foods that their fellow diabetics could enjoy. Of helping struggling young families buy their first homes.
Your clients come to you with their dreams and say, “Help make my dream come true.”
They put their trust in you (because you told them they could trust you).
And yes, Reach and Frequency and Targeting can help. But you don’t need much training to be able to see if your audience matches the client’s consumer base or to make sure they schedule enough commercials.
On the other hand….
Writing and producing a radio commercial that motivates the targeted listener to act…that sells, rather than simply entertains or annoys or is ignored or not heard….That’s a serious responsibility.
How seriously does your station or agency take that responsibility?
