Monday Motivation: Boom! Manifesto

You Are Designed to Choose…and Defined by Choice.
You are a product of your choices, not your conditions.
-Kevin & Jackie Freiberg

Best-selling authors and culture gurus Kevin and Jackie Freiberg encourage you to expand your influence, become a positive force for change, and live with fewer regrets with their Boom! Manifesto.

CHOICE #1
Be a Player
Extraordinary Happens When Ordinary People Do Whatever It Takes

CHOICE #2
Be Accountable
There is No “THEY”—Only You and Me

CHOICE #3
Choose Service Over Self-interest
Me-First Rarely Delivers the Desired Outcome

CHOICE #4
Focus Forward
Your Future Isn’t in the Rear View Mirror

CHOICE #5
Play to Your Genius
Your Work Is a Statement About You

CHOICE #6
Get It Done
Success is the Reward for Those Who Make a Difference

CHOICE #7
Risk More – Gain More
The World Isn’t Changed by Those Who Are Unwilling to Take Risks

The choices are YOURS!

I.G.N.I.T.E. Sales Tip: What's Your Web Plan?

From Mel Taylor:

Here’s a check list, that may help you realize your ‘readiness’, for Web success. Does any of this concern you ?

> Is corporate mandating that YOU ( at the local level ), come up with a profitable Web game-plan ?

> Do you have a web strategy, or does the webmaster or ND/PD “handle it” ?

> Are your websites: advertiser, search engine & user friendly? How can you tell ?

> Do you know your ’share’ of local Internet advertising revenue ? ( Corporate will demand this info )

> How much time & money are your clients/viewers spending on other web sites ? Do you know why ?

> Can your sales staff comfortably sell and discuss your web offerings ? Overcome common objections ?

> Just how web and computer -savvy are your News directors, PD’s, producers, marketing, sales and on-air staff ?

> Are you taking full advantage of online video, RSS, SEO, Blogs, social networking, crowd sourcing & aggregation ?

> Is it OK for your on-air staff to have their own websites/blogs, or have their own MySpace or YouTube channels ?

> When should you develop separately branded/niche sites in your own market ?

> What do advertisers and agencies really think about your Website, and how you are selling them ?

If any of these questions were tough to answer, you may not be fully prepared to effectively compete in the emerging online marketplace.

Be An Outside Thinker!

Warren Kurtzman of Coleman Research revealed insights into the paradigm shift that radio is currently experiencing in his 2007 Radio Fest presentation "Inside vs. Outside Thinking."

The paradigms are defined in the slides below.


I think Kurtzman's definitions are spot-on. In a connected world filled with ever-evolving and emerging content and media options available to consumers, radio must become more externally-focused on listeners - and clients - rather than internally-focused on ourselves.

There are a number for implications for this shift in thinking. But most importantly, Kurtzman concludes that as an "outside thinker," you must:

• View your station as the listener does


• Become a student of learning and communication processes


• Use your knowledge to market strategically


• Recognize that music testing—while vital—is only one step to building a successful music strategy
  

Are your ready to be an "outside thinker"? I hope so.

View the entire presentation here.

I.G.N.I.T.E. Sales Tip: PowerPoint Sins

To improve your sales presentations, avoid “The Seven Sins of PowerPoint.”

1. Center Spacing
   Keep the body of your work flush
2. Colored Text
   Keep text black…if you gotta have color, let it come out in your logos
3. Too many fonts
   Use a single clean font
4. Too much information
   Speak in bullet points and short sentences…not paragraphs
5. Not staying client/prospect focused
   Remember, it’s about them, not us
6. No word art
7. No chessy clip-art

Remember, when building your sales packages and presentations:

• Keep it simple
• Basic sales packages (1-2 pages)
• Multi-Month packages (3-7 pages)
• Maintain a look of continuity between all your sales packages and media kits
• Write in bullet points (not paragraphs) as much as possible
• List features and benefits whenever possible
• Always have your contact information on every page

More at SalesImaging.com.

Monday Motivation: Desire

"Desire is your unlimited potential seeking expression."

-James Arthur Ray

The Little Book Of Leadership

Want to become a better leader? Let The Leadership Hub's "The Little Book Of Leadership" to teach and inspire YOU!

View Upload your own

Link to e-book here.

Pass it on!

10 Ways To Light A Fire Under Your Ass

1. Call out the elephant in the room.
2. Offer up solutions.
3. Write a manifesto.
4. Seek opinions.
5. Share something personal.
6. Shake up your career.
7. Do something that scares you.
8. Tell a story.
9. Evangelize.
10. Know who (or what) you are.

Designing Experiences For Young Consumers

From Bruce Temkin and Ross Popoff-Walker's "Designing for Young Consumers," here's their Top 10 list to keep in mind in designing experiences (or radio stations) for Gen Y, those adults ages 18-27. These young consumers:

1. Are continually connected - Text messaging, IM and social networking sites are key communications tactics for these tech-saavy consumers.
2. Speak their own language - They use abbreviations, emoticons, and slang.
3. Are skeptical of authority
4. Are influenced by peers - The rely on recommendations from friends and family when making purchases, and are peer reliant overall.
5. Seek recognition and fame
6. Enjoy absurdity and odd humor
7. Embrace a variety of subcultures
8. Skim text and information quickly - These young eyes process information 5x faster than adults, according to Resource Interactive.
9. Easily bored

10. Expressive and digitally creative - Whateverlife.com, created by a 17-year-old CEO, features the tools that allow people to personalize their MySpace page. Double trouble for this point; a young CEO features products for what is usually a younger demographic.

4 Burning Truths

MTV President Christina Norman revealed 4 Burning Truths this month's Forrester's Consumer Forum. They are:

• It’s not the medium, but the content that matters most
• Build an emotional connection with audience on foundation of creative content
• Give audience the means to find each other
• Let your audience help you shape your brand

Follow these truths to set your content and consumers (listeners) FREE. Thanks, Christina!

Permission to Fail

From Dave Armano of Critical Mass:

"When was the last time you gave yourself permission to fail? Seriously. When was the last time you said screw it, if this doesn't succeed, at least I gave it a shot--at least I did something. When was the last time you did the right thing--even if the only person you needed to prove something to was yourself. When was the last time you had a good night's rest, because deep down in side--you did something you believed in. Speaking of, when was the last time you believed?"

Do You Know Who Your Premium Class Listeners Are?

If you want to improve the impact of your loyal marketing programs, you must know who your premium class listeners are.

Are they:

• Heavy users of radio who are deeply engaged in your radio station?
• Your at work listeners?
• Your listeners who love winning contests and prizes?
• The ones who enjoy giving their opinions in surveys?
• Your morning show regulars?
• The folks who love the kind of music you play?
• People who use you to stay in touch with the local community?

What can you do during this current ratings survey to make money with that information and make them feel more engaged with you?

Thanks to fellow consultant and country format specialist Jaye Albright for sharing her thought-provoking questions with me! Read more from Jaye here.

Seducing PPM: The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Ratings

In his “Seducing PPM” presentation at the NAB, researcher Mark Ramsey revealed “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Ratings”:

Habit #1
Recall DOES Matter

Habit #2
Ride the HIGH Tide

Habit #3
The "ONE" Rule

Habit #4
When your Direct Mail Drops, The Game Is On

Habit #5
“Tactical” is the New Black

Habit #6
Events Drive Ratings (Up or Down)

Habit #7
Fulfill Expectations

See the full presentation and get the hand-out here.