What the Heck? 2/24
A winning team helps. K-State affiliates shared their success stories with me last week during my travels in Wildcat country. Loyal listeners and satisfied sponsors applaud the K-State program and appreciate local radio for carrying it, stations told me.
Obviously, we have our storied programs whose fan retention is jaw-dropping. And, we have the teams that maintain their fan bases because they’re just that good – always. But where, when and how does the bandwagon affect take place?
With the NCAA Tournament approaching, what fans will come out of the woodwork to support their supposed beloved? More importantly, can we translate any of this into revenue?
I’ll take K-State and Missouri, for example. The brimming excitement and constant buzz surrounding these teams’ tournament potential is undeniable. Plus, the winning records are here to stay. Each team has talented youth, touted coaches and tenacious energy. They’ll be good next year.
People are paying more and more attention, which means so are your prospects.
Let’s start recruiting. Let’s start recruiting post season billing and annual deals beginning with the 2010-11 athletic season.
A Conference, NCAA or NIT Tournament gives new sponsors a chance to be part of the broadcast. Finally, they can tap into the hype and be the backdrop for something big.
A post season package also offers the opportunity for your station to demonstrate how radio – sports radio – can achieve marketing goals for clients. Especially in first rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Recall, many games are played during the day while people are at work. Often, entire games aren’t even televised in particular regions. So for fans, loyal or bandwagon, radio is required.
Likely, these four, five, six or more games will give Mr. Sponsor a sweet taste of your station and his future role as a Network sponsor. Now, do you have room in local avails next season? Can you make some? Did your price just go up? The process has only begun.
Want a post-season one-sheeter to hit the streets with? Ask me. bheck@learfieldsports.com
What the Heck? (2/3)
I’ll skip the clichés. Just give me some inspiration please.
In the Learfield Sports affiliate relations world we hear and repeat too many unoriginal phrases. It comes from broadcasters, general sales managers and Universities alike. We spew the stuff right back out infecting the entire office. Symptoms sound like, “at the end of the day”…“as a good-guy”…“doing our due-diligence.” Can I be quarantined?
Likely, station sales managers and their staffs suffer in the same way. Some of the buzzwords and phrases they share just make me hungry. (McDonald’s, medium rare and citrus all at the same time).
“Sales is a numbers game”
“Value-add”
“Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle sizzle and steak”
“Low hanging fruit”
“It’s about relationships”
I’m thinking a new tactic, approach or way of saying it would have more clout. A creative concept, hot package, or good articulation is more likely to bring on a new partner than the repetition of clichés that mean nothing.
We’re lucky. Learfield Sports offers its sales folks cutting edge training. And cutting edge is exactly what we strive for; honing in on hot consumer trends and targeting untapped business categories. Of course, we’re holding on to the core of what works. I’ve committed myself to asking for referrals when prospects aren’t a fit. I also find Greg Bennett’s mini steps useful and even amusing.
What the Heck? (1/27) Videos!
Videos. Interactive media. Live action. Our affiliate relations team gets excited about it.
My interest started with teams’ intro videos. These are the loud, adrenaline pumping pieces played on arena video boards for screaming fans anticipating tip or kick.
This one, for Bama, gives me goose bumps.
Although Nebraska is Mizzou’s nemesis, I like its video too.
Additional awesome videos include: Mizzou Oregon State Memphis Marquette
I love the connection to the athletic program, the athletes and the game-day experience these things offer me. Any additional access I, or any other loyal fan, can have to a team is always a thrill.
Our radio affiliates nationwide tap into this theory already. Plugging in extra interviews, daily shows, or highlight montages on-air, they give listeners as much additional content as they can. Some affiliates implement the same techniques on their websites. I’ve seen the content served up as an “All-Access” or “Insider” page managed by the team’s official radio home.
Wisconsin Badger affiliates saw a web post from me yesterday with links on the Culvers Camp Randall Hockey Classic. Right now, a Webcam is recording the rink installation inside Camp Randall. There’s a sweet commercial, out there promoting the double-header hockey event too.
YouTube and Flip Video, live Webcams, Flickr photos and more make for entertaining and accrediting website material. Our affiliate website recently welcomed new team video posts and photos to each Network page. We’ve also began to post weekly Flip Video updates of who we are and what’s going on in Learfield Sports Operations.
What the Heck? (1/20)
I re-scheduled Monday riding lessons, which I teach for eight girls, due to conflict with MU vs. KU basketball. Often horses top my pastime pecking order. But, J.T. Tiller scrounging for steals and Marcus Denmon swishing threes against KU is the exception.
Growing up, not much got in the way of Packer or Badger game day. So, of course, I take after my family members. In early November, watching a Milwaukee Bucks vs. Memphis Grizzlies game, Mom called to say “Junkyard Dog” looks impressive as an NBA rookie and has got Mizzou plenty of mentions. Now that’s a sports fan.
For me, it has to do with the warm and fuzzy and the cold and harsh. The heartwarming and gut wrenching emotions produced in just five or ten minutes of a game hooks me.
In turn, it helps hook folks within the radio networks me and my counterparts handle. So often we’re told by affiliates the most successful sales guy is the station’s biggest sports fan.
We believe it.
But it doesn’t have to be just the “sports guy” that boasts the best commissions off these hours of programming. He’s just as passionate and engaging as the next quality sales person the station employs. Perhaps he simply emphasizes a few points on the anticipation and emotion sports radio induces in listeners.
The fact that college sports is about appointment listening, a connection to the local voice and fan community has provided a good place start for me.
For example, the play-by-play guy endears us to our team. We expect this voice to be the team member we can count on most. It’s Matt Lepay and the Badgers around which I coordinate my eight hour drive from Wisconsin to Missouri. I’m lucky I get TMJ all the way down to Springfield during the day. http://www.620wtmj.com.
As loyal fans, we’re always discouraged by the idiosyncratic, biased and ill-informed network television crew. Turn TV down and radio up? Yes please. I’ll bear with the delay even though I pay through the nose for my satellite provider’s all-sports, high definition package. (note to self, take care of that annoyance prior to the tournament http://www.sportsyncradio.com/)
I’m addicted to nonsense talk radio for the same reasons and with the same convictions as sports. It started with WGN’s Kathy and Judy when I was an adolescent growing up in the Milwaukee suburbs. Beginning at age 11, I made dates with 720 AM throughout the summers. I loved the girlfriends shameless celebrity style reviews after red carpet events. I laughed at the honest confessions of listeners to remain nameless under the pseudonyms, Rhonda and Vince. I looked forward to the topics of “Sex Thursday.” Since moving to Missouri, then Indiana, not to mention Kathy and Judy getting canned after 20 years on-air, I’ve branched out.
In Indianapolis, Kravitz and Eddie on http://www.1070thefan.com/ kept me company during my commute. Lately, the Steve & Craig Show provides some nostalgia, nonsense and news in sports. http://www.espnmadison.com/ I like Lori & Julia too in Minneapolis – St. Paul. http://www.fm1071.com/. I didn’t mention Dave Ramsey yet. That show’s on my afternoon schedule.
This stuff connects me to my hometown, communities I love and lifestyles I dream about. It can put me in the same invigorating and enthralling la-la-land sports can. Incorporating these emotions in sales meetings is only going to make us more successful. I’m always trying to keep that in mind. Prospects need to know the college sports broadcast is about appointment listening and loyalty to the play-by-play guys. It’s about love for the local – a connection to the fan community.
