With 20 years of radio sales under my belt at a small market station, I have never really had to present to an agency. We just get the call for spots. I've reached out and am trying to break that cycle to get more of what's out there. I don't have a whiz bang computer presentation...just your basic media kit. We have gone from 3 to 6000 wats along with many other technical improvements because of new ownership.
Does any one have any pointers?
Hi Leslie,
I too work for a small market station and have for the last 10.5 years. I have run in to the same issue. I had been here at KFMJ for almost 5 years before I was asked to present a proposal to an agency. Basically what I did was go thru our media packet info and pick out the points that would mean something to the agency...they want numbers...demographics, cost per point, rates and value added. After giving them that info, then I also introduced them to the staff...our entire staff of 4 people so that they would understand who they were dealing with and that we were small enough to not only care about their business but not have communication issues within our organization that might cause problems for them.
It worked! When I started here at KFMJ, we had 6 agencies we dealt with and now we have over 75. I treat my agencies just like I do my local direct clients. I try to have contact with each of the agency buyers at least once a month whether or not they currently have a buy with us. Most of the buyers that I deal with I have never met in person, but they have pics of me and they appreciate that I keep in touch with them. I send them updates of new programming and sponsorships too in case they have a new client that might be interested.
I hope this helps. Best wishes on dealing with agencies..they can be real bears sometimes!
Julie M. Slanaker
KFMJ 99.9 FM
Ketchikan, Alaska
Happy Friday Julie,
Thanks for sharing your agency experience. One obstacle I have is that we are not Arbitron rated and the "numbers" are not available to me...and our reach is now 6,000 Watts. So I've come to rely on testimonial letters and the fact WGHN is on in most businesses in the are, at the YMCA and on every hold button in the industrial park.
I have always experienced the agency business by a phone call with a rate request and never a request for "ideas" which various programming may offer the specific client.
Next week is the big meeting...
Best,
Leslie
