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Local ad buyers are giving radio sales reps top marks for their expertise in marketing. Borrell Associates’ annual survey of local advertisers finds that 38% of local businesses rate radio reps as “exceptional.” That is the highest mark given to any media. Radio also ties with broadcast television for having the fewest number of local ad buyers who think its sales reps have no marketing expertise.
Broadcast TV reps rank second for expertise according to Borrell, which finds three in ten local ad buyers think their sales reps have exceptional marketing skills. Radio also tops newspapers and cable television where one in four have such skills followed by direct mail at 21%.
If there is some bad news in the survey results is that radio’s score dipped slightly. When Borrell asked the question in 2021, 41% of local ad buyers rated radio reps as exceptional.
“Having sales reps that were just seen as people who just want to sell you something without having expertise in the field should be troubling to any media company,” says Elizabeth Bernberg, Senior Director of Business Development at AdCellerant. In a video detailing the findings, she recommends media outlets take assessments of the job they are doing. “We have a job to do when we are consulting with our clients, so maybe it would be a good idea to develop a marketing test to see how your reps rank,” she says. “Survey your clients and see what they’re saying, or take a look at your training program to see if it includes some basic information needed to bring your reps up to speed in today’s marketing world.”
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The average small and medium-sized business spent $18,100 on broadcast radio in 2024 according to a survey of local ad buyers by Borrell Associates. It says a third of the businesses bought ads on AM/FM this year. That is three times the 11% that report they spent money advertising on streaming audio services where the average budget was $15,000.
If radio wants to increase its share of the local ad market, the Borrell survey points to a need to make a stronger case to buyers of its effectiveness. One in three local businesses says they bought radio in 2024, and the same number also rate AM/FM as either “extremely” or “very” effective. Among the 11% that used streaming audio ads, 18% of local buyers gave it high marks for effectiveness.
The findings are based on Borrell’s fall 2024 survey, which canvassed 1,130 direct ad buyers and 122 local ad agencies.
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