Television | Margie Albert

Tag: Television

Today’s remark – random top 9

– Posted on Dec 04, 2012 by Margie Albert

I get asked a lot about how I keep up with Broadcast, television, digital and social media, what I read, where I get inspired, etc.

Here is my random top 9 list (in no particular order) of what I do to stay relevant:

2 lunches weekly with people who challenge me, know more than I do and, hopefully, make me laugh
Read a minimum of 2 hours daily 7 days a week – blogs and magazines from Fast Company, TVNewsCheck, SmartBriefs newsletters, Cynopsis, Spots ‘n’ Dots, Chris Murray at Varda Kreuz, Harvard Business Review are on my “must read” list
Maintain a facebook interest list of TV stations and visit this at least 2x daily. I look for quantity and quality based on engagement and I also look for ideas
Study TV – I watch as much as possible to see what sticks and pay attention to comments on facebook and twitter to get a better feel for viewer thoughts. Yes, I love my job!
Ask questions. If you know me you know I do this a lot!
Attend a webinar weekly to continue learning – SM, SEO, email ROI, trends, etc
Have several google alerts to keep up with TV Stations, Broadcast Groups, Broadcast industry and other favorites
Sign up and study TV station newsletters, mobile alerts and websites daily. Analyze, look for ways they could improve if they hired me!
Go for a 30 minute walk daily – great way to clear my head, think uninterrupted and good for the body and soul.

These are a few I am “religious” about. What about you? What do you do to stay up to date and fresh? How do you remain relevant and remark-able? Please share so we can learn from each other.

Today’s remark – what works?

– Posted on Jun 03, 2012 by Margie Albert

One of my favorite marketers asked me the other day if I thought email marketing works. That got me thinking about what really works and here is my conclusion (drum roll please) – everything!

Every mode of marketing works IF it is directed to the right person at the right time in the right format with the right message.

As I have been saying in my classes lately, all forms of media (TV, radio, email, outdoor, newspaper, door hangers, etc) are simply conduits. Information, whether it is news, entertainment programming or advertisements flow from the originator (publisher, broadcaster, etc) to the viewer/reader/onlooker, etc. If your message is spot on, compelling, and noticeable and the conduits you have selected deliver that message to the interested consumer when she is motivated to respond you have a winner!

The problem is knowing that consumer, studying her behavior and what motivates her and understanding her information consumption habits. I think we spend way too much time in broadcast thinking in terms of quantity and worrying way too much about ratings. Yes, I know, the core business represents a very large percentage of the total and is still based on ratings so I’m not suggesting we abandon that race. I am suggesting we spend more dollars locally determining information about our viewers/users/likes and their consumption habits. Study not just consumption of our television programming but our digital products far beyond Scarborough data.

What works is the right message delivered at the right time in the right format to the right consumer. Do the pre-work and you will be remark-able.

Today’s remark – (boring) scripts are not ideas

– Posted on May 21, 2012 by Margie Albert

A friend of mine recently became a GM at a TV station. He came up through the ranks without a sales background. I asked what his biggest surprise was in his new role. His answer? The salespeople were not focused on the customers’ success! He said he looked at several proposals – all were very pretty but they were all about his station. Lots of statistics and why the customer should buy TV and even what programs they should buy but nothing very creative directed at the client from the client’s point of view. He was shocked.

I see the same thing everywhere. Lots of the same old “your commercial will be seen by X number of A25-54” with some Marshall Marketing or Scarborough thrown in to make it look more customized. The research justifies the schedule. And sometimes a script was included. That’s about it.

Any station can do that and most stations do.

What will set you apart is your idea – an idea specifically designed for your advertiser focused completely on their best customer for the product they are featuring. Ideas that will break through the noise and make that best customer want to engage with your advertiser. An idea that intertwines all delivery systems (website, mobile, email, etc) to maximize impact on that consumer and give them multiple engagement points. An idea that compels that best customer to interact and respond with the advertiser because she simply must!

There’s a reason ad agencies come to stations all the time asking for ideas. It’s because they figured it out long ago. To remain relevant to the advertiser it isn’t just about cpp’s or whether they use TV, radio or door-hangers. To the advertiser it’s about establishing a relationship between them and their consumer and relationships are established with relevant compelling ideas.

I know you’ve heard this before but why do proposals today look so similar to proposals done 10 years ago? Basically, they all say “Use TV, use my station and here’s a (boring) script!”

People who take the time to really think and identify the advertiser’s needs and create and develop great ideas to establish the relationship between the advertiser and consumer will always be remark-able.

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