Radio Startup … Lean Traffic
“It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Darwin
Several articles have popped up lately focusing on radio operating as a startup. One worth noting is Fred Jacob’s article ‘In Praise of Radio’. Good ideas and philosophies can be found in his as well as other articles on the subject. The general take-way is if you are trying to disrupt the status quo and beat competitors that are bigger and better funded, you are not going to get there by playing their game or even the same game. You will need to think differently. You will need to operate differently. Operating at status quo when you’re at a disadvantage is a sure- fire way to lose. Talking differently however, opens new markets.
Yet, we see very little of this happening in our industry. Perhaps the hang-up is that broadcasters read about ideas like this, but are overwhelmed with how to get there. Balancing advantage, risk, and performance, is critical. In the beginning, its not about coming up with some great new innovation. It’s not about picking apart your product. It is about creating the pathway to get to a place where you can begin to create innovation and better products. Hiring and running at a status quo level will only bring about status quo results. Though I am passionate about Traffic and Traffic Departments, I feel that it is the very department, along with AR and HR that is the pathway to change.
Consider how many new broadcasting companies or stations pop up everyday. Already this year, more than 53 new or modified call signs in the US alone have been submitted with the FCC. Each time presenting the possibility of incorporating a startup mentality. Unfortunately, the trend is to build traditionally. Hire the same people with the same titles doing the same work, thus leaving yourself no competitive advantage.
What is your core? Isn’t it providing a good product and selling it well? That’s it. But radio continues to build little factories involving data entry, human resource, payroll, accounting and so on. Though these tasks are extremely important, they are not core. How your organization does Traffic doesn’t give you a competitive advantage. Instead of taking on all these tasks and increasing overhead, startup radio would concentrate on core and find solutions for the rest.
Process is sometimes put in place because one person did one thing once, sometimes literally years ago. Leaders should question process at every turn. Radio as a startup would consider whether tasks could be outsourced to consultants, outsourcing firms or free-lancers before hiring someone on staff. The value of outsourcing is to bring scale, speed and cost efficiency without the challenges of taking on full time employees, particularly technical staff. If a job could be written down it would go. Sales can’t be written down. It’s talent. What the airstaff does can’t be written down. Again it’s talent. Traffic, Accounting and HR can be written down.
By seeking out a consultant or outsourcing firm, cost reduction will be your biggest gain in the beginning, but many benefits beyond cost savings can be found including: staffing redundancy, assurance of best practices and continuity in procedures. Additionally, great things can happen when the right small group of people are focusing on one thing. Even a shot at innovation in the Traffic Department. While not as cost efficient, larger companies are achieving similar benefits, depending on location, by hubbing operations.
Because of consolidation, there are approximately 30% less Traffic Managers in the Radio Industry today compared to 5 years ago. The numbers are probably similar in HR and Accounting Departments across the country. Some have moved on to other industries. Some still unemployed. There are brilliantly talented Traffic Managers out there that would jump at the opportunity to stay home and provide Traffic Services in exchange for being able to be a stay at home mom. Or dad. Radio company pays less in salary, services stay the same.
Startups start with understanding that change is the only constant. To change what you are doing, you must first change within. More importantly, a top-down approach has to be in place. It starts with the CEO. The GM. The Program Director. These people have to be passionate about change by encouraging and supporting new ideas. They have to re-evaluate where they spend their money and ensure that time and budget is being spent on product innovation, service and training. Do this and you get to a place where creating better products and being more innovative becomes easier.
People want to build creatively together and not just be told what creative decisions have been made, now go do it. They want to move fast with impactful results. By running lean, you can hire better talent and pay them better. Pay them better – they’ll work harder for you.
Emergency Preparedness in the Traffic Department
Emergency preparedness is a big deal when you are a Traffic Manager in an earthquake prone environment. Even if you are not in an area susceptible to natural disaster, something as simple as a gas leak could require the evacuation of the premises for hours or even days. Computers still run, phones still work and infrastructure is unharmed but there is no access to any of it until whatever is keeping you out is resolved. Do you have a plan?
Business continuity planning minimizes the impact of certain circumstances by ensuring alternate processes are in place for key operational functions. Having a plan safeguards assets as well as an organization’s ability to achieve its mission, retain acceptable levels of productivity, customer service, and ultimately to stay in business. For Traffic, it’s all about getting the next days log out.
There are endless combinations created when all the software choices and workflow procedures within various organizations are factored in. It’s impossible to write a general how-to guide, but hopefully this article will serve as a guide or at least get you thinking about it. It should also be noted that a company wide business continuity plan is an enormous task. From team leaders to job functions to emergency supplies has to be considered. If your company does not have a plan, they should. Its the least expensive insurance any company can have. For now, we focus on Traffic.
Your plan should provide the ability to be able to get at needed applications and resources, even when access to your place of work is not possible. Servers, applications and databases are no good if you can’t get to them. Access should also be available when the office is no longer functional and the server infrastructure has been moved elsewhere.
A business process flow chart for the Traffic Department should be created, reviewed and updated often. Identify critical operations. In this case, getting the next days log out. Consider if you can perform tasks from a different location or from your home. Are there other markets in your organization that can be leveraged to build redundancy and hedge risks.
Start with the easy stuff, such as a call tree and login information. The trick is to be redundant. Store a second or third copy of the documents at an off- site location. Another option is a password-protected page on the company website as well as access to email. Also, create a contact list for existing critical business contractors. In crisis mode, it will be very beneficial to have contact information for your traffic software provider or automation software provider.
Over a decade ago, when I was still using disk based software, I would actually make copies of the next days log and take it home or email the traffic file to myself. Luckily, we now live in an age where traffic software vendors offer web based software. Web based traffic software offers flexible access and automatically cuts half the work and half the risk out in the event of an emergency. If you are using web based software, then it’s possible to work from anywhere as long as you have internet connectivity. Sales or the Traffic Manager could continue entering orders. The next days log could be organized. Copy could be built. Essentially, business as usual, just working from another location. If you are not on web based software, whats your plan? Do you have a way to access that information or are you at risk?
Automation can be a problem. Who sends the final logs to automation? While you may have access to your traffic software from home, can you get to automation to actually send the log? There are work-arounds by using products such as GoToMyPc or having VPN access. A virtual private network (VPN) is used by a number of organizations in their attempt to allow remote users to connect to the corporate network. Additionally, it’s certainly worth reaching out to your vendors and exploring if they offer off-site backup or support that includes remote access.
There are also a couple of daily workflow procedures that can mitigate risk. I’ve known Traffic Managers that work commercial logs 2 months out. Others that work day to day. Working logs in advance not only provides a clearer vision of inventory, but also protects against last minute chaos should an emergency arise. There may not be time to place bumped spots back on the log, resulting in lost revenue. I suggest having logs worked at least two weeks in advance. While this may require some additional time upfront, you’ll find comfort in knowing its taken care of. Another daily workflow procedure that may prove beneficial is creating an archived trial log. Do it first thing in the morning. This could be as simple as emailing yourself a pdf of the next days printed log. While you may not have an actual log file, you will have a structure to build upon.
Lastly, a structured walkthrough test should take place. Does the system you have in place really work? What ran smooth and what needs to change? Evaluate the process at each phase and make adjustments where needed.
Creating a plan that allows your organization to stand up against disruption is a gradual process. It’s not going to be perfect right from the box. Most of what I covered here can be accomplished in a weeks time, but realize it’s not just a project, but a long term goal.
Thoughts on What Makes a Great Traffic Manager
I once had an account manager say to me, “your job is so easy, a monkey could do it”. To say the least, the comment was hurtful, but for context purposes, her words were a back handed compliment as she thought I would be better suited in the sales department. In other words, she thought my talents were going to waste. I did however challenge her to come and spend a full day working an oversold commercial log with $500 average unite rate spots. She never took me up on that offer.
While this was a temporary personal surface wound, the industry views on what a Traffic Manager does goes a bit deeper. How is it that the position that offers the most value to a station is the most under-valued? The Traffic Manager is the most under-appreciated, over-worked and misunderstood resource at any radio/tv station. It’s hard work. Tedious. Repetitive. And process driven. It’s a brain-numbing job that involves methodically arranging (like a puzzle) 300-400 elements daily. Many have been asked to become more efficient with cut staff. To take on new responsibilities in trafficking new and ever changing digital platforms. To hit daily deadlines and be error free. And for some … oh yeah, could you also handle billing and answer the phone. Where else in your organization do you find this much value? Because of the high demand needed, yet low rewards given, smart and able in house talent simply consider other areas of the industry or other industries period. If not careful, the result could mean far fewer talented traffic people in a talent pool that is critical in broadcasting operations.
There is no Traffic Manager school. No traffic manual. It’s a learn on the go position which tolerates little room for error.
Great Traffic Managers are detail oriented individuals that work well independently. Because traffic involves so many different elements – from scheduling to revenue management to billing – a great Traffic Manager must be highly organized and have a keen eye for detail. Being detailed oriented means you spot inconsistencies. That you notice an end date entered as 2017, should have been 2011. A web designer can have basic knowledge, poor attention to detail and still get by. The result might be a misspelled word on the “About Us” page or an incorrect phone number on the “Contact Us” page. If a Traffic Manager has basic knowledge and poor attention to detail, the results can be significant in the way of lost revenue or un-balanced books. This quality can’t be instilled in someone. You have it or you don’t. The difference between good and great is attention to detail.
Great Traffic Managers love digging into numbers and spotting potential issues. They are analytical. By looking at numerical comparisons and key indicators, a Traffic Manager should be able to make observations and thus decisions based on those observations. These skills are most apparent in inventory & metrics reports. When you deal with multiple avail types, categories and lengths, you need to know what’s doing well and what isn’t doing well. Inventory is your show room floor, the stock room and whatever is on the truck or boat. Mismanagement leads to missed budgets. I’ve met Sales Managers that didn’t know how to read inventory reports. What would happen if your Traffic Manager wasn’t analytical?
Great Traffic Managers are good at process … or better yet… good at applying process. Consistent and routine. They are the ones that look at existing processes critically to make them faster, more efficient, more effective, or otherwise better. They are the ones that take great care to document their assignments because they will otherwise find themselves the target for blame when something goes wrong.
A great Traffic manager must be able to act positively and efficiently under pressure. The job is stressful. And thankless. It’s the bottom line. When everyone else cuts out for happy hour at 4PM on a Friday, they have to stay and get the job done. Deadlines are broken all the time. It’s not fair, but it is business. There is a wide range of attitudes on this point, but the great Traffic Managers see time spent bickering could be time spent hitting budget.
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, great Traffic Managers evolve. The Traffic landscape is changing. There are new platforms and with them comes new terminology and ways of working. While one views added digital duties as a burden, a great Traffic Manager sees it as opportunity. They focus on transferable skills irrespective of immediate reward and recognition. They interact with and push their traffic software vendors for more efficient tools. Traffic systems have made great advancements in the last decade, but they are only as efficient as the Traffic Manager managing it. GreatTraffic Managers can evolve the stations’s traffic system to meet its ever-changing needs by proactively seeking new processes that allow it to be as effective as possible. As Traffic evolves to ad ops and as our digital platforms become more complex and show higher returns, the industry will come to realize the importance of understanding what Traffic does. But to get there, a new breed of Traffic Managers is needed and they will need some additional technical and interpersonal skills.
how to help …
To quote Ben Horowitz, co-founder, Andresseen Horowitz, “If you have never done the job, how do you know what you want”? It would do you and your organization well to sit down and spend a day in the Traffic Department. It’s an opportunity to see first hand what really works and identify if and how certain processes can be improved.
Keep the Traffic Department separate from Sales. Traffic Managers are generally analytical and technical people. Sales people and sales managers are generally expressive and outgoing. Each personality type is what it has to be. Separating the two will not disturb any synergy that may be in place. If they are required to be at sales meetings, keep that in place. What the separation offers is a safer environment to express concerns or frustrations.
A quiet place to work. If your Traffic Manager is in a cubicle on the sales floor and there are un-occupied offices (or folks in offices that require little concentration) … there are probably some resentful feelings going on. Think about building the commercial clocks. The traffic system doesn’t just do this. It requires meticulous effort, planning and concentration in making sure all the elements fall exactly where they are suppose to. Otherwise, the exported log won’t match up with the automation system and commercials will drop. Traffic Managers look at a ton of data in one day. One missed number or decimal point can come back in discrepancies. For this alone, it merits being able to close a door to think.
Involve your Traffic Manager in what’s happening. Don’t let them be the last to know things that directly impact their workflow. Involve them. Assign projects or Invite them to attend task-force meetings. And lastly, nurture the relationship. It’s a hard job. An important one. If nobody showed up at your station tomorrow, I can make a pretty good case that Traffic would be the most impactful on your day and bottom line.
Coming soon … ‘The New Traffic Managers … who they are and what makes them great’
What happened to contextual advertising?
In January of 2010, Clear Channel Radio announced the ability to automatically and reliably insert any length of audio spot immediately after specific programming or commercial spots based entirely on content. This is known as contextual or semantic advertising. It was announced that several test campaigns for major national advertisers VISA, GEICO and Wal-Mart, produced outstanding results for the advertisers. And then, as quickly as this exciting technology appeared … it seems to have disappeared. As a Traffic Manager, I was fascinated with this innovation and have continued to research the topic, but there’s nothing out there beyond the launching press releases. What happened? Where did it go? Perhaps Clear channel is still using this technology, but if so, why are there not more conversations about it and why are other radio companies not jumping on this innovative idea?
So what is it? Traditionally, contextual advertising is a form of targeted advertising in which the content of an ad is in direct correlation to the content of the web page the user is viewing. For example, if you are visiting a website concerning traveling in Europe and see an ad pop up offering a special price on a flight to Italy, that’s contextual advertising. If you use Gmail, you’ll see this at work all the time. The ads served are usually related to the contents of the email.
Several ways this technology can be utilized by radio companies. First is through on air dialogue. Maybe your morning show is talking about coffee and how they need it to keep themselves going during their early morning shift. What a perfect time for a Starbucks ad to air. Top of mind and relevant to the conversation.
Through using contextual advertising, it’s also possible for advertisers to target industries they would like to be associated with. Spot following spot. In one of the initial test campaigns, Clear Channel took the ad theme a step further by placing GEICO’s :15 radio spots immediately after ads from auto, motorcycle and other vehicle makers. So, for example, a Ford ad would be followed by a GEICO ad. Endless options here: phone makers following phone services, any food product following grocery stores or shoe maker following department store.
Another area in which contextual advertising can land a starring role is in on air content. Just browsing through the top 10 songs on this weeks Billboard Hot 100, 4 of the top 10 songs have product placement in the lyrics. So if you are a Top 40 or hot ac station, it’s likely that roughly 40% of the content you are airing has product placement built in. That’s a prime candidate for contextual advertising. Play hip hop? You’ve hit the lottery with artists chronicling their high-rollin’ lifestyles. And this technology can be used within any format, though some will need deeper monitoring than others.
Also among initial test campaigns, Clear Channel’s service ran a Walmart commercial for the ACDC ”Black Ice” CD. But, instead of using only demographic targeting, Clear Channel ran the ad immediately after the same ACDC song on FM stations across 91 markets. So, in this case, Clear Channel used musical context as the cue to pair contextually relevant ads.
Lastly, contextual advertising can work for a radio station in which its origins began … the web page. Let’s say a listener is streaming your station when Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars’s Billionaire plays. In this song, Bruno sings, “I wanna be on the cover of forbes magazine”. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if the banner ad on your web page and streaming player could automatically serve a Forbes Magazine ad?
Yes, there are potential pitfalls in the world of contextual advertising. A funeral service company running a spot associated with a story of someone dying would not be good. It happens, but usually from poor execution or very wide scoped projects. Spoken word stations would be most susceptible to these mishaps. Although contextual advertising has attracted some controversy through the use of targeting, radio station use would not fall under behavioral targeting. There is no tracking involved. It is after all the station pushing the content, not the listener or web page viewer.
Contextual advertising has made a major impact on earnings of many websites and it’s clear that radio is leaving money on the table by not implementing this technology. Everyone benefits. Contextual ads will show up in spots highly appropriate to its content, thus driving the likelihood of a positive response for listeners. More likely to be clicked or acted upon which is beneficial to your clients. Sold at a premium thus generating additional revenue for the radio station. Contextual advertising is a win/win/win and should be shaping our industry to better address advertising content that is relevant to the content of the radio station.
Those 4 songs ….
Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO Featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock (product = drano)
Lighters by Bad Meets Evil Featuring Bruno Mars (products = audi, aston & mtv)
Super Bass by Nicki Minaj (product = polo)
Cheers (Drink To That) by Rihanna (products = jameson & ray-ban)
The case for outsourced (private) hubbing
I recently sat in on a roundtable forum discussing traffic hubbing. A majority of the companies present were from the TV industry and currently operating under a hub model. Very interesting. Lots of insight to be had. There were two key take-aways from that forum that I would like to share with you. First, a lot of the new hires are not experienced Traffic Managers. They are finding new skill sets and better service providers in employees that come from other industries such as accounting and data entry. Second … they are thriving and happy with their decision to change.
It’s a smart business decision and frankly it’s surprising that it has taken until now for companies to change the way they operate. As expressed in the forum, the transition will be difficult. Change is difficult. Tough decision will have to be made about the future of not only people, but the way processes are handled. But the reward is opportunity. An opportunity to transform the management of non-core processes and become more progressive, more collaborative and more flexible. This should be a concern for you because these companies have now gained a competitive advantage on you. They have realized an opportunity to work smarter and utilize savings in more productive ways. This could be hiring more sales people, top notch on air talent or investing more in digital technology. All things that are core and add value to your organization.
These companies are larger however. Perhaps the internal hubbing model works just fine if you have 25, 50 or 100+ stations. Larger companies can make it work because they have enough stations and people to scale it.
But what if you only have 15 stations? Or 5? At this level, there really is no room to scale and gain efficiencies or reduce costs. So how do smaller companies keep up and level the playing field? We believe the solution is in outsourced (private) traffic management.
Radio companies need to focus on what made them successful in the first place – the core business. Expending valuable time and energy managing transactions and non-core processes that could be handled by other specialist is not productive. For smaller groups looking for strategies to enhance their financial condition, greater economies of scale can be achieved through collaboration, shared services, or outsourcing.
It can be a scary word for business owners. It can conjure up images of losing control or a degradation in operations. In reality, the opposite is normally true. With outsourcing, there are contracts, reports, and personal contacts that can keep you informed of performance. And like any other business relationship, it’s not about being the biggest or cheapest … it is about reliability and trustworthiness.
Outsourcing has succeeded because of its ability to reduce risk, drive standardization, increase productivity, and improve reliability and predictability. In other words, its ability to industrialize an ever-increasing range of business activities.
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Hubbing allows for cost reduction. Outsourcing provides even deeper savings, while retaining a larger workforce.
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Both models drive operational efficiency. Outsourcing however, also allows for an increase in resource flexibility and access to talent without payroll burden.
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Additionally, outsourcing presents an opportunity to access new technology and possible strategic partnerships that allow penetration into other markets. Maybe even foreign markets.
The role of the Traffic Manager is rapidly evolving. You not only have traditional advertising to execute, but now digital and mobile. Do you have the time, budget and resources to keep your traffic department up to level in training and development? It’s not just about scheduling spots anymore, but helping execution, customer service and business direction.
Hiring the right small number of people … together … only doing several things, but doing them great is key in driving your business and staying competitive. Why not partner with a company that offers deep domain knowledge in services that are core to your business … but not your core business? A company that can provide additional savings and additional employees. A company that emphasis on formal process and quantitative performance measures. A company that can dedicate 10% of their budget to the training and follow-up of employees. A company that becomes an extension of your team and is willing to customize your needs. Reliable and trustworthy.
If it can improve profitability and keep the same or better level of quality standards …. why not do it?
Gridlocked
Traffic Managers put in serious tenure with companies. On average, about eight years. The average is declining though, due to consolidation, down-sizing departments, hubbing and burn out from being over-worked. Some are content with a lifelong career in the Traffic Department. Others are seeking personal growth and advancement, but have found it difficult to get to that next level. Often times, you have only two choices: being a traffic coordinator or a traffic manager. Your career path may include becoming head of the traffic department or director of operations, but many in traffic feel like they have no way to advance. If you’re good at what you do, it’s in the company’s best interest to keep you in your cozy little niche. After years of doing Traffic, you may find that you have painted yourself in a corner. Not only in the company or industry you work for, but other industries as well. Traffic So how do you develop the expertise and skills to be known as the go-to gal or guy for TrafficTraffic without getting so tightly defined? Is it possible to fly the pigeonholing coop?
Be Mindful…
Spend some time observing and recognizing the boundaries that already surround you and the perception of you. Often, It’s easier for your manager to stay with what is easy and safe rather then letting you move up. You have to make it more compelling for the company to move you than to leave you parked right where you are. How do you do that?
Think process … not experience.
Focus on transferable skills. If you are good at Traffic, then you are good at process. You love the rhythm and discipline of ordering your world in a certain way. And you love looking for ways to improve every little thing you do, gaining every ounce of efficiency along the way. These are valuable skills that not a lot of people posses. Look around you. How might these traits serve your company in other ways? If you are less order and process driven and more social, perhaps you have a future in sales or marketing. If you just hate what you do in general, then it’s time to regroup and go do something else completely.
Yet, if you like scheduling ads, but are just unhappy with your situation, there are options. Scheduling ads is a process. Though the tools may be a little different from industry to industry, the basic underlying process in ad execution is the same. If you are in radio, you will find new challenges and possibly a higher salary in TV. Online radio is also a growing possibility. Or think about the internet and all the ads that are circulated in a day. People are scheduling all those online ads using the same process you use, just with different tools.
Seek an edge…
Seek out new skills and responsibilities irrespective of immediate reward and recognition. Digital is a great example and starting point. If you are not currently involved in the trafficking of digital assets for your company …. volunteer. Two reasons.
First, it’s the direction we are heading. Traditional media is slow to react, but if you don’t think online and mobile advertising is going to be a very large part of what you do in a few years, you are in for a surprise. Do you know the very basics? Do you know the difference between CPM, CPC and CPA? Do you have knowledge of online ad serving platforms? Like with anything, if you don’t keep up and seek an edge, the learning curve will be steep or you will just be left behind.
Second, it will broaden your skills and opportunity for growth. Perhaps you do want to make that jump to online ad operations. Higher salaries. On average, $10,000 higher per year. More career paths. You may have to start as a junior ad trafficker, moving to senior ad trafficker to yield (inventory) analyst on up to director of ad operations. The jump won’t be easy though. The process has its similarities, but the culture, technology growth and language are very different. You need to begin … today …. to educate yourself.
Lastly, and most importantly … you have to speak up. Nobody knows how smart you are unless you show them. Seize opportunities to offer your valuable input. You do the job every day. You are the expert. Seize opportunities to let people know what your dreams and ambitions are. You can’t become apathetic about your situation if you don’t express or ask for what you want. You may have to take a slower path. You may have to work twice as hard to get there. But it might be possible. You never know, you might just have a manager that has a vested interest in your future.
a few interesting stats…
Average salary for traditional media traffic = $43,000
Traditional media (traffic) job satisfaction = 63% (that’s a failing grade)
Average salary for online ad trafficker = $55,000
Online job satisfaction – unknown at the time, but I will find it!
Needed now: The broadcast traffic system of tomorrow … end-to-end ad execution
To stay competitive in the new market place, you must build (or partner with) a Traffic team that is forward-thinking and can drive innovation in the Traffic Department. You need Change Agents that can identify inefficiencies and seek out solutions.
One such inefficiency is multiple operating systems.
Advertisers are diving into digital buying. eMarketer expects US online advertising spending to reach $31.3 billion this year, a dramatic 20.2% increase over 2010 spending. By 2015, nearly $50 billion will be spent on online ads in the US.
This trend makes the job of a Traffic Manager increasingly more complex. There are simply more things to traffic; terrestrial advertising, streaming advertising, banner ads, mobile and email campaigns. Accurately scheduling all of these requires focus and attention to detail, so it makes sense that the Traffic Department carries out the processes. However, the fragmentation of systems is inefficient and heightens the risk of campaigns being run incorrectly.
Right now, to schedule all the assets for a radio station, one must log into 5 (or more) different operating systems. There’s your traffic system for terrestrial advertising. Then another ad server for banner campaigns. One for streaming campaigns. On and on. Not to mention digital inventory management, which for most is still being done in excel spreadsheets. It’s enough to drive Traffic Managers crazy.
The major broadcast management software companies have made great advancements in the terrestrial side of traffic management, continuity and billing. The digital side, however, is lacking. There is a real opportunity for cross-platform innovation and the company that can get everything on one dashboard will have a gold mine on their hands.
The dashboard for the broadcast traffic system of tomorrow should look like this.
It should offer end-to-end ad execution for all terrestrial and digital assets. In addition to it’s already built terrestrial functions, it should offer easy to use functionality for creating banner, streaming, mobile and email campaigns.
The broadcast traffic system of tomorrow should offer easy to understand real-time inventory forecasting for each platform. A digital inventory model based on historical ad server reports. Offer real-time campaign performance and content integration. And a metric’s system that breaks down and puts everything on one page.
The broadcast traffic system of tomorrow should offer a “project management” collaboration feature which can be used to upload, circulate and archive copy instructions, audio files, banner ads, video and other digital files.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as well as a Listener Relationship Management (LRM) feature for email campaigns should also be built in.
The broadcast traffic system of tomorrow should offer the packaging, selling, trafficking, managing, optimizing and billing of ads for all platforms. A turnkey solution to radio offerings in the hands of audiences … no matter where they are. It should be compatible with a few selected ad servers for each category. In other words, don’t strive for integrating with every system out there because the landscape is too vast. Pick one or two good banner ad servers. One or two good streaming content servers. One or two good mobile campaign companies. Or better yet, build your own.
When companies get their operating environment stabilized and running optimally, they can begin to look beyond today’s urgencies and towards the innovations of tomorrow. Achieving all this will be hard work. You need people willing to roll up their sleeves and go to bat for you. To push software companies to innovate faster. To campaign on your behalf for tools that will let you operate more efficiently tomorrow.
Closing the gap on discrepancies
Successful campaign management is essential to generating current and future revenue. In radio and tv, we sell time. Discrepancies are not only lost time, but lost revenue as well. While makegoods are convenient in making-up some lost revenue, more time is lost in doing so. Agencies often require 2 for 1 (sometimes even 3 to 1) on makegood spots. So that’s twice as much time wasted and unable to be sold. There is also wasted time in researching and resolving the problems. Not to mention, stress for account executives and their relationships with clients.
Can discrepancies be eliminated all together? Probably not. But by establishing metrics, quality assurances, best practices and transparency, you should be able to prevent major discrepancies from occurring and close the gap on the unavoidable ones.
Metrics and goals
Metrics and goals are not the same. The goal is the target number. The metric is a measurement of the activities and performance. For 10 years, my given goal was to be 99.5% discrepancy free. By tracking and measuring (metric) discrepancies, we were able to find that my actual number was 99.7% discrepancy free. In addition, the metrics gave us insight as to why discrepancies had occurred.
You must establish metrics and then actually measure them. If your not hitting your goal, then there is a problem and the metrics will let you know where the troubled point(s) are. What gets measured IS what gets done.
Process review
While advancements in broadcast management software have reduced some of the commonly caused discrepancies, human error will most likely always play a role in what we do as Traffic Managers. Preventative measures is key. Review and break-down each process in your workflow. There must be an action plan for every risk. If a times separation report is not being examined every time a log is finalized, the risk of not meeting client separation expectations is run. And that’s a discrepancy. Are you doing everything possible to ensure that nothing will miss? Where exactly are the discrepancies coming from? What causes them? What’s accurate and how can accuracy be improved in each step along the way?
By reviewing process, you will be able to build a process map … and that will provide the implementation of Quality Assurances.
Best practices
You are only fulfilling Best Practices if you unwaveringly follow Quality Assurances. Best Practices provides clear descriptions of a set of processes, procedures, and guidelines. Following Best Practices makes the process repeatable and prevents mistakes from recurring.
Transparency
Accountability and metrics should both be transparent. It’s the only way to get to the bottom of and find solutions for problems.
Transparency initiates accountability. Accountability is not necessarily blame. It is however, a diligent tool in identifying and calling to action for problems. When the right mix of personnel are asked two questions for every missed spot, great things happen. Why did it happen? And how do we prevent it from happening again?
Whenever possible, we develop meaningful, transparent metrics so that we and others may accurately gauge and guide our progress. Transparent metrics define & measure success. They provide clear pathways to improvement. Numbers and data don’t lie. Without it, there is a disconnect between performance measures and compensation and rewards.
Here’s an idea …
When an organization sets their goal at 98% or 99% or 99.5% discrepancy free, then what they are really saying is, we understand that human error happens and we are comfortable with losing that much money.
The work of a Traffic Manager is stressful, never ending and mind numbing. Most often, they are on the low end of the pay scale and are not eligible for commission. Yet, they are responsible for the bottom line. To achieve all the above, it takes a lot of care and nurturing. Mostly, it takes engaged employees.
So, if the station bills on average $7 Million dollars a year and the goal is 99%, that’s $70,000 that can be closed in on.
Wouldn’t all parties benefit by offering bonus incentives to close the gap on discrepancies?
.1% of 7 000 000 = 7000 ($1,000 bonus) (station recoups $6,000)
.5% of 7 000 000 = 35,000 ($5,000 bonus) (station recoups $30,000)
1% of 7 000 000 = 70,000 ($10,000 bonus) (station recoups $60,000)
Can your Traffic Department evolve?
“We may be a long way from pre-recession over-the-air revenue numbers, but broadcasters are supplementing those revenues by taking steps to change the landscape by attracting advertisers through online and mobile and also by extending their signals to attract new listeners. “BIA/Kelsey
That comment is much more compelling than just posting forecasted numbers that will be revised multiple times before the date is reached. One thing is clear … digital is growing and will continue to grow. That’s good news. Now, how long before revenue starts shifting?
Who is scheduling your online advertising? Who will schedule mobile advertising? Seems every radio station is operating in a different way. Some have web producers doing it. Some have Traffic in charge. Some have other technical or administrative employees scheduling digital. This lack of structure might work temporarily, but won’t hold up to scaling, workflow efficiency, quality assurance and just keeping up. Here’s the thing. If you go to the Pandora website, the way the ads blanket the screen and interact with the audio ads is a very beautiful thing in itself. How are you going to compete with that? Do your Traffic Managers have the skills to do that? If not, how are you going to provide the technical knowledge needed in order to make sure the creative on your website(s) is not only creative and beautiful, but works properly?
There are a lot of differences in Traffic related job postings between traditional radio and internet radio.
Titles
Traffic Managers vs Online Ad Trafficker.
Terminology
Traditional radio is still using terms like data entry, print and “Typing 50 wpm”. Really?
Internet radio is using terms like campaigns, metrics, html, flash and rich media.
Tools
This is where is gets complicated and really, this topic deserves its own blog entry. Let’s just say, the job of a Traffic Manager is difficult enough in itself. Adding digital to the mix makes it even more so. One moment, you are knees deep, maximizing revenue in Marketron … only to have to stop-down, jump on DoubleClick and traffic a digital campaign. Simply put, it’s innificient and risky to be jumping back and forth between multiple operating systems.
Why put all this on one or even a few internal resources at a rising and difficult-to-control cost, when it’s far easier and more effective to outsource at a fraction of this cost?
Your online radio competitors are leveraging global talent. So can you. They are able to utilize a team of people focused only on Traffic. So can you. They reap the rewards of working with a team that invests 10% towards training. So can you. They are thriving. And so can you.
Our goal is to provide you service in such a way that your company thinks of our people as their people.
ps. Why are Traffic Departments still printing paper logs and reports? Know how much money and paper can be saved? Stay tuned!
Sustainability in Traffic
Being green and the impact on the environment is getting a lot of attention. How environmentally friendly are your processes? Are they configured to have the minimum footprint? Are your processes designed to measure this?
By taking your commercial log paperless, you save over $100.00 per year per station. And there are benefits beyond cost savings. Time saved printing. Time saved walking the paper log to the air studio. Most importantly, in one email, a pdf version of the log can be emailed to each jock and archived. One thing is for sure, “the log is missing” issue will never happen again.
Continuity Departments use an enormous amount of paper. From email instructions to multiple page agency instructions to scripts to endless revisions, it’s safe to say, Continuity can easily burn though 6 boxes of paper ($300.00) per year. Not to mention, all this paper then has to be manually filed. By using an online paperless system, the entire process can be streamlined between Sales, Continuity and Production. Cost savings. Hours of labor saved in filing.
Many Traffic systems now offer paperless billing options. If not, there are work-arounds. Not only are you saving in paper costs, which might be around $200.00 per year, there is additional savings in postage. If you send out 100 invoices a month, that’s about $500.00 per year.
If Traffic is also doing Digital, this too can rely on heavy paper usage. Making the process paperless will save the department about $200.00 per year. Easier to archive and again, hours of labor saved filing it all.
So that’s approximately $1,300.00 (about the same amount as a 3% raise for a Traffic Manager) that can be saved by going paperless in the Traffic Department. But really, it’s about so much more. It’s a better archiving system. It’s increased productivity. And the real magic in centrally stored digital informations is that once it’s online, it can be accessed and processed from almost anywhere.
You will find by offering incentives (cash/prizes), employees will find and create new ways of working that not only benefit the company, but the employees as well.
Checking for competitive
When checking for competitive code separation is not built into your process, bad things happen. If either of the clients happened to have been listening at the time, most likely the radio station was asked not only for a credit on the spot, but also additional make-good spots. Lost revenue. Lost inventory.
Discrepancies will always occur, but with the right training and when processes are standardized, they can be considerably lowered.
Beyond pure cost containment
More and more radio companies are now moving towards centralizing operations or hubbing. This is a good first step, one that radio needs, but not exactly in the right direction. Hubbing reduces costs and builds efficiency, but also reduces the quality of services, responsiveness, innovation and puts long term goals at risk. It’s is a short term solution and doing so cuts the value of that department.
Here’s why. The only way it works is to reduce the number of employees. Company XYZ has 4 stations in location A and 5 stations in location B. For all 9 stations, they have 6 Traffic Managers. So they consolidate to one location and reduce the staff to 4 Traffic Managers. The problem is, in any company’s push to maximize efficiency by hubbing, staffs may be streamlined too far, at the same time stacking more responsibilities on those who are still around. Traffic Departments are becoming stretched to the point where specific needs are ignored, service is a burden, and long-term growth strategies imperiled.
Additionally, employees who are overworked suffer from anxiety, they make mistakes, they harbor angry feelings about their employer, and resent coworkers who don’t pull their share of the load. All unhealthy and counter-productive. Over-worked and under-paid employees will result in higher turnover, less competent workers and more frequent mistakes. A daily struggle just to get the commercial logs done. Forget about due-diligence, good account executive support, loyalty or any hope of innovation.
Hubbing proves that companies are comfortable with Traffic being done outside the station, but that they want their own company to do it. Why? Is internalization a source of competitive advantage? No. Is trafficking a skill your company does better than anybody else? No. Are you releasing any of the company’s proprietary skills/information by outsourcing Traffic? No.
Companies should be very reluctant to spend any money or time patching up old and outdated infrastructure that doesn’t provide value to the organization anymore. Mediocrity is easy. Hubbing is more comfortable, but it’s also a mediocre way of operating. Just getting by is not going to cut it anymore in our industry. Radio can achieve the same cost reductions while actually strengthening their positions for future success and higher performance by rethinking old models and habits.
Radio must focus on growth, not back-office operations. Focus on providing better content than your competitor. Focus on employing better sales people or better talent. Focus on investing and research in digital technology. Focus on your core. And nurture that core.
Why not embrace new ideas and ways of thinking that extend beyond pure cost containment? Why not build new capabilities that not only make operations more effective and innovative, but deliver higher performance as well?
What if you could partner with a company that offers deep domain knowledge in services that are core to your business … but not your core business? A company that can provide additional savings AND additional employees. A company that emphasis on formal process and quantitative performance measures? A company that can dedicate 10% of their budget to the training and follow-up of employees? A company that becomes an extension of your team and is willing to customize your needs?
This is, for forward thinking companies, an opportunity to transform the management of non-core processes and become more progressive, more collaborative and more flexible. The opportunity to reclaim that larger workforce; one that is prepared to drive standardization, increase productivity, mitigate risk, and allows you to gain a competitive edge.
If you think beyond pure cost containment, I guarantee some innovation will come out of it.
Traffic … it’s our core.
Why isn’t radio rightly-staffed?
“Revenue in 2009 dropped 18% alone from the previous year after a 9% drop the previous year.” “In response, many stations are cutting programming costs, laying-off expensive morning shows, using syndicated personalities, voice tracking, and in other ways providing a weaker less local product. The cutbacks may offer a short term solution to declining revenue, but the abandonment of localism makes commercial radio extremely vulnerable to national Internet products”. Harker Research
Companies must be mindful that cutting in the wrong places or to the wrong extent can have long-term negative implications on future growth. So why does radio cutback on the very thing that makes it unique? Broadcasters should do nothing else but focus on core competency. Quality (local) broadcasting. Digital solutions. And the selling and marketing of the first two. Strip everything else away. Get rid of the noise. Get lean, mean and rightly-staffed to compete in the new business realities that now exist and will continue to exist for some time.
Radio can achieve the same cost reductions while actually strengthening their positions for future success and higher performance by rethinking old models and habits. If you could keep your core stronger by outsourcing your back office (which will result in a stronger process) wouldn’t you do that? The companies that will thrive in the future will be those that seek out strategic partnerships that enable them to leverage revenue in more productive ways.
Take the Traffic Department for example. How happy are your Traffic Managers? How much attention does that department get? How much innovation is coming out of your Traffic Department? Most likely, your employees are over-worked and under-paid. You have no idea really what they do, so you can’t measure it. They are just surviving daily, so creating innovation is not even a thought.
It’s a distraction. It’s only still in house because that’s the way it’s always been. There are inefficiencies in the processes and functions. There are staffing redundancies (back-up). Performance issues. Multiple operating system issues … all that constitute as noise and that has to be eliminated for innovation to be heard.
Most tasks today performed by Traffic Managers are done so entirely online using a 3rd party broadcast solutions business management software that allows work to be done from ANYWHERE. Hubbing is a terrible idea. It only cuts the value of the department. (More in an upcoming post). So what about an end-to-end solution for radio traffic management? A company that focuses only on Traffic? It’s cost efficient. More importantly, operations become centralized and streamlined. More productive. More value.
Maybe even a shot at some innovation.
Inspiration 2
If you have never done the job, how do you know what you want?
Ben Horowitz, co-founder, Andresseen Horowitz
Five things radio must do in 2011 (in no particular order)
1. Embrace new media. Online. Digital. Mobile. All of it. Pandora almost doubled their number of registered users in 2010. When it comes to online media, everything is moving in an upward direction. Time spent online … up. Online ad spending … up. Mobile is growing even faster. This isn’t going away. If you chose to ignore it, you will be left behind. You have all these great assets and advertisers. Not just one platform, but several to work in. You must find ways of integrating social media into production and programming with your audience, not for them. It might not pay off right away, but what is the alternative? “Radio needs to “adapt, not just react.” Greater Media Chairman/CEO Peter Smyth
2. Outsource. It’s impossible to grow a company by multitasking everything. You are not a technology company. You are not a design company. You are not a data management company. It’s a balancing act between listener experience, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. By outsourcing some of these processes that are not core to radio, you can free yourself (and your clients) from the complexities that exist today. Traffic is 50% more complex than it was 3 or 4 years ago. There is traditional traffic, digital traffic, mobile, and newsletters. All slogged with the fragmentation between different operating systems. Can your company really be the fulfillment and ad creator, the designer, the trafficker, the re-conciliator, and the metrics analyzer? Is there a standard operating procedure? Is there a thorough quality assurance process? Focus on broadcasting. And selling. And marketing. Find partners that do great work, that can do these non-core processes for you. Spend more time on creativity and less on paperwork.
3. Get in touch with your metrics. It’s possible that radio was the first medium to use metrics as audience measurement as we know them today. More than ever, there are now a lot of things we are measuring. The number of people listening and for how long. The number of people visiting our websites and what pages and banners they are clicking on. Email databases. Mobile. It’s essential to choose the right metrics. Most companies today are using a 3rd party broadcast solutions business management software. There is a lot of data not being looked at. Not being shared within a cluster or company wide and it should be. There is real-time data being constantly pumped out that could save you revenue. Or cost you revenue. One example … if there are slots unsold, or you run fillers, do you know precisely day by day how much that is costing your business?
4. Hire the right people. This is a big one. Ken Dardis, President of Audio Graphics, Inc. wrote a blog entry entitled “If radio loses local, it’s competition is global”. In under 10 words, this statement effectively cuts to the center of what many people in the industry think is most problematic. That if you don’t have great jocks on the air that engage the audience, then the audience has/is/will go elsewhere. Radio = local. Pandora = personal. It’s a matter of being rightly-staffed. Great companies and industries are very diligent in this area. Radio is showing fatigue. Look across your organization. If there are X amount of people that are not core and the services they provide can be found cheaper and produce better results, doesn’t it make sense to free up some costs and get some of that local talent back? Or more sales people? Or a better website?
5. Be awesome. Tim Westergren is darn near rock-star status. We see him in Time Magazine. On the Charlie Rose show. Wall Street Journal. He’s at the CES Show. He is everywhere and so is Pandora. Blue-Ray. PC’s. Tablets. Phones. In fact, over 200 devices now feature Pandora. The next frontier … cars. Lots of cars. Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, GM, BMW, Mercedes Benz, etc. Where are our leaders? Where are our rock-stars? There is far too much negative rhetoric being created by people in our own industry. Let’s stop talking about the death of the radio. That is so easy. Offer a solution instead.
Inspiration
If you aren’t getting rejected on a daily basis, your goals aren’t ambitious enough.
Chris Dixon, co-founder, Hunch
Cirque FM
Radio is in the middle of disruptive change. It happens. Nothing you can do about the actual motion of it. Close your eyes, ignore it and you will be passed by.
video store -vs- Netflix
book stores -vs- Amazon
record stores -vs- iTunes
In these cases, traditional brick and mortar businesses did not react fast enough to what was happening around them. Blockbuster filed Chapter 11 in September. Shortly after, they added a Recapitalization FAQ sheet to their website and the following is taken directly from it.
“Do you expect any operational changes? Will Blockbuster be closing more stores? While this is primarily a balance sheet recapitalization intended to strengthen Blockbuster’s financial position, as part of the recapitalization process the Company will evaluate our U.S. store portfolio with a view towards enhancing the overall profitability of our store operations. Currently, all 3,000 of the Company’s stores in the U.S. will remain open.”
Why? Does that seem smart to you?
Strata’s 3rd quarter agency survey revealed that more than 80% of the agencies said they are spending more on digital than ever before.
Harker Research recently conducted a survey on radio streaming. The question at foot; What percent of your listeners use streaming services for your station? Amazingly, 38% answered that their station does not offer streaming. Upon further research, many of those do not even have a station website. 38% of the radio industry has their eyes completely closed.
Why? Is it too expensive? Don’t understand it? Don’t believe that it will benefit your station(s)? I would imagine that managing a business where the competitive landscape you have always known begins to take on a completely new form is quite daunting. But there are plenty of companies and industries that people had given up on that created new markets and reaped big rewards from creating innovative products. Look at Apple. Or Starbucks. Or Cirque du Soleil.
But it didn’t just happen to these companies. They had to change. If you don’t invest in your own company, re-evaluate outdated and overpriced work methods, you will fail.
While you’re standing still your competitors, even those you don’t yet know about, are improving. Some are completely redefining your entire industry. They are working differently. They are working smarter.
Radio needs structural shift. Re-think everything. If a process can be performed in a more cost efficient or streamlined manner, dump it. It’s not a core competency. Why waste a further thought on it? Why not build strong partnerships with a specialized outsourcing service provider that can do a particular process better and cheaper than in-house? That provide you with access to better global talent? That enable you to focus on your core?
Eyes open. Leave the Traffic to us. It’s our core.
ps. some of you are looking more Cirque ….
Musings on Traffic
