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Creative and Cheap Ways to Get Great Production

As staffs get smaller and smaller and smaller, it gets harder to get good production of commercials on radio stations.  Commercials make up 20% or more of the time on your station's air, so having the best quality material you can get is really important.

The issue, especially in smaller markets is where does the talent come from?  The morning guy can only read so many ads.  The sales guys are, well, sales guys.  In many markets, you may not even have a production director anymore, swept away in the yearly cuts.

So where do you get good production cheap?

You can barter it.  But the demands on inventory some syndicators charge in barter time is truly theft.  Then again, doing barter commercials to get more commercials just seems so wrong.

The other thing you can do is outsource your voice overs.

Here are two services you can begin using today to get good quality work at pretty low rates.  Fivrr.com has a few pretty good voice over gigs available for purchase most anytime.  The talent working here varies from pretty good, to the "I want to be a DJ" types, but for $5 it is a great way to add a different sound to the ads on your radio station.  $5 is the base rate.  Some gigs even provide full production services for a few dollars more.

The second way I've used is elance.com.  One of the world's biggest database of freelancers, Elance is a great way to search a wide variety of talent.  Many of these voice over people are pros who are always looking to pick up a little extra cash.

You simply post your job, say you are looking for someone to occasionally read an ad for you.  Determine whether you will pay by the hour or by the job.  And wait for the proposals to come back to you.

I posted a job on Friday and had 93 responses by Monday morning.  There are all kinds of voices, styles, and types to use for your needs.

Two things to note.  One, you will need a cash budget to make this happen.  It doesn't have to be big, but it does need to be cash.  If your boss won't come up with the money, suggest he add it to a sales package.

No really.

I was able to hire a big market sounding non union voice for $20 per :30 ad.  Any sales person should be able to get a $20 talent fee.

Second, it will take longer to turn around production, so your planning needs to be better than the "I need it tomorrow" variety.  Don't be afraid to negotiate your offers.  Fire back with a number you can afford and see what happens.  Rates on elance.com vary all over the place.

The quality of the ads on your station can play directly into your stations revenue.  It will give your copy work a breath of fresh air rather than running around the station trying to find someone to do that 5 voice ad that was just submitted.  Plus you can get real regional or international voices instead of an attempt to impersonate an accent.  A French speaking person doing English.  Oui.  An Aussie doing their form of English.  Right on ya mate.

Elance.com and Fivrr.com are great ways to make your station ads sound better for not much money.

Speaking the Right Language

Years ago, I visited Puerto Vallarta for vacation. Even got to play a golf course that was one of the World Championship Golf tournament courses.  You know, the ones Tiger Woods used to own.  The course was so tough, especially for a hacker like me, I was required to have a local as a caddy. Fortunately, I know a decent amount of Spanish. Fortunately, my caddy's English was better than my Spanish. It didn't help my golf game. (Losing 18 balls in a round is a bad round of golf no matter where you are.)

Maybe it was not having my regular clubs.  Not!

I'm sure you have probably visited a foreign country whose language differs from ours. In a lot of ways, the digital media landscape's language is different than ours as well.

For grins, I was looking at the IAB website this morning. Yes, even the web guys have their own advertising bureau, the Interactive Advertising Bureau. We in radio may be justifiably proud of the RAB and its programs, but the IAB really takes their training to a whole new level. It starts with the terminology. We have ATE, TSL, Cume, etc.

So how much do we know about digital terminology?

Here are some required terms to know from the IAB certification exam. How many of these do you know?

ATF
BT
BTF
CPA
CPC
CPD
CPE
CPM
CPO
CPS
CPV
CTC
CTR
CTV
DMA
DMP
DR
DSP
eCPM
FEP
GRP
HTML
IAB
IO
IP
KPI
LDA
MMM
MRAID
MSA
OOH
OPA
OVP
PII
POP
RFI
RFP
ROAS
ROI
ROS
RPM
RSS
RTB
SEM
SEO
SOV
SSP
T&C
TRP
UGC
VAST
VMAP
VOD
VPAID
WAP
WWW

Try here to see how you did.

The terms come straight for the IAB Study Guide for their Digital Media Sales Certification examination. There are a few terms that cross between the two media disciplines. DMA and GRP are a couple of pieces that are exactly what we radio guys know them to be.

Whether you are in programming or sales, knowing the language like a native is always going to get you better service. While radio has been trying to jump into the digital land for the last decade, it might help to know the language.

IAB Certification Study Guide

Terms for the IAB Certification Study Guide

ATF
Above The Fold
BT
Behavioral Targeting
BTF
Below The Fold
CPA
Cost Per Acquisition
CPC
Cost Per Click
CPD
Cost Per Download
CPE
Cost Per Engagement
CPM
Cost Per Thousand
CPO
Cost Per Order
CPS
Cost Per Sale
CPV
Cost Per View
CTC
Click To Continue
CTR
Click Through Rate
CTV
Click To View
DMA
Designated Market Area
DMP
Data Management Platform
DR
Direct Response
DSP
Demand Side Platform
eCPM
effective Cost Per Thousand
FEP
Full Episode Player
GRP
Gross Rating Point
HTML
Hyper-text Markup Language
IAB
Interactive Advertising Bureau
IO
Insertion Order
IP
Internet Protocol
KPI
Key Performance Indicator(s)
LDA
Legal Drinking Age
MMM
Mixed Media Modeling
MRAID
Rich Media Player Ad Interface Definition
MSA
Master Service Agreement
OOH
Out of Home
OPA
Online Publisher Ad
OVP
Online Video Platform
PII
Personally Identifiable Information
POP
Point Of Purchase
RFI
Request For Information
RFP
Request For Proposal
ROAS
Return On Ad Spend
ROI
Return On Investment
ROS
Run Of Site
RPM
Revenue Per Thousand
RSS
Real Simple Syndication
RTB
Real Time Bidding
SEM
Search Engine Marketing
SEO
Search Engine Optimization
SOV
Share Of Voice
SSP
Supply Side Platform
T&C
Terms and conditions
TRP
Target Rating Point
UGC
User Generated Content
VAST
Video Ad Serving Template
VMAP
Video Mobile Ad Player
VOD
Video On Demand
VPAID
Video Player Ad Interface Definition
WAP
Wireless Application Protocol
WWW
World Wide Web

Where's the Banana?

I was on a GoToMeeting with a client the other day. He asked me to review a new home page for his company's website.

The first thing I blurted out was, "Where's the banana?"

"Where's the banana" is a phrase coined by Seth Godin, in his book The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Website Better.

The concept is to picture a monkey in his big red Fez monkey hat, and what are monkeys usually thinking? You got it: "Where's the banana?" Which, incidentally, my one-year old daughter does to me every morning when I make my breakfast shake - she tries to swipe my banana from me before I get it into the blender! I guess that's why we call her our little monkey...

But back to the point: Web users do the same thing. There should be one and only one action a website or radio or television ad should want a visitor to do, whether that's continue on deeper into the website, request more information, or make a purchase. In this case, there was no clear call to action.

It's not just the web where this problem exists. It is in all forms of marketing. Next time you get ready to launch your next direct mail, television, radio, bus bench, or bathroom add ask yourself-- Where's the banana?

post from NeverColdCall.com author Frank Rambauskas

Country Christmas Stocking Stuffers

Got a great list of last minute stocking stuffers with the big day only a few days off. You might be able to find them locally. Here's my list of well known, and not so well known Christmas gifts

Carrie Underwood's biography could be a great gift. It will cost you around $35 to get it in time for the holiday. Carrie Underwood: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies)

GREATEST HITS

Tim McGraw has a new Greatest Hits CD out, including Felt Good On My Lips. Number One Hits. "Southern Voice" is on the CD too. If you want Tim's hits, this two CD set has them.

Trace Adkins has his American Man: Greatest Hits Vol. II available. Gotta love a guy who can stand up on national television and tell it like he sees it.

ROMANCE

Now for some stocking stuffers that might not have crossed your mind. Western romance novelist Carolyn Brown can be counted on for a few great titles. If you recognize them as country song titles, you are right. Here are three I Love This Bar; Lucky in Love; Honky Tonk Christmas you can grab.

UN-ROMANCE

Unfortunately not all of our friends are going to celebrate Christmas the way we do. For them, there's a funny country album called Merry EX-mas: Holiday Songs For The Divorced And Soon-To-Be. Its performed by a group named, "The Irreconcilables." CD cuts include "Frosty, My Ex-Wife", "Hark, The Hell Has Just Begun", and "Single Girls". A download is a quick and easy way to perk up friends who may be having "that" kind of Christmas.

Steve Wariner is the best guitar player in Nashville. No bragging, its just fact. He's also a friend of mine who went to high school just down the road. If you know someone who loves guitar, played the way it should be Steve's Guitar Christmas will fit.

There are a lot of people in the Magic City who like Jason Michael Carroll. Although you don't hear a lot of songs from him these days, the CD Christmas On The Farm would make a less than $5 stuffer.

And finally if you know someone who loves both kinds of music, Country and Western, Michael Martin Murphey has his western flavored cowboy Christmas CD, Acoustic Christmas Carols: Cowboy Christmas II

These are all Christmas ideas scoured from a number of blog posts and music that's crossed my desk in the past few weeks. Merry Christmas

Roses For Mama-2010

I don't remember when I read this story, but it was a LOONNNG time ago. Probably in an advice column like Anne Landers or Dear Abby. The column was probably the idea behind a long forgotten C.W. McCall song, "Roses For Mama".

The advice was this. When its your birthday, rather than getting presents, you should give flowers to your mom. Maybe its out of date in 2010. It seemed like a great idea at the time. The idea was one my younger brother relentlessly executed every single March 12.

March 12 would come along. There would be the flowers. And not just a small bouquet of flowers. A rose for every year of his life. That's a hefty bill in your 20's. In your 30's, well I could only imagine my brother saving his quarters to afford to give mom her flowers.

I was stuck with promising myself to remember to keep up. I was the oldest. I was the one that should set the example for my siblings. And I had 4 more flowers I needed to provide each year.

December was always a little more expensive time for flowers. There was the holiday of course. And Mom's birthday was a couple of days before Christmas, so the flowers got set aside as many times as they were bought and delivered.

Mom never seemed to mind. She wasn't a touchy, feely, huggy Mom anyway. And it all seemed OK.

Every year on December 1, I remember the flowers. There are a lot more than 30 these days.

I just wish she was still here so I could hand them to her.

I love you, Mom.