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Friday, June 22, 2012

There's no slam dunk off the court any more


I will apologize right up front for the sports content herein. No one likes a speaker/writer that hangs his or her hat on too many sports analogies but I can't resist this one.

LeBron James has taken his Miami Heat team to the NBA championship. The man many sports fans have decided to despise (and I don't understand why -- a long story for another place) has transformed himself into a leader of men and a true champion. This isn't about him. It is about all of the analysts, the commentators and the reporters who spew ad nauseum about LeBron and all the other sports figures out there. With so many 24/7 sports channels on TV, radio and online there is a need for programming and analysis of who's hot and who's not is the standard fare. Here's my point:

It's all about "what have you done for me lately." When you win Game 1 of a seven game series, you're the best. Lose Game 2 and you're a bum. A coach leads his team through ten straight playoff victories and he's a certain Hall of Famer. His team then gets swept in the next four games and he's a certifiable numb skull.

The culture goes beyond sports. There is no loyalty. There is no long term, big picture goal for most businesses. I'm not sure there is a real appreciation for value any longer, not a great deal but real value where you get something that adds worth to your investment, more than you bargained for. Nowhere is this more the case than in advertising. Advertisers want fast results. They don't want to give away the store but they want customers to flock to their doors like they are giving it away. A 13-week campaign that isn't cooking after week two probably won't see week three. And there isn't much we can do about it. It's the world today.

I still believe advertisers will enter into long term relationships with media reps that prove their worth, but you have to prove it fast and right up front, before the first ad runs. You have to show yourself to be the consummate expert about advertising and marketing and sell yourself as such quickly. Selling print? Not good enough. You have to know radio, TV, mobile and online...especially online...practices and metrics. And you have to be a real authority, not a smart phrase dropper, but a real know it all. And if your company isn't training you, then you have to train yourself.

There is a boatload of facts and figures out there on media and marketing. That's the good news. The bad news is that it changes as quickly as a sports reporter's opinion of the superstar flavor of the day. Mediajust  changes quickly. So you're going to have to keep training and reinventing yourself as an expert every day of your career. At a minimum.

Your thoughts? Need help? Drop us a note at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com and thanks for your time!