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!
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