The Hidden Cost of "Free"
Don't know what the expense for text books would be had I learned AdWords, Yahoo Merchant Solutions, and MSN's AdCenter keyword ad buying at college.
Throw in email and banner marketing, analytics and metrics, and studying ways they relate to the radio industry; those "free" online courses cost only the price of my time.
| My few years of self-education on how radio works online are supplemented with the few years that I worked for free at radio and television stations in the 1970s, where I learned both industries from the ground up. That's the way it was; talking your way into a radio station or begging to pull cables for the production crew in a television studio would be called an internship today. College credits weren't earned, but the thrill of being in a fast-moving broadcast environment offset the time spent learning. Broadcast, back then, was growing. |
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Recently, though, I've been thinking about the cost of the internet's "free." It's beginning to cost more every day the radio industry fails to force itself to better use the digital media.
I must have fielded a half-dozen calls this week from radio people asking about learning new media. Their common thread is a desire to "upgrade my skills for a changed advertising industry." To each I sent the Google Learning Center URL; there, for the price of time, they can sit through 100+ video tutorials on keyword ad-buying, as I have multiple times. It only took me about 18 months before the act of creating and managing a search ad campaign became intuitive. The internet gets much deeper morphing through banner placement, social networks and Tweets, so there's no resting on your laurels. It's truly a "what can you do for me tomorrow" place to operate, so it's constantly back to spending time doing research on how it all works, together, if you want to stay marketable.
How much is your time worth, and how much of it are you willing to give to upgrading skills in a changed radio industry? Are you prepared to spend time learning how the internet works, and how your radio station web site can better quantify an advertiser's campaign? Do you have an inclination to uncover ways radio can use the internet in harmony with listeners and advertisers?
Does your future include a web site offering A/B testing or featuring non-music topics relative to your audience? Does the web site break free of the typical radio station design? Do listeners leave feeling they've gained from visiting it? These are all items that now need to be learned. You're not just broadcasting to Kansas anymore.
From time to time I read radio industry gadflies' claims that new media people say radio is dying. It is not. I'm not aware of one person who knows the radio business that speaks of the radio industry's death. They do, however, echo the same words about radio CEOs lacking leadership skills required to guide this industry. Seldom are barbs aimed at those in the trenches.
Do you suppose that any radio industry executive has devoted substantial time to understanding all that's available to them for free, online?
There are youth in this business who could step in and create these dual-media concepts, whereby radio bridges the internet, with more than a page on Facebook. They've all spent years using digital media and do it quite intuitively. They have spent their free time learning, and now radio executives need to begin handing the reins of leadership to them. To withhold transfer will hasten a deeper drop in revenue.
Multiple ways exist of using over-the-air programming in conjunction with online content. NPR does nicely. Now it's commercial radio's turn to initiate a move. The longer it waits, the more costly it becomes with even more to learn. Learning takes time. It is the hidden cost of "free."
Friday - 2/19/2010
Today's artist introduction is to Hard Rock from Dominique Jamelle
Give "Wet" a listen.
Stations: Add it to your playlist, free.
