Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | Edited by Daniel Moores
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RAB to Present Five Strategic Sales and Marketing Sessions at 2012 NAB Show The Radio Advertising Bureau will present five revenue-oriented sales and marketing sessions at this year's NAB Show, to be held in Las Vegas April 14-19. The five sessions, led by the RAB Professional Development group, feature an array of advertising and digital leaders who will share their insights into today's media industry. Convention attendees will leave these sessions with strategies and ideas that can be readily implemented in their markets. "It's absolutely critical that we provide radio's management and sales and marketing professionals with the right knowledge and tools to compete in today's ever-changing media landscape," noted Erica Farber, EVP Radio Advertising Bureau. "The sessions offered by the RAB at NAB Show do just that and will be of great value to any attendee in the broadcast business." The Radio Advertising Bureau's sessions are as follows: Monday, April 16 1:00–2:15 p.m. (Room N239/241) Return On Relationship (ROR) is the New Measure of Success Social media is allowing radio to enhance and leverage listener relationships. Advertisers recognize the valuable relationship stations have with listeners and are willing to look beyond the ROI of their campaigns when clear ROR is present. Learn to generate revenue from your powerful and dynamic relationships. 2:30–3:45 p.m. (Room N239/241) Small and Medium Market Idea Exchange Get a year's worth of money-making ideas you can take home and put to use. The profits you'll earn from this session alone can more than pay for your trip to the Show. 4:00–5:15 p.m. (Room N239/241) Hold Yourself and Your Staff Accountable with Customer Relationship Management If you are happy with your account management system, this session is not for you. But if you would like to hear how businesses are using the latest Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to hold their salespeople accountable, better communicate with and serve clients, and project revenues, then you'll want to attend this session. You'll get practical tips on using CRM and hear success stories on how CRM has increased revenues at the stations that use it. Tuesday, April 17 9:00–10:15 a.m. (Room N239/2410) Integrated Marketing is the New Level of Consultative Selling A convergence of two trends is exploding into a new expectation of media salespeople by advertisers, marketers and agencies. Radio salespeople now have the opportunity to sell multi-media; and advertisers have less time to decide which to use from an ever-increasing number of media choices. Hear the process relevant for local and national sales to sell bigger and longer orders by proposing integrated media campaigns. 10:30–11:45 a.m. (Room N239/241) Is Mobile Marketing the Future of Advertising? More consumers own mobile phones than own computers. Mobile apps, mobile streaming, and mobile websites will mean mobile revenue for radio. Hear where mobile is now, what innovations are coming, how to exploit mobile for the benefit of your station and advertisers, and how to generate incremental advertising revenues. About NAB Show NAB Show, held April 14-19 in Las Vegas, is the world's largest electronic media show covering filmed entertainment and the development, management and delivery of content across all media. With more than 90,000 attendees from 151 countries and 1,500+ exhibitors, NAB Show is the ultimate marketplace for digital media and entertainment. Complete details are available at www.nabshow.com. |
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Early Spring for Home Improvement Retailers The spring selling season is like Christmas for home-improvement retailers, and this year, Christmas is coming early. Government data show December and January were the warmest such months in the contiguous U.S. since 2006, creating the most inviting climate for home improvement since the onset of the recession. The mild winter sets the sector up for a key test of underlying demand. Solid fiscal fourth-quarter results by Home Depot last week reflected homeowners' willingness to spend on sprucing up homes, tending gardens and renovating rooms this year, when an improving job market and hopeful housing signs are on their side. Comprising November through January, the period is seasonally the weakest for home improvement and is typically marked by sales of snow shovels and the like. This year, exterior paint and live plants are just as likely to crop up among popular merchandise. That is because the U.S. is having one of the warmest, least snowy winters on record. Last month was the fourth-warmest January going back to 1895 and had the third-lowest snow cover going back to the '60s, government data show. The mild climes were bad for apparel stores and sporting-goods purveyors, which were stuck with boots, coats and snow-sport equipment. But companies like Home Depot and Lowe's Cos., the smaller rival that also reported strong sales results this week, are enjoying an early start to spring selling. Weather has driven January demand for exterior paint up 31% in the Southeast from last year, estimates researcher Planalytics Inc. When it comes to live plants, "you can't keep them in stores in the southern tier" because demand is so strong, Planalytics President Scott Bernhardt said. Signs are also good at companies that supply the likes of Home Depot, the biggest home-improvement retailer in the U.S. by sales. Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. said point-of-sale figures were up more than one-fifth in the first five weeks of the year. The maker of lawn-and-garden products highlighted strong increases in Texas and Florida, two key early-season markets. Granted, the felicitous weather also can hinder home-improvement retailers because of lost sales of winter merchandise. Planalytics estimates weather has driven down demand 24% in the snow-removal industry in the current season from a year earlier. However, wintriness can dampen traffic, too. A year earlier, record-breaking snow in some areas generated demand for snow throwers and ice salts, but Home Depot said the storms were an overall negative as shoppers stayed home. Meanwhile, the job market is on the upswing. The Labor Department's unemployment rate hit its lowest level in nearly three years last month and has improved for five months straight. The housing market, though still weak, has hopeful signs: Home builders' sentiment rose to the highest level in nearly five years in February. Anticipation of a housing recovery has driven up shares of Home Depot and Lowe's, analysts say. Home Depot stock is up about 24% in the last three months and Lowe's, 18%. That compares with a 12% gain in the S&P 500. In Home Depot's results, momentum in the average ticket, sales per square foot and the volume of high-ticket items will gauge underlying home-improvement demand. Home Depot's average ticket was up 2.6% in the year-earlier period, after it had fallen for four years. Sales per square foot rose 4.1%, and tickets of $900 or more were up 9.6%. The amount of acceleration in metrics like average ticket should hint as to how much homeowners are buying into job market and housing recovery -- and how much they're snapping up snapdragons when they would normally be scraping ice off of windshields. (Source: The Wall Street Journal, 02/21/12) |
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Survey Notes Upswing in Organic Food Sales Organic food sales are continuing on an upward trend as more shoppers frequented mainstream stores for the products and younger consumers were the most loyal to purchasing such items, a recent TABS Group survey found. According to TABS Group's annual organic product survey, which polled 1,000 consumers ages 18 to 75 years, total organic product sales rose approximately 15% to 20% for the year, while the percentage of consumers that claimed they purchased organic products increased from 39.8% in 2011 to 41.8% in 2012. The survey also found an 11% increase in the number of product types purchased by a typical organic shopper, including such staple items as vegetables, meat, milk and eggs. Meanwhile, chicken, beef, ice cream and hair care products realized gains. When it comes to where these items are purchased, 62% of consumers said they buy organic products at mainstream retail stores, versus natural food or specialty stores (38%). Younger consumers also were a key demographic, TABS Group said, as 48% of respondents younger than 40 years old reported using organic products, versus 34% of those ages 60 years and older. What's more, respondents under 30 years of age bought on average 4.6 different organic products, compared with 2.9 different products purchased by people ages 60 years and older. "Younger consumers, with typically the least disposable income, show the greatest loyalty to organics. This likely will increase organics' sales and market share over time as their buying power grows and their preference is passed on to their children," TABS Group CEO Kurt Jetta said. TABS added that people earning less than $30,000 a year and those with children purchased more organic products than higher earners and those without children. (Source: Drug Store News, 02/16/12) |
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Daily Sales Tip: Beyond Trust |
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