Radio sales teams looking to grow their digital revenue in the second half should focus on their web design/development skills, social media savvy, and search engine optimization skills. These are the top three digital services used by local businesses, according to Borrell Associates’ first advertiser survey of 2023. About half of local ad buyers rely on third-party providers for each of these services. And about eight in ten (81%) use some type of digital marketing channel.
While four in ten learn how to perform these functions themselves, three in ten approach a local media company or agency to outsource it.
“If they turn to someone for a technical task, like search engine optimization, they’re going to see that person as a marketing expert,” Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell said during a webinar last week . “So you might want to have at least some experience in this or offer it as a service, whether it’s website design, development, social media management, SEO, or even hosting.”
More than half (55%) of local ad buyers currently use an agency or company to help with at least one digital task for their business. Web design tops the list of tasks delegated to external companies or agencies: 38% currently use a third party for this and 54% say they have outsourced it at some point.
The survey of ad buyers gave the opportunity to provide creative and design development: 18% currently use an external company for this and 33% have used one for this purpose.
The survey also shows that local ad buyers are looking for help with strategic planning, tasks that AI can’t do. “This is a strategic competitive advantage and one that will attract more and more attention,” predicted Borrell. Similarly, more than half (53%) of direct buyers say that bringing new ideas to the table is what they value most about outside agencies.
For the first time, radio claimed the highest percentage of all local advertisers buying digital advertising from a local media company. How reported exclusively by Inside Radio, nearly a third (32%) of all respondents (not just radio buyers) said they were buying digital advertising from a radio company. Radio eclipsed all other local media channels: 26% of buyers surveyed bought digital advertising from a newspaper company, 19% from an agency, 18% from a local TV station and 9% from a local cable system.
Thanks to its strong sales force and narrative prowess, Borrell told webinar attendees that radio is “best placed” to cultivate relationships with the millions of smaller, higher-prone businesses that have emerged since the pandemic “They’re very well positioned to latch on to some of these new companies if they could just take their eyes off that Miller Kaplan data,” he suggested. These small businesses don’t appear in traditional media, he added. “They’re not buying radio, they’re not buying billboards, they’re not buying television… forget it. Get out and find another place,” Borrell advised attendees.
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