BNET recently featured Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati, who wrote a new book titled “Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business.” In his book, Gulati points out:

“In a marketplace like today, customers have more choices and more information, and services start to look like each other, in what we call a sea of sameness. If you don’t have an ability to transcend beyond the features and functionality of my product versus yours, then you have a problem.”

Gulati points out the fallacy of the notion that media companies are currently consultative and customer focused. Many media sales teams feel if they are asking a few questions about the business and their expected ROI from their marketing efforts that somehow this constitutes consultative selling. Put simply, salespeople are saying “I’ll talk about your needs so long as it leads to you only buying my portfolio of solutions.” Gulati’s point of view is “Most organizations believe they are customer centric when they are asking questions, but they’re communicating with customers through a product lens (with a pre-determined end in mind).” Instead, Gulati says “companies must ask deeper questions such as what problems they are dealing with and what issues are happening in the life of my customers regardless of the solutions the sales person is offering.” The goal in asking probing questions is to help the advertiser better articulate his or her needs so sales can get them met.

Consultative or collaborative selling is about transparency and building solutions that fit the customer’s needs and not necessarily the media company’s balance sheet. If a salesperson is aiming to sell a specific product set, and is willing to un-sell other potential solutions, then this version of consultative selling is merely disguised as the same transactional selling of old — all paths lead to a limited solution. Media consultants recognize there are many media options available to advertisers and that at times their portfolio of media offerings has to co-exist or complement other media and at other times they must fight to win budget from media that may not be as effective or is receiving too large of a share of an advertiser’s budget. Being able to counsel local advertisers on media strengths and weaknesses means salespeople must learn about all types of local media to be effective in selling their own portfolio of media options.

Local advertisers are much smarter about where they spend their marketing dollars because they have access to more information than ever before and have tighter ties to peers through social networks who can offer additional guidance. Salespeople used to be the source of information about what was happening in the local marketplace but now they are one of many sources available. If a salesperson cannot deliver value beyond what an advertiser can access on his or her own, then he or she has very little to offer. True media consultancy is the path where more peer-to-peer relationships are developed. Based on BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor study, 48 percent of SMBs want their media rep to help them understand their media options and make the best choice for their budget among the confusing array of new media choices.

While many media sales organizations are looking at incremental changes to their sales processes, those that are savvy and understand that local advertisers have changed and that the sales role must change are the ones that will thrive. The reality is the market has already changed and it is up to each media company to understand how to recraft its sales strategy and put together a consultative media sales team that understands local media and can be the media guide local advertisers are seeking. It’s time to stop making consultative selling a sales tactic for getting the advertiser to talk and use it as a means for building a relationship, creating value and developing media plans that work for the benefit of the advertiser and leverage their existing marketing activities. If consultative selling fantasy can be turned into reality, media outlets stand to make significant revenue gains and gain a larger, more loyal base of advertisers.

For broadcasters, it is an article of faith that “localism” is a point of differentiation that adds value to their operations. Localism tends to mean local news, sports, weather, traffic, local events, coverage of local government and other promotional and volunteer involvement in the community. There’s a lot of chatter about what it takes to succeed with true “localism.” This past year has seen some notable localism failures. Other efforts are in a nascent stage

One case in point is Allbritton Communications, based in the Washington DC-area. Its television stations are affiliated with ABC, with the largest property being WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in the Washington, DC market.

Our primary interest was the fall 2009 announcement of Allbritton’s plans to launch a Washington, DC focused news site that will combine with the WJLA and NewsChannel8 television and web operations. To launch this new local news site, Allbritton hired Jim Brady, the former editor of Washingtonpost.com, The site is set to launch in Spring 2010 and will have about 50 more news staffers on hand.

We recently talked with Allbritton’s SVP of Legal and Strategic Affairs Jerry Fritz, who supports Robert Allbritton (the family-owned company’s Chairman and visionary) and Fred Ryan. These three executives are the key architects of this strategy. Fritz has a long history with the company that spans more than twenty years.

While the timing seems very fortuitous, Jerry Fritz tells us it’s really the culmination of a plan that was devised back in the late 1980s, when Allbritton (who used to own The Washington Star) saw an opportunity to build a strong local franchise to compete with the newsgathering prowess of the Washington Post.

The first effort under the plan was the launch of NewsChannel 8 distributed over local cable systems. NewsChannel 8 was, at first, a separate operation from the local broadcast television station. A truly, locally focused news operation; NewsChannel 8 broke down its news for the area’s three separate and distinct geographies with a mix of local, lifestyle and political programs. It was a pioneer and in its early days, NewsChannel was a tough sell for audiences and advertisers. Its programming and appeal have grown as the product has matured and its mix of local news and lifestyle shows (Political talk to local golf) now attract larger audiences plus a mix of larger and smaller advertisers. NewsChannel 8 also has benefited from the growth in the news product on WJLA. WJLA has completely rebuilt its local news operations following a downsizing many years ago.

From its base in local television, Allbritton leveraged its core assets across media platforms to exploit some of the unique attributes of the DC market

That included developing an online newspaper to address the market opportunity of providing news, commentary and an advertising vehicle to government contractors, lobbyists, trade associations and others seeking to influence the nation’s seat of government.

Politico.com, designed to be the ESPN of politics, was Allbritton’s initial online effort under the new strategy. While Politico was designed around the Web, readers and advertisers clamored for a print counterpart. Allbritton responded with a three times-a-week print product that was quickly ramped to five days.

Since then, Politico has created a national network of newspapers and websites that share Politico stories in exchange for web ad avails, which Politico sells to national advertisers. It is a classic win-win.

In fact, Politico’s timing has been perfect. Many newspapers have closed their DC news bureaus, and local newspapers are struggling to fill the news gap. Recent filings with the SEC have detailed just how successful the operation of Politico has become in a relatively short time as revenue has topped the $20m mark and cash flows have reached seven figures.

Now, both WJLA-TV and NewsChannel 8 share facilities and some staff members as they gather, collect and present local news and information to the DC market. Adding Politico, the Allbritton operation finds itself as one of the country’s leaders in the gathering and dissemination of political news. That has positive rub off impacts on both WJLA and NewsChannel 8. Washington is still very much a company town.

So, it’s in the same vein that we look at this soon to be launched local news oriented website. Adding fifty journalists to an operation that already includes a prominent local television station and its cable news spinoff plus the acclaimed Politico gives Allbritton’s operation one of the largest news gathering operations in the market. As the company focuses on enabling its journalists to file news across any platform, it’s easy to see the combined Allbritton portfolio giving some heartache to the Washington Post (and few know that property better than Jim Brady). The company just recently brought a senior sales executive to lead the advertising sales effort for the new metro new site.

Allbritton already has a deal in place with the market’s leading news/talk radio station as well to share content and to provide weather reporting from its team of meteorologists. While it doesn’t seem that Allbritton wants to get itself imbedded into the longer view stories that the Post covers, it does seem that there’s a probable audience for hurried Washington audience members who want to get the news in an easy, connected and time saving way.

The Allbritton mission is to produce and serve unique content which has appeal beyond the Washington market. The plan is to capitalize not only on local ad spend across broadcast, cable, print and online platforms but also to get access to content syndication and barter ad inventory nationwide. Allbritton understands that it can be profitable to serve not only local audiences and advertisers well with smart execution but that this entire operation can be leveraged to grow out of market revenues. Could this example serve as a possible model for other broadcasters looking for a digital strategy that actually makes money!

On the media side, key issues include finding viable business models; understanding the mobile ecosystem well enough to make informed decisions regarding content, revenue models, technologies, services, partners and market opportunities.

On the advertising side, brand managers, agencies and small and medium business (SMB) operators are trying to be smart with their media plans and spending allocations among multiple media platforms to drive the purchase funnel. Making the mobile platform even more challenging in the consumer environment is the fast pace of evolution not just in technologies but also in how consumers and businesses are adapting to the mobile environment.

BIA/Kelsey has conducted three waves of “Mobile Market View” (“MMW”) which is a consumer study of U.S. adult mobile phone users in the fall of 2007, 2008 and the latest results released in November 2009. One of the key emerging trends we see in the latest research is a solid consumer movement toward using the mobile platform for non-voice communications including search, text messages, email, video, social networking and mobile web browsing. We see fast growth continuing in adoption of smart phones (29% of consumers now have smart phones) and data packages (37% of mobile users now have data plans).

Based on consumer trends, we see revenue growth for content, search, directory, ad networks and of course mobile service providers. BIA/Kelsey sees the fastest revenue growth occurring in local search and mobile video services. The high trajectory revenue growth model will be advertising but we also see subscription and content on demand services as strong components of mobile revenue mix.

For advertisers, agencies and brand managers, this growing use of mobile has significant implications for their media strategies. From 2007 to 2009, consumers have essentially doubled their use of the mobile platform for non-voice communications. This represents a fundamental and rapid shift in media use which needs to be considered in determining the appropriate mix and spending levels among local media platforms. Media companies that do not currently offer a differentiated mobile advertising option increasingly will find it difficult to satisfy advertisers drawn to mobile’s ability to drive brand metrics such as increased awareness of advertising campaigns and messaging. Ad messaging can include not just search and mobile web but also video as we see nearly a fifth of mobile consumers have received or sent videos each month.

The mobile platform is becoming integrated into consumer habits in a more pervasive and sticky manner than any other medium in history. It is fast becoming a mission critical part of the media industry for publishers and advertisers.

Article prepared by Rick Ducey, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officer, BIA/Kelsey

First published in ShowSmart, a publication by NABShow, which can be read at:
http://www.nabshow.com/2010/email/ShowSmart/LandingPage/ShowSmart_issue2.html#3

Seven Philadelphia CBS-TV and radio stations have combined their news resources to create a new Digital Out of Home (DOOH) News Network utilizing 39  CBS Always On “Digital Newsstands.” The Newsstands include HDTVs and a 24 hour news ticker.

The Digital Newsstands have been created in partnership with Center City Direct, a local marketing and technology company. It is a division of Alternative Media Holdings, which also provides DOOH services to retailers, office buildings and other street-level installations.

Stations included in the partnership include KYW-TV (CBS), WPSG-TV (CW), KYW-AM, WOGL-FM, WYSP-FM, WIP-AM and WPHT-AM. In addition to local news and weather, the newsstands will also feature tourist information. Ultimately, more than 120 newsstands are envisioned.

Thanks to TV NewsCheck for the scoop

Recent adds to the speaker roster include Twitter’s Anamitra Banerji and AT&T Interactive’s Greg Issacs, who will be joining Facebook’s Tim Kendall and Citysearch’s Kara Nortman on our “Social/Local” panel.

We’ve also added Trinity Ventures’ Patricia Nakache, who joins Canaan Partners’ Warren Lee and Comcast Interactive’s Michael Yang on our “Money” panel.

Also, U.S. Local News Network’s Chris Jennewein joins USC Annenberg’s Geneva Overholser on “the Future of Local Media” session. And European Directories’ Simon Greenman joins Skype’s Andy Sims on “Skype’s Local Revolution” (especially interesting!)

My colleague Mike Boland also has added several top execs to the Mobile Superforum and our Pre-Conference on Local Search — a very useful “hands on” session for state-of-the-art local search tips and best practices.

Here’s the final lineup for the Mobile Superforum:
Sanjeev Agrawal, Aloqa
Surojit Chatterjee, Google
Steve Espinosa, Appetizr
Alistair Goodman, Placecast
Greg Hallinan, CMO, Verve Wireless
Meredith Papp, Google
Claudia Poepperl, adaffix
Jeff Porter, mobilePeople
Gleb Shaviner, Amdocs
Rahul Sonnad, Geodelic Systems

Here’s the final lineup for the Local Search Precon:
Panos Bethanis, DirectoryM
Jeff Ferguson, Local.com
Sivan Metzger, Kenshoo Local
David Mihm, David Mihm Inc.
Andrew Shotland, Local SEO Guide
Chris Spanos, AOL.com

Here‘s the registration info. IMPORTANT: Beat the Friday night price increase.

There are some trends and research data here that should provide perspective to anyone with a interest in the health and vitality of our industry. BIA/Kelsey very much believes that radio will continue to play a critical role moving merchandise and services in local markets in the future from a new digitally enhanced perch. We also think that there are unparalleled opportunities to gain market share in the next few years given the ongoing movement to digital media.

Radio’s megaphone is a distinct advantage in moving consumers to action across multiple platforms and that has recently been demonstrated in a number of markets around the country. The pure play web companies doing business in your markets covet that microphone.
There is some real innovation taking place across markets and groups of all sizes. We hope you find the information in our presentation useful. Please click the following link to access the presentation, along with other resource materials you may find helpful: http://www.bia.com/BIA-NAB-Session/

If you have any questions pertaining to our presentation or services, please feel free to contact me directly at 703-802-2973 or at spasswaiter@bia.com. We look forward to creating the future with all of you in the days to come. Stay tuned for some announcements from us in the coming weeks.

Steve Passwaiter is a Vice President at BIA/Kelsey

What are the key trends?

According to Neal Polachek, chief executive officer of The Kelsey Group, the current economic situation is “likely to accelerate the transition of some local advertising dollars to the Internet, while at the same time making the role of the local media sales representative more important than ever.”

In fact, this trend is validated by many of the new technologies coming out in the mobile space (including voice search, GPS etc), as well as a renewed emphasis by companies (regardless if they are just local, regional or national chains) to reach out to local communities.

Among The Kelsey Group’s predictions for local media in 2009 are:

• SMB Video Ads. Kelsey Group analysts are beginning to see data that suggest the firm’s aggressive video ad forecasts might have been too low. At Interactive Local Media 2008, for example, Gordon Henry, Spotzer’s president of North and South America, suggested that within a few years half of SMBs that have Web sites will have a video advertisement. That’s approximately 3 million small-business ads in the next few years in the United States alone. What to watch for in 2009: Even faster adoption than The Kelsey Group’s forecast of a 163 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

• The Online-Only Yellow Pages Publisher? For some time The Kelsey Group has been predicting that an existing print directory publisher would divest all or much of its print operations and transform itself into an online-only business with an established sales force and brand. This hasn’t happened yet, but Kelsey analysts believe the prospects of it occurring in the next 12 to 18 months are reasonably good. However, some willing sellers may have trouble finding willing buyers. What to watch for in 2009: Look for organizations that are structured to enable a clean separation of the print operation. Also look for organizations that are clearly disinvesting in print by shifting all or most marketing and product development funding and energy to the online product.

• Mobile YP Leaves the Laboratory. The Kelsey Group expects to see directory publishers treat mobile as something more than a science project, or a modest extension of Internet Yellow Pages distribution. As smartphones, iPhone and iPhone wannabes proliferate, mobile will become a key usage channel and publishers will begin to find ways to monetize it, though we don’t expect to see much meaningful revenue in 2009. Google has stepped into these waters with its recent launch of iPhone and G1 ad targeting. What to watch for in 2009: As publishers look increasingly to sell a bundle of leads across media platforms, they will want to include mobile as one source of leads. We’ll also see whether publishers follow Google’s lead and begin offering advertising units exclusive to mobile platforms.

• Local Marketplace Sites Jump on Social Bandwagon. The big social sites such as Facebook have been largely missing in action on the local front. But Facebook is opening up via Facebook Connect, which allows sites such as Citysearch to use its profiles and other features to their own ends. The site is also being used by local marketers such as Campusfood.com for games that increase loyalty and patronage. Its “Food Friendzy,” for instance, currently has 27,000 users. What to watch for in 2009: Expect to see a lot of use for this (and not just on Facebook). Many sites will implement other social features on their own, such as ratings and reviews, photos, videos and bulletin boards.

• Voice Search Usage Will Accelerate. Voice search is gaining traction at portals and Internet companies. Missing among the players (which include Google, Vlingo and Tellme) is a major Yellow Pages publisher. Kelsey Group analysts caution publishers not to ignore a critical window into their local data for too long or the opportunity will pass them by. What to watch for in 2009: Major Yellow Pages publishers to build or buy a voice search solution.

• Use of Traditional Media Becomes Differentiator. The role of traditional media has been beaten down by the arrival of new media channels and search. But it still has a broader scale and reaches more people than new media. Indeed, with dropouts of many key advertisers, better positions (and prices) help them stand out. Expect to see TV ads, radio and to a lesser extent, newspapers, act as differentiators for leading online services. Services such as HouseValues.com are already going this route. What to watch for in 2009: Look for cross-media bundles bringing together newspapers, TV, radio and online services.

A year-end review of events revealed the Kelsey analyst team achieved 75 percent accuracy on its 2008 predictions, with 18 of 24 predictions classified as “on target.”

For more information, check out The Kelsey Group at: www.kelseygroup.com