Here are some additional findings and observations drawn from BCFM’s recent New York seminar Making Money from the Growth in Personalized Media. These points really resonated with our attendees and I think that you will find them helpful to your strategic planning as well.

Look for Singles and Doubles Versus Home Runs

This timely advice is from Intertec Media President Frank Murray. What’s true for post-season baseball is also true for those looking at expanding into the online and mobile markets. While Intertec focuses primarily on the radio station market, the advice is relevant for TV stations as well. 

This advice also reinforced a point made by the conference keynoter, Borrell Associates’ Kip Cassino. Advertisers are reluctant to commit large amounts of capital to new media models without something to make them believe in the pay-off, he said. We need to begin with a few solid hits that will give them the confidence they can score with a bigger swing.

1+1=3: The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts

This is a reminder that we shouldn’t seek to carry our broadcast models over to unicast platforms that cater to each user’s personal preferences. Rather than looking at CPM rates, we need to look at sponsorship models that use the promotional power of our on-air medium and the interactive capabilities of our Web sites to drive motivated buyers to the sponsor’s Web site and stores.

One good example is the opportunity presented by reality shows, which are built around real-life premises ranging from weddings to travel to fitness and health. What better way to tap into your viewers’ personal interests than to use your Web site to unite viewers with sponsors who sell wedding dresses or vacation planning or even diet programs?

Of course, these marketing relationships are new territory for ad sales departments as well as for our advertisers. As Murray observed, a spot sales veteran isn’t going to be motivated to sell banner ads, and selling online opportunities the way we sell spots undermines their true value.

Intertec’s success in working with local radio station clients has come from marrying the local sales rep’s personal relationships with advertisers with the ability to develop and present cross-platform sponsorship packages. 

Investing in these types of sponsorship packages will pay off for both the station and the advertiser. When we look at the revenues that can be derived by packages that combine our on-air and online sales, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, Murray noted.

Taz Media’s Jim Taszarek, who sold for CBS Television as well as radio and print media, encouraged attendees to take advantage of the interactive nature of their online and mobile extensions. Taszarek offered such examples as sponsored contests that take advantage of a Web sites’ ability to link radio listeners and TV viewers with the stations’ advertisers. 

Use On-Air Promotion to Drive Online Engagement

The higher value of online relationships represents a chance to move beyond justifying ratings points and demonstrating how a station is generating revenue for its advertisers. This also requires us to rethink our Web sites. We need to use our broadcast power to drive our Web sites in the same way that stations successfully use sponsored promotions to drive viewership of targeted programming.

Taz Media’s clients also use “landing pages” to solidify their role in driving sales for their advertisers. Pages on the station’s Web site not only promote advertisers by category, such local restaurants, they also offer coupons that may be used to trace the station’s value in driving business to the advertiser.

Going After The Local Classifieds Market

Lance Conrad, COO of LocalBased, described how stations can participate in the Web classified business. At the national level, free sites like Craigslist drive the most traffic and paid sites like Autotrader and Monster.com are generating some of the highest revenues. LocalBased applies the two concepts for its station clients. Viewers can post classifieds for free, while local business pay for ad placements on the pages devoted to their product categories. 

LocalBased’s approach is to set up its dedicated classified sales team in a station’s market. The team focuses on garnering a share of the local classified ad sales market. They target a different advertising budget at local businesses. As we see more activity in the video classified space, this may be a way to leverage our TV production capabilities to tap a different advertising budget from both existing and potential advertising clients.

Applying the Shared Services Model to our Web Sites

Andrew Lindenauer, vice president of operations for CBS Radio’s Digital Media Group, gave network and station group owners a reason to think about applying the shared services concept to their stations’ extension into the online and mobile arenas.

The CBS radio group has gone from operating 90 Web platforms to operating one centrally managed platform. At the same time, it went from zero streaming sites to more than 100. The CBS group relies upon the existing relationships of its local ad sales teams to sell ads, but manages its ad sales activities from one central location.

Shared services represents the best of both worlds. Companies invest once in the majority of the equipment and software that’s required—music to the ears of the finance department. These companies have only one location for focusing their ongoing management and maintenance of the new media system.

At the same time, field locations have remote access and control for their portion of the solution, allowing them to create and manage their localized content without bearing the entire burden for the operating system.

In my next column, I’ll examine some additional approaches to new technologies that are creating opportunities for new revenue streams and I will share “real stories from companies that are making it work.”

Mary Collins is the president and CEO of the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association, a professional society for addressing the diverse needs of financial and business professionals in the broadcast, cable, and electronic media industries. Her column appears here every other Friday.