Friday, October 16, 2009

Gary Vaynerchuk Saves the Radio Industry!


Who?

The turnaround of the radio industry begins when its leaders define and adopt a game winning strategy. The tactics (HD, interactive revenue, NTR, etc.) come later.

I believe that a key to at least one game winning strategy lies in Crush It!, Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book on social media. (http://garyvaynerchuk.com/post/107300929/crush-it-why-now-is-the-time-to-cash-in-on-your) And I encourage every radio pro in the country to find a copy of the book, read it, and brainstorm ways to apply Gary’s social media brand-building techniques to the local media businesses of radio and TV.

Gary took his immigrant father’s liquor store from $4 million in revenue to $50 million in eight years. In 2006, he built his personal brand into a multi-million juggernaut using social media (cost: $15,000, plus countless hours of effort).

Imagine if every personality on your radio and TV station(s) devoted significant time and effort to building their personal brands in your market(s). The process described in the book is really quite simple. It is the energy and commitment devoted to the process which makes it successful. While many station personalities (at least those remaining employed in local radio and TV) blog and have Facebook pages, few, if any, utilize all of the brand building techniques described in the book.

We’re already generating meaningful local content. Why aren’t we making all of it available on podcasts? Why aren’t we feeding live video from our morning shows? Why doesn’t every station employee have a Flip cam to capture and broadcast on the Internet the pulse of our communities?

Sure, many DJ’s and TV personalities are blogging. But is the station really committed to building those blogs? Have we devoted any resources to their effort? Or are we simply content to have them knock out a few paragraphs during their next music sweep?

Gary’s book describes how he built himself into a multi-million dollar brand. And while it took (takes!) incredible effort, it wasn’t (and isn’t) rocket science.

Chapter One: “Passion is Everything.” Are your station personalities burning with the passion to become the #1 brand in their local market, or are they trying simply to be #1 in Arbitron or Nielsen?

This isn’t a paid endorsement. I bought the book. I know that there are a lot of really smart, creative, and talented pros in the broadcasting business. But we’re stuck in the rut of doing the things the same way that always worked in the past. That will not get the job done today or in the future. Pick up a copy of this book today and think through how you can employ its techniques in your station(s) beginning tomorrow. Crush It! is a “quick” read…it is a “must” read.

George

Media Services Group

2 comments:

  1. Right on George! I've been watching Gary Vee for a couple of years and just got his book (for the Kindle) too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Check out Mark Ramsey's podcast interview of Gary V:

    http://mramsey1.hipcast.com/download/1b048685-9bac-64c9-9c3a-7686fe2ef4f9.mp3

    ReplyDelete