For the past several years, Jacobs Media has provided the Digital Hotline to WBA members. In this role, we have taken your questions on all things digital, including social media, mobile applications, email database marketing, and more. We’ve attended your conferences, conducted webinars, and taken your phone calls in order to help Wisconsin broadcasters identify digital opportunities and implement them.
Because digital is an ever-changing target that is wide-ranging (ask ten broadcasters what “digital” is and you’ll get at least ten different answers), we felt it was important to reach out to you, WBA’s membership, to help set our agenda as we embark on a new decade.
In November, the WBA sent out a digital assessment survey to its members. While response was fairly small (33 members), the message was clear and will help us craft our approach in 2020.
The key finding: Wisconsin broadcasters want information about monetizing digital.
We can do that.
Respondents were provided with a list of digital services and categories and were asked to score them based on how important they are to your station, and then to score each based on your station’s performance. We then create what’s known as a gap analysis, where we take the “performance” score (those that gave their station a “5” on a “1-to-5” scale) and subtract it from the “importance” score (those who rated the item “very important” on a “1-to-5” scale). The larger the gap, the more we need to focus on that specific item.
As you can see below, while there lots of large “gaps,” the largest is in “monetizing digital,” where more than half (52%) rate it as “important,” while almost no one (3%) gives their station an “excellent” score.
We followed that with a simple question: “Which areas are you most interested in receiving training from the WBA?” Respondents were provided with a list and were allowed to choose up to three of them.
In keeping with the theme, once again the respondents focused on monetizing digital and generating sales leads. And with this information in mind, our mission is clear for 2020: help Wisconsin broadcasters, who are already investing in digital in areas like streaming, mobile apps, websites, and more, to begin to see a return on their investment.
We have begun planning our approach and welcome your input. Do you prefer webinars, video training, sessions at conferences, or something else? Which digital area is most important to you? Let us know so we can best serve you by reaching out to me at pauljacobs@jacobsmedia.com or Seth Resler at Seth@jacobsmedia.com
2020 promises to be an interesting year. Traditional revenue sources are projected to remain relatively flat, but since it’s a political year and Wisconsin is in the cross-hairs, things might work out ok. But not every year is going to be like this, and our mission is to help Wisconsin broadcasters build a sustainable growth model by enhancing digital activities and revenue.
Have a wonderful holiday season. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in the new year.
Paul Jacobs, Jacobs Media
The WBA Digital Hotline is a free service of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.
