Here at the Ohlmann Group, we love to keep up to date with the field of marketing and advertising. You can often find us gravitating toward new books, podcasts, webinars, magazines, and videos related to our industry. One book series that has interested us lately is Engaged Management by John Hannon.
John is a longtime friend of the Ohlmann Group. For years, he worked right here in Dayton, managing the CW affiliate station, WBDT. Now he serves as President of Jim Doyle & Associates, a Florida based sales training firm that provides revenue development and training to TV stations across the United States.
John has used his years of television broadcast and cable management leadership experience to give back to the industry with his book series, Engaged Management. His writing is filled with light-hearted and helpful anecdotes about his experiences in an easy-to-digest format.
One of our favorite parts of his series is in volume 2, Maximizing Your Team’s Sales Performance, where he offers insight into the relationship between advertising agencies and television sales account executives. John believes that in order to provide the best experience for the three parties (client, agency, and media partner) there needs to be a relationship built on mutual respect and understanding.
In this section, John also references our CEO and Director of Media Services, Linda Kahn. He writes, “Linda Kahn is one of the agency greats in the business. She often expresses her belief in the importance of positive relationships with media companies and feels that an agency is an extension of the media outlet’s sales staff.”
As Linda is quoted, “We believe in tough negotiations, but we understand that we need to maintain the respect, and even the friendship, of our media partners. The more knowledge I have about a media company’s products and services, the better I can help sell the station or channel.”
If marketing/advertising agencies and media companies can build a foundation of trust and respect (and often friendship!), the outcome leads to great results for the client. This lesson holds true for many aspects of our field, from negotiating television ads to PR pitches for local publications. Simple actions like booking a lunch or sending a handwritten thank you note can help foster positive relationships that last for years. Ultimately, taking the time engage with others on a personal level is beneficial for everyone.
We’d like to thank John for his great advice and insight into navigating media relationships. If you want to learn more about John Hannon and his series of books on management and leadership in the television industry, check out his website here..
And if you’d like to start increasing your media visibility through advertising or public relations, contact us today to learn more about our services and meet our friendly team.
