KBA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

APRIL 4, 2024

TRACKING THE STORMS

BROADCASTERS ARE KENTUCKY'S FIRST INFORMERS

On Tuesday, EAS units chirped as several lines of intense thunderstorms rolled across the Commonwealth. Without hesitation, radio and television broadcasters from all parts of the state sprang into action to keep listeners and viewers informed of the latest developments. As Kentucky's "First Informers", broadcasters offer a lifeline before, during and after emergencies. A special THANK YOU to all broadcasters who tracked the storms and kept us safe earlier this week.

LEGAL HOTLINE QUESTION:

IS IT LEGAL TO ADVERTISE CBD PRODUCTS?

Earlier this week we received a terrific question about whether a station could legally advertise CBD products. The short answer is that since Kentucky allows CBD sales, stations can run ads for legal CBD products with some caveats. Please carefully digest our advice below:

Congress specifically approved CBD for legalization by the states in 2018, so it is not in the same category as marijuana. Marijuana is still a felony under federal law to market in the US (as is using broadcast stations or the internet to promote its sale).

While CDB is legal under federal law, there are some caveats from the FDA. You cannot make health claims for the CDB products. You should not advertise in programming where there is a significant audience that is under the legal age for its use. The FDA has also not approved its use in any food or beverages, so advertising anything ingestible is potentially a problem under FDA rules.

The FDA had promised, after CBD was legalized by Congress, to come up with rules about its legal use in the US, including addressing some of these marketing restrictions. But, after studying the matter for over 4 years, last year, the FDA determined that they could not adopt any such rules because they did not think that there was scientific consensus on how these products should be used for medical purposes or in food or beverages. Thus, they suggested that Congress develop rules addressing those issues. That has not happened.

We would add that all ads are also subject to the Federal Trade Commission’s regulations, so we recommend the following guidelines:

No deceptive advertising. An advertisement is deceptive if it contains, “a misrepresentation or omission that is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances to their detriment.”
All “objective” claims require substantiation. “The level of substantiation required depends on a number of factors, including the type of claim being made.” This means if a CBD company makes a claim that their product can prevent, treat, or cure a disease there requires competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate these claims.
Do not guarantee results.
Do not link to articles that contain dubious medical claims related to CBD on your website or in the advertisements.

As for Kentucky, specifically, there are emergency administrative regulations in place regarding the manufacture, packaging, and distribution of CBD, but these do not address any advertising guidelines. Final regulations are set to be issued for notice and comment this month.

Beyond that, the rules are unclear and stations are urged to seek counsel from their own attorneys as to the risk of advertising these products.

LBS WEBINAR

TUESDAY, APRIL 9TH @ 12:00PM ET

Why It's Tougher to Set Appointments Today and What to Do About It!

Featuring Paul Weyland, LBS Broadcast Sales Expert

Today’s business owners are more skeptical than ever. Key local direct business and service provider decision-makers work hard for their money … and they believe you should do the same - specifically for them. Some skills and philosophies that were effective for broadcasters and digital sellers to earn appointments with potential advertisers and even former clients are less effective today. LBS Local Direct Expert Paul Weyland gives you great new ways to get the attention of the people you need the most to grow your long-term local direct business. This session is for salespeople, managers, promotions people, and production directors, especially those challenged to make things happen sooner rather than later.

2024 KBA SALES ROADSHOW

APRIL 29 - MAY 3, 2024

Seats are filling up fast for KBA's 2024 Sales Roadshow featuring Derron Steenbergen. We will crisscross the state over the course of a week, stoping in 6 cities, to bring sales training to you! Recommended for radio and television sellers and managers.

2024 KBA Sales Roadshow Stops:

Monday, April 29th @ 9:00am in Paducah

Tuesday, April 30th @ 9:00am in Owensboro

Wednesday, May 1st @ 9:00am in Bardstown

Wednesday, May 1st @ 1:30pm in Lexington

Thursday, May 2nd @ 9:00am in Morehead

Friday, May 3rd @ 9:00am in Somerset

**all times are local**

The KBA Sales Roadshow is provided as a complimentary member service to active KBA member stations.

RESERVE YOUR SEAT

THIS WEEKS MEMBER PIC

A HERO'S FORECAST

WDRB recently welcomed a visit from recovering Louisville police officer Nick Wilt and his family. Nick was shot in the line of duty nearly a year ago, just 11 days after graduating from the police academy, during the Old National Bank shootings that left 5 people dead and others injured. During his visit, Nick asked to help Chief Meteorologist Marc Weinberg with the weather.

We want to promote YOU! Send us your staff additions, promotions and special events. Email Chris at chris@kba.org

IS YOUR SALES MODEL OBSOLETE?

It always gets a laugh in our management training when we talk about the candidate who claims to have 20 years of selling experience, but on further inspection and questioning, you find that they only have one year of experience that they have repeated 20 times. The not-so-funny truth is that a failure to evolve, adapt, and change with the times leads to irrelevance.

If there is one thing we’ve always known, which was punctuated again this year at CES, change is constant. To stay relevant and effective, we must change, too. Conceptually, what we learned just five years ago may still be accurate, but tactically, it is out of date.

Frank V. Cespedes is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and the author of many books. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Cespedes says today’s coherent sales model has three core components:

Customer selection criteria. In short, are you calling on the right clients? Time spent with the wrong targets increases cost of sale, prolongs the process and is built around quantity, not quality.
Clarity about your customers and their buying process. Customers differ dramatically in what they want from a product and how they respond to marketing initiatives. Knowing the differences is crucial because it’s your responsibility to adapt to the market; it’s not the market’s responsibility to adapt to your sales model.
The go-to-market economics and metrics. As we shared in a sales tip earlier this week, salespeople spend less than a third of their time selling. Cespedes posits that this presents a tremendous opportunity to adjust the sales model to put the reps where they have the most impact.

In his book Sales Management That Works – How to sell in a world that never stops changing Cespedes likens the sales model to perishable goods:

Like perishable goods in grocery stores, sales models have a sell-by date. As product standards evolve and new entrants emerge, buyers have more choices and demand more in terms of quality and performance across vendors. Firms that fail to adjust to changing customer expectations lose an advantage.

When was the last time you seriously looked at how you are doing things? What’s working and what’s not working? As a manager, what are the obstacles to even more excellent team performance? Chances are it’s in one of those three areas.

Are you past your freshness date?

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development at the Radio Advertising Bureau. You can also connect with him by email JSchmidt@rab.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.