Lil' Wayne Breaks A New Record With The Digital Sales Of Tha Carter IV!

Congratulations are in order for Lil' Wayne!

Jay-Z and Kanye recently broke the iTunes store's single-week album sales record with their collaborative album, Watch the Throne, but now, the aforementioned rapper's latest, Tha Carter IV, has topped that with over 300,000 downloads in the first FOUR days of its release!

Furthermore, with the digital and physical sales combined, it's predicted to move over 850,000 copies!

So impressive!

We guess he's still got it!

Can't wait to see how this continues to do! Well done, Weezy!

Tags: album sales, itunes, itunes store, jay z, kanye west, lil wayne, single week album sales record, tha carter iv, watch the throne

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Univision Reports Robust 'Upfront' Sales

Univision Communications, the largest Spanish language network in the United States, has completed its sale of commercial time ahead of the 2011-12 season with a total volume estimated to be between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion.

“We’ve hit a new benchmark in terms of dollar volume for sure,” said David Lawenda, the president of advertising sales and marketing at Univision. “This is the biggest upfront we’ve had in the company’s history.” The network has sold 75 to 80 percent of the total inventory available.

Mr. Lawenda attributed the network’s success to advertisers who were paying more attention to the growing Hispanic population in the United States.

According to the United States Census, the Hispanic growth rate for the period between 2000 and 2006 was three times the growth rate of the total population. The Hispanic population in the country now exceeds 50 million.

In 2008, Univision created an internal consulting group to help advertisers better understand the Hispanic market, Mr. Lawenda said. Over the last six quarters, the company has brought on 150 new brand advertisers. An additional 40 advertisers have signed up since the upfront presentations that were held in May, he said.

Some of the newer and most successful brand categories include technology, automotive and media.

Univision Communications owns Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision. In October, the company completed an agreement with the Mexican television giant, Grupo Televisa, one of the biggest producers of Spanish language soap operas in the world. Under the terms of the agreement, Grupo Televisa would invest $1.2 billion in Univision in exchange for a minimum 5 percent stake and a new content licensing agreement.

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Working in Digital Media Sales

A career in the digital media field need not be sales oriented. There are a wide variety of design and programming positions also available within the industry. Many roles within a digital media agency are perfectly suited for those with entry level design or programming skills, while others will require expert level knowledge of digital graphics and code writing.

Many media sales positions actually combine sales expertise with design or coding. There are a wide variety of jobs in digital agencies that actually require the individual to have a strong understanding of the sales and marketing process in addition to being able to perform the design, coding and installation of various digital media campaign components.

Whether you're interested in working only in the sales arena or wish to spread your work experience around through a couple of other fields as well, digital media agencies may be an excellent place to being your career in the media industry. Though you may start out in a lower paying, entry level position, once you've obtained a sufficient level of experience, you will be able to garner larger salaries and more prestigious positions.

Media sales positions sell products and services that are intended to increase the presence of a company online. Boosting the recognition of the company's services or products is the intention of digital media advertising. This kind of advertising can be in the form of video, photographs, articles, blog posts, email campaigns, social media advertising and websites.

If you get a position in a media agency then you may well be expected to perform multiple duties. The nature of these digital media sales positions is often fairly distinct from the traditional sales job. While traditional sales executives may perform primarily sales and account management duties, digital sales staff may be involved in composing text, writing code, designing graphics, taking photographs or filming advertising videos.

If you work on your own within digital media then you will most certainly be wearing a number of hats within your work. You will be performing the sales role as well as account management and any number of other functions as well. There are many who decide to work as independent contractors within digital media sales but it can be a very difficult path to take.

Working within a media agency can make your life easier in a number of ways. Not only will you have fewer job duties to contend with, but you will also have fewer worries when it comes to compensation, taxation and benefit related issues as well.

If you are officially employed by a media company then you will not need to worry about finding your own health, dental, life insurance or retirement plans. Taxes will be withheld for you on your pay, alleviating concerns about self-employment tax and estimated tax payments.

Even finding clients will be easier if you work for someone else. Although as a digital media sales person you are ultimately working to find new clients, you will have some leads generated by the agency and will have the full power of the digital media company behind you to convince clients of the validity of purchasing advertising space or time with your organization.

If you are interested in Digital Media Sales Jobs then try searching online for the latest Media Vacancies

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Ten Questions You Must Ask Your Media Sales Rep

Advertising, as you probably already know, is simply one element of your overall marketing plan. But what an important element it is. It's how most business owners expose their business opportunity to the masses, even if those "masses" are in their own backyards. Traditional media companies such as newspapers, radio and TV stations, magazines and outdoor billboard/signage firms hire sales people to sell their products to the business owners in their territory. They are hired and trained to sell their product. Let me repeat that for emphasis. They are hired and trained to sell their product. That means therefore, that they are NOT hired and trained to sell your product or service. They are NOT trained as marketers. They are NOT skilled copy writers. They make their money selling:30 and:60 second increments of time; space in column inches and outdoor exposure in blocks of weeks. That is what they get paid for. Sell the time and space, and get paid. End of story. Poor media salespeople have very skinny kids.

Despite these facts, I regularly see business owners turning their marketing and advertising responsibilities over to these uneducated, uninterested and altogether unsympathetic commission focused sellers. I can say these things because I've spent decades as one of those reps. I started out, as do most reps, with the Yellow Pages being told to "go out there kid and make your fortune". I know what it's like for my family to be totally dependant on my ability to convince someone to buy my stuff. And I'm really, really good at it.

Over the decades, I've learned that media sales reps can only be truly successful long-term if they personally take control of their education and development. The goal is to become a sustaining resource for their customers and/or clients. Again, the training programs most media outlets offer their sales people (if they offer one at all) are unbelievably bad. According to a recently published Harvard Business Review article, only 10% of the population can be considered "learning centred". We're the ones that seek out education by means of classes, lectures, CDs, DVDs, books, magazines and so forth. Logically, the remaining 90% of the population needs to be prodded, cajoled and externally motivated to learn something new on a consistent basis. That's what sales managers are for.

I'll say it again, business owners must stop handing their marketing and advertising responsibilities over to their media sales reps and start becoming accountable for the results themselves. I know that as a small business owner, time is tight. You're overworked and often lack resources. You wake up early in the morning and go to bed late each night exhausted. But it doesn't matter. Business owners must educate themselves with respects to marketing effectiveness and advertising strategies if they expect to generate the kind of profits required to "live the good life".

Here are 10 questions you can ask your media sales rep to determine if they have made the transition from a sales amateur order taker, to a "sustaining resource" - someone you can count on for accurate and valuable advice to help grow your business in the years to come.

1. What marketing books have you read in the past 90 days?

Doesn't it make sense that a well read media sales rep could be a real advantage for you? The local Chapters or Amazon book store is overflowing with excellent books on the subjects of advertising, media and marketing. Your sales rep needs to stay on top of the best-seller business charts. They need to know what is hot, what is working and what strategies have fallen by the wayside.

2. How do you keep yourself up to date with the changes taking place in the world of marketing?

This question will help you to understand how proactive your media sales rep really is. Encourage them to share magazine articles with you. What seminars or conferences have they attended? What do they know about the changes taking place in your industry? How are other businesses in other locations solving the challenges and problems you face with your business in your small town?

3. What are the top 10 marketing books I should have in my library?

I know, more reading. But it's important. Ask your rep to provide a list of some of the best books on marketing and advertising for your personal library. Ask them to submit a brief book report and take the time to review it with them. You should have books on copy writing, direct response marketing, internet marketing, basic sales strategy, ad layout, marketing theory and alternative marketing strategies you can implement in your market.

4. What type of ongoing marketing educational material will you provide so I can continuously improve my skills?

Put the onus on your rep to provide you with educational material to expand your horizons. What is being done in other, totally unrelated industries that you can adapt to your own? What ideas can you beg, borrow or steal to make your marketing and advertising more effective? Asking the question also forces your sales rep to begin procuring information they can share with you. It forces them to become more aware of the world outside their office walls and encourages them to expand their own horizons.

5. What information will you provide for my staff to improve their sales skills?

Every small business owner needs help teaching and training their staff to become more effective sales people and better communicators. Media organizations have an inexhaustible supply of information available to them from supporting associations that you need to tap into. Ask your rep to collect articles, course material and industry-specific resources to help you with your staff training issues. Bring your media rep in-house and ask them to prepare a lunch time training session for your staff on selling best practices. If they won't or can't do it themselves, ask them to help source someone from the business community who would be willing to do it.

6. What is the name of your personal website?

Not the media outlet site. I'm talking about your sales reps personal website. Having a content rich website for their own customers and clients is the sign of a forward thinking, customer focused sales rep. It provides valuable information that you as a business owner can access according to your timetable. Much of the information your rep has collected can be made available on this site so the next time it's 3:00 am and you can't sleep, you can go to the site, download an article or two and educate yourself at your own pace.

7. What guarantees are you willing to make?

Ouch, this one hurts. If there's one question a sales rep NEVER wants to hear it's, "What guarantees will you make?" Here's one guarantee you need to hear. "Your ad will run as promised and if for any reason we screw it up, you won't have to call us...we'll make it right!" Understand this. The sales rep cannot guarantee results. The best copy writer, the best photographer, layout designers, producers...they can't guarantee results either. But you can certainly stack the odds in your favour. There are countless examples of advertisers who have successfully gone before you. I've found that many business owners don't know the purpose of the ad they're purchasing. They don't articulate what the ad is supposed to do. And so they spend the money, fail to get a response - because they don't know what to look for - and come back saying, "That ad you sold me didn't work."

Read my lips. Advertising ALWAYS works. It always does what it's supposed to. And that is...It delivers your message. End of story. It is NOT the media that doesn't work...it's your ad! (Don't believe me? Try this. Call your newspaper sales rep and ask them to insert a one line advertisement ANYWHERE in next weeks' paper offering to pay $100,000.00 cold, hard cash to anyone who sees the ad and brings it into the store. Go ahead, try it...I dare you. You'll find that newspaper you say "never works", will work indeed!) Carve out the time to educate yourself how to write headlines that instantly grab the interest of your prospect and compel them to take action. Your body copy should flow in such a manner that it leads your engaged listener, viewer, or reader to a predetermined action. What exactly is it that you want your prospect to do? Find you online? Fill out a form or ballot? Drop by the store? Dial a phone number? Request a free report? Visit your website? Those are the types of specific, planned outcomes you can aim for.

8. Historically, how successful have other businesses in my category been when advertising with your media?

If absolutely no one in your business category has ever had any success generating a specific result or outcome using the salespersons' recommended media, what makes you think you'll fare differently? I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying "give me some data to support your proposal!" At the very least, the question will encourage your sales rep to do some research on your behalf. Ask your rep to find similar advertisers in other towns, maybe even in other countries that have had success. Radio stations and newspapers often have access to sales reps in different markets. Request their customers' phone number or email address and begin a conversation with them. Agree to share your findings, your personal experiences - successes and failures - and in the process grow your own business network.

9. Please take a look at my last 3 ads (or scripts) and tell me how they rank on headline, body copy and call to action. What would you change?

This is a test. It's another way of finding out if your media sales representative has ever taken the time to educate themselves on the finer points of marketing and advertising. Plenty of resources are available that will teach you how to evaluate the strength of your offerings' headline, copy and call to action. I know of some copy writers who will write 20, 50 or 100 headlines before they even begin to write the body copy of the offer. How many headlines have you written, evaluated, discarded and adopted? You want your sales representative to help you, but you don't want them making the final decision for you! This is your company, your product or service and no one knows more about it than you. I'm stunned when a client says, "I'm too busy to write an ad today. You do it and I'll read it over before it goes to print (or air)." What do I know about styling hair, repairing a transmission, making cheesecake or neutering your pet? Squat is what.

Imagine you and I are in your jewellery store talking about an upcoming marketing campaign and a well dressed lady steps in and approaches you, obviously wanting some information. What business owner in their right mind would ask their media sales rep to handle the customer? "You talk to her, I'm too busy to sell a diamond today". And yet that same business owner regularly asks their media sales rep to speak on their behalf to hundreds if not thousands of existing and potential customers.

10. How often will you be in contact with me during the next 12 months?

You have a right to establish your contact schedule with your media rep. It doesn't always have to be a face to face visit. It could be an occasional lunch meeting, a weekly email update, a monthly ezine or sales call, but it should be planned with a definite outcome in mind. If a rep ever says, "What have you got for me today?" you should send them packing; call their sales manager and demand a new customer focused sales representative to care for your precious account. There you have it.

10 Questions You Must Ask Your Advertising Sales Rep To Boost Response and Save Big Money.

By now, you've probably come to realize that this isn't easy. This is going to take time. You can't implement everything at once, but you should be able to ask your sales rep a couple of questions during future meetings together and expect them to act upon their answers. The success of any marketing or advertising campaign you choose to put in place is 100% your responsibility. As with every professional service provider you engage, you should expect your media sales rep to take you seriously and provide you with the best advice and assistance possible to boost response and save big money!

Stephen Feswick teaches small business owners how to utilize tested and proven direct marketing strategies for their business. You may contact Stephen directly at: SpeakerTeacher@shaw.ca

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Optimizing and Monetizing Social Media - Marketing and Sales Part I

The merging of a comprehensive social media marketing strategy, also referred to by many as Web 2.0 marketing, with an overarching, inbound marketing campaign is crucial if our goal is to fully optimize advertising and marketing strategies online. The Internet marketing campaign, both in terms of monetization and branding, must reflect an understanding as well as a synthesis, an integration of the various tools, applications, and platforms available and necessary for an effective inbound marketing campaign. In order to achieve the ultimate Internet image, in other words, in order to effectively brand yourself and your product, you must pursue and implement a program designed to optimize the best Web 2.0 has to offer with various other "new media," Internet marketing techniques (e.g., email marketing, on-site marketing, affiliate marketing, free advertising, etc). In order to fully exploit the growing popularity of social media generally, and certain social networking and video-sharing sites specifically, it must be understood that there is a major sift underway, a transition taking place on the Internet today. While I have addressed this transition at some length in previous articles, I will review and also discuss the various usage trends evident on the web, particularly as they relate to new media and online business.

Social Media and the Twitter Hawks' Promise!

Social networking sites are myriad, with more popping up every day. Social bookmarking and video-sharing sites are just as plentiful. That being the case, it is imperative we understand the transition and the trends underway and ongoing if, as Internet marketers, we wish to take advantage of the veritable gold rush underway on the web today. However, a word of caution! While I use the phrase gold rush, I must add a caveat. Without the proper understanding, preparation, and an intelligent, well thought out inbound marketing strategy, the online campaign will come up bust every time.

Vanishing: Attrition and Social Media

There are marketers disappearing as fast as they appear, 60% attrition from Twitter at last report, because they simply do not understand the intricacies, the balance, and the psychology underlying this rush to gold. Certainly it is true that not all of the 60% are or ever were marketers but the drop off is illustrative of just how fast the attraction and the luster fades. Interestingly, certain social media sites have come, and others gone, while you read this article, some fading into oblivion and others popping up to take their place.

The Twitter Gold Rush

Many of the Twitter marketers (i.e., Twits, Twitterers or Tweeple) find out quite rapidly that a simple link doesn't convert as well as the Twitter Hawks, I term I coined to label those individuals selling the dream, the "picks and shovels" to Tweeple looking to cash in on the Internet version of the California Gold Rush or was it the Alaska Gold Rush? Many soon discover it takes more than a metaphorical pick and shovel, meaning the latest load of rehashed and replayed Twitter marketing "stuff," a lot nicer than the four letter word I was considering for a lot of it, from one of the myriad of Twitter marketing "gurus," some with almost no followers and following even fewer...but they are experts? The Twitter Hawks out there are just waiting for the next 49er to come along, dreaming of gold and panning for it on Twitter, Facebook, or perhaps YouTube.

Twitter and Four Letter Words

I mention Twitter because it is illustrative and symptomatic of a much deeper problem on the web generally, and within social media specifically. I am speaking of what rests at the very base, in fact is the basis of any effective marketing campaign, online or offline traditional brick and mortar, anywhere in the world, and in any field. The problem has to do with a clear lack of understanding of the sales process. Yes, we call it all kinds of fancy names in order to avoid saying the "S" word, that four letter word everyone hates. You see, S...E...L...L...is the ultimate four letter word! "I can't SELL!" "Do I have to SELL anything?" "Will it involve having to SELL something?" "I didn't know I'd have to SELL anything!" The best one, "He just wants to SELL me something!" The list goes on and the italicized emphasis placed on the four letter word doesn't do the disdain, the utter contempt, the revulsion and/or the fear associated with the word justice. But it the best I can do.

I am certain you can hear people in your mind as you read the quotes, these are real and I have heard them all, so have most of you. Have you ever uttered any of the above quotes? Certainly! We don't like to be S...O...L...D...we like to buy! The irony here should be immediately apparent. In order for you to buy anything, someone else has to do that four letter word to you. Interesting!

The S...A...L...E...and the Sales Process

We refer to the sales process, selling and sales, in many different ways, some are: online business; Internet marketing; inbound marketing; new media marketing; old media and/or outbound advertising; and, just about anything else but what it is, a S...A...L...E!

Significantly, what many are talking about when speaking of sales and marketing is getting someone to take out their wallet and plunk down some cash. Interestingly, a sale is more than just an action and a transaction, much more! You see, you are selling when you get someone to donate their time, listen to your teleseminar, follow your tweets, check out a favorite quote, read a book you recommend, click on your link, join you on LinkedIn or facebook or friendfeed, etc.

It's About Selling!

So, whatever you do, wherever you do it, most of it is selling. Sometimes sales is about cash, occasionally a lot of cash! And that may actually retard the selling process, we will talk about why in a upcoming article, but selling is not about the cash, it never is, never has been. Cash is a byproduct of the sale, small letters and no emphasis. Sales is about what makes sites like Twitter and Facebook and the hundreds of others popular, it's about the connection, the relationship, the bond that forms before most sales are ever made. Let me say that again...

...it's about the connection, the relationship, the bond!

Tweeple, the S...A...L...E...and Self

Unfortunately, many Tweeple, in fact most people new to sales, advertising, and marketing simply do not have what it takes to make a sale, much less a S...A...L...E! There is a secret to selling and I am going to share it with you here. I'm going to share it with you so you too may have the success I have had over the years, as a direct result of selling. Yes, selling! You see, life is a sales and marketing process, all of it. If you are successful at selling your self, you will find a mate. If you are successful at selling your self, you will get a good job. If you are successful at selling your self, your kids will listen to and respect you. If you are successful at selling your self, the youth soccer team you coach will listen to you...and they may even win a game or two. Get the idea? Life is a sales process, every hour or every day...sales!

The Other Four Letter Word!

Did you notice something else? S...E...L...F...is also a four letter word, one just as detrimental to the sales process as the word S...E...L...L! So, get your S...E...L...F...out of the sales process and make your prospective client's self-interest your focus!

The Secret and The Close...Another Four Letter Word

Oh yeah! The secret? The secret is two-fold and you have the answer above. The secret is that there is no sales process! If you attempt to S...E...L...L...anything, you will fail. Yes, you may close the S...A...L...E, and close should be another four letter word. A lasting relationship, one built on a connection and a bond, means you will have a steady client, referrals, and repeat business. The close? Closing someone leads to cancellations, an unhappy client, and clients focused on one thing, price! The price fixation is never a good situation, always a bad S...A...L...E!

It's About 3 Things!

Selling is about what? Yes, that's right! The sales process is all about the connection, the relationship, and the bond. I have always been an unconventional salesman. I have never followed a sales script, never. If an employer wanted me to follow a script, the script I followed was an exit script. Why? You already know the answer! I made a connection, that connection led to a relationship, that relationship led to a bond, and the bond allowed for trust, the trust enabled the sales process to culminate in another relationship, one based on a relationship combined with self interest, the client's self interest...not my S...E...L...F, and certainly not because I made a S...A...L...E!

Internet Image and Social Media

Inbound marketing is a process, it begins with a connection, the connection leads to a relationship, the relationship leads to a bond, and once a bond is formed, another type of relationship builds, a mutual one, one profitable to both parties. Social media is an integral component in the connection/relationship/bond building model, but just one aspect, one ingredient. In fact, there are several key components, all necessary if a traditional brick and mortar business is making the move to an online presence or an Internet marketing concern is stepping up its Internet image. In either case there is one absolute, social media is about the connection and the beginnings of a relationship, to achieve the next component, the bond, the business, offline or online, will require additional steps to ensure its success. In the upcoming three articles we will deal with the various aspects of social media, social bookmarking, and video-sharing sites. Next, in Part II, we will discuss the various social media platforms and how to best integrate them into what will become the ultimate Internet image!

I would like to invite you to my newest blog, The John Zajaros Blog. I am attempting to develop a central hub, a single place from which people can jump off to my various web properties, my Internet real estate. So, whether you are looking for information about Internet marketing, online business in a variety of niches, back pain and sciatica, online or in-home tutoring, soccer training tips, football training information, the coolest new stuffed animals and innovative, novel toys on the market, addiction information, the ultimate weight loss plans and more You can go there through The John Zajaros Blog.

Or perhaps you simply want to connect with me by way of the various social networking sites like Twitter, facebook, or LinkedIn to name just a few...The John Zajaros Blog will get you there or at least get you started!

The John Zajaros Blog

Or you may wish to visit me at:

The Ultimate Internet Image International

John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.

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