Grow Your Radio Influence

I’m Joey Fortman; radio personality turned reality mom. I hosted mornings in Chicago, Middays, and afternoons in Philly and most recently, mornings at KOIT in San Francisco. My radio story is a bit different than most. After the 2008 recession and losing not one but two radio jobs within a year I took 10 years off to build my own personal brand. I tapped into Facebook and Twitter before Instagram was born. I used my social skills and turned it into a profitable and rewarding future where I made all the decisions and better yet, I got all the profit.

I built an influencer marketing agency, Real Mom Media , where I've consulted some of the largest parenting communities like Scary Mommy (www.ScaryMommy.com: 10 million followers), Meredith Masony and Filter Free Parents (www.filterfreeparents.com; 5 million followers). Plus, many more on the million-dollar salary track. Let me tell you about Dena Blizzard with One Funny Mother. Dena is a former radio personality who gets more views a month than most markets have in humans. I worked with Dena in creating a daily live Facebook Show just like she would do a daily morning radio/tv show. Covid kept people at home on the hunt for humor. She already gets over a million video views on Facebook every month. That doesn't include her syndication & profits on other platforms. I can assure you many influencers make more in one month than most of us in radio make in a year.

The point is, there’s good news for “Influencers,” and I mean more than just “Radio Influencers.” Fact: 100% of their income goes into their pocket to feed their families and continue investing in their brand. Influencer marketing is a billion-dollar business. Those billion dollars come from traditional media money. So, why isn't radio finding more money to keep great talent? I'm still trying to understand that. Especially now that radio is calling talent "influencers". I’m not here to talk bad about radio companies because just like myself, they have to make a profit. It’s business. However, there is no reason talent shouldn't be building a business for themselves while radio companies support their efforts to make up for promised endorsements that no longer exist or to help supplement income. After all, didn't endorsements once make up the salary a station couldn't afford? Two-hour remotes at a car dealership making bank on a Saturday are long gone.

By building myself and Reality Moms, a community with over 250 contributors across the US and Canada, I've been hired by brands to build marketing campaigns where I have paid out millions of radio money to non-radio influencers. Yes, it was radio money because I sold digital before radio even had Facebook pages. Before radio even acknowledged podcasting or the power of social platforms.

This message isn’t for corporate radio. This is for talent trying to survive an intense shift in listener behaviors and the endorsement money that went with it. Talent who hope for a vacation they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford, or to review toys they otherwise wouldn’t be able to buy their kids. Your influence has a world of opportunity for personal revenue that have nothing to do with your radio brand. It definitely helps to have one, but you also have your own platform and one you should be financially rewarded for.

What if I offered you $1000 for one Instagram or Facebook post? How about $5,000 for a live video? I know, it sounds impossible. Especially if you have been doing radio your whole life. I'm here to tell you that you CAN be more than your radio identity. There are nearly 1,500 influencer marketing agencies in the US hiring people with much less influence than you, for a whole lot more than you make. That money could be yours. After all, you're the "OG" influencers.

It’s daunting to try and catch up with the rest of the world in digital after working so hard in radio. It’s ok and not your fault. You’ve been doing thirty jobs in one so how could you ever learn this skill outside of the job you’re trying to survive in? I get it. Not to mention, I don’t know one radio company who provides talent one on one support, like getting them verified for starters.

Dear radio friends trying to survive, I’m not here to tell you to quit your radio job. In fact, your radio job makes you ten times more influential. However, the #1 thing you need to do is look at yourself as a business. Look at your contracts. Consider your online profiles. If you have your station in your handle you’ll want to take it off. Do you have full control of your own assets? Talk to your company and work towards compromise to sell yourself and your own personal assets. No one owns YOU. They own their airways but not you. If you get pushback, ask them to give you finders fees for bringing in clients to supplement your income. I can’t promise you they will allow it considering they want your creativity to go to their bottom line. What I can promise is you will survive on your talents without your radio identity if you get launched. Remember to treat you own individual brand like a business. Pay yourself first and put in the time, because I can promise that no one else will do it for you.

Joey Fortman is one of the founders of Grow Your Radio Influence sharing insider tips and influencer opportunities at GrowYourRadioInfluence.com.