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Future Broadcasters in the NFL: Part 2

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With a new NFL season just around the corner, Barrett Sports Media decided to take on a big project. We reached out to hosts, PDs, and reporters in every NFL city in the country. The question we wanted answered was simple: Who on your team’s roster has the brightest future in the sports media?

We spent the better part of a month sending emails and texts asking folks to participate. Some gave us an answer right away. Some required a little poking and prodding. Some didn’t respond at all. What are you going to do, right? It’s a busy time of year for all of us in sports radio.

We will reveal a new batch of answers everyday from now until Friday. If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.

Here’s Part 2:

BALTIMORE RAVENS

Jerry Coleman  – 105.7 the Fan

Well, Terrell Suggs is going to be a guy that will aim to be in the media. He has participated on a few of the studio shows in the past. He continues to appear on shows like Ballers. I don’t think he has a lot to offer though, as someone that has interviewed him for the last 15 years. He’s mostly full of platitudes and cliches.

Justin Tucker is the kicker. Do they qualify for this? He would be a terrific candidate. Besides being a terrific kicker and singer, he is very well spoken. He may be really great. I just wonder how much a kicker can add to a broadcast in a game. How much are they really in those meetings and able to add perspective to situations involving quarterbacks, linebackers, or receivers?

CHICAGO BEARS

Laurence Holmes – 670 the Score

When he’s done playing football, Bears Guard #75, Kyle Long, will make one of the easiest transitions from playing to broadcasting that we’ve seen in a while. From the time that he was a rookie, Long has shown incredible personality in dealing with the media. He’s honest, loquacious, and charismatic. In some respects, Long has already been doing a form of broadcasting. He has thousands of followers already, on the gaming platform Twitch, where he does live videos while playing games. Honestly, that association will give him a leg up in growing the younger demo for a potential employer. He has credibility in a growing and desirable audience share.

In between the time of the Lovie Smith Bears and the team drafting Mitch Trubisky, Long has been the face of the franchise. That’s a weird thing to say about a Guard, but it’s true. On top of everything else, the Long family has shown that their personal charisma translates to the camera. It’s not a far leap to say that Kyle’s brother, Chris could run for political office someday and their dad, Howie is pretty much the standard for a national analyst. Kyle has many interests, but if he chooses to work in television or radio, he will have a ton of options, both locally and nationally.

HOUSTON TEXANS

Sean Pendergast – Sports Radio 610

If the question were “Which Houston Texan employee has the brightest future in media?”, my answer would be head coach Bill O’Brien, hands down, whenever that day may come. However, if we are keeping it focused strictly on players, my choice would be one of the newest Houston Texans, safety Tyrann Mathieu. In his short time with the team, the “Honey Badger” has impressed me with his thoughtful, intelligent answers to questions about both his background and the game itself.

When I am looking for content from former football players, I generally want the player to have good energy, a solid delivery, and most importantly, teach me something I don’t know. Mathieu’s energy is infectious, but more importantly, he has one of the highest football IQ’s in the league. Mathieu plays a position where the knowledge necessary to perform at a high level is the defensive equivalent of the quarterback’s necessary knowledge on the offensive side of the football. I feel like Mathieu would be incredibly versatile as a radio or TV personality, with the ability to convey an entertaining story in one segment, and then one segment later, give an X’s and O’s “chalk talk”.

Above all else, Mathieu has massive respect from his peers, fans, and media alike, so I think people would be preconditioned to like and enjoy him. Earning the respect of a TV or radio audience would have fewer barriers for Mathieu.

NEW YORK GIANTS

Chris Carlin – WFAN

Landon Collins has got a future in the media, if he wants it. The network executives are always looking for the same thing: someone who isn’t afraid to tell the truth. Though he’s been in the NFL a short time, Collins hasn’t been afraid to ruffle some feathers.

During the drama surrounding Eli Apple last season, it was Collins who was both critical of, and later supportive of Apple. He told the truth about what was going on, and in this rare instance, it was something his teammate needed to hear publicly. He is not only a terrific player and leader of the defense, Collins also has a terrific feel for the inner workings and politics of a locker room.
Landon’s also got a sense of humor, which goes a long way. In an appearance earlier in 2018 on “Boomer & Gio” on WFAN, Collins was relaxed and willing to “go there” when Gio brought up topics outside football. To put it simply, Collins “gets it.”

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

John Mamola – 620 WDAE

When posed the question to identify a single individual player on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that has the chops to one day have a future in sports media, you need to look at the results of the past. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Ronde Barber (now a top analyst for FOX Sports) inherits the intelligence of reading routes and schemes while delivering his analysis as smooth as he was when he stepped in front of wide receivers for one of his 47 career interceptions. You look at the leadership of former Buccaneers safety John Lynch, straight to the point with no filter attached which led him to being one of the most respected analysts in football paving his path in the front office for San Francisco.

Other notable former Tampa Bay Buccaneers have also graced the sports media landscape each with their own unique attributes that they carried with them from the field of play and into the media landscape. Keyshawn Johnson and Anthony McFarland with ESPN, Tony Dungy and Chris Simms at NBC Sports, and minus his off the screen transgressions, you can’t deny the energy and passion for the game of football Warren Sapp displayed when he was on the NFL Network.

In an age of on demand and short attention spans, you need to identify someone who can get right to the point of what they’re trying to say. Someone who identifies with the trends in social media and respects the benefits of it on all platforms, but also recognizes the pitfalls it could also lead to. You need someone with energy, passion for the sport, and someone who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. A broadcaster that makes you think, points out the hidden, and is always trying to get better at whatever position they may play on the field (or in sports media). For me without question, that’s Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans.

Evans is entering his fifth season in Tampa Bay and already ranks among the great wide outs in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history with 32 touchdowns (2nd in franchise history) and over 1,000 yards receiving in each of his first four seasons in Tampa Bay. Off the field he’s a celebrated family man, husband and father.

But what would make Evans a great member of the sports media once his long career is over? His discipline to continue working at his craft, passion for the game of football and knowledge of the game are apparent each and every day in practice and during games. He is not afraid to express his views (see his comment on Twitter RT’ing Donald Trump with a dig at his USFL ownership), plus has great energy and is always direct with the media getting right to his point. With time, practice and the right coaching Evans could be the next in a line of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers that you see on the television screen every Sunday, or on the radio every afternoon on your drive home.

 

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How to Help Your Clients with Low Website Conversions

Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

Jeff Caves

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Graphic for how to increase website conversions
Credit: WPDesigner.Biz

Are your clients dealing with low website conversions? Whenever a marketing campaign is run, and the goal is to convert website visitors into leads, the temptation is to blame low traffic, amongst other issues, for low form fills or appointments being generated.  Just spend more money, you may think! Sometimes, you must look at at least four other potential issues to tackle poor conversion rates. Here are some actionable steps using the IT services industry to increase website conversions.

IT Solutions specializes in providing products, services, or solutions related to technology, particularly in areas such as software development, hardware sales, IT consulting, cybersecurity, cloud computing, networking, and digital transformations. They faced challenges with their website conversions. Despite driving substantial traffic through Google Ads and other SEO tactics, they struggled to convert website visitors into form fills for appointment requests. A 2% to 5% conversion rate could be considered reasonable. Of course, conversion rates can vary based on various factors, such as the competitiveness of the local market, the quality of the website (and radio stations help most to fix that) and its user experience, the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and the reputation and offerings of the IT solutions business. Focusing on improving the quality of leads and providing exceptional customer service can be just as crucial as achieving high conversion rates. Don’t blame EVERYTHING on the marketing tactics! 

The Diagnosis

Upon thorough analysis, several critical issues were identified with IT Solutions’ website:

1. High Bounce Rate: Nobody was checking out the business. If 70% or more of website visitors only visit the landing page, that is an issue.  It could be slow loading times, irrelevant content, poor user experience, or unclear calls-to-action that prevent them from wanting to know more about IT Solutions. You can check the bounce rate on the Google Analytics page for the website in the left-hand sidebar, click on “Behavior” to expand the menu, then click on “Site Content,” and finally, click on “Landing Pages.” You’ll see a list of landing pages and their respective bounce rates.

2. Complex Navigation: It was hard to move around the website to find relevant information about IT services, and it was unclear who they were initiating contact with and for what purpose.

3. Unclear Calls-to-Action (CTAs): The website lacked clear and compelling CTAs guiding visitors toward requesting an appointment. Simply stating “click here for an appointment” is like asking for a meeting whenever or without establishing value. Here are 28 CTAs for free.

4. Lengthy Forms: The appointment forms were long, without qualifying information, and requested excessive information upfront, deterring potential leads from completing them.

Action Plan

1. Optimize Landing Pages:

   – Redo high-traffic landing pages with clear messaging and compelling CTAs.

   – Showcase IT Solutions’ services as benefits, making it easier for users to request appointments, thereby increasing user engagement and conversions.

2. Simplify Navigation:

   – Reorganize the menu and add more action-oriented links.

   – Provide additional options for users to access relevant information, such as “Get a free IT Solutions 15-point checkup NOW” and “Take this 5-question survey to diagnose your IT issues,” motivating them to book appointments.

3. Enhance CTAs:

   – Utilize concise and persuasive messaging throughout the website.

   – Encourage visitors to take action, whether requesting a free download about “5 things you can do to solve your IT issues on your own” or “get a free pizza for booking an appointment.”

4. Improve the Form Fill:

   – Add a further line about the number of employees who qualify for incoming leads.

   – Highlight the value of leads based on company size, prioritizing forms with higher potential impact.

Review landing pages, navigation, CTAs, and form experience to address website conversion issues. Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

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‘NHL on TNT’ Gives Hockey Fans the ‘NBA on TNT’ Treatment

Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

John Molori

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NHL on TNT studio

Let’s play a little word association, sports media style. If I say TNT, what is your response? Chances are it will be a three-letter abbreviation of your own, namely, NBA. Over the years, TNT has built a reputation as arguably the premiere network to telecast the National Basketball Association.

The NBA on TNT pregame and halftime shows have become the gold standard with stars like Ernie Johnson, Jr., Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal. Still, it’s not just this quartet of roundball royalty that has fortified TNT’s hoops coverage.

The rep was also built on tremendous play-by-play announcers like Bob Neal and Kevin Harlan, color analysts like Doug Collins and Reggie Miller, and courtside reporters like the late Craig Sager and current sideline star Allie LaForce.

Indeed, TNT and the NBA have become synonymous, but I have some news for you. This network is not just about professional basketball. This past week I went off the grid with TNT looking at their in-game and studio coverage of the NHL.

On March 24, the NHL on TNT provided coverage of the Pittsburgh Penguins at Colorado Avalanche matchup. Kenny Albert did play-by-play with Eddie Olczyk on color. Albert is not as noted as his legendary broadcasting father Marv Albert, but he has certainly staked his claim as one of the best in the business – able to cross over to multiple sports with equal aplomb.

Hockey is a strong suit for Albert. His rat-tat-tat, drama-building style draws viewers in and keeps us on the edge of our seats. Similarly, Olczyk is one of the top four or five NHL game analysts in the business. His style is understated, providing calm and clear analysis of key plays. They work really well together.

Albert eschews any kind of hackneyed and trite catch phrases for his goal calls. An emphatic, “He shoots and scores!” is plenty enough.

Hockey is a different beast when it comes to play-by-play. Unlike basketball, baseball, football, or even soccer and tennis, there is a minimum of breaks in the action. With hockey, a play-by-play announcer has to know the names of the players like he or she knows her kids’ names.

To me, it is the hardest sport for play-by-play and equally difficult for a color analyst. In basketball, after a team scores, the play-by-play announcer will keep silent and give the color analyst time to talk until the play crosses center court. In baseball and football, there is ample room for commentary.

Hockey does not offer such space, but Olczyk gets the most out of the minimal amount of time. Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

Coming back from a break in the game, Albert and Olczyk provided on air commentary and then tossed to ice level reporter Brian Boucher who has grown into a tremendous asset to the TNT broadcasts. Boucher provided real talk about Colorado’s objectives of staying on top of their division and vying for the top seed in the Western Conference.

The Penguins, squarely in a rebuilding year having dumped talent at the NHL trade deadline, surprisingly jumped out to a 2–0 lead in this game, and the TNT between periods studio crew was all over it. The excellent Liam McHugh hosted alongside Colby Armstrong, Anson Carter, and Keith Yandle.

Armstrong was especially entertaining. With Pittsburgh outshooting the Avs 16-4, Armstrong noted that it’s the best he’s seen Pittsburgh play in a long time. His reasoning was that teams get geared up for playing Colorado even if it’s out of fear. Great stuff.

Both teams tallied two goals in the second period giving Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead heading into the final frame. When Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon set up Jonathan Drouin for a goal to make it 4-3, Albert and Olczyk showed their strengths.

Albert called the pass from MacKinnon and one-timer goal from Drouin, and immediately noted that MacKinnon now had a point in all 34 of Colorado’s home games this season. On the goal replay, Olczyk showed how the play developed pointing out how McKinnon allowed Pittsburgh’s Evgenii Malkin to come in close before making the past to Drouin.

The TNT production team then showed a graphic displaying that McKinnon is now second all-time in longest home points streaks trailing only Wayne Gretzky. This was a sublime sequence of symmetry between talent and technicians like a songwriter, musician, and singer creating beautiful music.

What was supposed to be a blowout win for Colorado had now become a hockey barn burner, and the TNT crew was up to the task. Every goal and key play was followed up with replays from multiple angles showing the genesis of the action.

TNT has certainly taken to the velocity of the hockey broadcast with movement that challenges directors, graphics professionals, and videographers.

When there were breaks in this non-stop action, Olczyk was at his best. No hockey analyst draws on his experience as a player and explains that experience better to viewers. The TNT broadcast also lets Boucher freewheel and join in the flow of discussion without having to be introduced.

TNT does not merely rely on the traditional wide shot of the entire rink. We see close-up shots of each goaltender after a great save and the sweat of players on the bench or in the penalty box.

When McKinnon tied the game at 4-4 with 4:38 left in the third period, we got a series of tremendous crowd shots showing the Colorado fans going absolutely berserk. The sage Albert and Olczyk wisely remained quiet for several seconds, letting the cheers do the talking.

When Drouin scored the game winner at 4:06 of overtime, Albert exercised controlled enthusiasm, raising his voice on the call of the goal, but not becoming the show and overshadowing the play itself. He is definitely in the mold of Dan Kelly, Gary Thorne, and Sean McDonough, announcers who enhance but do not supersede the game.

Putting a cherry on top of this hockey Sunday, TNT showed a graphic that the Avalanche now led the NHL in comeback wins this season with 25 and that they were riding a 9-game winning streak. In analyzing the goal, Olczyk opined that the altitude of playing in Colorado was prevalent as the Penguins seemed to tire as the game progressed – really interesting insight.

In the postgame show, Anson Carter made a great point that the chemistry between Drouin and MacKinnon stems from the fact that they have been playing together going back to junior hockey. McKinnon joined in from the arena for a postgame interview. The analysts asked solid questions and even did a funny MVP chant together as the interview ended.

The NHL on TNT takes no back seat to its elder NBA sister. The broadcast provides viewers with flash, dash, and serious hockey talk from every angle – in studio, from the broadcast booth, and on the ice.

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Kim Mulkey Now Has Everyone Anticipating Washington Post Story

I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it.

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photo of LSU women's college basketball coach Kim Mulkey
Credit: Dailymail.co.uk

The Washington Post, you might’ve heard, has a story coming out about controversial LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey. The reason you might’ve heard is because Kim Mulkey told you. The Tigers coach read a fiery prepared statement just before her team started the Women’s NCAA Tournament. In the statement, Mulkey threatened to sue The Post for defamation before the first word was even published.

Now, I’ve never run a public relations firm but that did not seem like a good idea. The Washington Post story on Mulkey is one of the bigger stories in sports right now and nobody even knows what’s in it. The reason the story, apparently unflattering to Mulkey, is even on anyone’s radar screen is Mulkey herself.

It all started with an innocuous social media post by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde right in the middle of the most anticipated two days in sports, the NCAA Tournament Round of 64. On his X account, Forde posted: “Hearing some buzz about a big Washington Post story in the works on LSU women’s hoops coach Kim Mulkey, potentially next week. Wagons being circled, etc.”

You know what generally will go unnoticed at 4:00 on the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament? A post on X about a women’s basketball coach. But don’t tell Mulkey, she saw Forde’s post and decided to fight fire with nuclear weaponry. The result: the average person like me now is really interested in what has Mulkey so incensed. By “average person like me” I mean that I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it. Maybe:

“LSU Women’s Coach Discovers Ark of the Covenant”

Or:

“Mulkey Reveals True JFK Assassin(s)”

Perhaps:

“Famed Women’s Basketball Coach Reveals the Mystery Behind Slow Drivers in the Left Lane”

Literally any of those catch my attention more than whatever will likely be the Washington Post headline about Mulkey. But now Mulkey is “Mad as Hell and is not going to take this anymore” so I now have an interest I would never before have had in this story. It has been fascinating to watch the online speculation about the subject of the article and all we really know, as of now, is that it will be written by Kent Babb. This is a dream come true for Babb; he writes an article that is, presumably, not flattering about Kim Mulkey and, before it is even published, she gives the article the greatest commercial anyone could give it. Babb couldn’t have entered into a business agreement with Mulkey and had this turn out better for him.

For those who don’t follow Babb, he is a former NFL reporter who now is an award-winning writer for the Washington Post. In his 14 years with The Post, he has written sports features and authored a couple of books. One of those sports features stories was a deep dive into what he viewed as a large inequity in the level of pay for LSU head football coach Brian Kelly and his LSU players. It is this piece Mulkey described as a “hit piece” and, based on that piece, referred to Babb as a “sleazy reporter.” Babb, and many others, resented the fact his story was labeled as a hit piece. In fact, Babb essentially confirmed he was the author Mulkey was referencing when he shared the original article on X with the comment: “Hit piece?”

Whether a printed piece or a recorded interview, I can’t imagine a better promotion for it than the subject of the interview threatening a libel/slander lawsuit, especially before it is even released. That simply screams “This piece is salacious!!” Also, libel and slander suits get settled all the time, right? Of course they don’t, they seem to never even get filed. That little thing called discovery is a scary thing for most public figures.

The NCAA Tournament has been very entertaining, and I think the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will be terrific. For only the fifth time ever, the top two seeds have advanced to the third round which sets up for a remarkable weekend. For me, I guess it will now include a Washington Post article, not a sentence I’d normally say.

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