Local Broadcast Sales (LBS) periodically receives requests to share personally-identifiable tracking information regarding how individuals use the LBS site so managers or associations can monitor their activities. The following is some candid and forthright insight into LBS’ philosophy and policies regarding these requests and why we always decline to provide information of this kind at the individual level. As you know, usage data supplied by LBS is always presented as an aggregate total usage by your association’s members without compromising individual station or user rights to privacy.

Local Broadcast Sales Has Been (and Is!)
a Beacon of Trust to Broadcasters for Associations
Why and How

Spy balloons, phone monitoring, confidential information leaks, and online tracking dominate today’s news headlines. These are all great reminders that secretly spying on individuals is (rightly!) considered unacceptable by most Americans.  And when we all read about both large and small tech companies sharing personal user data with whoever will pay for it, this only adds to the amount of mistrust and tension over online privacy.

Since its inception, LBS has deliberately been professional, responsible, and respectful to each of your station members on your behalf.  This conduct applies both to “in-person” interactions as well as “virtual” interactions and everything those would entail; including the way that we handle information involving an individual’s (and even a station’s) trackable activity on the LBS site.

To quickly and simply summarize where the rest of this article is headed, LBS will not prioritize profits over the basic right to personal privacy.  This intentional business decision is partially a product of LBS President Gary Moore’s 25 years of professional experience in consumer data collection, including the early development of the technologies behind Realtor.com and Gannett’s automotive and real estate solutions.  You can read some of his thoughts in the inset bar to the right.

All association vendor partners share a moral responsibility to not be crafty, sneaky, slick, or “clever” at user expense. Sadly, not all companies possess an ethical approach toward broadcast sellers, sales managers, and stations.  Some even explicitly promote their platform as a way for a station/association to monitor (spy on) and report on their sales team/members.  Again, LBS will not engage in this type of practice.

We have long been aware of (and are very flattered by!) the fact that some vendors are desperate to know exactly how station sellers utilize LBS.  They also want to see how we consistently generate record-high levels of loyal traffic for our association partners and their members.  Part of how we do that is a solid reputation built on top of hard-earned trust and a refusal to take ethically questionable shortcuts at your members’ expense.  Another key is an unwavering effort to provide content and tools that are actually relevant to the manager or rep who is dealing with prospects and clients every day.  For a more descriptive insight into how we generate these kinds of results, the LBS site publicly hosts over 1,400 testimonials from actual broadcasters nationwide that explain exactly why they love LBS.

Bottom line: LBS will not violate your members’ trust or endanger your association’s good reputation by developing and distributing “Big Brother-esque” personal tracking reports that “tattletale” on individual broadcast stations, sellers, or managers.  You can also count on the fact that instead of spying on your members, LBS’ daily focus remains committed to working alongside your association to improve the broadcast industry in your state and each station’s specific market.

We believe the simple premise that LBS provides the best broadcast training and revenue development support on the planet by a long shot.  As of the writing of this article, LBS now includes nine services and has cultivated a long-standing reputation with state broadcasters associations of not charging you additional fees every time a new service is unveiled or every time one of your members wants to use them.  As you think of ways we can do even more to help you fulfill your association’s mission, please let us know!  If you have further questions about our privacy practices and/or the information that LBS does provide our association partners, give us a call.