One of radio’s biggest losses over the last few years has been the concept of creative promotions. Stations continue to give away concert tickets and admissions to other local events, but the era of the big “book promotion” seems to be over. It’s amazing how fresh an old – but good – idea can sound when it’s brought back. And in many instances, the old ideas can be made more contemporary with a little thought and imagination.
Pat Welsh
By Pat Welsh
Next to the disappearance of so many people who have been forced out of our business, radio’s biggest loss over the last few years has been the concept of creative promotions. While monitoring stations around the country in the last few months, I’ve been discouraged at the lack of promotional activity. Stations continue to give away concert tickets and admissions to other local events, but the era of the big “book promotion” seems to be over.
Some of the causes of this have been building for years. Promotional budgets were slashed – in fact, many were eliminated completely – well before the current financial crisis hit. And now some are using the implementation of the PPM and the attendant “shut up and rock” on-air approach as an excuse to cut back even further.
But promotions and contests still have a big place in radio. Perhaps after pouring over the PPM data we’ll confirm that promotions don’t have a direct cause-and-effect relationship with building audience that we once assumed they did, but there’s no denying that they can help to build the brand.
The correct lesson in the PPM era should be that promotions, like every other aspect of a station’s on-air sound, should be designed with the listeners in mind. Lame sponsor-directed promotions that have no appeal to listeners should, rightly, be eliminated. On the other hand, there will always be a place for fun, exciting and creative promotions in the effort to winning the battle for listeners’ minds.
Of course, the current dearth of big promotions presents every programmer with a terrific opportunity. A P.D. can capture the attention (and imagination) of an audience lulled into boredom by the general lack of creativity.
The other bit of good news is that memorable promotions don’t necessarily require a big budget. A little imagination and creativity provide the means for having some fun, encouraging longer TSL and getting an advantage over the competition.
The key to this, I believe, is creating an experience for your listeners, and not just giving away things. To have the proper focus on your listeners, these are the kinds of questions to ask: What kind of experience can you create for listeners that they couldn’t get on their own? What do you have access to that the average person doesn’t? What aspects of radio are the most mysterious and desirable to the average listener?
Below is a starter list of ideas. Frankly, there’s nothing new here. All of these are things that have been done before, very possibly in your market. But it’s amazing how fresh an old – but good – idea can sound when it’s brought back. And in many instances, the old ideas can be made more contemporary with a little thought and imagination.
You can package several of these ideas together to form one big book promotion.
- You present the concert – The winner not only gets great tickets to a show, but his/her name appears on all the tickets as the official “presenter.” You can also have them cut an on-air promo for the show. To enter, you can ask people to create their own concert spot with the winning entries getting prominent placement on the station website.
- Ultimate Fans – Find some up-and-coming artists that are willing to do things with their fans: playing sports, giving music lessons, playing video games, etc. Find out what these bands are passionate about and design an experience for them to share with their fans. The younger artists are more willing to interact directly with their fans, creating an experience that the winner will never forget.
- Be the Music Director – Listeners get a copy of every album that comes out for a month. They also get a chance to meet a band that comes to town, go backstage and (if these things still exist) have lunch with a record company rep.
- Official station photographer – Go backstage for a show to meet a band and take pictures of the station’s backstage meet-and-greet events. Perhaps the winner gets appointed the photographer for a whole year, letting that person document all station events from an inside perspective.
- Interview a rock star – The winner gets to conduct an interview with an artist. This could be either a written or recorded interview, depending on the accessibility of the artist and the skills of the winner. If it’s a recorded audio interview, you can give the person a copy of the full interview and, if possible, edit it down so that you can actually air it.
- Morning show intern – The listener gets to come in with your morning show one day, make coffee for them, pull entertainment information from websites, participate in some on-air bits, etc. Give them a copy of that morning’s show so they have a souvenir of their day as the morning show flunky.
- Radio Idol – Look for new on-air talent from among your listeners. Create a promotion to find potential on-air personalities. If it’s a one-time shot, so be it; if the person is talented, perhaps there’s a budding air talent in your future. You can ask participants to enter by creating a music playlist or recording an audio segment. Post the best entries on your website and let other listeners participate in the final selection process.
- Morning show in-studio audience – Invite a handful of listeners into the studio to watch and participate in your show. A live audience can pump up your talent and it provides them with a ready-made pool of participants for regular bits and contests. Many popular shows have done this on a recurring basis, some as often as weekly.
These are just a few simple ideas. A little brainstorming and imagination can provide more ideas, ones that are even more creative and captivating than these. The critical element is to focus on the experience and coming up with things that the listeners don’t have easy access to on their own. We have that access. Radio still counts for a lot.
I’ve always said that radio is show business…the lowest form of show business, perhaps…but show business nonetheless. Radio and what goes on behind the scenes still holds a strong attraction for many listeners. It’s all about the experience.
Radio is a tough business these days. Cutbacks in personnel and every other aspect of the station have taken a toll, emotionally and financially, on all of us. But these things don’t have to shut down our creativity. Indeed, one of the last refuges of a tough job in difficult times should be the chance to express oneself creatively. It’s not just a challenge; it can be therapy.
Pat Welsh, Senior Vice President/Digital Content, Pollack Media Group, can be reached at 310 459-8556, fax: 310-454-5046, or at pat@pollackmedia.com.
