Tag Archives: digital strategy

Listening

21 Apr

Turn it off. Yes the guy in radio is about to tell you to turn it off. The radio, the television, whatever you’re streaming, the iPod, a phone, and while your at it (when your done reading) your computer. If it requires power get away from it. Just for a minute. The act of listening has become a lost art. Nobody wants to do it anymore; we’ve become more interested in broadcasting ourselves. You name it, we share it. If we really want to grow, if we really want our brands to be better, then we have to turn it all off and listen.

Listen to the people you work with. What do they think of your brand? What opinions do they have about your internal systems? Take notes. These people are smart. They have an understanding of what it is you’re trying to accomplish.

How about your audience? That one guy that complains all the time, is it possible he could be right? Here’s an idea, visit Google and search your station or brand. Go to options and only look at stuff from the last 24 hours or sooner. Google now includes tweets, you may find people are saying some interesting things about you.

In addition make sure you spend a lot of time listening to your social media. These people participate with you because they like you. Take a good look at what they’re saying. If you really want to know what’s going on. Ask them. They’ll tell you. Just make sure to listen.

SEX

9 Apr

Do I have your attention?  Now that you’re hooked I can engage you.  Does your station newsletter do the same thing?

Every month you send out a newsletter to update your audience on what’s happening.  The value of this relationship is pretty damn important, it’s time to step it up and turn your monthly dialogue with your audience into something meaningful.

Start with your subject line.  One of the best open rates we ever got was on our am station when we included the word sex.  It was a relevant subject, wasn’t done with the intent to trick people into opening it, but it sure as hell did.  Teasing content in your newsletter is pretty important.  Maybe instead of saying “Radio Station Club” it should say “Win Tickets”.  

Now look at what you’re providing.  Would you open it?  Do people care about what you’re promoting?  With the exception of sales content we’ve taken some steps recently to only include content that gives the subscriber incentive to engage with us.  Instead of promoting the ticket giveaways next week, we’ll actually giveaway tickets. 

http://www.kgsr.com/Other/newsletter/

Your database is not valuable because of how many people you have in it.  It’s valuable because of the people who connect with you from it.  It has great potential.  Mine it.

Digital Ad Spend will beat Print in 2010!

12 Mar

A study slated for release the week of this piece by Outsell indicates for the first time ad spending will be higher for digital rather than print.  The annual advertising and marketing study which looks at the year ahead predicts a 9.6% increase for digital (this according to Forbes).  1,000 + advertisers were asked how they’d deploy their advertising and 32.5% said they’d spend in digital while print will get 30.3%.

Radio’s biggest challenge in getting a piece of the action would appear to be a two headed monster. 

1. Volume (Number of Uniques or Impressions your site delivers)

We’ll have a difficult time competing with sites that have a lot of volume.  Most newspaper websites do, you may want to consider creating a sales strategy that looks at combining all of your stations.  Strength in numbers may help you compete for agency business.

2. Perception

We don’t always get the look for digital advertising.  After all we’ve been selling spots and dots for decades.  We are considered old media, your going to have to go out and reimage yourself as a digital option.

The digital dollars aren’t just gonna show up at your door, you have to go get them.  Make an effort to educate and share what your group is capable of.

Evelyn said “Hi”

5 Mar

Last week I was getting the oil changed in my car. It’s early, nobody wants to talk, but there we are; four adults with our heads in our laptops and PDAs. Aside from a glance or two, content with minding our own business.

On my left I see a tiny person, a four to five-year-old little girl who I think has something to say. She’s standing a few feet from me, staring, waiting for something. I notice she takes another deliberate step and stops. When I make eye contact with her she raises her hand and simply says … “Hi.”

We start chatting, she asks if I like coffee then she tells me about her favorites — milk, water, and juice, adding that “It’s important to stay hydrated” (good job, mom, she remembers). I ask what her name is and she not only offers it up, but spells it for me.

“E-V-E-L-Y-N.”

The lobby of the dealership lights up, her dad has something to say, the women across from me spending close to a grand on her radiator isn’t bothered by that much anymore.

Evelyn did something most adults just don’t do. She did something that radio talent is even worse at. She said hi. Maybe what we all really need to be doing is taking a minute to put down the technology and talk to each other.

This year let’s make it a point to have relationships with our audience beyond the websites, request lines, e-mails and mobile devices. Let’s get everybody on the team to shake hands and say hello at events, remotes, or even in your own lobby when a listener picks up a prize. You don’t have to have anything to say. Things will come up; you just have to say hi.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 308 other followers