Page Deux Monthly Newsletter Updates for Management, Sales, Promotion McVayMedia.com Domain Names Podcasting 411 Recommended reading, flix Cool Deals/Free Stuff HC bio, airchecks: [WPRO 1977] [WBIG 2001]

2008 Buzzword-of-the-Summer, and you heard it here first:
Now, many of your listeners can only afford a "stay-cation..."
...because soaring gasoline prices have made VACATION utterly unaffordable.
Is this an opportunity for local radio?
Might we bundle-advertising-for/give-away spa visits, dinners-at-local-restaurants, and other cool/fun stuff-to-do right-here-at-home?
Worth brainstorming?

Highly recommended reading referenced in my newsletter: Seth Godin's groundbreaking "Permission Marketing".

Until now, you have been guessing...
...which contest prizes tempt listeners to listen longer.

Properly done, prize giveaways can play Arbitron methodology like a Stradivarius. And thoughtfully-structured contests can be very good for business. 1 + 1 can = 3 Pump-up your audience while advertisers PAY you to give away merchandise. At client stations, we create audience promotions which involve two complementary advertisers, so 1 + 1 + 1 = 5. IMPORTANT: Offer prizes that people want to win. Sounds pretty fundamental, right? Yet most radio prizes are business-as-usual prize closet baubles, big-ticket items WE think are enticing, or something-we’re-giving-away-because-the-client-wants-to. To reality-check conventional wisdom, I conducted a national survey, which asked... “Often, AM and FM stations will conduct contests, to persuade you to listen longer and more often. For each prize listed below, please indicate, on a scale from 1-to-5, how likely you would be to listen.” Here -- in the order I presented it to the sample -- is the list they voted on: > $100 cash > $1,000 cash > $1,000,000 cash > A car, which you would win and own outright. > A car, which you could keep free for a year. > A motor scooter. > A Harley Davidson motorcycle. > A vacation trip to somewhere warm in the winter. > A vacation trip to Las Vegas. > A vacation trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. > Two free round-trip airline tickets to anywhere in the continental USA. > A big flat-screen High-Definition TV. > A $100 supermarket gift certificate. > The radio station would pay your electric or heating bill for a year. > Free maid service for a year. > Dinner for 2 at a restaurant. > Dinner for 4 at a restaurant. > A $1000 gift certificate at a furniture store. > A laptop computer. > A desktop computer. > iPod. > Free music downloads. > Free music, on CD. > A $100 gift certificate for stores at a local mall. > A $1,000 gift certificate for stores at the mall. > Power tools. > A $100 gift certificate at a clothing store. > A $1,000 gift certificate at a clothing store. > A free one-year membership at a health club or YMCA. > Concert tickets. > Movie tickets. > Tickets to a major league sporting event. > A luxury box for you and your friends for a game at a major league arena or stadium. > You and 3 friends get VIP treatment at a Super Bowl party at a local sports bar. After the party, you take home a recliner chair. > A radio personality comes to your home with food and beverages and hosts a backyard cook-out for you and your friends. > A free cell phone for a year. > A Caribbean cruise. > An Alaska cruise. You WILL be surprised by some of the results of this poll. If you work for, or compete with, Clear Channel, you will want to see how appealing their national million dollar giveaways really are. No matter where you work, you can use this information to optimize your audience and Sales promotion efforts. And it can save you THOUSANDS of dollars in mistakes. NOTE: This information is unavailable in some markets. I cannot share it with stations that compete with my clients. When you read it, you will understand why. What I consider "the headline" in this data will be some surprising survey data that will have Sales Managers and Program Directors high-fiving each other. This report includes my specific recommendations for implementing survey results, for maximum ratings effect and Sales value. To purchase this important report, for $99, click here. And What you read on pages 1 - 3 ALONE is worth many times your investment. You will read "5 Ways to Make Arbitron Go UP...4-of-which are FREE." This is the first meeting I have with a new client, and is the basis of everything I do for a station, not just contesting. NONE of it is opinion. It's all about playing-by-Arbitron's rules. When you read this, you will understand why I need to make this report unavailable in certain markets.

Are you abusing the most-abused word in radio promo copy?

Read how to seem more-relevant to listeners, by avoiding an all-too-common cliche.

"All Marketers Are Liars"

"Every marketer tells a story. And if they do it right, we believe them." Read Seth Godin's case studies.

"Don't try to make the audience understand your station."

Instead, "make your station understand the audience," urges twisted genius Nick Michaels, luncheon speaker at R&R's Talk Radio Seminar, articulating the strategy underlying the knockout Radio promos he creates. Several attendees told me they thought his keynote was the highlight of the R&R conference. During it, he played samples of his work, including - I was flattered to hear - a spot that I wrote. To hear it in RealAudio, click here.

TV is most effective in attracting trial, while Direct Mail is best at stimulating TSL.

Contests: More chances/smaller prizes beats fewer chances/larger prizes; local beats national. Source: "How Marketing Influences Listeners: A Nationwide Study," by Point-to-Point Direct Marketing Solutions, all-70-pages-of-which you can read and download (PDF), FREE, by clicking here.

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Copyright 2008 Holland Cooke