WHY RADIO PROMOTIONS FAIL Chris Byrnes Why radio station promotions fail hit me harder than the one pound blocks of chocolate most radio stations got talked into giving away this Easter. Radio is getting lost in the promotional shuffle, the product is becoming less compelling, and time spent listening is declining. These are all signs that if we don’t get creative and move the needle, radio tuning will continue to decline. Most agree less than 3% of a station’s audience will actively take part in any radio promotion. You may have never called a radio station to play a contest, but how many times have you watched “Who Wants to be A Millionaire,” got most of the questions right, and thought the person in the hot seat was a dummy? The key is not to limit the appeal of a promotion to the active 3%, but tap into the people who passively play along with the right contest. Here are just a few of the reasons why I believe radio promotions fail.
Overcomplicating the Promotion: We often ask our listeners to jump through too many hoops for the chance to qualify to win a small prize. I heard a station recently ask its audience to listen at 9am, 2pm and 5pm, write down the title and artist and then be caller 9 the following morning sometime before 9am for a pair of movie passes! The concept was sound, but the payoff was not in proportion to the amount of time a listener would have to invest just to know the correct answer. As you devise promotions take a step back and check that the concept is easy to communicate, easy to understand, and has a good chance of capturing the interest of your target audience.
Lack of Planning: This often results in settling for a weak promotion, or whatever the sales department can come up with quickly. Great promotions take time to organize and pull together. You don’t need a calendar to know the spring BBM will be February – April while September and October is when the fall survey diaries are in the field. Therefore it’s vital to develop month by month promotion plans based on the goals for both sales and programming. Always review the plan, and be flexible enough take advantage of any last minute opportunities that fall into your lap.
Lack of Organizational Skills: You'll be approached with a hundred promotions in some weeks. It's critical that you know what to bring to the promotion meeting, and what to politely turn down. Stations that execute one great promotion after another have momentum and excitement, but at some point you will run out of air staff and days in the week. Know your priorities and keep them straight. Getting caught up in “the thick of thin things” is one of the biggest problems promotions people face, and they bring most of this on themselves by poor organizational skills, poor planning and poor time management. Work hard, take one day a week off to recharge the batteries and then get back at it.
Failure To Communicate the Benefits: Selling the sizzle of a promotion is what it’s all about. Tell me right up front the benefits of being involved in this promotion. Winning a trip for two to Hawaii is not as exciting as painting the mental picture of soaking in the warmth of Waikiki as you laze on the world's most famous beach overlooking the crystal clear blue waters of the pacific gazing out to regal Diamond Head, sipping Pina Coladas and forgetting the worries of home and work thousands of miles away. Do you imagine yourself on that beach right now? The formula for writing great promotional spots is simple: Hook me, tell me what I need to know, how do I get involved and anything else that is important? Never pollute your promo with a laundry list of sponsor names just because that is what the sales presentation promised. Also avoid complicating the spot with all the things listeners must do to enter the content. The KISS rule applies.
Failure To Reinvest In the Brand: The standard business school model is to reinvest at least 5% of turnover in marketing. This means a radio station generating two million dollars in revenue should be spending $100,000 cash on marketing. When times are tough and those share holders or bankers are angry the marketing budget is often the first to be cut. We tell our retail clients that if you don’t advertise a funny thing happens – nothing! Yet, we often fail to practice what we preach and cut corners to make the numbers look good in the short term. Long term a failure to invest in the brand and promote the product ends up being more costly.
Failure To Think Through the Strategy: Think Cume. Think Average Quarter Hour. All on-air promotions have to involve one, the other, and ideally both. First, think about who you're going to reach. Second, once you've gotten them to tune in (Cume), how can you get them to listen longer (AQH)? They are the two components that make up the Arbitron or BBM numbers. Always ask yourself, "Is this promotion right for our format, right for our audience, and will it meet our ratings objectives?"
Failure To Think Big: Over the years I’ve given away lots of cool prizes and generated number one ratings and lots of revenue. In 1984 I gave a listener the opportunity to “Carry the Olympic Torch” towards Los Angels, I’ve given away a pair of his and hers European cars, sent 50 listeners to Hawaii [Hawaii 5-0], given away moon rocks and part of the Berlin Wall. I encourage stations to give away prizes that money cannot buy. For just $12,595 Virginia-based Space Adventures, the company that helped put Tito in orbit, offer gravity-free flights abroad a Russian “Vomit Comet” Mig fighter at speeds beyond Mach 2.5. At 80,000 feet you can see 1,000 miles in any direction and the planet’s curvature on a clear day. Do not make the mistake of creating promotions based on the station’s marketing budget. Think big, be creative and give away cool stuff, because you cannot compete on a cash level any more.
Competition from Other Sectors: I have a theory that most of the great promotional minds have been stolen away from radio to work for oil companies and the fast food industry. Ron Buist who created the Tim Horton’s “Roll up the Rim to win” promotion started in radio. The inventor of the frequent flyer miles program was a promotions manager for a San Diego radio station. I was told that the creator of “Win the Jeep and fly to Hawaii” for Petro Canada was headhunted from radio. Radio is still doing all the same old promotions we did in the 70’s, while a listener can “scratch and win” a million dollars at the convenience store for just one dollar.
Doing Promotions For the Wrong Reasons: Most radio stations fail to get credit for all the hard work and hours of sweat, labour and sometimes even money expended inside the promotions department. How many promotions does your radio station run each year based on the amount of logo exposure you are promised? Most times if you look very closely you might be able to make out what looks like your logo in a small newspaper ad or poster. What is the benefit in agreeing to commit air time, staff and resources to the “McDonalds-BMO-Shell Run for Life”? Your radio station gets lost in the shuffle and come next year chances are there will be a new organizing committee who has no knowledge of all the good work you did for free last year!
Conclusion: There are at least 27 things a good promotions person must do each and every week to stay on top of their job. E-mail me and I’ll send you the list. While promotions are just one part of the product, it is often the one that is over looked and becomes a missed opportunity to influence listening behavior and build ratings. |