1-5-2012
The big Ace and TJ news is their return to Charlotte?s air waves today on CC?s WHQC ? That?s not the story I want to dig into however. I want to find out how team Ace and TJ were able to put up $30K in local direct digital revenue in November without the help of a broadcast stick. We?ll hit up Adam Goodman (Chief Operating Officer for Ace and TJ and Co-President of 7to8 Media) for details and hopefully uncover a gem or two that you can apply to your local morning show to boost your digital revenue.
RI: Adam, 30K in local direct digital dollars in November?How?d you do it?
ADAM: The simple answer is that we have a great team and because of that we?re able to produce a great radio product?Good products are easy to sell. More specifically we leveraged established relationships with advertisers and every communication tool and listener touch point we could. We didn?t have a station to rely on locally to get the message out so we had our baptism by fire in that our only option was?to figure out how to make radio work with internet only delivery. It was a rough road at times but we?re stronger and more savvy because of it?and now that we?ll be back on air we?re going to be even more successful at driving revenue from online.
RI: What ?tools and listener touch points? do you use?
ADAM: We stream the live show, we created a 10a-11a digital only hour of content to increase our inventory and to offer added value to our stations that carry us in other markets, we run a 24/7 loop of the most recent show, we have the podcast and archives, we leverage facebook, social media, we have inventory on the website, we still do appearances and local promotions, we do couponing, contesting and we have our listener email database of over 32,000 fans of the show.
RI: How many advertisers did it take to hit that revenue number?
ADAM: We had 24 advertisers on in November.
RI: What was the one thing that generated the most revenue?
ADAM: A co-op type promotion where we got 10 restaurants to put in $500 along with a $100 gift certificate. The promotion culminated in one listener winning a $1000 in restaurant GC?s. Listener response was great. Restaurant partners were excited to participate.
RI: And how did you close the deals?
ADAM: We had our main sales person, Tracy Poff, literally go door to door until we hit our target number of 10 restaurants. Turns out she?s so good she only needed to go to 10 places. All said yes right away. More promotions like that are coming for sure in 2012.
RI: Did you have any bigger national brand money booked or was it all local?
ADAM: I?d love to say that Pepsi and Apple take my phone calls but in truth all of our revenue is coming locally and regionally. Even when we?ve done work with a big brand like Ford, as we did recently for the Charlotte Auto Show, it was coordinated and paid for through a local dealer.
RI: Given your success taking a broadcast morning show online (and back) what is one suggestion you would make to stations to help them monetize online more effectively?
ADAM: You can?t sell what you don?t have. By that I mean good content. Good content and good ideas allow you to create inventory. If you don?t have the jocks on board you?ll have difficulty creating the types of content listeners will seek out and find online. I have been in meetings with lots of big name talent and the number one question I hear about digital is, ?How much more work is this going to be because I am already stretched to the max.?
RI: Could you see logic in sharing revenue with the talent or morning show for creating the additional content?
ADAM: Definitely. We do it to motivate sales people it can work to motivate a jock. At least they would feel like they?re getting something for the extra work they?re doing. And strictly from a financial perspective if on one hand you don?t have this piece of content created and you get zero dollars?.but on the other hand it is created and you get $500 or $5000, even if the morning show gets 50 cents on the dollar you are still up 50 cents.
RI: So in effect you?d be creating a digital content monetization bonus?
ADAM: Exactly.
RI: What?s the future look like for Ace and TJ?
ADAM: We plan to keep doing good radio where ever listeners are consuming it. Digital will continue to be a big focus because inventory and opportunity online is limited only by creativity. We?ve got big plans for our new home at Clear Channel in Charlotte, for the stations that carry us and for our listeners. We plan to own 2012.
To ask Adam about any of the online strategies Ace and TJ have employed to drive revenue reach him at AGoodman@7to8media.com. To add Ace and TJ to your station?s programming roster reach out to Dave ?Chachi? Denes at Benztown Radio Networks at dd@benztown.com.
Carl Magnuson is the co-creator and director of sales for Social Radio?s personalized listening platform. Reach him at carl@socialradio.org.
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