(by Chris Miller) There's a digital tool to put your content in the hands of your fans, and also create revenue opportunities for your brand. You probably already have this tool, but aren't using it to its potential. It's email. For some broadcasters, the newness of social media has caused us to forget about database emails as a tool to tactically help both programming and sales.
"Email can hit that magic spot of being both sellable and beneficial for the recipient, too," says Ruth Presslaff, President of Presslaff Interactive Revenue. The best radio database emails are "relevant to the listener, but not exclusive to revenue."
Presslaff says that the real value to sales is "not just in the three-hundred-dollar ad that we include in the email. It's the data we get." She points out that "the information you get [about your listeners] is the real goldmine," because you can use it to create opportunities to get new and bigger business. The ones who really profit from their database email program are "the ones who know how to use the data we get to create sales presentations that open new doors." As an example, Presslaff describes pitching business from a new bank, and showing them on a Google Maps overlay "how your database lives where the bank's trading zone is." She also points out that "there can be so much information in your database, and there are so many different sales opportunities" that it can be hard to choose where to focus first. She recommends having a database marketing specialist to help make sense of it all. "What do your zip codes tell you? What about your gender balance? If you did a promotion that got responses from a whole bunch of men but you tend to skew female, what does that mean?" Presslaff says that she looks at database information, and "all I see is money." It can start with just looking at your "open rate, click-throughs, and your unsubscribes." She recommends that you not just make a judgment about one metric one time, but, instead, watch how the information trends over time to gauge how your content is being received. For instance, if you don't have a lot of people unsubscribing from you, that doesn't mean that they're necessarily passionate about what you're sending them. It's very easy to be ignored in email. "The opposite of love isn't hate," Presslaff says, quoting author Leo Buscaglia. "The opposite of love is apathy." Email and your social media can also be complementary parts of a good overall media plan. Presslaff notes that "Twitter and Facebook have a constant stream of information, which is great if you happen to be there to see it. But if you want to go back and find something, where is it?" Plus, she says, "Email drives action better than anything else." Compared to saying something on the air, adding it to your social media, or posting it on your website, "Email has been shown to drive action like nothing else." Chris Miller has been a major-market PD in Atlanta, Portland and Cleveland. He now operates Chris Miller Digital, which he launched. Visit his website at www.chrismillerdigital.com.Contact Chris via e-mail, chris@chrismillerdigital.com or 216-236-3955.
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