The most fascinating aspect of the radio pioneers featured in the new book, "Mobilized Marketing: Driving Sales, Engagement and Loyalty Through Mobile Devices," is that they moved their businesses forward by acting upon their belief in the marriage of mobile and radio.Clear Channel's Eileen Woodbury (Los Angeles), Kris Foley (Cleveland), and Gus Swanson (Seattle), as well as Hearst's Hugues Jean (Baltimore) and Julia Atherton (The Tom Joyner Show), are among those interviewed in the book. Written by Jeff Hasen, Hipcricket's chief marketing officer, "Mobilized Marketing" shares insights into campaigns and initiatives that drove additional time spent listening and sales.Hugues Jean, who is his station's general sales manager, tells of the time during the recession when a car dealer added a mobile component to a radio buy and sold 34 automobiles in one day ? after not selling one for more than a month. Here's how it worked?Listeners could enter a chance to buy a car for $99. Each person who responded to the radio prompt received the what, where, and how information, then were reminded via mobile message about the event taking place on a Saturday.About 300 showed up to the Fox Chevrolet dealership. While there, 34 who didn't win the $99 automobile drawing purchased a car at full price.Kris Foley speaks frankly about the need to establish success in Cleveland, and then use those case studies to win more business. She certainly did that by adding about $1 million in additional revenue by including a mobile component to radio buys.Eileen Woodbury was a master at engaging the Los Angeles "tribe," and giving listeners options on interacting with her station."People will communicate with you the way they want to communicate," says Woodbury. "So texting isn't replacing the Web. The Web didn't replace the phone call. People who want to call will want to call. People who never called us before, hopefully will engage with us through text. Some people prefer Twitter or are on Facebook all day. She adds, "This is the age of choice. People communicate the way they want to. With every new thing that comes along, we're adding to our arsenal."Julia Atherton used mobile to help bridge the distance between Tom Joyner and his listeners. They succeeded in making radio truly interactive.Gus Swanson was Hipcricket's first client (I'm proud to say that he remains with us today), understanding, in even the earliest days of mobile, that his listeners were using this new means to communicate and he needed to get on that train, too.Each of these radio superstars was generous with their time and their thoughts. There are great lessons that we can learn from each of them, as well as the other two dozen-plus marketers that Jeff spoke to for "Mobilized Marketing."I encourage you to give the book a read.Ivan Braiker is the president of Hipcricket+Augme Technologies, Inc and can be reached at 425.202.0833 or ivan@hipcricket.com
