SOCIAL)Take Loyal Listener Email Back

6-19-2013

My sister-in-law and I were at a family event recently and she asked me, ?Why are radio station websites so crappy?? But she could have asked the same about loyal listener email. Do you get those exciting emails that have no logo and only an ad from Ticketmaster? What about the generic no-value emails that scream, ?We don?t care about you ? take our crap??   

Suppose you send a loyal listener email once a month. Maybe instead of the generic stuff, we could reform our love for listeners and give our most loyal listeners content that is of interest and value to them. You can do this as ?brief or bullet-point content? with some design to it. How about some content examples:
1. Listeners love people (believe it or not). They don?t warm up to brands first. So, if you still have a morning show or high-profile personality, use them. Let them have a few words of welcome at the center of the page on your loyal listener email. Big festival this month? Something high-profile happening (that will involve a ton of people and probably many of your listeners)? Put it in the greeting! Post a picture of the personality and include their signature.

2. Publish a quick reference concert calendar for the upcoming month. If you are a music-based station, fans love concerts. This can be shows in your market or in the region (remember:  fans will travel). If you want to do so, take an extra step and see if you can secure an extra pair or pairs of tickets to give away. Tell these ?loyal listeners? you are going to draw names only from those who receive this email and hit you back at a special email address you include in the email below the concert info!

3. Each month you have ways listeners can ?escape? in the coming month. Most people don?t love their jobs. Most people are stressed. Given even a moment of silence, most people begin immediately to think about these questions: What can I do after work? Where can I go or what can I do this weekend? You know, me time or family time. Time when you don?t have to be bound to work and responsibilities. So, give them ?options? in your loyal listener email.

4. Focus on what you own. If you know me at all, you know I encourage that in everything you do you must point people back to the on-air product and the digital products that you own. If you have a loyal listener email with this much content, include an on-air feature with great value and where listeners can find it on your station.

5. Include a community engagement calendar featuring about three charity events and/or activities where you know the cause is excellent and the community or charity action matches up well with your target audience. This should be a very brief feature, but it is a ?plug in? for active and caring listeners of your station.

6. Publish a link where listeners can find a feature (like Ten Questions) focused on one of your personalities and where they like to eat, relax, spend family time, and what they enjoy doing on the weekends. Remember: People connect with people. If your personalities are engaging and fun, use them to draw listeners closer to your brand.

7. Include an opportunity to receive a reward just because you emailed these listeners. That?s right. Tell them that you know they are busy and stressed and you know that you are not the most important thing in the world. Tell them just for pushing this email into their busy day, you are going to select several loyal listeners to receive tickets to a concert/movie tickets/dinner for two/some other ?reward.? Tell them this is not a contest; only someone receiving this loyal listener email will even know about it. Ask them to email you back at a special email address if they want to be considered for the ?drawing.? Not sexy, right? Well, that?s the point. You are just saying you value them and you want to reward them just because you intruded into their day.

It should go without saying that you should include every possible way for listeners to connect, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, website, e-mail, on-air studio line, and text. We are in the connection business.

Of course, you can include ads from the sales department. I think all parts of the radio business, including loyal listener email and all digital assets, should have a proper business plan that includes generating consistent advertising, sponsor or placement revenue. That is the point of this business. At our best, radio personalities are the local connectivity experts with their fingers on the pulse of what is important to listeners (this is you, right?). 

If Ticketmaster comes calling for a ?blast? to loyal listeners, make something special for that ?blast? that includes a variety of value and your own branding. Don?t just "do the easy.? Don?t simply blast out a piece of content for Ticketmaster only with no soul, connection to your brand, or extra benefits to people who might not like whatever act they are selling. Take that extra step or two.

It may be difficult to see how working smarter will always pay off in an environment that rewards cutbacks, but smart work always pays off. Do these things and you will stand out to listeners, maybe management, and perhaps an even better employer when your career goes ?next level.?  

Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte, and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Learn more about Loyd here:  http://about.me/loydford. Get his radio-social media content sent directly to your smart phone or email for free here:  www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE.  Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Christian Radio Listeners Very Loyal

10-26-2012

New research from Mark Kassof & Co. reveals that Christian format P1 listeners have the highest level of preference for the station they listen to most. Overall, 50% of listeners think their P1 station is ?a lot better? than other stations they listen to. But of those who name a Christian station, that number is 73%. These research is based on 732 online surveys of 18-64 year olds in the U.S. who can name a station they ?spend the most time listening to.?

Other formats with above average station preference are Public Radio (64%), News/Talk (61%) and Country (56%). CHR stations have the lowest preference among their P1 listeners...39% think their station is a lot better (while 55% find it only ?slightly better?). Other formats with ?a lot better? scores below average are Oldies/Classic Hits (42%), Adult Contemporary (43%) and Sports (44%).

The survey was conducted October 1-4, 2012. More details can be found at kassof.com. This research is the latest in a series of ListenerThinkTM surveys conducted by Mark Kassof &

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(SOCIAL) Top 10 Musts For Your Loyal Listener E-mails

4-9-2012

If you?ve been in programming, promotions, or associated with guiding a radio station over the last decade, you may be up to speed with your listener e-mail ? or it may be time to freshen your approach. We?ve all seen stations send ads sold and forced down our throat from the sales department. That is a disservice to them, to your station, and to the listeners.

Don?t think of your e-mail as just an e-mail. Think of it as an opportunity to use limited visual ads and a personal note along with small banner ads to give the listeners a truly hip content update that interests them. Think of it as a great opportunity to refocus listeners on why they should be listening to your station right now.

Here are some tips on how your loyal listener e-mails should look:
1. Colorful logo, front and center if possible. This can be done as part of a banner across the top of your e-mail and can actually include a very brief graphic about your current major promotion (but make it visual; not too much copy).
2. Immediately underneath your logo and/or banner, you should have easy-to-see links for:  Listen Live, Morning Show, Facebook, YouTube, Concerts/Events. If you don?t have a Facebook page, a YouTube Channel, or a way to listen live, you have a lot to consider about your competitiveness.
3. To the left-hand side of your e-mail, underneath these links, should be a very brief personal note with a similarly brief invitation to listen to win your major promotion. This should be signed by either the morning show or other major personality on the station.
4. To the right of the ?personal note? you should consider having an ad from the sales department or a public service ad. Even if it is a public service ad, you can sponsor it. This is an excellent way to engage the sales department for additional non-traditional revenue using a database or loyal listener e-mail.
5. Beneath the personal note and ad, you can placed a banner ad that is either a station event, concert, or format concert. And, yes, it is okay to put the logo of the station in this ad if it fits the image of the station.
6. Next, you can have smaller ads, with visuals to the left and copy to the right, about your upcoming WINNING WEEKEND or STATION CONCERT or event.
7. Below these, you can have smaller ads sold by the sales team mixed with either public service ads or an ad about interesting content that listeners can find on your website.
8. Below this, you can visually present (small) a special feature on the station, bottom left, and specific activities listeners can do this weekend, on the right.
9. There is still room for a sponsored banner ad across the bottom (going all the way across the e-mail). Another opportunity for the sales department.
10. Finally, you should have more social media links at the bottom of the e-mail:  your station website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
Again, your e-mail should be in a format that looks like a cool content bump or content update, with visuals that allow listeners to choose the content they enjoy. With a variety of content opportunities all together, you avoid making it look like you are spamming listeners. Why? Because you?re not. Youre giving them connectivity to the station in a variety of forms.

Always put an opt-out or ?Unsubscribe here? at the bottom of the e-mail. I usually recommend something like, ?If you would not like to receive this free benefit from (station name) via e-mail, simply unsubscribe here. Thank you for listening to (station).? Of course, you will want to have a disclaimer at the bottom of your e-mail with brief privacy policy and contact information.

We fight it out with other distractions every single day. When you send listeners e-mail, you are intruding on their day, their space, their e-mail. Make it mean something; make it visual and fun. This is truly an opportunity for you to give important listeners brief and impactful content that leads them back to you in social media, your website, and, of course, your frequency. Use it.

Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes for years, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Learn more about Loyd here: http://about.me/loydford. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE
Visit his Facebook radio social media page www.facebook.com/socialnetworking4radio

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Hispanic Radio Listeners: Are They The Most Loyal?

2-21-2012

In a day and age when localism seems to be getting the short end of the stick at quite a few radio stations, Hispanic radio is delivering big time to its listeners. Over the past few weeks we've spent a lot of time discussing the explosive growth of Hispanic radio, with so many great broadcasters all over the country. One of those broadcasters is Tony Bonicci (pictured), who is running stations for Lotus Communications in Las Vegas. Bonicci is up for Broadcaster of the Year in the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Awards, the Medallas de Cortez, which will be presented next month in San Diego.

Bonicci says Hispanic radio listeners are as loyal to their stations today as listeners to other formats were a decade ago. "The bottom line is quality," he says. "They are a  loyal audience that wants quality. You deliver quality, and they will stick around and listen to your radio station."
Bonicci emphasizes the loyalty of his listeners, just a bit. "They are very, very, very loyal," he says. "They are very loyal people. Again, a lot of what we are seeing today in the Hispanic world is the stuff we used to see in the Anglo world. Hispanics select their radio station and support that radio station, they show up at the events. We just did a Valentine's Day promotion, a concert that was oversold. The casino was asking us what happened. I was like, 'This is what happens,' not, 'What happened?'

"They are very loyal, and that's where the time spent listening comes in. I think a lot of Hispanic broadcasters realize what I am saying, and the products that they are putting on the air are much better than the products they were putting on years ago. Look at today -- I will give you a great example of what I am talking about. The hottest show in television is the Hispanic version of American Idol. That is the reality of it."

Bonicci has a message for broadcasters all over the country about the Hispanic audience and Hispanic radio. "The Hispanic community is a lot more sophisticated than we were giving them credit for," he says. "They clearly understand, and they want quality. We have to deliver quality to the Hispanic listener, just as much as the Anglo audience had to do the same. The other part of it is, and I guess I am beating a dead horse, is the importance of us working together to actually educate the buyers and such about the quality of the audience that we have. The Hispanic audience is a quality audience and has money and is a force to be reckoned with. It is not a lower cost per point. It is the future. It is now, and it is the future as well for the customer base, which everybody should want a piece of."

Bryan Hollenbaugh (pictured right) is up for an award in our General Manager category. He manages seven stations for Adelante in Eastern Washington, five of them in Hispanic formats. Hollenbaugh explains why listeners in his neck of the woods are as loyal as the day is long. "We have a blue-collar market," he says. "These people are working. They are out in fields or they are in warehouses. They are working all day long. They want something to kind of keep pep in their step. So the radio is cranked up, and they are listening to it througout the day. It is an integral part of their life.

"They are not picking up the newspaper, they are not watching TV during the day. They are not on the Internet, scanning and reading pages. The radio is part of their day-to-day life during the daytime. It is very much like what general-market radio might have been two decades ago. We are still very much in the forefront of people's minds, day in and day out. We are part of their day. With the time spent listening, it is designed the same way radio has always been designed, which was to be something people listen to diligently, and it became a part of the day-to-day experience, like getting my first cup of coffee."

See all of our nominees HERE.  -  Register for the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Seminar HERE

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here