Summer Promotions

    • 1373 posts
    May 15, 2009 8:47 AM PDT
    Summer's fast approaching . . . what special promotions are you planning?
    • 67 posts
    May 19, 2009 7:09 PM PDT
    We're making a local car dealer the area's destination for fund raising, yard sales, antique car shows, kids fests, music impersonators......lots of work to plan upcoming events, but for enough money spent.....we're pulling it off so far..........Right Now........they just want warm bodies on their lot....
    • 67 posts
    May 19, 2009 7:13 PM PDT
    We gave away our annual "Cash and Cruise" early this year. Created $$ in February......registration boxes in businesses in February and gave it away March 8th......Saved our February!! Usually do this in late spring, but why not now. Cruise rates are great now.....It's the sizzle of a cruise......Had the final giveaway at a car dealership for major sponsorship $$......Had 30 qualifiers + their families in their showroom. Yes, they were happy and so were we!
    • 993 posts
    May 19, 2009 10:44 PM PDT
    Kathie, what a great way to provide visibility and traffic for your car dealer and perform a valuable community service at the same time! Well done!!
    • 5 posts
    May 20, 2009 12:56 PM PDT
    Hi, I'm new and I immediately said Finally something about RADIO SALES!!!! I have been in radio since 1981 do I have seen alot but one thing has remained constant, this is a relationship business. As I made the transition from Hot AC station to Southern Gospel 12 years ago, I carried that one thing with me....relationships. Anyway, here is one thing we are doing this summer. For Father's Day "Take Dad out to the Ballgame" we have the Tennessee Smokies here in our backyard and we are going to have a Southern Gospel Artist resing the old song Take Me Out to the Ballgame and use the words Dad and Smokies at the appropriate places , we will use this as a trigger for listeners to call in to win tickets to a Ballgame and dinner for their family at Shoney's, then we will have a drawing for a big prize (tbd) . We have something going on here non stop. I will tell you about our very successful DJ Double Date soon!
    • 1373 posts
    May 20, 2009 1:13 PM PDT
    Kathie, I agree with Rod, those are fantastic ideas for the car dealerships!

    Lisa, I like your summer-long, family-oriented promotion that corresponds with your station's number on the dial and the format - very nice!

    And Jamie, what a neat idea for Father's Day! If you have a recording of the customized "Take Dad out to the Ballgame" song, could you post a link to it here so we could listen to it, too?

    Thanks to all of you for posting!
  • May 20, 2009 1:20 PM PDT
    Hi I am also new and very excited to have this outlet. I live in Saratoga, WY and sell for KTGA, 99.3 BigFoot99 which was recently added to the area in October of 2007. Before BigFoot99, Platte Valley and Carbon County as a whole were known as Radio Free Wyoming. I have been with BigFoot99 since April of 2008. I enjoy working in radio and radio sales. This summer we will be doing a "Summer Slicing" Package Special. I noticed that other stations do amazing things: Festitval, Cruise Giveaways and such. Is something that even a small station like ourself could do in order to bring our local communities together and to bring in advertising dollars? If so does anyone have any ideas?

    Jennifer Archibald
    BigFoot99 Radio
    KTGA
    • 993 posts
    May 20, 2009 2:51 PM PDT
    Jennifer and all - our stations here in Pullman have for many years been publishing an annual "Summer Survival Guide." It's a compilation of local recreational resources (museums, wineries, golf courses, tennis courts, etc.), an extensive calendar of regional events, and a collection of summer-themed local articles and recipes all rolled into one.

    We trade most of the printing (we pay for the paper) and print 4000 copies, distributed primarily at our sponsors' stores and offices. The stations run a separate promotional schedule when the Guides first come out, tagged with the sponsors' locations.

    The sponsor packages (three financially-sized options) include an ad in the SSG and a quantity of radio ads for use during the summer. Billing is spread over three months. The fact that this year's Guide is the 23rd annual edition speaks unambiguously as to its effectiveness and popularity.

    The "official" purpose for the SSG: to provide in one handy booklet lots of ways for folks who live in our area to have fun, without having to pack a suitcase. The inside story: the stations needed a way to survive the summer in our twin university communities, when all the students leave for several months. In both cases, it's worked very well and has found a nice niche for itself here.

    I'll upload a copy of the presentation sheet we use (.doc format). If anyone has additional questions, feel free to shoot me an email or message through RSC.
    • 67 posts
    May 20, 2009 7:57 PM PDT
    Rod Schwartz said:
    Kathie, what a great way to provide visibility and traffic for your car dealer and perform a valuable community service at the same time! Well done!!
    • 67 posts
    May 20, 2009 8:00 PM PDT
    Thanks,

    The car dealer is paying us quite a chunk of money to do this which is good, however, it's a chore to come up with events each weekend. He says he wants to be a destination with "warm bodies" on his lot....but don't ya think he really wants to sell cars? So, we'll see how long it lasts.
    • 993 posts
    May 20, 2009 10:35 PM PDT
    Jamie,

    Welcome! Glad to have you aboard.

    Your observation about radio being a relationship business is right on the mark. Google's formula for automating radio ad sales seemed to miss this crucial element entirely; without it, how could they expect to succeed?
    • 44 posts
    May 28, 2009 3:18 PM PDT
    This is awesome! Can't wait to see all the great ideas. I am the sales manager for two stations in a small town in Nebraska. This June we will host the Colgate Country Showdown which is a country music talent show. We will also have Crusin Night where everyone drags main just like in the old days. This is our 6th year. We pack the downtown with cars, trucks, semi's even farm equipment..bumper to bumper...We play 50's music from 6pm to 9pm and give away lots of fun prizes. We ask for fuzzy dice, year books from the 50's etc. It is a ton of fun for everyone. We are also hosting a golf tournment...with two $20,000 hole in one prizes.
    • 1373 posts
    May 28, 2009 3:36 PM PDT
    Hi Lana! Those are neat promotions; thank you for sharing them. I must say, I really like the idea of "Cruisin' Night" . . . that just sounds like a blast from start to finish! Do you post pictures from the event on your station's website?
    • 19 posts
    June 2, 2009 6:35 AM PDT
    We have several promotions going on through the summer, but more recently we've tried to give our sales team a quick simple blanket promotion that encompasses everything we do. That way they can add value to clients by tying them in to a promotion, get them additional exposure without our stations having to create a ton of different promos. We use "Summer Fun Days" or "94 Days of Summer". Not real creative but its a solid branding tool for the station and keeps things simple.

    We do a number of events like our popular Backyard BBQ Promotion where we give away a complete party including grill, food, beverage, use of hot tub, and fun station prizes several times during the summer, to charity softball/baseball and one of our stations is in it's 8th year of "Redneck Games". The last 3 years we've raised over $30K for our local chapter of Make A Wish.

    So everything we do falls under each station's blanket theme or name.
    • 6 posts
    June 2, 2009 2:02 PM PDT
    I am still in the midst of getting the "radio lingo" done but so far i have put together a package deal with the local gas stations on Big and Rich concert ticket giveaways and created an add promoting the event and a 30 second spot advertising each sponsor with some charisma. I can honestly say i am having the time of my life because i have so many ideas and i finally get to see them set into action....I am working on some more promotions for summer such as "school's out saftey package", and others but i have a great advantage point, I work with a casino and i advertise all there events and i get to use that to produce some amazing things and i am excited to see what the summer brings... Cheers to everyone and enjoy....
    • 6 posts
    June 9, 2009 3:26 PM PDT
    Well i came up with another promo idea and so far it's going great!!! Fathers Day is right around the corner and what i did was get businesses to do a 30 sec. Happy Fathers Day p.s.a kind of.... then followed by a 30 sec. ad for their buisness. it is to run from 06-16 up to fathers day 06-21. They are getting a great deal for a spot rate and it's drawing in new clients to advertise on a regular basis....(for a newby i can't believe a simple small promo is going so well.....) Hope this brings inspiration to my fellow radio sales professionals... Happy Hunting!!
    • 1373 posts
    June 9, 2009 3:32 PM PDT
    That's really neat; thanks for sharing!
  • June 11, 2009 5:59 PM PDT
    We have something planned for our clients June, July, August & September. In June we take our 100 listeners and 85 clients to the Ogunquit Playhouse, which features stars such as Lorenzo Lamas, Sally Struthers and others. This is the biggest playhouse outside of Broadway or NY. July we take our 100 listeners and 100 clients aboard the Thomas Leighton Cruise Boat for a Sunset Cruise. Then our sister station has their night in August at the Ogunquit Playhouse and in September they have their cruise night as well aboard the Thomas Leighton Cruise Ship. We believe these promotions give the listener and our clients a feel of this is truly their radio station!
    • 44 posts
    June 24, 2009 2:59 PM PDT
    Yes we do....and the newspaper not only did a front page photo and article, their entire back page was filled with giant photo's. The only thing is they don't say KSID Cruisin Night. They just call it Cruisin Night. ...but everyone knows who puts this on. This year there were a lot of businesses on main street that hosted BBQ's. We not only filled main street with vehicles the downtown streets were lined with people watching. We gave away tons of prizes that were donated by the sponsors.
    Not our biggest money maker but definately a big hit with our listeners.
    • 58 posts
    June 25, 2009 5:33 PM PDT
    One promotion that we do at KFMJ 99.9 FM in Ketchikan, Alaska every year is our Summer Safety program. We have the State Troopers, Police Department and US Coast Guard come in to record :30 second spots on everything from bicycle safety to boating safety and everything else in between. The spots are then added to a :30 second spot from a local business that has been the exclusive sponsor for over 7 years now. They run the ads 5 times a day, 7 days a week for 12 weeks. It is a nice revenue boost for the summer and the sponsor is a hardware store that says they sell a lot of paint and get community kudos in the process.

    Julie M. Slanaker
    KFMJ 99.9 FM
    • 41 posts
    June 26, 2009 10:49 AM PDT
    Julie, I enjoyed visiting with you earlier, and thank you for posting your Summer Safety program. It's an excellent idea!
    • 1373 posts
    May 31, 2013 10:20 AM PDT

    Just read this in Joel Swanson's June newsletter:

     

    WINNING COMBINATION
    Our Summer Promotion, “The Winning Combination” is underway. Our Home Federal Bank safe is displayed at the participating sponsor business and twenty people who call the business on cue will each receive a different combination to the safe. One of the combinations is the Winning Combination and will open the safe. Those twenty people then have until 5PM that day to go to the business and try to open the safe with their combination. Prizes in each safe vary but will be worth a minimum of $500.

    At the end of the Summer Promotion all the finalists will be invited to a get-together, draw a random combination and try to open the Grand Prize Safe. The Grand Prize Package is a two-person hot tub from Black Knight in Aberdeen and a “Green Egg” grill from Lang’s of Aberdeen.


    This post was edited by Rod Schwartz at March 22, 2024 10:03 AM PDT
    • 170 posts
    May 25, 2016 1:48 PM PDT

    Big Country 100.9 Sticker      creating locations ($) for listeners to pick up a sticker, if we spot you (we go out 1x/wk), we'll flag you over and hand you $100.90 cash!!

    Y102 Summer of Fun      have rounded up tickets (trade) for area concerts, museum activities, minor league baseball games and more for weekly giveaways  (2) sponsorships available ($)

    Big Country 100.9       fireworks glasses (ordered from Rainbow Symphony) w 4 sponsor logos, available at sponsor locations prior to July 4, available at the local JayCees Fireworks on July 4  

    • 4 posts
    May 31, 2016 2:14 PM PDT

    Julie, I know this post is from a while back, but if available, would you be able to send me a couple of examples of this?

     

    Thank you!


    This post was edited by Rod Schwartz at March 22, 2024 10:04 AM PDT
    • 4 posts
    June 15, 2016 8:44 AM PDT

    Looking for a fun way to give a wakeboard away. Ideas?