I've just started working in sales at my local radio station in the UK. We're not a huge station at all but we do cover quite a large area on our frequency. Unfortunatley alot of the 'locals' are very set in there ways. they mostly listen to the station who call themselves 'local' but are part of a huge national corperation. and really dont have anything in the way of local news, events or advertisers. I could go on about what they don't have but, they are obviously succsessful in what they do!
I don't have a problem with 'cold calling' wether it be face to face or on the phone, I'm quite confident in myself (I'm sure time will tell haha!). My main issue i have to fight against is, 'I've never heard of the station' or 'We don't listen to that station here...' To which i usually reply with a gentle nudge that they should give us a listen for a few days and see how they get on.
But it gives me the thought of how best to advertise our station?!
Has anyone else had this problem?
Is there any advice anyone can offer that has helped them out in similar situations in the past?
Many Thanks
Ben
You can't be all things to all people. I guess before you start advertising, you have to look who you target audience is.
Hi Ben, My name is Darrell and like yourself I, too, have recently started at my local station. My station is a small station, in fact, it is the only one here in our town of 12,000 people. My draw back is the other stations from the town to the east of us. They have nearly 20 other stations to choose from. The thing with that is much like you claimed. They are corporate stations who's ownership is out of the area. They offer some local news, but as I explain to my clients we have boots on the ground so to speak and we are in the middle of all local news, weather, school activities, civic events, and local sports. I explain that we are better to serve them because we are them! And, fact of the matter is, they do not have to listen to our station, that is a personal choice; but they can bet on the fact that they have customers that do listen to us. See we want to reach the market that they themselves are possibly dismissing due to personal preferences instead of business thinking. I have to admit, sometimes it takes several visits and cups of coffee to persuade them, but they see the benefits and do come around! Stay your course and be persistant without being pushy and you will bring them in. Hope this helps and good luck! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too! DH.
Everywhere I go, I ask try to strike up a conversation and ask what radio station they listen to. I often get the we listen to the power house out of the big city answer and I haven't ever listened to your station. Once they learn about the local station, I often get a, "we'll give it a listen" answer...
Anything on a mass level to increase your listener base?
Hi Darrell, Thanks very much for you and Randy's replies. You sound like you are in a very simlar situation to me, but to be fair sound like you have alot more competition! These are the same values i am getting across, I think people I'm speaking to are listening to what I'm saying. On the upside I got my first confirmation sale this morning.By being myself and not really trying to sell anything to them, just by being friendly the client eventually asked what our prices were, I made up a couple of mock statements of different options we could do for her and she confirmed that she would like to run a campaign in the New Year. The perfect start to a week at work, I always believe the first one is the hardest so... lets hope we go on a roll! haha! A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you also!
Always talk about what you do have and ignore what you don't. How many people listen to your station? Whether it's 100, 1,000 or 100,000 those are your listeners. When you know how many listeners you have ask the prospect, "If I could put you in front of (# of people) a week, would you be interested in talking to me?" When the prospect answers "yes", tell him that's what you can do for him.
I have plenty of satisfied customers that do not listen to our stations. They do realize, however, that we get results for them.
I thought the question was how to advertise the station? What can you do to get more listeners to listen to a particular radio station?
Hi Randy, this was my partiucular question, yes. I was looking for advise really on how best to publicise my station. At the moment, I'm finding that seeing potential clients is also helping towards that on a smaller scale. You are right though, I'd like to promote us on a bigger scale locally, the best way i can see in this area is by word of mouth, though. Which is how I'm approaching it at the moment... but if there are any ingenious ideas that anyone knows have worked elsewhere, it would be nice to know!
Ben
I don't know how effective it is at converting listeners, but we offer a discount to advertisers that play our radio station in their business.
