Radio Sales Café

Radio stations are regularly asked to run "Public Service Announcements" - which is a polite way of saying "Free Ads."

Undoubtedly, many of the organizations requesting such largess are both deserving and truly unable to pay for air time.

But there are others that attempt to take advantage of a station's graciousness by asking them to run so-called PSA's that, in reality, are self-serving, quasi-commercial messages, wrapped in a thin veneer that merely suggests a public "service."

For example, many years ago a piece of mail crossed my desk - a request from the National Chiropractic Association for some public service announcements, along with a cassette tape containing pre-recorded messages that were really a pitch for chiropractic medicine.

An early mentor and sales trainer once told me that if someone thinks their message is of importance to our listeners, let them demonstrate its importance by putting their money behind it. If nobody's willing to make an investment in getting the word out, maybe they don't believe in it all that much. Maybe it's not that important after all.

With this in mind, I approached a local chiropractor, played the tape, and said that his association had sent us this message because they thought it was important for our listeners to hear. If he agreed that it was, I told him that I'd be happy to tag the prerecorded message ("brought to you as a public service by...") with his name and address, and gave him three plans to choose from.

I left with a signed agreement and a new client.

Have you ever taken a similar approach in your market, on your station? What did you do? How did it work out?

Absolutely, I have a full time telemarketer. She is 72 years old and has been here for five years. Works 12 til 3:00 then goes home with our Bluegrass host....she is his wife. They got married on the air five years ago. She sold sponsorships to her wedding. Advertiser got an intro before the ceremony then salutes to the happy couple for the rest of the week. Only generated $1,000.00....but was fun and she hit her goal! However, she is fizzling out, not making as many calls and I'm looking at different avenues with telemarketing.

Public Service advertising can be put together with significant dollars and taken to an already successful business. If they voice the spot....makes the campaign stronger and makes them a "star".

However, a full time telemarketer is a "must" at any station, especially during these times. It's found revenue!

"She sold sponsorships to her wedding." Has to be one of the best stories I've heard in 37 years of selling radio! Anyone else have anything like it?

As a full-time salesperson, I thought periodic phone blitzes were a good thing. They provided a break in the routine, along with an opportunity to connect with clients and prospects that might otherwise fall through the cracks. These blitzes were also a great opportunity to secure business that a competitor might otherwise be getting.

Do you also offer spiffs in conjunction with these blitzes, to make 'em a little more fun?

We are big believers in the value of telemarketing sales. As a revenue source, a prospecting tool for our outside team, and an excellent public relations opportunity for our stations to "touch" thousands of businesses. When I recently met with our rep from the AD Council I asked if we could tag sponsors at the end of their messages. If you use their pre-recorded messages - No. If you take their script (which they supply free for many of their campaigns) and record them yourself - Yes. This provides a great resource for quality telemarketing campaigns to supplement the great material we use from from Grace Broadcast.

After 9 years of utilizing an Inside Sales Department (we prefer this rather than telemarketing department), the key has been a selling manager/supervisor in the department to keep every one focused, motivated and to lead by example. Our database targets businesses with 20 or fewer employees. These are businesses that may not be typical advertisers, plus its easier to get to the owner/manager/decision maker. Our best success each year is with a local shelter for teenage boys. We involve businesses and listeners in August for "Back To School" supplies and in November/December for Christmas presents.

The most common PSA request I get is for a free remote. I inquire in detail about the potential client's event, organization and funding and ask the big question, "how much have you invested in your upcoming event so far?" Then I ask "How important is this event to your organization.... does the success of this event make a huge difference to you." Typically the answer is "OH YES, Were counting on this to bring in much needed funding." At that point we talk about event details, a little about demographics, what a sensible budget would look like and why a remote (high dollar piece of real estate) usually doesn't make sense. Instead I typically recommend an affordable but effective schedule. Frequently a new client is added and a schedule, that really helps the event succeed, gets sold.

If a Non-Profit group/event wants a Broadcast and cannot afford it, we often go out and sell the Sponsorship of the L.A.B. to other (usually so-called "non-traditional") businesses. Joel, that's a great approach! Sponsor receives valuable recognition at several levels, non-profit gets the word out, station is remunerated for the airtime. What's not to like about that!

We have sold several annual contracts to different Churches this way. Most Church websites have produced PSA's that you can download. One church does a big Easter push, but the others run small daily schedules on an annual contract. I had never thought of using the same technique for Chiropractors, but I will be presenting this idea tomorrow at two different Chiropractors. Great idea. Sitting here typing, I am thinking about lawyers, real estate agents (why using a realtor is important), funeral directors??, insurance sales people??. I think with a little effort, the list could be very long. Thanks for a great idea.