Last September/2000 found our loyalty rewards experiment in the capable hands of WJJO's(wjjo.com) OM/PD Glen Gardner. It was important that our "launch" client fully understand the philosophy of loyalty/rewards in the context of listening to a radio station. He knew our program promised an increased Database through repeated web traffic, Rev Stream, and increased TSL. Glen also knew that the concept of Winning, as in traditional radio contesting, was something better suited for a casino or lottery audience. And that the Earning equation, executed properly, had the power to reverse radio's scary erosion of Time Spent Listening. Well shake my socks, look what happened! WJJO goes 4.4-7.2 in 12+ overall...........and #1 12+ in, radio's most coveted category, TIME SPENT LISTENING..............Number Won in the market. Can't get no higher baby! Here is a menu of what the program did for WJJO in the course of one year:
RATINGS
1. 12+ goes 4.4-7.2.....while TSL goes to the top.. Indulge me here for a minute. WJJO is a narrowly niched, 18/49 MALE Active Rocker. These guys are playing bands your 14 year old hasn't heard yet................................................. in a multi formatted market with CHR Pop&Rythmics/80's/Oldies/Alternative/Country/Classic Rock/AAA/AC's/Adult Standard/News Talk's. You name it, it's there. Midwest Family Broadcasting is clearly David in this land of Goliath's, as Madison, Wi. is fertile ground for Clear Channel(5) and Entercom(3).
Look at how WJJO slayed Goliath, with maybe a little help from us;
a. 12+ overall......a solid #3 with a 7.2
b. 18-34 overall persons.....#2(by less than a share) with a 14.8
c. 18-49 overall persons.....#2(by less than a share)with a 9.6
d. *Morning drive*, where "Frequent Rocker" announces vital keyword info each wake up, looks like this;
1. persons 18-34...............#1
2. persons 18-49...............#1
....................nuff said about ratings.
WEBSITE TRAFFIC
2. Media Audit listed WJJO in the top 23 online stations in North America. JJO's hit count for it's website went from 950K (without Frequent Rocker) to 4.5 million+ per month.
REVENUE STREAM
3. "Frequent Rocker" is SOLD OUT through 3rd quarter of 2002 with $400K in non spot revenue.
DATABASE
4. WJJO, in mkt #122, cuming 20K+ weekly, has accumulated an opt in email database of 9K+ and growing hourly.
QUALITY SLUMBER INCREASE
5.............And most important, Glen Gardner has found his sleep more peaceful and long lasting.
Since then we recently launched on higher demo(33-49) outlets.............with better user traction than JJO, if you can believe that. We'll keep you posted as it unravels.
jimmy risk
LoyalEars.com
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BUNDLING THE PODCAST
I can only talk it, but this man ‘walks it’. Glen Gardner/Midwest Family Broadcasting/Interactive Mgr is one of those early adopters who understands the transitional revenue opportunities that a podcast can create. Gardner said, “For a while now, radio has been trying to find the value in various interactive platforms available to the industry. There is no better synergy than the relationship that radio can develop with podcasting. The benefits to programming and sales are obvious: time shifted programs and ‘Best Of’ features that invite traditional sponsorship opportunities”. But traditional revenue with a new twist is what Glen is looking for.
He continued, “Sell the podcast and the spot in tandem and use the commercial to direct a listener to the podcast for more information. People are information starved when in the market for big ticket items. Someone wanting to remodel their home will listen for 15 minutes on finding the best contractor. If you were in an area that suffered major flooding this spring, a station could have benefitted from a series of clean up podcasts featuring restoration companies like carpet cleaners, plumbers, and carpenters who would gladly pay to create unique and compelling content. An auto dealer can break that sea of sameness radio spot by illustrating the benefits and dealer spirit in a crafted podcast. I think this concept of bundling interactive products to exploit radio’s cume is the goose that laid the golden egg. The winning combination is using radio’s ability to direct behavior to other platforms that compliment and supplement radio’s deficiencies. Radio needs to learn to bundle podcasting with it’s traditional ability to move cume from one platform to another”.
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The Ratings Are In! (or selling lobster to dirt bags) 
Last week a lot of people in Springfield were pretty cranked up because the RATINGS had come out. The Arbitron measurement of radio station audience in Springfield. The real ratings came out this morning. I got the ratings from Mike Byrd, the GM at Robert's Seafood. He delivered the real ratings to me in very excited tones during a sales call this morning. Mike sells lobster, shrimp and other very upscale seafood products out of a single location. Shrimp is $24 a pound and a lobster can cost an equal amount. This business has been operating for 90 years, but had seen an aging customer base and tepid growth at best. The challenge from Mike was to design a campaign that would attract younger customers, increase foot traffic and increase sales. I suggested Roberts cancel all newspaper and television and focus on one or two radio stations with his entire budget. We put him on WQLZ with recorded spots (great creative from Mr. Molson), ad libs and Frequent Rocker. He also ran on The River (Hot AC) with a recorded schedule. Our competition (using Arbitron numbers) tried to explain that dirt bags that listen to THAT radio station can't afford lobster. It's all there in the ratings book. Mike has seen 15% growth each month since the campaign began in September. But we got some great "ratings" when we decided to combine the power of Frequent Rocker and the ad libs on QLZ. We offered a keyword on Valentines Day along with a great offer from the client. Two lobsters, two prime rib cuts, salads, rolls and cheese cake for $35. This special was advertised with just ad libs on QLZ. Here are the ratings: 1. 45 people purchased the special
2. Traffic was up 20% over last year
3. Last year they did $6,000 in sales, this year they did $10,000
4. A total of 17% of his customers on Valentines day were Frequent Rockers Total Robert's users: 60
All Users Median Age: 32 Years Old
Male users: 36 - 60%
Male Median Age: 32 Years Old
Female users: 23 - 38.33%
Female Median Age: 32 Years Old
Income < 30,000: 20 - 33.33%
Income 30,000-50: 29 - 48.33%
Income 50,000-75: 8 - 13.33%
Income 75,000-100: 1 - 1.67%
Income 100,000-200 0 - 0%
Income > 200,000 0 - 0% Mike has never asked me about cost per point, Arbitron ratings points, daypart breakouts or posting. Mike has the real ratings. A station's ability to generate results! Get those kind of results for a client and you will never have another Arbitron discussion again. We don't buy the book in Springfield because we have a better measurement tool. Arbitron measures audience, clients measure results. Audience does not equal results. With tools like Frequent Rocker, great creative, great service and superior radio stations, we just don't need Arbitron. Glen Gardner
President/GM Midwest Family Broadcasting Springfield
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Adding VALUE with THE CLUB
One of the keys to making any loyalty program work is adding value for the participant. Take the cue from American Express. You are not a customer, or a card holder with Amex. You are a member. Your card says "member since." Amex uses the slug line "membership has its privileges." Those privileges include unlimited credit line, insurance, extended warranty and much more. What they have done is added value to enhance the customer base. The same applies to the loyalty program on a radio station. A way to get more people involved, even if they never bid a point, is to make sure that "membership has its privileges."
We have positioned the program on-air at WQLZ in Springfield as the Frequent Rocker Club. We spell out the privileges clearly on-air. As a member you can participate in our points program and earn all kinds of great merchandise. You also get a newsletter from our morning show host once a week, you learn about concerts before we announce them on-air, you get special offers to purchase tickets before anyone else and you get notified of station events and promotions before anyone else. In time we can also offer them two-for-one dinners, movie ticket discounts and other things of real value. We want to make sure that "membership has its privileges."
We think this is a great way to build your database with people who may help the station and clients, but may never bid a point. Each name in your database is gold. The goal is to put as many names in as possible. Think about the "club" as another way to add value. It certainly worked well for Amex.
Glen Gardner
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Detroit, MI - Mary Bennett, former executive vice president/marketing for the RAB, will join Loyal Ears as director of sales as the company rolls out YourNews.com, a new platform designed to move newspaper dollars to radio.
Bennett has been a fixture on the "20 Most Powerful Women in Radio" list and is an industry leader helping bring many innovations to radio including the RAB's Radio Ad Lab (RAEL). RAEL is credited with improving radio's image with agencies and buyers.
In making the announcement, Loyal Ears COO Jimmy Risk said, "Mary has always been a tireless advocate for radio. Bringing this new and huge revenue stream to radio fits her skill set at a time when our industry needs the boost. Her vision and energy is a perfect fit with our team of change agents”.
Bennett said the timing of the YourNews.com product roll-out is perfect for radio. "Our industry has never been in a better position to eclipse newspaper as the dominant local vehicle for ad dollars." Bennett went on to say, "YourNews.com is a platform that gives radio a powerful tool to move dollars from failing print operations to this new model that has been in development for more than eight years."
YourNews.com is an on-line news aggregation platform that parses each market in the nation by zip code. This new and powerful ZIPTARGET(SM) technology can offer radio clusters the ability to replace newspaper in any given market, zip code by zip code. It also allows advertisers to target ads and editions by zip code.
Bennett joins the organization on the heels of Risk announcing long-time radio interactive innovator Glen Gardner was joining the company as a partner. "We now have the team in place to help radio move against newspaper in every market in the country. Every edition is already built and waiting to be populated by advertisers eager to move those dollars to a platform that uses Google-like prices to deliver results as newspaper's pricing model is imploding," Risk said.
Bennett said, "We are interviewing potential partners in every market in the country for this product right now. Times of great economic challenge are also times when great fortunes are shifted. We want to make sure that our radio partners are on the right side of that shift."
Sensitive to radio's cash situation, Bennett said "Loyal Ears is employing a new pricing model for this technology. Those selected as local partners in this venture will in effect be given the platform in exchange for a percentage of sales. There is virtually no risk up front because YourNews.com has assumed all the R&D cost to build-out your market. As a result, we are choosing partners who have a real desire to make their move against print right now. Each zip code for your market is already built and paid for, the only question now is who will scoop up the dollars?" | |
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