New Marketing Muscle from an Old Media (cont.)
Any advertising media can fail if used improperly!
There have always been these basic reasons to consider traditional radio but now there are some new tech era reasons that have a huge potential for reaching today’s web savvy, time crushed, multi tasking, over wrought with stress, tanning consumers.
The New Radio Combines Traditional Radio, Internet Radio, Internet Marketing, Consumer Loyalty Programs, Print Banner Ads and Potential Video Visual Interactions All Under One Broadcast Umbrella!
Internet signal streaming. Many of the country’s radio broadcast groups as well as small market independent stations today have started or are starting the launch of the streaming of the station’s signal over the Internet. Like any business, radio survives or prospers by its abilities to attract customers (listeners) and keeping them. To that objective, radio has evolved from its basic roots of courting listeners to form loyalties for specific radio station web sites. While visiting their sites, listeners can easily click on to their Internet streamed broadcast. This results in people who use computers daily being able to tune into their favorite station and let it play as background entertainment throughout their workday. That results in abnormally high “TSL” or time spent listening, which is good news for getting your commercial messages heard. Now, as a tanning retailer, you can buy exposure on their traditional airwaves and also advertising spots on their streamed signals.
Website marketing. Radio stations are developing loyalty programs for their traditional airway consumers by luring them to visit their web sites doing so with prizes or points programs that are good for discounts on highly perceived valuable consumer items. And the competition in each market to grab loyalty listener market share can get intense with more and more investment from the station’s promotion departments. When negotiating a radio agreement for a salon owner we pay a lot of attention to the station’s status of their loyal fan base and what tools they use to recruit web listeners. One thing for sure, radio needs retailers like tanning salons to use giveaway tanning packages as incentives for their “traditional” radio in the car type listener to make a cyber visit to their site. And, if you’re helping them get web visitors, there should be some “quid pro quo” for you in terms of no cost broadcast or Internet streamed spot inventory or web site banner ads.
Video. Another even more exciting new aspect is the eventuality of being able to play your video commercial clip on a station’s website. It may be awhile before stations in smaller markets have that available option but its like having a television screen on the website and having the opportunity to play your made for TV video commercial.
Print. Station banner ads and the consumers they attract are excellent exposures for price discount offers or coupons. The more popular the commodity or offer or both the more interested the station and station program managers want to work with you. Tanning, especially at this time of the year has much appeal because it’s a popular consumer (especially female) purchase. One caution is to review the banner offers that stations currently feature to form your own opinion about how consumer attractive their web site offers really are.
Summary: Today’s radio listener can be exposed to traditional radio spots while in their car or office, can hear their favorite station while in their workplace via their computer, print out discount coupons of the station’s website and possibly view advertisers video clips.