I saw this on Bob Souer’s blog, and I’m ripping it off from him.
Ira Glass’s radio program, This American Life, is staggeringly good — and impossible to describe if you’ve never heard it.
And the lesson he offers here is priceless.
Hey, guys….
People are expressing lots of excitement about my upcoming free teleseminar with sales legend Chet Holmes.
But while tons of people have asked to be notified when we open the registration, I still need to make sure I ask Chet the right questions — the questions that radio salespeople would most like to hear answered.
Here are the most common ones we’ve received so far:
How do I overcome the “it’s not in my budget” objection?
How do I compete against much lower priced stations?
How do you respond to a potential client who is looking for a guarantee that a radio campaign will generate results?
How do you increase your closing percentage?
How do you get more calls returned from prospects?
How can I book more face-to-face appointments?
How can I increase sales in a slow market?
That’s a start, but I know you have more.
So….
Understanding that for 70 minutes I’m going to interrogate the world’s leading expert on increasing sales, what would you like me to ask?
You’re not in sales? Just go down the hall, grab a couple of account execs, bring them into your office and have them enter their own most frustrating daily professional challenges.
Thanks.
P.S. Please be sure to stop by here on Saturday, when I unveil secret video footage I shot TODAY inside Dick Orkin’s Famous Radio Ranch. (Just don’t tell the Radio Ranch guys, ’cause they’ve got tons of lawyers.)
Most jocks give away whatever comes in over the transom for free. But the best giveaway items for a personality-driven show have three qualities:
1. Extremely limited practical value
3. Personalized
3. Inexplicably fun
Historic Example
During the first years of Late Night With David Letterman (his NBC show), Letterman would give his guests their own, official Late Night With David Letterman Collapsible Drinking Cup.
It was a plastic drinking cup which, when you pressed down on it with the palm of your hand, collapsed into a flat shape.
Every visiting celebrity insisted on leaving with one.
And every viewer would’ve loved to get one.
Radio Example
When Peter Holmes was the Breakfast Host at Breeze AM in Essex, England, his lucky contest winners received… personalized bathplugs. They cost maybe $0.49 each, and every listener wanted one.
While I was making an in-station visit, Peter held a private party ONLY for his “bathpluggers.”
150 people showed up at a nightclub on a Tuesday night. (They had to bring their bathplugs with them to gain admittance.)
Peter came up with the terrific idea. I threw in a few suggestions to make it bigger and extend its life:
1. Create limited edition, seasonal imprints (summer, football, Christmas, etc.) to stimulate a collector’s mentality among recipients.
2. For a one-time only promotion, award a plug actually used by Peter in his own bathtub.
3. Send plugs to celebrities, asking them to bathe with them once and then return in a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Have them autograph the plugs first, then auction them off for charity, on-air.
My Test For A Great Morning Show Prize
Something you would never pay for… but which you would stand in line to receive.
This is the kind of junk that some stations use either to:
* Build up a package
or
* Sell every second they can squeeze out of their broadcast time
or
* Both.
The overall impact is what radio promotion wiz Paige Nienaber (when talking about most station remotes) likens to “a mugging”: You’re listening for the music or the traffic report or the news when suddenly something hits you over the head… and then it’s over before you even know what happened.
Reading, Not Selling
It’s delivered in a monotone by someone who simply is reading copy. No offense intended to her. She’s just doing what she’s been told is her job: “Read this.”
Too bad no one told her, “Sell this.” Or even “Communicate this.”
And, of course, being forced to cram so many words into such a small time frame almost always handicaps the voiceover performance.
The Goal of A Commercial’s Opening Line
In any commercial, the opening line should attract the attention of the target audience. That’s even more important in such a brief spot. But this one begins with pure confusion.
There are 3 possible targets for this commercial:
1. Members of Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer program
2. People who fly those routes. Whichever those routes are. You listened to it once? Okay, you tell me: What routes are they talking about?
“But Dan, that’s not fair! You’re ignoring the value of repetition in a radio campaign.”
Sorry, someone not hearing your commercial 100 times is no more valuable than not hearing it just once.
3. People who fly those routes but are not yet members of Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer program
Which of the those 3 is the actual target audience? Who knows? Who cares? Beginning a commercial with those words won’t attract anyone’s attention.
Too Much
Too much information. Too many words. Too confusing. Too fast.
Too bad.
This is the kind of crap that trains listeners not to to listen to radio commercials and causes advertisers to say, “I tried radio, and it didn’t work.”
I do not intend to turn this into a Gary Burbank Blog. But many people mentioned “Gilbert Gnarley” in their postings, while others around the world never have heard the character.
Meet Gilbert Gnarley.
