20 Mar Wednesday, March 20, 2019
This Week in The Lund Letter:
> Use scheduling to increase listening regularity
> You’ve got your promotion budget – now what?
> Screening sales promotions for effectiveness
> Advertising versus cost and other media trends
Lund Programming Clinic: Build Listener Regularity
Radio regularity has nothing to do with Metamucil. Rather, it’s all about TSL. Increasing Time Spent Listening occurs when a listener keeps listening or when they tune away, they come back for another listening occasion. While the average time spent listening on one occasion is just ten minutes (national PPM average for all formats, all stations), P1s listen many occasions per day. Smart programmers use contesting, benchmarks and creative teasing to lengthen TSL.
Building listening regularity every day of the week is also important. How many days a week does your average listener tune into the morning show? It may be just three days out of five. Horizontal audience maintenance is made easier when there is a strong listening habit.
+ Each show, especially mornings, should have benchmarks that occur at the same time daily. Many listeners are creatures of habit who will, when asked (when it is promoted), tune in to hear the bit or play the game.
+ Promoting ahead to the next hour is essential, as is promoting a hook for tomorrow’s show. Give listeners a reason to come back, and create the impression of missing something if they don’t tune in.
+ Be creative with your teases and promote specific benefits as well as special benchmarks that may induce repeat listening on an appointment basis.
+ Expose your station’s attributes during high commute times when button-punching is more likely. How do you get a competitor’s cume to sample you? If your market has a 20-minute average commute with a big 8 AM start time for work, make 7:40-8:00 AM a great miniature portrait of your station around each song.
Systemize your approach to presenting the morning show and ratings will increase.
Want to know the benchmarks that listeners like most in a morning show? See theLund Personality Guide to improve planning and execution. The Lund Consultants coach and develop morning talents for improved performance and improved ratings and this stylebook has all the tools and insight to execute a great show.
Lund Management Memo: Create Your Promotion Plan
Great news! You have an allocation of $10,000 toward contesting for the spring quarter. Now, you must devise a contest plan for your station(s). Establish a checklist to cover all the areas you need to execute your plan. Your plan should answer these questions:
> What’s your goal? Typically it may be to build cume, TSL, or listening occasions; to introduce a new morning team; build the station’s database; drive traffic to a client (revenue); or partner with a local charity.
> What’s the name of the contest? It should fit the station’s brand, sound unique, and appeal to the target audience.
> If not cash, are the prize(s) appealing to the target audience? The major prize should be significant enough to draw cume. There should be budget for enough “qualifying prizes” to build time spent listening and encourage participation.
> Is the promotion messaging simple? It doesn’t require the contestant to jump through too many hoops?
> Is it the major promotion? Other promotions may dilute the focus of the major promotion. Review to insure there is enough inventory to promote the major promotion.
> What’s the timeline? Include pre and post promotion time. Insure your major promotion lasts too long to not resonant and too short to become audio wallpaper. Plan ahead for freshening on-air imaging.
> What’s your on-air and off-air promotional plan? Plan the number of on-air promos, your website visibility, database marketing, social media campaigns, and external advertising (billboards, TV spots, email blitzes, ads on your sister radio stations, etc.)
Once you’ve answered these promotional plan questions, make sure the following actions are also on your checklist…
+ Craft the contest rules and post on your website.
+ + Meet with the air staff to review the execution of the contest on air.
+ Meet with your production director and promotion director to insure on air imaging and off air promotion are consistent in messaging?
+ Create an entertainment element to the execution of the contest to appeal to the non-contest participating members of the audience, who can play along with the contestant.
+ Recognize contest winners on air, on the website, and on social media. They’ll need a release for you to use their names and voices.
+ Devise a post promotion plan. For example, award a gigantic check to winners at a public place; post photos of winners enjoying a vacation getaway; have winners give a concert review from a ticket giveaway.
A key aspect of post promotion is to tell the world what you’ve done. Send press releases about the promotion to local TV and newspapers; send follow-up releases to industry trade media. Keep a record or scrapbook of press that was achieved.
See the Lund Marketing and Promotion Stylebook for ways to strengthen your promotions, plus a dozen marketing checklists & worksheets to improve your focus and effectiveness. This 90-page guide details everything stations need to create and execute great contests and promotions. Order your copy here.
Lund Case Study
The station plays an all-gold format that had been very popular in the market, yet recently the ratings were declining. The owner said the station sounded stale. Was the problem the songs in the library or a music software problem? Lund Media was called in to analyze both. Music is the #1 reason to listen to FM. All-Gold formats include Classic Country, Classic Hits, Classic Rock and Classic Soul.
We reviewed every song in the library. The secret sauce for any gold format is every song must be known and liked. Familiarity breeds content! But some tunes weren’t that familiar. Hits are in the ears of the listener, so obscure songs don’t belong. Listeners want to hear “a great variety of my favorite songs”…not songs they don’t know. Using regional research of successful stations with the same format, the music doctors at Lund Media adjusted the library.
Lund Media also conducted an intensive review of the station’s music software and found glitches and irregular rotations. Some Secondaries were played more often than Powers. Music “rules” were too restrictive and the clocks didn’t permit the vast library to flow well. Music software is not human and cannot “hear” the differences of the music mix. We revamped the software and worked with the PD to perfect his log hand-editing, the safety valve that lets the good music through… and removes the train crash segues.
Lund Media conducted the entire music project in two weeks. Once the library and software revisions were implemented, the station sounded Simonized and, as a result, TSL improved. The Lund Consultants don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. Put us to work for you today. Email John Lund and let’s talk about your challenges.
Planning Your State Broadcast Convention?
John Lund’s positive, fast-moving presentation, “The Science of Radio Programming,” includes training and coaching guidelines on the basics of attaining higher ratings and more listeners. Topics include the “basics” of radio programming, America’s top formats: who listens and why, tactics to get more listeners, talent coaching, and how to make voice tracking sound live and local. This presentation will be customized and expanded to meet your members’ needs. Email John Lund for availability and info.
Lund’s Top 3: How To Screen Sales Promotions
What’s “Value-Added”?
It’s no surprise in today’s business environment that clients demand extra sales promotions. Smart programmers and sales managers understand that while satisfying a client with an unimaginative promotion may quiet the client’s demands for now, it will come back to haunt you when the dull promotion doesn’t work. Use a simple screening process for all proposed sales promotions before signing off. Ask these questions:
1. What are the client’s goals? What aspect is most important? Who are they trying to reach with their message? Do they plan on using other media?
2. What are your station’s goals? Every promotion needs a defined objective and should fulfill these basic “A.I.R.” needs: Audience (attracts new listeners or expands TSL), Image (complements or enhances station image), and Revenue ($!).
3. How many promos are needed? Conduct a reach-and-frequency study. Don’t just assign a random number of promos. Find out how many times a promo actually has to run in order to effectively reach the target. Don’t over-promise.
Next week – more sales promotion screening tips. Visit www.lundradio.com for more Top 3’s!
Promotion of the Week: Buck o’ Bark
This fun-sounding promotion is a Dog Days of Summer favorite! Listeners call in with their dogs and have 20 seconds to get them to bark; you pay a buck and a dog biscuit for each! This popular promotion can also be called the Bone Phone.
Contest and Promotions Guide – Limited Time – Special Pricing
Get hundreds of audience-building contests for ratings, seasonal times and holiday events, plus other fun programming and sales promotions. This recently updated Guide is packed with great contests designed to boost listening and ratings. Order it here.
Lund Trend Watch:
NBC News Now
The titular streaming service will be available in May. NBC News Now will launch on connected TV devices such as Roku and Apple TV. The service will feature existing shows as well as original content. It is free (ad-supported). CBS and ABC also have free streaming services while Fox Nation (Fox News) is subscription-based and more focused on opinion and commentary.
The New Music Hunt
When it comes to finding new music, the old ways are still the best, according to Nielsen Music 360. Radio wins, with word of mouth in second. The % of Americans who are discovering new music via:
1. Radio 49%
2. Friends/Relatives 40%
3. Online Music Services 27%
4. Social Media 25%
5. Online Radio 23%
6. Satellite Radio 14%
This is a persuasive argument in favor of making sure new music is packaged as such if your station plays new music. Just remember, what is still new to the listener is likely old hat to the talents but should not be treated as such.
Price Wars
On the heels of Netflix announcing yet another subscription price increase, Hulu raised the price of its premium Hulu + Live TV service by $5 a month. It’s cheapest, ad-supported service, however, is getting a price decrease in order to attract more subscribers (and therefore more advertisers). According to a study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, 56% of US viewers don’t mind seeing ads if they get a cheaper cost out of it.
Programmer’s Planner:
Mar 28: Spring Nielsen diary and Eastlan sweeps begin
Apr 1: April Fool’s Day
Apr 15: Income Tax Day
Apr 21: Easter
Apr 22: Earth Day
May 5: Cinco De Mayo
May 12: Mother’s Day
Thanks for reading
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About the Lund Media Group:
For over 20 years, the Lund Media Group has provided programming, music consulting, operational guidance, and research to commercial and public broadcaststations throughout North America and overseas. Whether you program all sports, all
talk, or all music, the Lund Goal is to help stations get more listeners and keep them listening longer. The Lund Consultants are a multi-format custom programming and management consultancy.
Call John Lund for more information about how the Lund Media Group can help your stations achieve more listeners, higher ratings, and more revenue.
Phone: 650-692-7777.
Email john@lundradio.com.