Radio Commercial Sales Tips from American Music Concepts

I have the ultimate April’s Fools Joke for you but you’ll need some time to prepare it and a Program Director up for some fun.

This April Fool’s Day roll out a market wide station concert complete with a live broadcast, client sponsors, promo spots and live cut-in’s with station personalities interviewing concert goers and city officials including your hometown Mayor. If you’re a rock station, feature Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, The Allman Brothers Band … might as well include Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. The day long radio broadcast is coming from the stage at Fantasy Park in the downtown section of your hometown … Trust me, if you do this the right way you will be freaking out a large portion of your audience and advertisers that aren’t making the connection that it’s April Fool’s Day.

Sell major sponsorships to local Banks, Auto Dealers and Home Builders … Have the major sponsors record interviews so it sounds like they are talking live on the radio from the radio station VIP Booth at the concert. Don’t forget sub sponsors for band updates, time/temperature reports and weather issues throughout the day. Finally, there’s real revenue potential with your web site on this event too.

The live music is naturally taken from some of the greatest live albums in your station’s library. Involve the local press to cover the concert and don’t cut corners …go all out. I promise this is a real money maker and will prove to be a yearly event on your stations.

Every morning show should have a fixed position comedy clip feature with a 52 week sponsor. Your listeners will plan their mornings around your comedy clips and there’s an endless supply of great material from classic comedians like George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld and Eddie Murphy … And the current crop of crazies like Lisa Lampanelli, Jim Gaffigan and Eric Andre. Your hometown Comedy Club would love to sponsor this feature but it would work just as well for Furniture Stores, Jewelers or any other prospects on your list.

Your fixed position noontime slot can feature a movie review called the Lunchtime Dinner & A Movie Review. There’s lots of material here too from first run movies to HBO and the latest DVD Releases. Selling a Restaurant or Home Theater Dealer on this feature is a slam dunk … every night is a great night for Dinner & A Movie.

Every afternoon drive time show should have a stock market report recapping the days events from Wall Street. A quick PM report on the Dow Jones, NASDAQ, and S & P 500 is all it would take to close a 52 week order from your local Bank, Credit Union, Mortgage Company or Financial Planner.

Three simple ideas that can help you close some 52 week advertisers in 2010. If you have multiple stations in your cluster, the potential in new business with these features is even greater.

Sony has just released Play Station 3 and it’s living up to the hype as “The Ultimate High-Definition Entertainment Experience.”

There’s still time for you to cash in on the excitement with a 4th Quarter sales promotion with PS3 … “The Ultimate PS3 Video Game Tournament.” Team up with your local wholesale club like Sam’s Club, Costco or BJ’s Wholesale Club …. the perfect place for your video game tournament since they already sell PS3 and Home Theater systems. If you don’t have a wholesale club in your market, your local Home Theater Dealer would love to sponsor your promotion and hold the event at a high school or college campus.

The launch of Play Station 3 is going to be very big … and as my friend Judy Kelly from Syracuse New York says, “It’s easier to join a parade than to start one.” This promotion will prove to be a real money maker and an annual event for your stations.

Here’s a very good idea to jump start your New Year… Start a “20 Pound Challenge Club.” A 20 Pound Challenge Club is an organized network of station employees, clients and listeners determined to lose 20 pounds. Your morning show personalities can take the lead on this effort … inviting people to register on the stations web site.

The revenue potential is limitless including tie-ins with Hospitals, Neighborhood Doctor Centers, Fitness Clubs, Diet Centers, Health Food Stores, Bike Shops, Running Shoe Stores, Sporting Goods, etc. Manufacturer reps will love this idea, too. And don’t forget to include your local chapters of the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association.

Losing 20 pounds in 20 weeks is a very reasonable goal … The most efficient way to do this is to cut 500 calories per day … cutting food calories by 250 and work off the other 250 through walking. A simple rule of thumb is 100 calories per mile walked for a 180 pound person.

Here’s one of the biggest money makers I’ve ever pulled off and I’ll lay it all out for you … I urge you to take this one and run with it … “Spin It To Win It 2010.”

I had a local carpenter billed an eight foot high spinning prize wheel. Don’t be cheap with your prize wheel … spend some money and get a real quality prize wheel built … You’ll be making money with your prize wheel for years to come.

I sold spots on my prize wheel to manufacturer reps to help promote products at Shop-Rite Supermarkets like Bachman Pretzels, Lubriderm Hand Lotion, Entenmann’s Baked Goods, Gatorade, Diet Pepsi, Listerine, etc. The concept was very simple … step up the big prize wheel, give it a spin and walk away with free grocery products. The manufacturer reps used trade marketing money to pay for their $1,500 monthly investment that included 1) Prime End Aisle Displays, 2) In Store Sampling and 3) On Air Product Promotion.

Spin It To Win It billed $15,000 per month and the promotion ran for several years. This project takes some effort but how many clients do you have that spend $180,000 per year? Feel free to contact me if you need some help launching your “Spin It To Win It 2010.” I have photos and the presentation proposal if you’d like a copy.

Fourth quarter offers lots of sales opportunities with your local movie theaters. It’s a great idea to meet and make friends with the local General Managers of every movie theater in your listening area. Movie passes are very easy to obtain and they are an excellent tool to help you close new business with Wholesale Clubs, Auto Dealers, Restaurants, etc.

There are some excellent Hollywood Releases planned for the comings months including The Invention of Lying with Rob Lowe and Jennifer Garner in October, Old Dogs with John Travolta and Robin Williams in November, Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey, Jr. in December, The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington in January and Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio in February.

Securing 1,000 passes to help cross promote these Hollywood Movie Releases with some of your local prospects is a great idea. Costco, BJ’s Wholesale Club or Sam’s Club would jump at the chance to promote their Home Theater Departments with your Hollywood Movie passes. Any Auto Dealer in your hometown would love the idea of offering two free movie passes with a test drive … And your local Restaurants would love to promote “Dinner And A Movie” on your morning show.

Meeting the manager of your local movie theater is just the ticket for increased sales in fourth quarter … all you need now is a little … “ACTION!”

It’s Back To School time and that means lots of sales opportunities with High School and College Football.

Here’s a clever sales promotion that’s always a winner … every time. “The Best Seat In The House” is a very simple promotion that awards listeners a 50 yard seat view of the game in a pair of comfortable leather recliners courtesy of your local furniture store. Support for local school sports is always strong and sponsors line up for this promotion because it’s such a great concept.

“The Best Seat In The House” works great for football, basketball, school concerts, or any board of education theater event. Auto Dealers, Banks, Insurance Companies, Law Firms and Sports Bars are all great candidates for sponsorships. They give away prime front seats to all the local events and you get a nice big commission check … what a deal!

Here’s a promotion I pulled off a few years back that generated a boatload of new business for our hometown radio station … “The Ugly House Contest.”

I had our listeners send in photographs of their homes so we could search out the Ugliest House at The Jersey Shore. We had hundreds of photo’s submitted and the grand prize winner was announced by the President of the Jersey Shore Builder’s Association. The winner received new landscaping, doors and windows, fence, paint job, etc.

We sold $1,000 airtime packages to 25 participating merchants and they agreed to supply the winner with the home repair upgrades. The people that won the contest were really down on their luck and we made their home a real showplace in the neighborhood … The Ugly House Contest is real money maker and it will open up many new home repair categories for your station

Let’s take a look at the all-time best Auto Dealer promotion … “Hands On 2009.”

Your audience has the chance to win a car or use of a car for one year by literally holding on as long as they can. Minutes turn into hours, and hours turn into days as the last contestants usually hang on for about three days. This sales promotions takes some manpower and teamwork from the radio station but the return in revenue, press coverage and community excitement is well worth it.

Pick about 25 or so final contestants that gather around the vehicle on the big day. The simply put their hand on the car and need to keep constant contact. The judges keep a close watch for people shifting, sneezing or random loss of concentration … when they let go, they’re out. Allow for bathroom breaks and occasional time-outs, too. Reliable judges are a must so invite Rotary Club Officers, Chamber Members or even local off-duty law enforcers to monitor the event.

I promise you … This is the very best Auto Dealer promotion ever. It’s a fun event that pays off in a very big way and it’s sure to become an annual event at your station.

I received many inquires from last week’s Jingle Of The Week about the great promotion I did with the American Express Card … And there were many requests for more money making promotions just like that one. No problem … I have an endless supply.

An ordinary 12 month calendar will spark some great ideas for you. Identify the biggest holidays and then target a national company that you’d like to invite in for a partnership … It’s really that easy. Several Summer’s ago, I was on the hunt for a promotional partner for Independence Day and found one strolling through a hardware store. There it was sticking out right in front of me in Red, White And Blue … National Hardware and their full line of hinges, nuts, bolts, etc. http://www.natman.com/frontpage.asp

One quick phone call to track down the Regional Sales Representative to share my idea … Celebrating Independence Day with a sales promotion … “It’s A National Fourth Of July Weekend With National Hardware.” The manufacturer rep loved it and released all the unused co-op money in the market for the promotion. The commercial is attached.

Every holiday is an opportunity to team up with a national manufacturer rep … All you need is a little creativity and a good idea.