JOHN DWYER

MARKETING IDEAS WITH “WOW” FOR ANY BUSINESSES

Your Opportunity to use John as your
‘Marketing Coach’ – and watch your sales soar!

Radio Magazine Promotion for Hot Tomato on the Gold coast

John helped to contribute ideas for stimulating Advertising sales revenue.

OVERVIEW

Mid-2005, John was asked by the Gold Coast’s Hot Tomato radio station, to contribute ideas for stimulating Advertising sales revenue.
Like all radio stations worldwide, Hot Tomato had a particular need to sell advertising time across daytime, evening and early morning. (Breakfast, Morning, Afternoon and Drive Time tend to be the more popular sessions for advertisers, therefore leaving evenings and “overnight” sessions a little harder for stations to sell.)
John came back to the station with a unique concept, being an “advertising package” which included Direct Mail. He suggested a two dimensional advertising model where advertisers would buy a package which included:
a) 30 second radio ads across numerous sessions, but with the majority placed in night and early morning.

b) Advertising in a Hot Tomato magazine which would be distributed to over 100,000 homes in the listening area. (On the Gold Coast.)
A unique Radio Station concept to boost advertising sales and ratings – a letterbox brochure to over 100,000 homes.

EXECUTION – RADIO WITH PICTURES!

The radio station loved the idea and invited John to present the concept as a keynote speaker, to scores of clients at seminar-style presentations.
Invitations were sent to potential clients throughout the Gold Coast, inviting them to attend any one of numerous Presentations which were held at the Gold Coast International Hotel.
John was introduced as the keynote speaker at each of these numerous presentations and he provided attendees with the rationale behind the radio station offering “this two-dimensional combination of radio and Direct Mail”.
John provided prospects with some case studies of some of his clients who had successfully combined radio advertising with targeted Direct Mail and of course, highlighted that Hot Tomato was the first station that he knew of which was offering radio packages “with wow factor!”
John referred to the “combo package” as radio with pictures – and presented mock-ups of the A4 size magazine for prospects to view.
First time ever that a radio station offered advertising with pictures!
The magazine would be around 40 pages in size and would consist of Gold Coast news, celebrity gossip and entertainment updates. It would be distributed to over 100,000 homes three times throughout the year and businesses would receive a ¼ page, ½ page or full-page advertising, dependant upon what sales package they purchased.
Make no mistake, this concept was absolutely unique to the radio industry. No one had ever before considered “adding pictures” to a radio proposal. It was simply unheard of and therefore immediately captured the attention of those businesses that would normally not consider radio as an advertising option, due to the need to feature images of their products.
Indeed, the fact that this combo radio/direct mail sales package could now attract businesses that needed to graphically showcase their products, opened up a whole new world of possible clients for the radio station!
The packages came in three price levels, being around a $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 annual commitment. The number of radio ads and size of the magazine ad obviously was determined by which package a business booked.
Advertisers got space in letterbox magazine and on-air, a unique combination!
RESULTS – OVER $1.4 MILLION REVENUE IN JUST 5 DAYS!
The result was stunning. Over the course of just a few days, the radio station sold around $1.4m worth of advertising and furthermore, created relationships with businesses that normally would not have invested money in radio marketing.
Of course, the by-product of this radio/direct mail combo package was that the Hot Tomato radio station also gained massive exposure via the direct mail magazine, three times a year, to over 100,000 in its listing area!
John often criticises the media for not “practising what it preaches”. John says, “I’m often intrigued that radio and TV stations preach to businesses that they need to promote regularly in order to create brand awareness and so forth. However, I have only ever seen radio and TV stations marketing themselves through other media at ratings time!”
This is why this concept is so powerful for a radio station, as it delivers a huge marketing vehicle for the station numerous times throughout the year. (All paid for by advertisers!)
John adds, “I believe for the first time ever, an Australian radio station is now pro-actively marketing itself regularly to its listening audience via a Direct Mail brochure straight into peoples’ homes. Most other radio stations simply whack a few TV ads on the screen come ratings time throughout the year.”
John further comments, “The great thing about the magazine is that the station can also promote its announcers, music mix and any other features via editorial-style stories – with the luxury of space. Unlike a 30 second TV ad or expressway billboard, this magazine can be targeted precisely to their listening audience and the station’s PR is not limited to just 30 seconds.”
John further comments, “The great thing about the magazine is that the station can also promote its announcers, music mix and any other features via editorial-style stories – with the luxury of space. Unlike a 30 second TV ad or expressway billboard, this magazine can be targeted precisely to their listening audience and the station’s PR is not limited to just 30 seconds.”

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