12 Feb Define The Relationship

Dear Christian Radio,

It’s time for a “DTR” (Define The Relationship)…maybe you remember this from when you and your sweetie started dating.  It’s that scary conversation where you make your feelings clear.  You wanted that person to be a big part of your life and you wanted to be a big part of theirs.

In radio, every event, promotion, giveaway; every experience we create for our listener will determine that relationship.  She should feel valued and important.  If not, she will simply go somewhere else.

Think about the last station event…what was the environment at the table for your listener?  Was she ignored as she awkwardly stood there trying to decide if she wanted to register for that giveaway?  The giveaway is there to attract her to the table to get her contact information to our email list.  It’s what happens while she is there that matters.  Will you connect with her?

Making that connection is crucial to building or validating that relationship.  If she wins that giveaway the connection isn’t guaranteed.  Even then, there is a 1 in 300, or more, chance of making a single connection at the event.  I don’t like those odds.

So, how do we increase the chances for making that connection?

Get out from behind the table.  If you have air talent at the event, put them out front on her side of the table.  These are the voices she hears every day.  She already has some kind of connection with them and if they are next to her, not across the table, now nothing stands in her way.

This creates an opportunity for a more connective experience.  It makes the relationship with her more intentional.

Now winning the giveaway is much less important, maybe even irrelevant.  She is going home with an experience that has now connected her to our ministry.  This is much better than a t-shirt or even an iPad…weellll, definitely better than a t-shirt.

Dear Christian Radio,

1. Do our listeners leave our events feeling valued and important?

2. Create an experience that produces opportunities for connections: talent in front of the table; volunteers with registration forms on clip-boards roaming around the event; a photo booth with fun props to take pictures with your morning show team.

3. Connection is better than any giveaway…even an iPad!

Adam McCain

Director of Promotions

WCQR: Morning Show Co-Host, Production Director

Positive Alternative Radio, Inc.