Many Are Called

But few know how to take the call and make it fun for the listener.

There are many theories and thoughts about contests and promotions and whether or not they work, but regardless of the size of the prize or even whether you have continuous contests, always giving something away means that contests can be made to work to build or sustain audience. The question really comes down to this: Is it possible that a great contest could make a "music freak" change his/her mind?

First of all, designated caller contests might, at best, add a little excitement to the station this fall, but unless the air-personality can make the contest fun and exciting for the passive listeners who are really only there for the music, even your best contests will mean little in the ratings game.

It doesn't matter whether you take the ninth caller or the ninetieth, if the listener who is in their car, for example, hits the button, you go instantly go from a P1 to a P2 and you've lost the game. The trick is to make the audience get off vicariously on hearing the contest played. If you can make them laugh, chuckle, think or play along, that's what's happening.

In a recent national survey, it was determined that only about 18% of the people who listen to radio play contests, which means over 80% of your audience is not involved in these giveaways (this same 80+ percent would never buy a lottery ticket, never call into your station, never log-on to your website, and never even agree to participate in a contest).

Audience Conditioning

Now, when you've done contests and promotions over the years, the audience pretty much expects (or becomes conditioned to expect) that when an artist whose music you play has a concert or there's another related event (such as the Univer-Soul Circus) in town, your station will give away tickets.

Although they are an integral part of every music station's ratings strategies,

contests and promotions are not really marketing steroids and if you're not careful they can cause irreparable damage.

See, damage is caused and contests can end up working against you when you reverse your priorities and the main concern of the station becomes the contest and not the overall entertainment value of the music you play. As long as you realize that the music you play and the features of the station have to remain in the forefront of what you do at the station, you're all right. Then when you add contesting it simply adds spice to the overall plan. It's a lot like adding vegetables and seasoning to the meal. As long as you don't put so many vegetables and seasonings on the plate that you totally forget about the meat, it will work.

In other words, when there's a lot of contest hype with little or no substance, or if the contests are so overbearing that they take control of the station, you've got problems.

Research continues to show that the music audience can become very anxious and excited about participating in contests if they are clever or exciting. If your air-personalities are sharp enough to get them to play along and if you can make it one of the reason they listen or listen longer, you've scored.

In its proper perspective, like anything else, contests do have their value. You could take that same argument and apply it to "no-talk segues," for example. They can be a good thing, but if they were all you did on the station and you never said the call-letters, it would be damaging.

You've got to find a way to tie the contest into the music or image of the station. Just giving away cash and trips or paying bills can get dull, believe it or not. Furthermore, you have to be careful with certain levels of escalation that can become dangerous. In other words, there's that need to always out-do yourself. Listeners need to realize that contests and promotions are just a part of programming and you have to keep them in perspective.

Aggressive Promotions

While you can't artificially hook listeners with promotions and giveaways, if the promotions are part of an aggressive, well-thought out campaign, it can work for you. Any station that does giveaways and big promotions knows they're obviously just part of a tool to get ratings.

Even the most aggressive promotion or contest has to be fun for the listener. There's got to be a little P.T. Barnum in it. Good personalities presenting entertainment for the listener beyond the music is the key. You want to give listeners a chance to become part of the station. Winning makes a listener participate. When a listener becomes a participant, they feel a part of the station. Picking up a prize at the station makes them special and part of the relationship that no other tool can do. They hear and like the personalities and music. They win a prize and they come and see the station. Maybe they get a tour or a bumper sticker or a T-shirt. They're touching something they don't normally get to touch. The reality is that we're in the business of entertainment. Whether you're an artist on stage, an air-talent in the control room, a writer, a programmer or a MD doing the music logs, you're in entertainment and a large part of the job of entertaining is to be fun.

A big part of the entertainment element is that fact that you give people a chance

to win things they might not normally be able to afford to buy. You've got to provide some sort of escape value or bonus to listener. In a day and age where people have to choose between groceries or filling up their tanks, by giving them up-front concert tickets, you're almost performing a public service. The reality is that today many people don't have an opportunity to go out. Contests just have to be a form of responding to the marketplace. While part of the competitive nature is also to be more aggressive promotionally, you have to walk a thin line.

The most tragic thing that can happen with contests is when you ask for the ninth

caller to win … and you only get four.

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