Forward Thinking

As I always heard it told, Gordon McLendon's (the radio pioneer) philosophy was always to do three things when it came to promoting your radio station: Tell them what you are going to do, tell them what you are doing, and tell them what you did.

As simple as that strategy sounds, it is as valid today as it is was in the 1950's and 60's.

Another time tested listener-builder has been to ask your listener to tell a friend about WXYZ Radio.

Each approach works because, all in all, listeners (especially the loyal ones) are good audience members. They will gladly support their favorite station and/or personality.

Now, can you imagine, if those listeners could pick up the phone, push one button, and instantly contact everyone they know to ask them to listen?

While it wasn't possible back in Gordon's day, it is a reality today. It's called email forwarding and listeners are virally spreading the word to millions around the world as you read this.

From videos to jokes to information you need to know, we all receive it from a friend, digest it, and often pass it on.

At least someone is taking advantage of the world's best advertising machine: Yahoo. Ever notice the little wording at the bottom of most email that simply says, "Do you Yahoo?" It links to a page that lets you set up your own Yahoo email account.

It's no accident that Yahoo remains the number one site in the world according to Alexa.com.

What does this have to do with your radio station? Everything. To begin with, visit Alexa and type in your station's site in the Traffic Ranking window. Anything under 500,000 is respectable. Fact is, most station sites are nowhere near that rating.

The reason could be that they are going about promoting the site using a 1950's approach by promoing the site heavily on the air. This does nothing but tell the listeners they already have to do what they are probably already doing.

Why not have those listeners become your viral work force by bringing thousands of others to the party. By making it easy for visitors to instantly forward a feature, video, audio clip, etc. to a friend, you give them the opportunity to act immediately. Included in that dynamic should be a way for the recipient to sign up for more fun from your station.

The result can be a solid "opt-in" email list beyond your wildest dreams. I know first hand, having grown our SonnyRadio.com member list by 500% in the last month alone by giving every listener an opportunity to instantly share what they found or received from our site.

I shutter to think what Mr. McLendon would have done with this modern day "tell a friend" technology.