Monday Memo: Sound Popular
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
Weekend ask-the-expert shows can be a powerful marketing tool. In a recent column, I outlined how attorneys – an industry where supply exceeds demand – can differentiate from competitors’ look-alike billboards and often-tacky TV spots.
And, well-coached, brokered weekend hours can drum up lots of business for financial advisors, and how-to hosts fielding calls on a variety of other topics. For years, an EXTERMINATOR has done Saturday mornings on WPRO-AM, Providence, and the guy’s a rock star.
Tip for weekend warriors: Record every call you take. Build a library.
— With a trove of pre-recorded calls, you can recycle previous live calls, to get-the-ball-rolling, and steer the conversation into your lane. And sounding so popular implies your authority.
— With all we do to make your weekend show “appointment listening,” you don’t want to disappear when you’re on vacation.
— When you assemble the show that airs in your absence, do include the appropriate disclaimer, but avoid the “Best of” cliché that screams “re-run.” Instead of simply repeating a previous show intact, make it a true best-of, with calls that were on-topic and particularly helpful.
— And rather than repeatedly saying “Don’t’ call,” let the board op thank those who do call (off-air); or if calls ring-through to voicemail, use it to collect callbacks, deepening your collection.
— You can also repurpose calls into topical FAQ podcasts, to-which you Tweet links, and promote on-air and to your email database.
Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “Multiply Your Podcast Subscribers, Without Buying Clicks,” available from Talkers books; and “Spot-On: Commercial Copy Points That Earned The Benjamins,” a FREE download; and the E-book and FREE on-air radio features “Inflation Hacks: Save Those Benjamins.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke