Take Us With You is an inexpensive and fun way to get viral spread for your show, and create a buzz in the community. It’s fun, spreads fast and turns into interesting storylines each day for the duration of the campaign.
This is a terrific promotion for stations that want to enhance their local presence.
Here’s how to make it work for your show.
Executing Take Us With You
Step 1: Start by getting several standup cardboard cutouts.
Important tip: Get more than you think you’ll need. You’ll go through them fairly fast because of damage and theft. You can’t count on listeners to be responsible and return them! Plus, it’s just a good idea to have some extras on hand for the future. It doesn’t cost that much more to get multiples. So get as many as you can afford. You can always use them at promotions and events in the future.
Step 2: Once you have them ready to go, invite listeners to adopt the show and take them out. There are a couple of ways to solicit participation. You could have them complete an online entry form to apply. In the form, ask for a summary of what they would do with you. And be sure to collect their phone number so you can call and talk to them about their plans.
The other method is to take calls each day with listeners convincing you that they have the best idea. Either method works, because you get phone calls on the air. The stories are valuable!
Step 3: Award the cutouts to those who are going to take you to the most interesting, creative and attention-getting places. Encourage them to take you anywhere, like on road trips or vacations. Or, theme it around a high profile event, such as a sporting event, bar-hopping, a concert, etc. Or, it could be to celebrate the opening of beach season! parties, events, bars, local attractions, etc.
Step 4: Share on social media. Listeners must promise to share pictures and video on social media. Set up hashtag (#) to deliver more attention and response.
If you have a prize to offer, that’s great. However, this is a promotion that doesn’t require a large pay off. It woks because the audience loves to participate with the show.
Take Me With You Example
The promotion can work anytime. Some stations launch it at the beginning of summer, when the audience is getting outside. Or you might want to schedule it at Christmas time, and theme it around taking us to your office party. If you have an natural occasion or event, it will be easier to talk about on the air.
At K104/Dallas, DeDe In the Morning co-host Lady Jade had recently begun dating again, following her divorce. Since Valentine’s Day was coming soon, the show used the holiday and Jade’s personal storyline to “Date Lady Jade”. Here’s how it sounded when they launched it on the air.
I love how they pay off the promotion with an actual date with Jade. This is a great example of a promotion that makes sense and creates a story on the show.
Conclusion
Take Us With You is a fun promotion. It’s perfectly suited for social media and gets your listeners involved. Invest some time and resources in building a story. In this promotion, the story is more important than the prize!
Photo Credit: www.freepik.com
