In many markets there is a group creating better multi-platform content than any local media company, local churches. Why have churches leap-frogged local media in many markets? A) During Covid they adapted out of necessity when people couldn’t attend in person and then they continued those practices post Covid. B) Once one church in a market starts doing it they all follow suit because they are all competitive. Here are some of the ways churches are outperforming media digitally and a couple of lessons radio can take from that.
Creating multi-camera live streams that are available on-demand immediately after the service. In the past a church service reached the people who saw it live and that was it. It happened and then it was gone forever. Many live radio shows are still living in that world. We craft compelling content that’s limited to roughly our AQH and never pushed to the masses to reach our full Cume and beyond. Radio should take a page from churches and add multi-cam setups to all their on-air studios (which are incredibly affordable now) so we can live-stream whenever we want and capture everything that happens in the on-air studio to put out as short clips, full segments, expand on for podcasts and keep for best of shows.
Improve the visual presentation on-camera and in-person. Every church I’ve been to in the past few years has had at least one large LED screen, concert venue worthy stage lighting and the versatility to handle different types of events and services. If radio were to follow that lead we would not only create studios that are maximized for multi-platform content creation we’d also open up a significant new revenue stream because it would allow us to rent out those studios to other creators.
Collecting info to create multiple touchpoints. The church we attend texts me about events relevant to our family because they know our age and our kid’s ages, they send me the occasional newsletter and even target me with some social ads. I live in DFW, market 4 and the station I’ve been a diehard P1 of for twenty plus years now has only every done one of those three. Traditionally radio does a good job collecting info during our contests, we just fall short of using that info to create multiple touchpoints even when we have the content, contests and events to warrant it.
Making it easy to take payments. Modern churches are also a step ahead of radio on the monetization side. The days of just passing the plate and hoping for the best are over. Churches now display QR codes during their broadcasts and throughout the church making it easy for their members to tithe electronically. While I know every radio station can send a link to take a credit card payment. I’d like to see us follow this example further by creating our own self-checkout aisles where new clients can customize their own ad schedules and purchase directly without any meetings (if that’s how they want to purchase). Thus, making the purchasing process similar to how businesses purchase their own digital ads elsewhere or boost posts on social.
Yes, part of what makes it possible for churches to do all of this is they often operate with an army of volunteers and certainly bigger budgets than any radio station has. But, we can recreate some of that by getting everyone within our buildings involved, crowdsourcing content creation from our audience and forging strategic partnerships with outside influencers. Plus, we can make up for our budget shortfalls by starting small, trading what we can, underwriting enhanced studios with sponsorhips and collecting NTR studio rental revenue.
What do you think? What other digital lessons can radio learn from churches? Comment below or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.
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Andy Meadows is the Chief Editor of Radio Update and the founder, CEO and lead consultant at Radio Station Consultant. He’s also the host of the weekly Radio Influencers podcast series for Radio Update.