We’re radio junkies, and we hear a lot of contests. A few are brilliant. Many are effective. And some make us wonder if the winner also receives a decoder ring and a graduate degree in cryptography.
How to Avoid Creating a Contest Only Three People Understand
At Lund Media Group, we’ve compiled a list of things every station should do when designing and executing contests and promotions:
- Require Action or Behavior
Great contests do more than give away prizes — they create habits. They encourage listeners to sample a new show, listen longer, bring a friend to the station, visit a client, download the app, or engage with your social media.
Simply taking the “10th caller” may fill 12 seconds of airtime, but it rarely builds audience loyalty. The best promotions require listening to win. If listeners can only win by paying attention, congratulations — you’ve invented appointment listening instead of random dialing.
- Don’t Keep It a Secret
“Failure to promote” should be considered a marketing felony.
You’d be amazed at how many stations launch a contest with the enthusiasm of a CIA operation. If listeners don’t know about it, they can’t play. Promote contests aggressively on-air, online, on social media, in email blasts, and externally if cume growth is the goal.
And don’t forget the winners! Nothing sells contests better than hearing real people scream, laugh, cry, or briefly forget how language works after winning concert tickets.
- Make It Easy
If a contest needs a flow chart, it’s too complicated. A listener should understand the contest in one sentence and immediately think: “Hey, I could win that.” Complicated mechanics mostly attract hardcore “prize pigs” while casual listeners quietly tune out.
Simple contests create mass appeal. Complex contests create confusion, staff meetings, and legal invoices.
- Be Legal
Nothing ruins a promotion faster than a call from the FCC or an angry listener who suddenly becomes an amateur attorney.
Watch out for illegal lotteries (prize + chance + consideration). Maintain complete written contest rules on your website and schedule daily rules promos on-air. Spell out eligibility, prize claims, deadlines, and restrictions clearly.
Most importantly: Have the prizes in hand before the contest begins. “We’re still waiting for the tickets” is not a sentence you want to say to a winner. In radio, “later” has an annoying habit of arriving immediately.
- Loosen Winner Restrictions
“One winner per household every 30 days” may sound fair, but ratings methodology has changed. PPM panelists and diary keepers are often your most loyal contest players. They listen constantly, participate frequently, and actually know your morning show hosts’ names. Reward that passion instead of penalizing it. Your heavy users are valuable — treat them like VIPs, not casino card counters.
Go Deeper into Sales Promotion Planning
Consider these three tips:
- What’s the Real Cash Value of a Promotion?
Too many stations give promotions away like leftover Halloween candy. Promotions have value because they create audience engagement, visibility, endorsements, database growth, and foot traffic. Package them strategically and assign meaningful value to them within client schedules.
A promotion should never sound like: “Buy 20 spots, and we’ll throw in a car giveaway because Steve in sales felt generous.”
- What’s Planned?
Every station should maintain a large, visible promotional calendar showing contests, events, sponsorships, holidays, and major campaigns. Without planning, promotions pile up like luggage at a canceled airport flight. Suddenly, everybody wants a promotion the same weekend, and nobody has enough interns, prize sheets, or functioning printers.
Planning creates focus, prevents overcommitment, and helps sales and programming work together instead of communicating entirely through passive-aggressive emails.
- Lock Up Budgets Early
The smartest stations think ahead. Don’t wait until June 28th to pitch a 4th of July promotion. Build seasonal campaigns months in advance and secure sponsor commitments early. Clients appreciate preparation, creativity, and the appearance that your station actually knows what month it is.
Forward-thinking stations own the holiday before competitors even schedule the meeting. Because in radio, the stations that plan ahead usually win… and the stations that don’t are still looking for the remote banner five minutes before the event starts.
Pic designed by wayhomestudio for Magnific.com.
John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming, broadcast consulting, and research firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats.