Never underestimate the power of a great contest. A smartly executed promotion creates excitement, attracts new listeners, extends Time Spent Listening, and—when done right—can give your ratings a nice little caffeine jolt. Promote it in other media and your app database, and you’ll grow Cume, too. In short, contests work… when you actually work them.
Here’s a practical checklist to make sure your contests deliver more than just legal headaches and a lukewarm winner reaction:
- Play the contest when people are actually listening.
This sounds obvious, yet it’s often ignored. Schedule contest play during hours with the highest Cume. Your hour-by-hour ratings are not decorative—use them.
- Don’t under-promote. Ever.
Sell the contest on air two to three times an hour. Yes, it will feel like a lot. No, listeners won’t complain. Some stations even run reach-and-frequency reports on contest promos—because math never lies (even if air talent does occasionally).
- Recycle, recycle, recycle to build TSL
Promote the contest ahead of time. Sell the benefit of the prize—not just the contest name. Update live liners, produced sweepers, and imaging several times a week. If your promo sounds tired, the audience is already asleep.
- Write airtight contest rules—and promote them.
Post full rules on the website and run a clear on-air Contest Rules promo tagged to your URL. Review all contest language carefully. Liner copy should be specific, action-oriented, and free of buzzwords that have been used since the Carter administration.
- Lose the generic language.
“Prize,” “flyaway,” and “certificate” don’t excite anyone. Use active language: “You will win,” “you will see,” “you will fly to.” Always tag each contest play with the next time to listen. And remember: the best time to promote a contest is immediately after a winner is announced—when everyone else is thinking, “That should’ve been me.”
- Coach talent to get great winner audio.
No screaming? No win. Coach the winners, edit the audio, and save it. Winner audio is promotional gold. Create a system for updating promos before, during, and after the contest—because silence is not a strategy.
- Hold a weekly promotions meeting.
Review what’s working, what’s not, and what can be improved. Share a summary with the GM. (Yes, they like to know what’s going on.)
- Send personal “thank you” emails to winners.
Confirm prizes and, for concerts or flyaways, ask how the experience went. Happy winners become unpaid brand ambassadors—and they tell friends.
- One-up the competition.
Monitor competitor contests and look for ways to “twist” them into something more entertaining or listener-friendly. Just because they did it first doesn’t mean they did it best.
Great contests don’t happen by accident—they’re planned, promoted, and polished. Do that consistently, and your promotions will deliver more than just winners… they’ll deliver ratings.
Pic designed by rawpixel for Freepik.com.
John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming consulting firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats. Did you find this article useful? You can leave a comment below or email John at John@Lundradio.com.