Every promo has one job: Make listeners think, “I don’t want to miss what’s coming next.”
Radio stations spend thousands of dollars producing commercials for advertisers. Then they promote themselves with a voice reading copy over a music bed. Your station deserves better.
The best promos don’t just announce what’s happening, they create anticipation. They’re movie trailers for your station. They build curiosity, excitement, and one powerful question: “What happens next?”
Here are a few ideas to make your promos impossible to ignore.
Sell benefits—not features
Don’t promote a contest. Promote the excitement of winning and describe the enticing prize. Don’t promote a morning show. Promote the laughter listeners will miss if they tune away. Benefits create emotion. Features create lists.
Use real moments
Nothing sells a personality better than hearing one. Capture hilarious calls, unforgettable listener reactions, emotional moments, and spontaneous laughter. The best promo copy is often something that wasn’t written.
Be specific
Instead of saying, “Great music all day,” say, “At 8:20, we’re sending another listener to Las Vegas.” Specific teases outperform vague promises every time.
Keep them moving
Today’s audience scrolls, swipes, and skips. Your promo should move just as quickly. Every second should earn the next second. Sound different. Fresh production, creative writing, humor, pacing, and great sound design instantly separate your station from competitors who still sound like they’re reading a grocery list.
Promote constantly
Every benchmark deserves a promo. Every personality deserves a promo. Every major contest deserves a promo. Great stations never assume listeners already know what’s coming.
Here’s a simple test: If you removed your station name from the promo, could it run on another station? If the answer is yes…rewrite it. Because the best promos don’t simply fill time between songs. They create the reason listeners stay for the next one. Great promos create great Stationality.
Lund Challenge
Listen to your station for one hour and count how many promos actually make you want to keep listening. Then rewrite just one this week so it answers the listener’s favorite question: “Why should I care?” If you can’t answer it in ten seconds, your listeners won’t either.
Lund Lesson
A great promo doesn’t tell listeners what’s on your station. It convinces them they’d be crazy to miss it.
Pic designed by krakenimages for Magnific.
John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming, broadcast consulting, and research firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats.