Monday Memo: Be Conspicuous When Competitors Are MIA
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
In a recent column, I outlined win-win radio/TV station alliance tactics. This week, as stations are finalizing 2024 budgets, a tip for advertising your station on TV.
Dominate in January. Why:
— It’s a buyer’s market then, and your message won’t compete with other stations’ promotion. Slaves to conventional wisdom, they will be running DURING the Spring book, because they forgot that radio listening is habit, which will be set long before diaries and PPM will collect data. Smart stations derive a benefit message and set that habit BEFORE the book.
— If you can trade for over-the-air stations, the price is right. In January they’re lean too. Can you trade – or afford to pay cash for – cable? Two reasons cable might be a better deal:
1. You can target your signal pattern better than over-the-air channels, whose coverage footprint is bigger than yours; and
2. You can buy channels with programming similar to yours. FOX News Radio affiliate? Buy FOX News Channel (and Newsmax).
Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke