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Klixxx Magazine Archive - Web Trends |
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Profit Signals: Webmaster Radio
There was a time, less than 20 years ago, when your local radio station was probably owned by a person or a small company, and each one had its own personality - as unique as the town or city from which it was broadcasting. Now, conglomerates like Clear Channel have consolidated and automated almost every station in the country, creating the homogenized jukeboxes that exist today. So where can we go for a taste of real individuality?
Once again, it's the Internet to the rescue - that new frontier where the little guy still has a chance to be heard, and he doesn't need a fortune to put together a broadcast that could potentially reach millions. In addition to mainstream Internet radio, online adult industry radio programs have begun to proliferate, so we thought it was high time to take a look at how effective they can be as a tool for marketing your adult site. In other words, is anyone actually listening?
"Yes, people do listen to online radio shows," says Lori Zaitz, Director of Marketing and Business Development at XBiz (www.xbiz.com). "If the show has depth and a reason for being, people will not only listen, they will become loyal and tune in regularly. Assessing the size of an audience for a particular show is difficult, since listeners versus chat room users can vary greatly." What also varies quite a bit is what factors will keep a listener's attention and get them to tune in on a regular basis.
Darren Austin, Senior Division Manager at AEBN, and Host/Executive Producer of "The Darren Austin show" (www.aebn.com), seems to have found a solution by not limiting his coverage to just webmaster concerns. "I listen to other shows, and I think that in this industry there is so much knowledge available to the webmaster and the newbie that it is a constant learning process," says Austin. "There are so many talented radio hosts with great information. My show is a little different, however, since I cover webmaster issues as well as 'real life' issues - everything from child abuse to 'How clean is your traffic?' to celebrities. I have a wide audience that consists of both mainstream and adult industry listeners."
Just like the old time radio stations, the online shows are as different as the people who produce them, and there are lots of different programs to choose from. "Aside from 'The Darren Austin Show'," says Austin, "one of my other favorite shows, and amazing hosts, is the show 'Pillow Talk' with Twinkley on TAW radio - she runs the gamut on webmaster issues." You can catch Twinkley's show every Friday at noon PST by logging on to www.tawradio.com, and be sure to hang out in the live chat room during the show for the full interactive experience.
Another very popular program is "The Jim Holio Show," which can be found live every weekday at www.thejimholioshow.com. "Jim is an excellent example of good adult webmaster radio programming," says Zaitz. "His daily show is lively, well-produced and topical. These elements combined with a great personality are what make for a solid show. The other end of the spectrum is the 'open door' concept where anything goes. This format works well too, such as in the case of the D-Money radio show. He has the personality, and with a loyal following, his shows are always successful because he has built his brand and people usually stick with brands they like." Check out www.d-moneyshow.com for more information, or check out an episode from the archives.
If you don't have your own show, but still want to promote your brand, there's always the option of being someone's guest or buying advertising time on another program. "Of course having your own show is the best promotion and branding," says Zaitz, "but being a guest, especially at an opportune time when your company is promoting something in particular, is a bonus to your marketing campaign and getting the word out. Ad buys are actually a better idea than some people think, especially if you get ROS (Run of Schedule, or random time slots) - you never know who is listening in to which show and hears your ad. Audio 'banner' is another sensory avenue to promote, like visual 'banners' which are also sensory. The costs vary by many factors, such as what show, their projected listener base, and frequency of the show."
Getting involved is not as difficult or expensive as you might imagine. "I have found that with promotion of my show," says Austin, "it has been from word of mouth and magazine articles, although word of mouth is still the best form of advertising. Anyone can be a guest on my show, if you have something to promote or an amazing story, then after being screened you could be a guest. To advertise on my show the cost is very reasonable, a lot of shows range from $250 to $2,000 so there is an affordable way to advertise."
It may be affordable for some, but how effective is it? "Again, word of mouth is to me, the best form of advertising," says Austin. "With radio shows, instead of reading about a product you can actually hear the story, whatever that may be, direct from the person's mouth." Running a product giveaway is also a great way to get an idea of who is listening, since you can track the response and compare it to various shows and timeslots.
"I believe this is very effective when it is the right show," says Zaitz. "It is a smaller audience than, say, a press release blasted out on the XBiz Broadcaster, but nonetheless they are in an atmosphere that is more intimate and focused, and the listener is not going to be bombarded with too much advertising. So your ad may get noticed even more - plus the cost to advertise on radio is relatively less than other advertising options. There are no hard ROI numbers on radio yet since it is still a growing medium, but time will tell."
There may not be a wealth of data, but early indications are positive, assuming everyone and their brother doesn't get their own show. "I think radio is just one area of many areas of growth and opportunity in this business," says Zaitz. "but over-saturation is also a concern. From a production standpoint, anyone can throw a radio show together. But branding it, marketing it, nurturing it, having the right personality, production elements and content requires energy and time."
As with any marketing effort, it's up to all of us to use it as a productive tool and find out what promotional methods work best. "From a listener's point of view," says Zaitz, "I believe there is some valuable information to be gained by tuning in to some of these shows, and from relationships formed in the chats. Find the shows you like and take the opportunity to not only listen, but contribute to the show by calling in or chatting in the room to get awareness out there about you and your company as well. At the end of the day, it's a two-way street - make it work for you."
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