Radio Company On The Front Foot With The Digital & Mobile Marketing

By Author: Daniel Smith
Total Articles: 38
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Traditional media companies are often criticised for being slow to adapt to new trends. This is easy to understand and forgive though, because they have large stable revenues from existing clients, so why would you want to change that?

The problem for them comes from new disruptive technologies which threaten to make their products redundant and take their audience and their clients away from them. This has been observed and written about ad nauseam in the newspaper industry which felt the impact of the internet reduce newspaper circulations and as a result advertising revenue.

However after successive periods of denial, anger, grief and acceptance, smart newspaper organisations found ways to adapt to change by joining the ‘online revolution’ as it was called at the time. Companies like News Corporation made significant investments in digital assets and this had the effect of hedging against the wave of online content brought about by the changing tide of technology.

In Australia a smart radio company has found a new technological development and has used it to support ...
... and compliment its core business of selling radio advertisements. The Australian Radio Network (ARN) is a subsidiary of APN News and Media, they have been actively supporting their medium and their advertisers by integrating mobile marketing keywords into radio scripts. This has had the effect of increasing the response their clients receive from advertising, proving that the medium is delivering results and creating interactivity between the radio broadcast and the listener.

The Brisbane based ARN radio station 97.3 FM has integrated numerous keywords into advertising campaigns and one notable campaign resulted in listeners receiving mobile coupons to their phones via SMS. To receive the coupon, listeners were asked to text BOAT to 19 33 33. The listener was then able to take the SMS coupon to the registration desk at the Brisbane Boat Show and receive a 25% discount on entry. Conversion figures and results of this campaign can be seen here – CMS LINK.

By taking this pro-active approach to the mobile revolution and digital technology, the management at 97.3FM and ARN are ensuring that their medium and their product stays relevant to clients. They are using a piece of new business technology to grow and protect their valuable existing revenue base. This is demonstrated clearly by the response from clients:

“It was our account manager Naomi Westaway at ARN (97.3FM – Brisbane) who planted the seed for us to start using SMS promotions in the first place.

“She provided great suggestions and advice on how to use radio to get the best results. Thanks to her we were able to integrate radio advertising with mobile coupons that visitors redeemed at the door.

“Naomi’s expertise and the integrated mobile option made advertising on radio very compelling and certainly influenced our decision to go with 97.3FM” says Nicholle Smith - Marketing Officer- Marine Queensland

With this pro-active approach to disruptive technology, ARN stand a much better chance of being around long into the future.

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