A Great Advantage to VIP Listener Memberships?

Intersting debate I was having with an industry person.

Do you think there are great advantages to a station listener VIP club (where they register). Sure, they collect email lists that can be sold. But why are stations making these clubs a major promotional push?

I haven't seen any great need for this. I know stations that are throwing their whole promotion process into this. But what's the advantage? You announce someone's name on the air and they have 15 minutes to call in. If I hear that it's not my name, why do I care? No matter how many follow up mentions the dj's make, I'm gonna care less if "Sam X" has 3 minutes to call in to win. On the other hand, if you take caller 20, at least the listener has a resonable chance to win.

Radio is entertainment. What's the entertainment value in repeating someone's name over and over?<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by hitliner on 02/27/06 08:18 AM.</FONT></P>

> Intersting debate I was having with an industry person.
>
> Do you think there are great advantages to a station
> listener VIP club (where they register). Sure, they collect
> email lists that can be sold. But why are stations making
> these clubs a major promotional push?
>
> I haven't seen any great need for this. I know stations
> that are throwing their whole promotion process into this.
> But what's the advantage?

The advantage is greater than you would think. A well manicured email list can bring about HUGE financial benefits in NTR. You can send out a weekly email from each DJ talking about some topical or humorous stuff and include a well written personal endorsement of company XYZ and a link (to either the station's specially design webpage for their sponsor, or directly to their own webpage), or a call to action asking the readers to communicate with the advertiser (or potential advertiser). Or you can simply give as a bonus to some new advertisers (or loyal ones)free banner ads in your email newsletters, and on your webpage. Just telling them "we're gonna put your ad and a text message with a link inside our weekly email newsletter" is not as convincing as "... inside our weekly email newsletter that goes out to 1,500 or 15,000 or 150,000 addresses."

I wish that EVERY registration form used by a radio station required an email address, and that it had check boxes for permission to use the address for station promotions, information and ways they can win even more. But, it could also just as well include a check box asking permission to share the email address with the business where they registerd, and another one asking permission to share it with every sponsor of the contest.

I'm not interested in "selling" the email list... I think that's an inappropriate use of the audience's trust. But a station should by all means develop, manicure, maintain and grow their email list into as profitable of one as it can possibly have in their market! It gives you something else to promote, to use for sales and marketing, to increase your budget, and another way for each of your jocks to do what they do best... communicate with an audience!

Thanks for the reply. I agree that selling names without permission is unethical.

However, after reading a recent report from Blackwell Media, I'm not sold on all the time investment in VIP clubs.

Newletters sent to members are read by less then 20% of members. Most end up in the trash/junk mail files or just deleated as more uneeded spam. Sending emails with funny info from Dj's is fine, but again, the acutal readership is low. I know one station that sends two emails a week to members. One had a "reply and get movie passes" promotions. Only two out of thousands replied. I find that unless people initiate the communication, they are less likely to reply or read.

But the main thrust of the message was the use of these for on air contesting. Announcing a few names a day is fine, but then stations make their VIP clubs the only way for listeners to win. It creates unintersting listening.

>Then Verus NOW:

nearly 10 years ago, "1995" signing into the
"Secret" VIP CLub has its own luster, and some thing special.
(Agree ?).
-Not every one, heck no one over 30, at the start signed up...
for the unknown reason of the whole "http:www....phenom"
Well, now its no big deal..

But, then: it was some thing, different and special.
Well, once it was started..and say, around 1997/1998 when
soft ac stations were getting onboard the VIP-Listener
band wagon, well..pretty much every station has to have it.

Good, or bad...at times, it may be "just there"

A twist: in the "NOW" is the "exclusive" offers *ONLY*
to cyber-members..codes to access parts of the station website,
chances to buy ticket to station-sponsored events/concerts
..the wednesday, before the saturday the tickets "OFFICIALLY"
go on sale...and, the "Listener's Preception" they effect the
top 8 at 8..by she/he voting, thru my VIP-ACCT, i can actually
make a song everyone else is "e-questing" *more* popular !!

HitLiner said:

Do you think there are great advantages to a station listener VIP club (where they register). Sure, they collect email lists that can be sold. But why are stations making these clubs a major promotional push?<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by hitliner on 02/27/06 08:18 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

Click to expand...

I guess it depends on your point of view. The real advantages are in the ability to pinpoint your demo for sales purposes. I, too, think that selling the list is a very grievous abuse of the listener's trust. The information collected can help understand the demographic better, along with keeping track of promotional stops - who's coming, why are they there, etc? I prefer that listeners register at stops before giving them anything, or even the chance to win something. It's a fair trade. Managed wisely, the time investment isn't all that great.Giving the listener some added value for filling out the form is a good way to thank them for helping your sales pitch to clients. Issue a membership card and then use it to strike discount deals for cardholders with local merchants. Invite club members to VIP events - backstage, luncheons, etc - with the artists when they come to town. Have off-air contests for listener club members, again tying in with sales to promote local businesses.It's not at all useless; it just needs creativity.