Marketing Ideas... radio?

[Kalidurga]

The jewelry store I work for in downtown DC (Tiny Jewel Box) does a fair amount of radio advertising this time of year and we get a great response from it. I don't have any of our contracts handy to give you pricing, but I'll make some calls and might be able to give you contacts for a few local stations. I'll send you a pm in a little while.

Also, if you've got ad creative available, it might not be too late to do something in print media. Our magazine and newspaper reps are still calling to make last minute offers.

[Ritamarie]

Great!!!!!

[Kalidurga]

What's the name of your business, Ritamarie? My dad's into sailing, I'd love to send him a link if it looks like something he'd be interested in.

[Pedal Wench]

I'm a sound engineer, and we do radio! We can do spots for anyone, anywhere. Our rates are $225/hour, and if your spot is simple, it could be done in an hour, but you would have to add the cost of the voice talent and music licensing fees.

What you're probably hearing are spots created by the individual radio stations. Call their advertising rep and they'll give you a quote that includes airtime and the actual production. They'll use their own DJ's as talent, and they already have music licenses in place. Pick your station and give them a call!

[Ritamarie]

The Maryland School of Sailing and Seamanship...

http://www.mdschool.com/

[indigoiis]

Facebook has targeted ads, plus you get to build a "fan" base.

Also, we use Constant Contact a lot for previous customers. Sending out a nice e-mail to your alums to offer a discount, or to offer a "word-of-mouth" discount.

Events with prizes are always good, too. Like, can you have a big party where you raffle off two seats to the VI class?

[Kalidurga]

The school looks very cool. Check your pm.

[Ritamarie]

Great ideas!

We're big users of Constant Contact... probably our best marketing tool. Many students tell me, "I've been getting your e-mails for years, and finally I'm ready!"

I've had students ask me if we're "on Facebook". I don't know the first thing about it (except what I read on the thread here!). I brought it up to my Dad/Boss (founder/owner of the school) and he was lukewarm on the idea. But I guess we don't know enough to understand the benefit, but a lot of companies are using it. My daughter is a big facebook user. Maybe I'll get her to set it up. I did finally get into blogging and we track our advanced training cruises on the blog. That's popular with our followers... like virtual sailing.

We also use google/yahoo ads extensively and go to several boat shows a year. We do very little print ads anymore. The return for the cost of print ads seems poor compared to internet and person to person.

Pedal Wench, now it makes more sense why your avatar is a guinea pig with a CD on it's head. I might very well be in touch. I'll start with the radio station reps and go from there. What's the usual turn around from idea to getting it on the air? Do your clients usually write the script? I'd be interested in exactly what you do from start to finish! I never really thought about what goes into a radio ad.

I actually came up with this idea on my bike ride yesterday. I guess it would be stretching it to say I was working while I was riding my bike.