(By Harmony Tenney) A local county’s Chamber of Commerce needed to grow in membership. It also wanted to provide additional incentives for its current members, and reactivate lapsed members. Rather than offer a luncheon, t-shirts, or acknowledgement of membership on a website, it wanted to provide something that would bring vitality, awareness, and engagement to the community. They decided to embark on a collaborative radio campaign.
To achieve this, the Chamber negotiated the campaign strategy and details, agreed to and decided on the percentage of the buy it would cover for participating businesses, and accepted responsibility for paying 100% of the bill each month.
Then, its member businesses were offered to come in on the buy at a significantly discounted rate, receiving the benefits of a larger buy. The reduced-price advertising would also be offered as an incentive to new members.
All listeners of the station(s) in the campaign would hear about the work the Chamber is doing to promote its members, be introduced to several member businesses and invited to do business with them, and an upcoming event to participate in. The larger message is that this community is vital and a great place to visit, live, and do business.
Additional elements of the campaign included merchant gift-certificate giveaways, suggestions for promotion of events already occurring in the area, tight scripting for strong branding, and the rep taking on the responsibility of making a “mock” invoice each month for the participating members and events, copying the Chamber so it had a way to track participation and dollars promised to them by its member businesses.
Specific objectives for the campaign were:
— Promote the positive perception of the county as a warm, tourist-friendly and family-friendly destination with plenty of great local merchants, green areas and events through radio advertising, interviews, and podcasts.
— Build community spirit and promote a common identity among two towns and the county through consistent, positive word-of-mouth via radio advertising to area adults.
— Create an ongoing awareness of opportunities to shop, visit, and engage economically through highlighting businesses, events, and organizations within the county for both local residents and visitors.
Measures for the campaign’s success were easy to declare and track: increased visits to the county’s regular and tourism websites and Facebook pages, additional phone and in-person inquiries at the Visitor’s Center, increased tax revenues from retailers, and greater attendance at community events.
One measure that was not as measurable, but surely as valuable, was more folks talking with pride about where they live, relax, and play.
In today’s race for tourism dollars, meal tax collection, and becoming known for fun day trips, radio has the reach and storytelling ability to invite and attract dollars efficiently. It can promote communities and their businesses, alongside tourism and economic development initiatives, overcoming the challenge of limited resources, overlapping agendas, and jam-packed workdays.
Getting on the same page and working together for maximum success yields significant results; spreading the total radio advertising investment across multiple businesses, non-profits, and tourism and economic development departments brings a bright future and sows the seeds for continuous local prosperity.
And if there are several cities, towns, and counties in your coverage area, you can leverage this model in each of them.
Sample Script for This Initiative
Four businesses, or businesses and an event were featured each month, with 2 ads rotating throughout the month. Each business was limited to 2 month inclusion, and a waitlist was available for any month that needed an additional participant.
Ad 1 example:
ABC County Chamber of Commerce invites you to visit ABC County, Sunnyville and Dayville.
There’s Great Food, Folks and Fun every day of the year:
40 words about an upcoming GREAT EVENT IN ABC County, with webpage for tickets/info.
40 words about Business A, highlighting their offerings, plus website or Facebook page.
Explore ABC County, Sunnyville and Dayville. Find your way at Explore ABC County dot com or come in to the Visitor Center.
Ad 2 example:
ABC County Chamber of Commerce invites you to visit ABC County, Sunnyville and Dayville. There’s Great Food, Folks and Fun every day of the year:
40 words about Business B, highlighting their offerings, plus website or Facebook page.
40 words about Business C, highlighting their offerings, plus website or Facebook page.
Explore ABC County, Sunnyville and Dayville. Find your way at Explore ABC County dot com or come in to the Visitor Center.
Harmony Tenney MBA is a Marketing Consultant at Charlottesville Radio Group and can be reached at [email protected]
