Lessons From The Radio

On a Friday afternoon, I tuned into a popular radio station where the DJ explained he wasn’t getting enough hits on his web page. As a result, his performance was coming under scrutiny.

“So,” he said, “I don’t know what else to do except just ask. Will everyone listening please drop by and visit my page today.”

That was on Friday. I nodded because I liked his honesty. Come on, now. Ya gotta like honesty.

On Monday as I drove to work, the morning show informed their audience that the answer to tomorrow’s pop quiz could be found on none other than—the afternoon’s DJ’s web page. Everyone listening could get a head start on tomorrow’s contest by visiting his page.

That was on Monday. I grinned because the boy was getting better.

On Wednesday, I chuckled. Between songs, the DJ said something about a celebrity and then capped it with, “Girls, want to find out how to tell if your boyfriend is telling you the truth? Visit my web page where I have the ten signs he’s lying to you.”

I chuckled, because now he was getting creative! That was Wednesday.

On Friday, I laughed aloud because if you visited his web page, you could sign up to win tickets to Bens Fold Five. Wa-hoo! By gum, he did it! He took a promotion and used it to his benefit. Use the air time to promote and the prize to drive people to your web page. Genius!

That was on Friday, and I laughed, mostly because I had a blog post for Saturday.

Okay, so maybe I was the only one silently cheering on his progress—while not actually visiting his web page—but it really was fun to see his progression.

Some lessons I took:

*Be Creative: We’ve all seen the e-mails. “Please buy my book on such-n-such date” or “Click here to read my interview. . . . “ It’s not a bad start, certainly better than nothing, but it tinges upon desperation. There are more creative, fun ways.

* Use your Resources: Kudos to the Morning Show who likely had their own web page quota to fill. (This tip could also be entitled: Be Friendly to Those in the Business—you might need them.)

*Keep Trying Until You Find What Works: Thank goodness he didn’t come on day-after-day begging us to look at his web page to help him out.

*Make it Worthwhile for Your Audience: That's the real key, right there! What's in it for them.