It’s pronounced like bacon but is spelled “bacn,” and it’s defined as email that is just to the positive side of spam – all that electronic mail we somehow ended up signing up for but don’t pay much (if any) attention to.
This frequently happens when you make a purchase from a retailer. You end up checking off a box that allows them to send you emails (or maybe you fail to uncheck it because you’re in a hurry), and the next thing you know, you’re receiving those daily or weekly emails that you treat pretty much like spam.
But here’s where it hits home: the same thing may be happening to your email club messaging – if you’re not paying much attention to the communiques you’re sending to those thousands of fans who tried to win something from your station and thus signed up to be a member of your database.
Let’s not forget the importance of email in the brand building process. Techsurvey9 – an email based survey to begin with – reiterates the value of being in the database for all generations of listeners. In fact, well north of 60% of Boomers, Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z (teens) agree that as a result of being a radio station database, it can contribute to fostering a stronger relationship with the station.
This is a loud and clear reminder about the value of smart, strategic communications via email, a source that still matters to your most mature, as well as your up and coming listenership. With the right kind of messaging, stations and personalities have the opportunity to drive listening, bring much-needed attention to a feature, contest, or event, or simply contribute to brand-building with a great story or behind-the-scenes effort.
Earlier this summer, we examined how Target utilizes a special website (www.abullseyeview.com) to strengthen its audio relationship, relying on “backstage” stories and videos that enhance its brand with its most loyal customers.
So, too, is the potential with people who signed up for your database – a rich resource of feedback, loyalty, and enthusiasm that can be harnessed to do some of the heavy lifting for your brand. Sometimes, it become easy to get caught up in some of the other digital platforms, and in the process, forgetting that the email database is an incredibly powerful tool. And you own it.
This becomes even more salient when you consider how Google recently changed its Gmail inbox categorization. No longer does all incoming email get sorted into the same unified destination. Now, emails are automatically subdivided into “primary,” “social,” and “promotions” silos. You can guess where your station’s emails are ending up. This type of time-saving sorting might be good for consumers who are overwhelmed by all the email they receive, but it has serious implications for brands and marketers.
Unless your fan actively moves your emails from “promotions” to “primary,” you’re sitting right next to Levi’s, Groupon, and PetSmart– a place where you have to believe that few of them will see your emails.
This puts even more pressure on stations to get serious about their email strategies. So who at the station “owns” the database, and is writing those strategic emails on behalf of these fervent listeners? As Lori Lewis would ask, “Who’s the captain?”
And tactically, are you combining multiple messages – station information, deals, advertisements, and other obligations – in the same emails, and then wondering why they’re ineffective?
When we field our Techsurveys, we ask our stakeholder stations to send a dedicated introductory email to the database, devoid of all this other stuff. And the results are almost always effective. Conversely, when stations insist on combining the survey invitation with multiple messages and coupons, you can imagine what happens – very little. Most consumers are too busy to read several panels worth of information and ads.
You can research these net effects for yourself. Multiple subject lines will teach you precisely what “prints” with your audience. And by experimenting with different physical and content treatments, you can market like the big boys and use your email database effectively and optimally.
Because otherwise, your email club will simply end up being a source of bacn – or worse, its close cousin, spam.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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