The best way to increase the effectiveness of your radio station’s email marketing campaigns is to send your listeners information they want and — just as importantly — don’t send them any information that they don’t want. Many radio stations try to cram every bit of information about the radio station into one big email campaign. This can drive down open rates and click-through rates. Instead, you’ll want to set up multiple targeted email campaigns and allow listeners to sign up for just the ones that they want.
You can minimize the amount of work involved by automating your email marketing using RSS-to-email campaigns. When you publish content to your website, you can categorize it. For example, one post might appear in the “Concerts” category while another appears in the “Morning Show” category. Using a category-specific RSS feed, you set up this website content to be automatically emailed to the listeners who are interested. This saves you the trouble of individually writing multiple emails.
With that in mind, here are five targeted email campaigns that radio stations should consider:
1. Morning Show Recaps
On a daily basis, the morning show can publish recaps of its show. These recaps are similar to the shownotes pages that podcasters publish to accompany podcast episodes. They contain links to things that were discussed on the show, and can also include audio excerpts, videos, or photos from the show. A great way to cultivate your morning show’s fanbase is to email these shownotes to listeners who want to stay in the loop. (Shownotes can also be shared proactively on social media.)
2. Artist Interviews
The hardcore music fans in your audience will never want to miss an interview. Indulge them by allowing them to sign up for emails whenever a new artist interview is posted to the station’s site.
3. Concert Info
Let’s face it, not everyone in your audience likes to go to concerts, and even those who do may not go often enough to want a regular email about upcoming shows. Superserve only the hardcore concert goers with an email campaign dedicated to them.
4. Contests
Likewise, many of your listeners will never enter a contest; they’re just there for the music. Don’t annoy these listeners with constant emails about something they’re not interested in. Let those who feel lucky opt into a specific campaign about your station’s contests.
5. Specialty Show Playlists
Specialty shows often have a small but dedicated following. So while you won’t want to send the playlist for your local music show to everybody, you definitely want to indulge the few that are interested. Set up a targeted email campaign for each of your specialty shows, whether they cover new music or public affairs, and allow listeners to opt in.
The more you can segment your email campaigns so you’re sending listeners only the content that’s most relevant to them, the more you will see your open rates and clickthroungh rates increase and your unsubscribe rates decrease. By enabling people to specify what they want to receive, you can dramatically increase the effectiveness of your email marketings.
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