PART TWO: Public Radio Pledge Drive Don’ts

MRKinLA made some excellent points in his reply to my “Pledge Drive Don’ts” post.

MRKinLA writes about how public radio stations have a
“… tendency to throw the local voice talent onto the airwaves with no scripting, ad libbing themselves in a downward spiral of inane comments like the ones you mention here -- "Stop freeloading!" "Please, please, please, we're in dire need!"

Agreed. Why can’t public radio stations take a page from the Creating Customer Evangelists playbook and use current paying subscribers to make the marketing/sales pitch? I would love to hear current subscribers tell me why they choose to become a paying member of their Public Radio station's listener community. Public Radio stations could reach out to their subscriber base and invite long-time subscribers, first-time subscribers, and intermittent subscribers into the studio to record their story of why they choose to donate. Then, instead of hearing on-air talent ad-lib their inane sales pitch, listeners would hear passionate and articulate stories (disguised as pledge pitches) from current subscribers. That sounds like a much more meaningful and appealing way to drive donations.

MRKinLA also writes… "NPR listeners in general, but especially those who may be fence-sitting potential subscribers, are a smart bunch. They know in an era of Clear Channel and other media consolidation, their options for intelligent radio are dwindling. Enlisting them as partners in the fight against media mediocrity is one way to communicate why people need to open up their wallets for NPR."

Sounds like Mark is borrowing another page from the Creating Customer Evangelists playbook by suggesting that Public Radio stations create a cause to better appeal to listeners. The consolidation that has occurred in the radio industry has resulted in lowest common denominator programming and Public Radio stations appeal to listeners who disdain anything lowest common denominator-like. Public Radio listeners are a curious and discerning bunch and creating a mission that pits David (local Public Radio station) against Goliath (Clear Channel station group) would seem to be a savvy way to galvanize support that would generate financial support during Pledge Drive time.

Comments

Jackie Huba, co-author of "Creating Customer Evangelists" sent me a link to your blog today because I have worked in public radio fundraising since 1992. You make some excellent points and I will share them with stations around the country. Stations need to do a better job of gathering feedback from listeners, creating one to one relationships with listeners, and getting listeners involved in telling their stories etc..
I do know of a few stations who record listener testimonials all year long.

I will say that for many people the guilt thing does work. Ira Glass of "This American Life" produced a wonderful fundraising piece where he asked a guy in front of Starbucks how much he spent on his coffee. He then asked him if he supported public radio and the guy said no "He couldn't afford it." Ira then described how the guy acted more guilty than any criminal he had ever interviewed. Every time that spot aired during pledge drives, the phone rang like crazy.

You may have noticed that many stations are doing more of their fundraising online now and many have shortened their on-air fundraising because they know their listeners would rather hear programming than fundraising. But, when they are on the air, they often have big goals to meet in a short period of time -- and the pressure of that may make people a little frantic sounding.

I'd love to hear more comments from listeners. What can your public radio station say to get you to pledge? Post your thoughts here on this forum and I'll share them with stations around the country.
Betsy Harman http://www.harmaninteractive.com

[johnmoore (unitedstates)]

Betsy … thanks for adding your perspective to this discussion.

I’ve heard the Ira Glass pledge pitch and it works. It works because Ira creatively made the “quilt trip” pitch relevant to the listener. People can relate to dropping a few bucks per week at Starbucks. Did you know that the average Starbucks customer will visit a Starbucks about 8 times per month and spend $3.90 at each visit. That’s a financial commitment of $375 per year. And yet, highly-educated and highly-paid Public Radio listeners will balk at paying $60 a year for “theater of the mind” company during their commute to/from work.

The "guilt trip" pitch that is staid is the one where the station admonishes listeners that if they don’t pledge money today, then their favorite program might be gone tomorrow. That pitch takes no creativity … it is the easy way out for Public Radio stations.

Now, if KUT-FM played the Ira Glass pitch tomorrow ... it might just motivate me to pledge.

[chris bannon]

Just wanted to write and add to the points that Betsy and John made. Ira's pitches work so well because they are capsule editions of his show: smartly scripted, carefully produced. They are compelling little radio stories that happen to be about raising money.

I'm not sure that, as an "industry," we've really recognized how much more we could be doing to make fundraising sound like programming.

And a hello to Betsy, btw! We haven't talked in a while, but it was nice to run across your post today.