Use eMarketing to offer movie tickets to your customers.
Crowd coming out of the Regal movie theater, Chicago, Illinois, 1941. Russell Lee, photographer. Library of Congress.

Having access to an email marketing application is terrific if you’re in media sales, but like any other great tool, knowing all its many uses can really help you maximize its greatest power, return and productivity.

As media sellers, you’re always working to build trust and relationships with your current customers. It’s important for you to provide them with consistent communication as to opportunities that matter to them at your station or cluster, and trends or information that can help them drive traffic and revenue. You want to be a relied upon as a resource and adviser to your customers and prospects.

Here’s a list of some great ideas that I've used and seen implemented successfully by media sales organizations at radio and television stations across the US and Canada. Feel free to take these ideas and make them your own.

Here are 8 great email marketing ideas for media sellers:

1. Collect business and personal preferences: Send clients and prospects a questionnaire and ask them to identify the business opportunities they care about (fire sales, sponsorships, events, digital opportunities, research updates) and personal preferences (tickets to kids' and family events, movies or sporting events, party invites, etc.).

2. Communicate sales opportunities: If you have packages, fire sales, events, or sponsorships, email marketing is an efficient way to communicate to numerous prospects and clients at the same time to generate interest.

3. Send tickets: Oftentimes, your promotions department will have some extra movie passes or tickets to an event that they make available at the end of the day on Friday. Use email marketing to offer many clients (first come first served) one of the extra five pairs you have. You still get credit for offering.

4. Be a research resource: Share the latest programming information or ratings results for your station or cluster. In fact, your company can send a summary/ranker of the entire market with an overview of each station and some strengths and weaknesses of each (using a bold font your own to highlight your position). This helps position your company as a market leader and resource for market research and information.

5. Share industry info: Send all your auto clients the most recent information or articles about the auto industry or the NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association). You can also share timely information from the RAB or TVB (for radio and TV stations, respectively).

6. Communicate station updates: If you have programming or staff changes, or if your station address is changing, email marketing is a great way to communicate with your customers.

7. Event invites: You can send evites to all your customers for an event such as a party, station event, community event, or concert. Ask your station webmaster to create a form that will allow them to RSVP to invitations easily through your station website.

8. Close deals: You can send email campaigns to clients who spent spot, digital or NTR money with your station/s this time last year, or perhaps to those who have a current pending piece of business with you. Maybe you want to offer some incentive to prospects that are close to closing a deal with you. For these kinds of email marketing campaigns, it’s helpful to have a specialized CRM and account management system, such as Efficio, that integrates with your radio or TV traffic system.

As you can see, there are many ways to communicate efficiently with your customers and prospects.  These kinds of email marketing campaigns help you build trust with your clients, engage them, and provide super service.  This will help you stand out against your selling competition and drive sales and revenue.

What other ideas do you have for great email marketing campaigns?  We would love to hear about what you’re doing at your stations!

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