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  • still doing radio?

    so between the poll on where you spend the most,(radio)as opposed to, what has the biggest hit( internet), my serious question this year, is why are we all addicted to radio still.

    sure it's the most traditional way, and it's usually cheaper than TV, but is it really working for you?

    way back when, we all used to do lots of newspaper as well, and I think many of us saw that die a slow death, and I don't find that many ads in our papers anymore.
    heck they don't even make sales calls to us.

    Larry had posted that this is the year to get cheap radio.

    if it's cheap enough, then it may still be the way to go

    but with sirius, and xm, and I-pods and all the sports talk stations, do people, or our age group really listen to the traditional stations enough to warrant their regular price structure?

    I've heard of one haunt who will only do radio this year if he is the ONLY haunt on the station. perhaps that is possible because of the radio business tanking bad


    In a bad economy, the worst thing you can do is CUT your ad budget.
    I'm just wondering if the same money is better spent elsewhere.

    as a small haunt in a small market, every ad dollar has to count for me. I have kennywood theme park in my back yard and they spend so much year round that it's just nuts

    and the two bigger normal haunts seem to be locked in a coldwar arms race of ad dollars.


    another old haunt friend out west with 18 years at his place, refuses to do any radio at all, and hasn't for a few years. hasn't hurt him a bit

    is this something we can discuss and really help each other with?
    Gravely MacCabre
    aka Ricky Dick
    Castle Blood Haunted Adventure Tour
    and
    Midnight Monster Hop
    Horror Host Show

    Beallsville, PA 15313
    www.castleblood.com
    www.midnightmonsterhop.com
    www.myspace.com/midnightmonsterhop.com

    Media Director for National Halloween Convention

    http://www.halloweenshow.com
    Lifetime achievement award winner
    International Costumers Guild

  • #2
    Gravely,

    Radio is still great for our purposes. The trick is to get as much internet support when negotiating your deals. Having a strong combined radio station website presence with good spots and frequency, and of course great station support and promotions, all work in conjunction to a great ad package. All have to work together and it will work for you, in my experiences.

    Allan

    Comment


    • #3
      Also, your friend with the haunt with 18 years experience, that is key to their success. The longer you have been around and have a good show, possibly not so tough competition, you can get away with less advertising after many years of loyal visitors. After a while though as your loyal patrons move on or strong competition opens up down the street, you have to be more proactive with attraction fresh blood!

      Allan

      Comment


      • #4
        Do what you do

        I think the answer is if you are successful...do what you do. There are a thousand things you do, in marketing, show design etc. that have gotten you where you are. And if that is a good place, you still have to change and evolve to a point, but making radical changes is risky. We all know, or at least think we know that radio is fading, but if for years the primary way we reached the folks who came to our shows, it might be unwise to dump it totally.

        I think the answer is to constantly evolve, shift resources, and try new things but still keep to the core that defines you.

        If say you ran the storytelling interactive Castle Blood more like the hard core Dead Acres I don't think the kind of customer base you have would go for it, or vise versa!

        I think radio is fading but its not dead yet! As long as you get the ears you paid for, it is still a viable weapon in your marketing arsenal.

        Thanks!
        Ben Armstrong
        NETHERWORLD HAUNTED HOUSE
        www.Fearworld.com
        www.NetherworldNetwork.com

        Comment


        • #5
          I think the fall of radio is due to, well, radio! Everyday more and more people are switching to satellite radio (sirius and XM) and also the new "HD Radio"... I think for now, it's still a viable source of advertising for our industry. Also, think of this... in the common workplace, radio is still played so employees have something to listen while they work! So, if you advertise on a POPULAR station or a station that caters music to your demographics, your ad could, possible be heard by SEVERAL people at once, unlike the typical car listener.

          I agree, radio is slowly fading out of the picture... just like records, a-tracks, atari, VHS, and yes, even CD's!!!!

          We just need to start getting creative with how we advertise! -Tyler
          Chris Riehl
          Sales@spookyfinder.com
          (586)209-6935
          www.spookyfinder.com

          Comment


          • #6
            all good points so far.
            one thing I'm NOT saying is to advertise LESS, just perhaps shift it around to try to meet the changing markets.

            Ben's comments are true, with my style of haunt, my demo is different than most, which is why I do radio to hit the workplace, and especially the office buildings.

            My politically incorrect way of putting it

            I may want the goth chicks here, but the milfs have more money and they bring the family with them.

            I do think we need to evolve in all aspects of the biz, and even as I enter my 16th year, I don't mind taking a hard look at what I do, and try to see where we can do better, and what may need to change to survive
            Gravely MacCabre
            aka Ricky Dick
            Castle Blood Haunted Adventure Tour
            and
            Midnight Monster Hop
            Horror Host Show

            Beallsville, PA 15313
            www.castleblood.com
            www.midnightmonsterhop.com
            www.myspace.com/midnightmonsterhop.com

            Media Director for National Halloween Convention

            http://www.halloweenshow.com
            Lifetime achievement award winner
            International Costumers Guild

            Comment


            • #7
              Tyler, Tyler, Tyler

              For the love of all thats holy please stop repeating what others said. You are starting to sound like a broken Chatty Doll!!! Please when posting put your own thoughts and words into it and stop riding the backs of others here. Your starting to come off as a little ,well a little gay! I know you can do it Tyler do it for us... do it for me..... HELL DO IT FOR YOUR IDOL LARRY!!!!!! Just please stop with the repeats. Shane
              sigpic

              Comment


              • #8
                Lmao!

                Hey give tyler some credit, it wasn't larry this time, however TYLER PLEASE stop with the verbatim!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Guys, learn to read please... I don't think I copied what anybody said! I know it's hard for the both of you to keep composure, but please, stay on topic or don't post anything at all! -Tyler
                  Chris Riehl
                  Sales@spookyfinder.com
                  (586)209-6935
                  www.spookyfinder.com

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Radio is a tricky thing, particularly here in Pittsburgh as Ricky has mentioned.

                    Plus, radio has reacted to the decling ad revenue in a similar fashion as local tv ... by adding more commercials and less original content ... which creates a downward spiral: more ads = declining ratings and revnue which leads to the need for more ads and less content etc, etc, etc.

                    The problem is that you can't really be a little bit pregnant, and you can't do just a little radio advertising -- you have to go all in for the season and that eats up a lot of $$.

                    The key is to try and track your advertising as much as possible. Make sure your website has some kind of tracking (google analytics or something similar) so that you can see where your internet traffic is coming from ... we found that very few people were coming to scarehouse.com from one particular radio website where we were advertising, which is one of the reasons why we changed our approach for 08.
                    Scott Simmons
                    The ScareHouse / Undead Productions Inc.

                    http://www.scarehouse.com
                    http://youtube.com/thescarehouse

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I think people are too quick to dump radio, it's still the best place for us right now, internet being a close second. Satellite has few listeners overall, people just prefer to listen to the personalities they have grown used to hearing and you don't get that on Satellite, not to mention local weather and traffic info. Radio still has several strong years and should be taken advantage of. We all know it will soon diminish by a lot, so use that in your negotiating when you appoach them. Just be sure they really get behind your event and do plenty of fun and creative promos and web advertisng. There are other things that come with dealing with radio like all the promos, ticket giveaways, that really give you more bang for your buck and creates a buzz by DJs and station personalities your patrons already trust!

                      Allan

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        What do you guys usually spend on a typical radio campaign?

                        Darkangel

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I think radio is still valid. We are in a mid-size market and use radio quite well. One thing that helped our last marketing campaign was to use a professional service to produce the commercial instead of using the radio station. Our numbers really jumped because the ad sounded alot better than anything the radio stations had given us in the past. In fact, I wish I could remember the guys name...I got it from Ben. Ben, who was that guy?

                          Cody Minor
                          UCP Fright Factory

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            My house and show here so impressed the two most popular DJs in this area that they paid me the first time they brought a group here.
                            They would talk about my house all on their own as part of their normal show, I never paid them or their station anything.
                            I discovered how incredibly popular they are though, everybody listens to their show!! They are very clever and creative guys doing almost anything imaginable on the air. the once prank-called Evil Knieval and got him swearing at them and saying really strange insults, ex ctera. their website used to be 2dorks.com, maybe it still is? Dwire & Micheals.
                            hauntedravensgrin.com

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Check with the stations that you advertise with to try to agree on a dollar for dollar trade. Some will allow you to provide xx amount of tickets for xx number of spots. Does anyone do this?

                              I know on our station Kennywood, gravely mentioned them, trade us dollar for dollar for I think 300 tickets and you and Undead can relate to how often you hear their ads.

                              Just my 2 cents
                              escaperoompittsburghpa.com

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