I Got Their Attention...Now What?

[Empressnightshade]

Well,

I have an appointment soon with the ad department of a radio station. They are going to discuss packages with me which is great. However, how do I convince these folks to go into a % of our ticket sales deal instead of plunking down the cold hard cash right there?

Are there any benefits for them?

[Jim Warfield]

A radio station auctioned off some of my tickets every Sat. morning on their auction show. This is how they got paid for my radio spot.
Of course those tickets were only supposed to be valid on Wed. and Thurs., so I also got alot of people showing up on Friday and Saturday night with the auctioned tickets, so then I had the opportunity to be a nice guy and honor the tickets anyway after they had driven 40 miles to get here.
Good thing most road signs don't really HAVE to be READ! (They would have not arrived at all!)

[Spookyfinder]

Gwen,

You can do some of the following:

-Offer them percentage of net profit
-Your a non-profit/charity
-There logo on everything you do: website, print, etc. etc.
-Give them free tickets for staff and some to give-away
-Invite them to the haunt for a live airing


The list goes on but what you really need to do is just work with them, let them know that funding is limited and it's best that the money you have goes into the haunt so that you have a better product to offer the public! Better product = More customers = More money to your charity!!!! Everybody wins! You just need to figure out where to put the radio station into that equation! -Tyler

[Empressnightshade]

GREAT advice from both Jim and Tyler! Thanks!!

[graystone]

Gewn

Not to be harsh but Radio stations are in the business to sell ads. Most are not interested in a partnership or to go into the Haunt business. How would they know how much you really sold? Unless they have an employee there working the ticket sales also. But by them doing this they are out even more money on a gamble that that may or may not recover. Here is the best advice for you. Go in and drive a hard deal. Tell them what you will spend and then ask them what can they do for you with your budget. Shane

[UndeadProd]

The percentage of ticket sales is pretty iffy - but many will deal with trade opportunities (ie exchanging $1,000 worth of ticket passes for $1,000 of air time)

Two things to remember, however:

1) Radio stations will be much more eager to work with you in trade if you are also purchasing air time.

2) The spots you get in trade will, more often than not, not run during prime listening hours. You'll likely get some broad rotators, which means your spot could air anywhere from 10am to 2am.

Also, if you're a new advertiser and a seasonal business - be prepared to pay in advance.

[Empressnightshade]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
I'm walking in there tomorrow, listen to what they have to present to me, tell them I will have to speak to my board (of which I do) and get back to them with a decision.
I did not want to go in this meeting alone since three of them will be sitting there in front of me. But, a woman's gotta do what she's gotta do.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained......

[Spookyfinder]

Gwen,

Good luck sweetheart... I'm crossing fingers and toes for you! ... -Tyler

[Darkblood]

Hi Gwen!
First off...Good Luck!
I read your posts and keep up with what you're going through as I feel like we're in the same boat on a lot of things...
We donate a portion of our profits to the fire dept. that lets us use their pavilion for our show...we are very tight budgeted (what's money?)...and trying to build and grow each year (this will be our 2nd)...
Well, my business partner and I divided the responsibilities last year as we were in a time crunch and got our location late...so he handled advertising...I designed the flyer...and so on...
Well, we got some sponsors for a minimal price they were on the flyer...so we had a small budget and he went to one of the popular stations for a meeting and came back with a great deal...yeah right!
We were too late to get into their program book on "Haunts/Spooky things to do in the area" mailer...but they said they'd put us in this year...but could still be in the radio ad for "Fright Nights in NW Pennsylvania"...they list the area haunts/times...it was like 100 bucks for the month to be mentioned...so not a full commercial...but we'd be played "over and over all throughout the day" for this...well...on Oct. 1st it switched music styles and changed call letters...still same station/owner and then we never heard the commercial for anything...at all! And that station is on where I work 24/7...nobody heard it at my shop or his...
Sooooo...we're not going that route this year...be careful what they promise...this year I have my hand in everything...but we have a lot more time to get this done too!
Good luck and I'll be holding my breath for you!
Go get'em!

Kirk

[spookhaven]

Don't forget about their website. Maybe if you could pay 100-150 to be on the website that would bring you traffic. Or work a deal with them to pay so much for click thrus. Lots of people are going to the web now and listening from there. It could be a cheap plug with giving some tickets away. They give 10 second plugs for giveaways and a mention of the website will drive people to yours.

Just a thought.

[shawnc]

Gwen,

You said there are going to be three people in the meeting? Wow, that's ridiculous! Don't they have anything better to do? Sounds like desperation to me. Use that against them. Maybe if they laid two of the people off they would be able to give their advertisers better rates.

Shawn

[Empressnightshade]

Hi Gwen!
First off...Good Luck!
I read your posts and keep up with what you're going through as I feel like we're in the same boat on a lot of things...
We donate a portion of our profits to the fire dept. that lets us use their pavilion for our show...we are very tight budgeted (what's money?)...and trying to build and grow each year (this will be our 2nd)...
Well, my business partner and I divided the responsibilities last year as we were in a time crunch and got our location late...so he handled advertising...I designed the flyer...and so on...
Well, we got some sponsors for a minimal price they were on the flyer...so we had a small budget and he went to one of the popular stations for a meeting and came back with a great deal...yeah right!
We were too late to get into their program book on "Haunts/Spooky things to do in the area" mailer...but they said they'd put us in this year...but could still be in the radio ad for "Fright Nights in NW Pennsylvania"...they list the area haunts/times...it was like 100 bucks for the month to be mentioned...so not a full commercial...but we'd be played "over and over all throughout the day" for this...well...on Oct. 1st it switched music styles and changed call letters...still same station/owner and then we never heard the commercial for anything...at all! And that station is on where I work 24/7...nobody heard it at my shop or his...
Sooooo...we're not going that route this year...be careful what they promise...this year I have my hand in everything...but we have a lot more time to get this done too!
Good luck and I'll be holding my breath for you!
Go get'em!

Kirk

Kirk, thank you so much for sharing your experience with me. I'll be so glad when we know what money is. I'll be sure to let ya know when I do.

Don't forget about their website. Maybe if you could pay 100-150 to be on the website that would bring you traffic. Or work a deal with them to pay so much for click thrus. Lots of people are going to the web now and listening from there. It could be a cheap plug with giving some tickets away. They give 10 second plugs for giveaways and a mention of the website will drive people to yours.

Just a thought.

And what a thought it is! Ya know, this very well may be the way to go. Thanks!

Gwen,

You said there are going to be three people in the meeting? Wow, that's ridiculous! Don't they have anything better to do? Sounds like desperation to me. Use that against them. Maybe if they laid two of the people off they would be able to give their advertisers better rates.

Shawn

Tell me about it, Shawn. I hope I won't have the feeling I'm on trial. However, attitude is everything. Walking in with my head held high speaks volumes.

[Boni]

Don't go for the cheap air time. You need to be on the morning drive or the afternoon drive. 6 am to 10 am or 2 pm to 6 pm. Any other time is really not worth it even at a discount. Buy 1-2 spots on each time slot per day.

Our local station offers not for profits a 3 for 2 deal, buy 2 get a 3rd free.

We also convinced them to have us in on the morning of the first day of the haunt as special guests. The morning show has a guest everyday, so they were happy to fill a slot with a paying advertiser. We got 10 minutes of back and forth questions, the chance to sell the haunt live, and we gave away 3 sets of free tickets to the 13th caller. Then they put the caller's response on the air. "Great, this is so cool, I love Haunted Houses" We marked those tickets and guess what, that guy brought 4 other couples with him, not bad for getting free time.

The percent of profits is a bad idea in my opinion. What if you do really really well, you want to pay them more than what its really worth.

Verify that they will mention you in any community service spots about things to do on Halloween. Since you are a paying customer. Get your salesguy to do the work. "hey, to close this deal, can you make sure we get in the community calendar air time" then he's off to see the manager and make sure.

You might also see if they will produce the ad for free. That is what our guy did, we went into the sound room, he pulled out his sound effects and we took our pick, I had a script written, he hammed it up with echo's, hearts beating, evil laughter.

[Empressnightshade]

Well, I went to the meeting which was pretty much a get to know me and me get to know them type of thing. They are preparing a proposal and will be setting up a meeting with me soon.

We'll see.....

[Spookyfinder]

Gwen,

That's really good! Your getting the haunt out there and letting them know exactly what you do... the next few days/weeks are going to be very exciting for you! ... Still with my fingers crossed. -Tyler