So much has been written about how difficult it is to find advertisers for progressive talk radio, and the viability of advertising on stations carrying the format. KPOJ in Portland, one of the most successful and well-run stations carrying the format, has shown that it can indeed be done, and the station is featured in an article for industry trade publication Advertising Age due to a rather unique advertising strategy, utilizing 'keywords' and advertising on the station's website and combining it with on-air advertising:
Type the word "bread" into a search on KPOJ's website, and you'll be instantly directed to an ad for Dave's Killer Bread, a cleverly named local bakery from a local ex-con. 
For paid search, advertisers normally turn to the likes of Google or Microsoft for buying time with a radio station or TV network, but for Paul Miraldi, Clear Channel's VP-marketing, the tactic was a new way to show off the unexpected results of an online video his Portland team had taken of the baker.
"He'd been trying to get on-air for awhile, but I don't think he knew the power of radio," Mr. Miraldi said. "So we edited down a piece, they liked what they saw, we put it on the site and watched Dave's Killer Bread rake in the dough."
Shameless puns aside, Dave's Killer Bread did see a 23% sales lift after the campaign went live. But paid search is just one of the online marketing tactics Clear Channel is employing for local radio stations and their uncertain status in a viral marketing media climate.
And they say liberal talk radio is advertiser unfriendly. Needless to say, it can and does work.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
KPOJ rolling in the dough
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Eureka, CA 
2 comments:
I really hope all progressive stations take this idea and run with it! Ya can't just sit there and hope the ads come to you, no matter how good the ratings are. Actually, rating be damned, it's the REVENUE that matters! WQAM in Miami, even before they picked up Neil Rogers in Dec. of 1997, was the #1 ad biller in that marker, despite being (I think!) not even in the top 10 overall, but their men 18-whatever demo was. So com'on progressive stations! Do like KPOJ PLEASE!
This is a great little post, ltr. Concrete proof that an advertising campaign on a progressive talk radio station works (a 23% jump in sales) is exactly what we need to counteract the vague untruth that progressive talk can't make money. Concrete figures about the rise in ratings when stations go to progressive talk, and the decline when they flip away, are just as important.
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