Radio Sales Café

Remotes get a lot of bad press. In my experience, though, a well reasoned remote can achieve many things:

1. Drive footfall for the client. But, critically, there must be a strong rationale for the station's presence. This could be offer-led, a product launch or, maybe, a celebrity appearance.
2. Powerful 'on the street' marketing for your station. (You'll never see Facebook or Twitter at a local event!).
3. Added value for your listener.

Sadly, though, many remotes fail because the sole 'rationale' is making money for the station. I've seen some real shockers...some of which literally drove people away. I once sat in my car and observed as potential customers turned and walked away when subjected to loud music, over enthusiastic promo staff and the risk of being grabbed for an on-air chat.

In summary, use with caution.

The only remotes I agree with are ones that there is a built in audience already. Like a car show, art fair and other major events. Built in audience. In most cases no one turns their car around to stop at a remote unless there is something very major prize to be won or a special guest appearance. Frequency is the key to any successful campaign.  

We Still Do Live Broadcasts and several scheduled for this year. We make it a Special Event for our Client. We have plenty of door prizes to give our listeners incentive to come out to the event. We also make it a week long event with a large schedule of promotional ads leading up to the event. Live Remote Broadcasts will drive traffic into the location if we do our job correctly leading up to the event. Now, if you can get an extra schedule from the Client to go with the Remote Broadcast, that sweetens the pot even more. There have been times when we have suggested a large ad schedule in lieu of the Remote but very seldom has that happened. Every Situation is different but We Enjoy the Live Broadcasts and Our Clients have as well.

I pretty much agree with Diana's L's comment.  Our stations do  what we call "on-location broadcasts" at events where we know there will be people present, or when we are doing a special community event, like collecting coats for kids in the fall.  We make appearances at Christian music concerts, plus county fairs and community festivals.  But we never do the typical 'car dealer remote" that can easily fail.  

Much to the chagrin of many, the remote itself as the reason an advertiser would get results is just not true.  Also, just running more commercials (spots are things you get taken out of your clothes by cleaners) will not increase the ROI either.

Its all about what you say. "Come to the remote and meet our DJ" = FAIL  "come to the remote and everyone that does gets $100 while we are here" maybe.

More "spots" that just say plenty of free parking and locally owned and operated for 25 years = fail.  More commercials with a great call to action...now your talking!

I think the results very much depend on the clients "offer" during the remote.  Can't do a remote at a shop/store, dealership that is offering 10% off if you stop by. That does not draw in shoppers.  The offer needs to be big whether it's  for a "Grand Opening",  "Under New Ownership", "New Menu", charity event, etc.    again, where the client makes a true "event" of the entire day or time of the remote.  The station is merely the mouthpiece to explain the offer or event and get shoppers, etc. to stop by.  Sure, the station should offer SWAG, etc. but the burden should beon the client and the AE should help the client if need to to help or offer ideas.    My personal experience with dealerships  has not been great as most people only go to a dealership when they are truly ready to buy.  Most everyone says they don't want to go on a lot to be badgered by a salesperson.  I think dealerhsips are better airing more spots. 

IN TODAY'S WORLD, REMOTES FOR THE SAKE OF REMOTES ARE PASSE.  THE KEY ELEMENT IS WHAT THE CLIENT EXPECTS THE REMOTE TO DO FOR THIER BUSINESS.  IT IS UP TO US AS REPS TO ESTABLISH THE GUIDELINES AND HELP THE CLIENT TO UNDERSTAND THE LIMITATIONS THAT A REMOTE CAN HAVE. 

LISTENER RESPONSE IS ONLY GOING TO BE AS GOOD AS THE OFFERS THE CLIENT PRESENTS.  B.O.G.O. OR DEEP DISCOUNTS CAN CREATE TRAFFIC...GRAND OPENINGS...REMOTES CAN BE SUCCESSFUL GIVEN THAT THEY ARE PROPERLY PLANNED AND EXECUTED.  TIMING IS ALSO CRITICAL TO SUCCESS.  A REMOTE AT NOON ON A THURSDAY AT A SHOE STORE IS GOING TO FLOP. 

HELP YOUR CLIENTS TO UNDERSTAND THAT IF THEY CHOOSE TO HAVE A REMOTE...EVEN IF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DON'T SHOW UP...THEY WERE THE DOMINANT ADVERTISER ON YOUR STATION  FOR THE TWO OR THREE HOURS YOU WERE ON LOCATION. 

90% OF THE TIME I RECOMMEND THAT MY CLIENTS TAKE THE SAME DOLLARS AND HEAVY UP THE SCHEDULES PRIOR TO THE EVENT RATHER THAN HOSTING A REMOTE. 

GEORGE B.

WCCW RADIO

TRAVERSE CITY, MI

I agree with Diana as well. Built in audiences are great ... Malls, county or state fairs, baseball games.

Other than that, remotes, in my experience, are pretty flat ... with the exception being, if you are able to add a killer element to it and cause related things work well. Have the cops there and do a kids bike inspection is one that worked well for us, you can tie in other elements too, bike stores, insurance company etc.

Another one that is a favorite is Thanksgiving Turkey bowling .. bring a turkey and bowl with it, win prizes for knocking down pins, turkeys go to food bank. Conagra foods (butterball) will join on that.  One last one is 12 days of Christmas in a large mall .. a different store each day and a LOT of tie ins on this one.

But I digress, if you can do something super special, then probably yes go for it. If not, the create a special campaign with the extra spots.

It depends on the station, the client and the reason for the remote.  I like both.  I do remotes on our smooth jazz station and almost always draw a good crowd.  On the other hand -- if it's a small shop, with a chance that it won't draw a crowd, I try to sell more spots.  Both seem to work and, again, it depends on the station, the demographics, the prizes and the client.We most recently did one for a charity at a local upscale store -- and drew about 200 people... Those are FUN.

Yes, they do drive traffic!  The last remote I scheduled was for a new fitness gym. We held an open house remote where most of those who came said they heard about it on the radio during the ramp up or hard it just that day!  One person was even on his way to the local college gym to work out when he heard our live broadcast, he turned around to check it out!  Yes, I would say it works. 

In real estate its location, location, location. In radio remotes, or advertising in general, its offer, offer, offer. I actually just talked a client OUT of a remote because the offer, timing and location were not ideal for a remote situation. These are the times where we are tasked with doing our jobs as "marketing experts" rather than "order takers".

I couldn't agree more... I work with a large, local Real Estate Company that plans a large number of open houses within a several mile area.  They offer great prizes and we go on the air with a 3 hour broadcast.  The manager appears during each break. We make these remotes FUN -- AND, we've sold several homes.  We tie the dates to long holiday weekends, including Thanksgiving.  Living in a resort area, this always draws a crowd.

Yup just as what most folks are saying... it's all about the offer. A high quality offer that's well promoted in advance will draw traffic. And then it's key that the staff that's on site (both the station's and the client's) does right by every fan that walks through the door so that the client gets the benefit of that fan turning into a return customer.

Remotes can work but it has more to do with the client than the station. Typically, when businesses think radio they think remote. We need to retrain them to think about radio as an ongoing advertising medium rather than a one shot deal. Most clients walk away from a remote disappointed and are quickly added to the "I tried radio and it didn't work club."

I find in the small market, remotes can still be very effective. But like others have said, it depends on the event, the draw, and things the station is willing to do.  I converted my last opportunity, howerver, into a Virtual Remote. Went out ahead of time and intereviewed numerous members of the car dealership who was having a 30th anniversary celebration. Turned those into 90 second segments that ran as if we were on location. They were able to more than double the number of message than they would have had with traditional remote cut-ins and the customer was very pleased. Some of the more mic shy people felt much better when they knew our chats could be edited to make them sound smoother and the results seemed to be pretty good. We just had to be careful not to say we were LIVE ON REMOTE but other than that they each sounded pretty much like we were there.

More spots !!!!!

John,

Based solely on my observation of many different station remotes, I fear that your second point is too often a prime motivator for recommending remotes.

Serious question: What are some of the specific situations you've experienced where the remote proved to be better (than an additional spot schedule) at "driv(ing) footfall for the client" and providing "added value for the listener?"  I can't think of any in my limited experience, but would love to hear about others'.  Thanks!

David,

I like this approach, too.  It retains the flavor of a live broadcast, but with the additional benefit of greater frequency of exposure throughout the day (or several days) instead of being limited to 2-3 hours.

Sorry, Joel.  Guilty as charged.  "Spots" just falls off the tongue so naturally...  :>)

Everyone has very valid points here.  When a client asks me about a remote, my first priority is to manage their expectations.  Are they expecting 100 listeners to show up?  Are they expecting to sell xx number of products?  Do they hinge all their advertising efforts on this one remote to deem radio a success or failure?  Remotes have their place for some clients.  A built-in audience solidifies the traffic volume and a huge prize or extremely popular item can help drive traffic to it. However, I consult with my clients, telling them the true value of a remote, in my opinion, is for those 2-hours (or whatever duration), they basically own the airwaves as we lead into each break with the live cut-in, 3x per hour, telling listeners about their business, special, etc. during each :60 interview.  I also tell them that while listeners may not be able to drop what their doing for a 2-hour period, they will see some residual response from it.  With our package, they receive 30 - :30 commercials leading up to the event and 30 - :15 promos promoting the remote plus we give them facebook and web coverage.  One example....a 10a-noon remote for a new fitness center. While not many listeners came by during the remote, that afternoon, they signed up over 20 new clients for long-term contracts!  Used at the right time and place while managing your client's expectations, remotes can be very beneficial!  

We're always doing remotes, we also air promotional ads leading to the event, which I say really works, the others guys in town don't and I've gone to their remotes and watched them fail. Like you say, you have to do the job correctly, I have a client that has schedule remotes through December 2014. "I just love what I do"

A spot schedule is far more effective in targeting customers for your client.  Remotes are ego stroke. Tom Burns

Remotes are great for a one-time surge of business for an advertiser. On their own, they work well if that advertiser has a killer deal or event to go along with it, i.e. Grand Opening, Going-Out-Of-Business Sale, Extreme Clearances, etc. They might generate a negligible number of repeat customers from a remote, so I make sure my clients know that, if they want to build a solid customer base, a long-term ad campaign is the way to go.

I'd guess 90% of the remotes we do are tied into sponsorship packages for our station's quarterly promotions. We generally do 4 big giveaways a year and each sponsorship package includes a remote (where we take registrations for the giveaway at the sponsor's location- WE generate the big draw to their store) and 3 months of advertising. It works out really well!

While carefully chosen remotes have their place, I would just like to pick up on the 'Ad Frequency', 'More Spots' and 'More ads is always better than less ads' argument. If I remember my basic training there is the 'Trinity' - reach, gross rating points, and frequency. I always thought it derogatory to describe radio as a 'frequency medium'. To me, it describes a scattergun approach to marketing with no finesse.  If we must talk about frequency then let's talk about frequency distribution and how many exposures different people experience based on a targeted campaign.

As for remotes - I always put myself in the shoes of the listener and ask 'what's in it for the me' and 'is it worth my shoe leather to wander over'. Undoubtedly, done right, it can be good exposure for the station. But remember, much of the magic that is radio, is in the head of the listener.  Shatter that at your peril!