Depending on where you are, the kids may have been back in school for a few weeks, or they may just be heading back now.
So for this month's poll question, we'd like to know:
What back-to-school promotion(s) did your station do this year?
Looking forward to reading your replies!
One station did a "clear the list" promotion. Teachers are able to post lists of materials/supplies they'd like for their classrooms. We encouraged local teachers to share their lists with us, and then used a portion of sponsor dollars to purchase those items. Typically - and this speaks to the sometimes discouraging state of our schools - it was for things like scissors, or push pins, or watercolor paintbrushes, and the whole list might amount to $120.
Other years, our rock station has done a school supply drive. We'd set up for a day at a retailer where supplies could be purchased, and encouraged listeners to help out, bribed in part by ticket giveaways, or one year a concert flyaway. We did that one for a number of years until interest faded, but in time may bring it back 'cause it was a way to put a white hat on a black t-shirt kind of station.
The station I sell for has a series of Back To School messages centering in on things you can do to achieve success in your education as well as suggestions on preventing the sharing of a virus or other ailment. The messages are tagged with up to 5 business names. Clients got 30 name mentions for $100.
These are good especially for those businesses that understand the importance of being a part of the community or simply want their name everywhere yu turn (we call it lifestyle advertising because their name appears in activities the average family participates in). Most buyers are doctors, construction, general manufacturing and such. We try to go for non-traditional advertisers for these packages. We got about 30 which is not huge but that's $3,000 that would never get touched via typical spot buys. And we only have to clear 180 units so it's not too cluttered with these spots.
