“There are many ways to maximize audience reach and impressions on radio,” says Joan Carrese of zcomm.
When pitching Radio News Releases and PSAs, customize your story to each market. “zcomm researches and includes statistics in pitches to localize stories and, whenever possible, uses a local spokesperson to add a credible, community angle,” adds Carrese. Stations across the country prefer stories with a local newshook.
If you are targeting multi-cultural demographics, such as the Hispanic audience, produce both and English and Spanish language release for stations in markets with large Hispanic populations. And Spanish language outlets are pitched less than general market outlets, so they are more receptive to news releases, interviews, PSAs, podcasts and radio contests.
For Radio Tours, send an audio clip of a dynamic spokesperson with a written pitch and when appropriate make sure the stations are streaming your interview on their website for value added. Take advantage of a great spokesperson and produce a series of audio Podcasts about your message to download on aggregators on the web, in addition to a client’s website.
Finally, remember to personally pitch often and pitch well. “A short, informative and newsworthy personal call and email increase the odds that a media contact will like your message and say yes,” says Carrese.