Bill Scott “I Want More Money”

I Want More Money

I think most of us would agree that more money is a good thing.  Rich or poor, it’s good to have money.

I often hear from folks in radio that they want to increase their goal for their next pledge drive.  For some it’s 10% every six months, others it’s 20% and sometimes more.

I am sure most stations really do need more money to operate on and if you are like me a visionary, you can always find ways to use more money to impact the community where you live.  When I hear someone say, we have enough for our station, I often pause and think, well that’s great, you are provided for, but I also wonder if your vision is big enough?  I suppose only they can answer that question.

So back to needing more money for your next pledge drive.  You don’t just get more because you want more.  I would ask a couple of questions.  1.)  Have you increased your cume?  As your listenership grows and you connect with that new audience, it will yield more donations for your station.  2.)  Have you done more for the community?  You have to be worth more to get more.  I’ve seen stations where they do very little outside of their radio station and that simply will not yield more donations.  3.)  What are you doing to build community among your listeners?  Music can be found anywhere.  I have music on my phone. and with my Apple account I can download unlimited music for just $10 a month.  I also stream music from my phone.  If people want music they will go and build their own playlist.  The one thing they won’t find while building a playlist through Apple or Spotify is community and personality. 

I’ll be honest if you are not doing these three things, you’ll soon hit the ceiling for your fundraising if you haven’t already.  You might be saying, Bill our cume has gone through the roof and yet money is still hard to raise.  If you are not doing number 2 and 3 on my list your cume is worth very little.  If you have not connected with your cume and built community with them, don’t expect them to give.  Cume without connection will not yield more donations, you just have a lot of people listening that are not sold on your product.

The quote of the day from the recent CMB is this, “All the ratings gimmickry in the world can’t beat a radio station that’s emotionally connected to its listeners.”  Cume without this equals failure, especially if you are a non-non-profit radio station.

Bill Scott – Chief Content Officer, Vidare Creative / www.VidareCreative.com. Contact Bill at bill@vidarecreative.com