It’s cold here. Well, not here inside the blipfish offices but it’s cold outside – 16 degrees F wind chill, visibility a tenth of a mile, blizzard alert until midnight, 30-40 mph winds and maybe 6 inches of snow throughout the day. I love it. Well, I love it and hate it but that’s a common sentiment among those who live in the Midwest. At any rate, it’s an excellent excuse to stay inside with a hot cup of Sumatra coffee, put the phone on mute, and enjoy the seclusion while I write.

What to write about?

Well, I’ve got a random subject but it does have bearing on the recent topic of press releases and creative ways of taking one’s business to a new level. It’s also about branching out to new markets and creating buzz (and media exposure worth listing in your portfolio).

I had a conversation with a client last night regarding purchasing media (paid placement in tv, radio or print – ads). There’s always a concern about expense and even if you can overcome the costs involved to get a commercial launched one is always left wishing they had better rotation (when the ad runs during a given time frame). So, we ended up talking a little about a way I overcame a cost-issue a few years ago. Let me share my experience with you – you might be very surprised that it can apply to you even if you never thought about radio.

Alright, a few years ago I started an entrepreneurial venture which involved creating and distributing a G-rated, family-friendly entertainment newsletter. The gist of it was that this publication was filled with trivia, crossword puzzles, mazes, cartoons, word-searches – you name it! It was full of entertaining ways to kill time while you read it at a restaurant table, waited in line at a grocery store, sat in a hotel room looking for restaurants within walking distance, or anywhere else a person had time to kill and the business wanted to keep that person happy while they waited.

This publication was free and generated entirely by me, well, except I worked some deals with a couple awesome cartoonists to use their work in exchange for free promotion, but it was entirely a self-run operation. I did it all from home on my computer using available desktop publishing software and a few specialty applications that helped me make mazes and crossword puzzles. It was such a joy to produce each issue.

The upswing is that profit was generated by placing paid advertisements in pre-allocated squares within the publication. I would pound the pavement (every day at first) but eventually word got around and advertisers would contact me. They loved the idea of having their ad printed in an issue which circulated locally, was very family-oriented, and which I ensured that competitive ads were not placed within the same issue. The advertising revenue was the money maker for this freely distributed publication.

However, I eventually wanted to take this whole thing up a notch by reaching more potential advertisers as well as the spread the word to prospective readers and outlets (the businesses that agreed to let me place a stack of these free papers on their counters, tables, or desks). Afterall, the more people that read – the better the advertising would succeed – the more outlets that carried the paper – the further the advertising would reach.

One of my strengths, at the time, was I was a general trivia-geek. I loved trivia. I actually loved counter-trivia more than anything… the trivia behind incorrect trivia that people thought was true but really wasn’t. I was a Mythbuster before there were Mythbusters. So, I wanted to capitalize on the nature of the business (public entertainment with the backend of ad revenue), my enjoyment of trivia (and even a hint of my “stump me – I dare you” attitude), and general fun which the whole subject brings with it.

I also wanted to reach beyond the printed medium… ads and entertainment on paper and do something really entertaining that would give me exposure on all the fronts I mentioned earlier.

I decided to work up a plan for radio exposure – and not a paid radio spot but a reason to be part of the regular (or special) programming – something I wouldn’t pay for directly.

First ideas were pretty much on the money (so to speak). I came up with the idea of contacting a local, major radio station and working with them to set up a morning, extended, drive-time trivia challenge. It’d be a segment interspersed with the normal morning chit-chat between weather, road reports, and paid advertisements (suckers!) and such. The idea would be that the hosts would introduce me and what I do (very mild, unobtrusive plug for the business) and we’d chat about interesting trivia and world facts and that would segue into several call-in portions of the program where listeners would either have to stump me or answer challenging trivia questions (under a short time limit in an attempt to foil the “Googled answers”). If they stumped me or answered my troll-under-the-bridge trivia/riddle correctly they’d win a free lunch (that very day) delivered to their office or home, or lesser prizes would be two dozen donuts delivered to their workplace that Friday morning.

Obviously, it wasn’t much of a sales pitch to the restaurants or bakeries I had on my ad inventory because they loved the idea and knew full well that the constant, repeated mention of “Two dozen delicious donuts from Bob’s Bakery” as a prize was radio airtime gold they couldn’t pay for. They knew immediately that the context it’d be presented, the goodwill, the constant mention and excitement generated by this would be welcome exposure. The donuts were provided free and all I had to pay was the minimal delivery fee (as the donut folks used a third-party service which they couldn’t comp as they did their own products) and the Chinese food restaurant was thrilled to provide an awesome, giant lunch meal from their menu and leave a timeslot open for delivery on the prospective day – all comped and free of charge. (I was prepared to pay for the meal if I had to – a minor marketing expense for the greater cause).

So, we were set. Prizes were guaranteed, in writing, the idea had merit and great appeal to the radio station (fresh, new entertainment for listeners plus prizes), the merchants providing the prizes knew it’d be fantastic for them (plus residual advertising when the delivered the prizes and goodwill generated)… it was looking great!

It didn’t take much to work an arrangement with the station’s program director (who also happened to be the host of the morning program show). He loved it and agreed that, with my flexibility, we could slip it into all sorts of slots of the morning program between 7 and 9am. As a matter of fact, we agreed that it would be equally as simple for me to either come to the studio and sit around (my preferred choice because I love radio stations – used to be a DJ in my younger days) or be available via private phone line… which turned out to be the better choice due to the timing and the fact I operate out of a home-based office. No worries – just a quiet office, a good desk phone, and coffee made me ready to go. I prepped my trivia brain for the last half-hour lightning round when the prizes would be at stake… I wanted to put up a tough, but winnable battle. The first 3/4 of the program were dedicated to wowing and entertaining… the build-up toward the smackdown.

Now, just a reminder here… this is about what it is about: business. However, there’s something special when you run a business with your beliefs and values as a daily part of it. So, it was particularly gratifying to have a situation where I could, essentially, generate a huge amount of exposure over two hours on a major radio station (something you can’t pay for even if you wanted to) but also have good, old fashioned, community fun with.

Now, at the risk of building things up then flying through the subject, I will give the abbreviated version – but it’s not the 2 hour program that’s important here – it’s the lessons learned and ideas generated by my experience that count. The program went off without a hitch. I called-in before 7am, we locked in the private line, established when we’d definitely run my segments (plus the initial interview with announcements of the prizes-to-come), as well as the time slots I could feel free to walk away from the phone, stretch my legs, refill my coffee, etc.

We spent the next couple of hours with myself and the morning crew trading trivia, discussing the things that went off on a tangent (that’s half the fun!), took calls from listeners who wanted to share their trivia or just express their positive reaction to the segment. I even made sure to brush up on my local area trivia and facts because it means a lot to touch on topics near and dear to listener’s hearts – something this radio station really excelled at – local flavor. It was wonderful and the morning hosts were superb at giving sincerely flattering, periodic plugs for the companies that were to provide donuts and lunch – something I knew would bring me great returns and curry favor with them and other, potential advertisers. They knew I was helping them get something special too.

We got to the final slot where I’d listen to them finish up the weather, road reports, and other station-keeping duties and it was time for the lightning round – the call-ins that would qualify for prizes.

The phone lines were packed – every line was occupied and on-hold slots were all full. We knew it was a success!

To cut to the chase, we duked out a few tough trivia questions, got some wild as well as educated guesses, and eventually got some winners that seemed genuinely excited. The hosts were awesome because they even rallied the excitement up by throwing in station tshirts and mugs into the mix – I was thrilled. The listeners who finally won were sure to get to work and tell all their coworkers (and boss) what they did (and some of them were surely listening to the program at their desks, too). The winner of the donut run was also probably a very popular individual at work that Friday – so more goodwill on top of it all.

In the end it was a success and my little paper grew noticeably in distribution as well as advertising. As a matter of fact, it was shortly after that I got to a point where I no longer had to pound the pavement soliciting ad space… advertisers were contacting me or becoming regular, full-time customers and, I believe, the whole thing gained a new, local feel with renewed public perception and awareness – a very favorable one.

The cost to me was a couple hours of time on or near the phone, a little prep, and less than $5 for the delivery – the rest of the prizes were comped entirely and the reports were that the businesses found it positive enough they’d have done it again.

The goodwill, exposure, great excuse for a press release, another item for the media relations resume, and increase in overall business were far beyond the minimal cost and effort involved. Even the radio station agreed it was a great change of pace and received very well by listeners.

Talk about a win-win-win situation all around.