Use Email Campaigns to Recycle Your Radio Station’s Best Bits

In radio, we have a tendency to air things once and move on. If our listeners miss it, too bad.

But the internet gives us the opportunity to take some of our best content from the past and recycle it. People are still interested in that interview your afternoon drive jock did with Radiohead or John Lennon years ago. By posting this content online, you are giving your listeners more reasons to love your station.

Once you’ve published this compelling content, you’ll want to let listeners know. A great way to do this is to set up an email autoresponder campaign. (Note: We are setting up a campaign to send out links to your “greatest hits.” To set up an automatic campaign for your latest blogposts, use an RSS-to -Email campaign.)

Here’s how an autoresponder campaign works:

1. Triggers

Each autoresponder email campaign is triggered by something. In other words, something happens which sets the email campaign in motion. Possible triggers include:

Subscribe: A listener signs up for your email newsletter.
Click: A listener clicks on a particular link on your website.
Date: If you ask for a date in your email signup form, such as a birthdate, you can trigger emails to be sent on (or before or after) that date.
Purchase: Somebody buys something on your website.

2. Delay

Sometimes, you don’t want an email to go out right away. Autoresponder campaigns allow you to delay an email. If a campaign includes multiple emails to be sent, you can “drip them out” over time. Here are some examples:

Trigger: Listener Subscribes → (immediately) Thank You Email → (wait 2 weeks) Beyonce Interview Email → (wait 2 more weeks) Louie CK Interview Email
Trigger: Potential Advertiser Fills Out Form → (immediately) “Guide to Radio Advertising” Email → (wait 2 weeks) “Understanding Radio Ratings” Email

RELATED: 5 Things Every Radio Station Needs to Close More Sales

3. Emails

After the delay, an email is sent. Your autoresponder campaign can involve a single email or multiple emails spread out over time. The key is that each email should encourage listeners to click a link that will take them back to a particular piece of content on your website. This is a way to get more mileage out of great content from your past.

Measure

Keep an eye on the Open Rate (what percentage of people open your email) and the Click Rate (what percentage of people click on a link in your email), as well as the specific links that they are clicking on. Over time, patterns will emerge. You want to see which content is generating the most interest so you can set up more campaigns around similar content. For example, if your morning show bits outperform your artist interviews, set up more campaigns highlighting morning show bits.

Video Tutorial

Most email service providers enable you to set up autoresponder campaigns (though each one may call them something slightly different). This video will show you how to set up an automated campaign using Mailchimp.