Station Builds 3-Step Action Plan as Result of Summit

WHAM-TV attends Summit and makes commitment to database growth and driving advertiser results

I left last year’s Summit with one phrase ringing through my ears, “We should get as much as we give.” When the keynote speaker, Lutz Finger, Director of Data Science and Data Engineering at LinkedIn, said this, it resonated with me and changed the way I looked at running promotions.

The Summit made me realize how we could take steps to quickly transform our promotions strategy to get greater results. If we’re offering a great prize, we should be able to receive some information from our participants in exchange.

Once I had this new mindset, I began to look at everything a bit differently – starting with email opt-ins. Until the Summit, we really hadn’t prioritized growing our email database; we weren’t even including email opt-ins on our registration page.

I left the Summit with an actionable three-step plan:

1. Add a survey question to every promotion we run.
2. Add an email opt-in for the sponsor.
3. Add an email opt-in for our station to grow our contests and promotions database.

Before the Summit, I had sometimes struggled to show the value of promotions to others. While I would explain that promotions received tons of engagement, one of my account executives always pushed back asking, “So what?” Now that we’re finding such valuable data through survey questions and including email opt-ins, I have an answer he can clearly see and present to clients.

Our sales department has been transformed since my trip to the Summit. After putting our new three-step plan into action, they’re seeing big results from their clients as they can now deliver data and qualified leads after a promotion has ended. The sales team has even started to develop custom promotions for advertisers instead of waiting for a sponsored promotion to come up on our calendar.

As far as our promotions department, we’ve seen significant growth in the number of contests we’re running and the revenue we’re generating. Our codeword sweepstakes kicked off a 7 month promotions campaign that netted the station $12,500 in revenue. Upon seeing the success, the advertiser has signed on with a $22,000 sponsorship commitment for the following year dedicated to promotions.

Additionally, my promotions manager and I take time to develop our yearly promotions calendar, so we can identify what our station priorities are and where there’s room to add additional sales promotions. An open spot on the calendar means another opportunity to engage our audience and to collect valuable data for us and for our advertisers.

If you’re considering attending the Second Street Summit, I highly recommend it. I’ve encouraged my digital sales manager, my research director, and my promotions manager to attend. The strategies you’ll learn at the Summit – such as strategies for engaging your audience and exceeding advertiser expectations – can benefit your entire company.