Communication- Marketing

Communication- Marketing

Marketing Opportunities

Most community broadcasters have been involved in marketing inan ad hoc way. That is, they’ve been doing it, but not in a plannedor strategic way.

So how can community broadcasters approach marketing more effectively? Byensuring that every marketing opportunity is carefully thought out in advanceand undertaken in an integrated fashion.

There is a range of opportunities available, including marketingthrough:

developing and promoting a clear identity and brand
word of mouth (viral marketing)
developing and implementing media campaigns
developing and ‘pitching’ media stories
sending out media releases
on-air promotion
competitions (give-aways)
advertising
publicity stunts
online marketing, including e-newsletters
developing networks and partnerships
developing and using promotional materials (brochures, merchandise,stickers, etc.)
planning and staging events
preparing and making presentations at community, business andgovernment events.

Each of these opportunities may, or may not, be relevant to a particular station,depending on its size, audience, resources and objectives. For this reason,one of the first tasks when developing a marketing plan will be to undertakesome detailed market research to clearly identify your objectives and availableresources. But before we do this, we’ll explore each of the marketing opportunitieslisted above in detail.

Branding and Identity

Developing a recognisable brand is important for any organisation.Over time, members of the public come to associate specific ideas,emotions, products and services with an organisation, because ofthe way it has developed and marketed itself.

Branding is what makes MacDonald’s food different than just a normalhamburger, even though all they basically do is provide hamburgers. Brandingis also what ensures we have a specific response (hopefully positive) to well-knownorganisations, such as the Red Cross or Amnesty International.

Branding is the foundation of marketing and is inseparable from businessstrategy. It is much more than putting a fancy label or logo on a product.

Nowadays, a corporation, law firm, university, museum, hospital, and even acountry, person or celebrity can be considered as a brand. So while this may bea slightly uncomfortable idea in the community sector, community radio stationscan also be considered to be a brand.

So what is brand? Brand is a combination of attributes, communicated through aname, or a symbol, that influences a thought-process in the mind of an audience,which creates value.

As branding is deeply anchored in psycho-sociology, it takes into account bothtangible and intangible attributes, that is, functional and emotional responses.

When someone encounters a brand, they immediately recall the attributespromoted through the brand.

The value of a brand resides, for the audience, in the promise that the productor service will deliver. Clearly, a brand can invoke memories of good or badexperiences. The audience would avoid purchasing a brand or from associatingwith that organisation if the brand evoked a bad experience.

A community station needs to have a clear brand that is reinforced through on-aircontent, a logo and set of standard colours and key messages. The goal ofstation branding is that community members will associate specific values (suchas honesty, integrity, community spirit or entertainment) with the station. Thisbrand should be unique, clear and recognisable to the public, and reinforcedthrough consistent use.

For example, Triple R in Melbourne has had the same logo for many years (to view the logo, go to It is seen as stickers on the back of cars, on posters of events associated with the station and on all the station’s promotional materials. People in Melbourne have come to know and love this symbol/logo because they akin it to a station they are familiar with and listen to.

To come up with your brand, you will need to develop:

A visual identity: This usually consists of a logo, a colour scheme and a font or set of fonts that are used in all printed and online material, including signage. Having a clearly identifiable logo (which could include the station’s call sign or on air ID) and consistent visual identity, will make it easy for listeners and potential supporters to recognise the station’s presence at events and will make them pay attention to any material they see that contains this logo. For an example of an effective community radio station logo, visit Radio 4EB’s website at
Consistent key messages: These messages should sum up what the radio station offers listeners, the community and financial supporters (such as sponsors, members etc.). Whether you want to promote the station as ‘Sydney’s most exciting mix of jazz and blues’ or ‘the station that listens to the voices of our community’, choose a series of short key messages that sum up the station and use these regularly and consistently on-air. You should also use these in printed promotional material and on the website. Many organisations use the key message as part of their logo, or in association with their logo.

Media Campaigns

A media campaign is when an organisation or business putsconsiderable thought and effort into using the general media topromote their product, an event or their organisation.

For a community radio station, a media campaign might be used topromote wider interest in an event such as a radiothon, to encourage moremembers or subscribers, or to raise the station profile in the community.

In developing a media campaign, you need to know what media is available inyour area. This could include local and regional media outlets, such as radiostations, newspapers and other regular publications and TV stations, the majorstate-wide outlets, other community radio stations and even other organisationsthat have hardcopy and electronic newsletters.

Each of these media outlets will target different audiences, which will influencethe types of stories they tend to run. You need to understand their targetaudience and reach, and understand the kinds of stories they are interested in.

It’s not worth developing a story that reaches the wrong audience, nor is it worthdeveloping a story if the organisation has no interest in running with it.

It also means that you will need to understand the different media – press,television, radio and internet – and how they operate. Look at what types ofstories they run and see if there are particular programs or sections that may beappropriate - for example, community service pages or media programs ratherthan general news.

You also need to consider:

which section of the public/community would be interested in your event,program or activity
which local media usually caters for your community and how you coulduse this media to promote your event, program or activity
whether you already have an established relationship with the mediayou can draw upon (or whether one exists through a board member, staffmember or volunteer)
whether there is something interesting about your event, program oractivity that will make it attractive to the media
whether you can provide interviews, images or something exciting formedia outlets to film or photograph

Based on this analysis, you can develop clear ideas about which media you will use for your campaign and the types of stories, media releases, photo opportunities, etc. you will offer each media outlet.

Sometimes it is best to use a “blanket” approach and inform all sectors of the media at the same time. This is the approach to adopt if you feel your story has wide general appeal. At other times, you may want to be more strategic, and provide parts of the whole story to different media outlets at different times.

Selected media coverage is the alternative to a general release. There are a couple of considerations in deciding whether to use this approach: first, the appeal of your story (i.e. is it for local interest only?), and secondly, even with a strong story with wide appeal, giving your story exclusively to a media contact or ally is more likely to get you coverage.

Networks and Partnerships

Developing local community networks and partnerships withbusiness and government can result in some excellent promotionalopportunities for a community radio station.

You can use their marketing to promote your own activities.

For instance, they may:

be prepared to link to your website from theirs
have a magazine, newsletter, e-newsletter or website that could be usedto promote the station
have regular functions or gatherings where you could deliver presentationsor provide information on the station
be prepared to work with you collaboratively on marketing strategies andpromotional activities

When developing new partnerships with the community, considerthe following questions:

How will you approach each organisation? Will you use an existing contact,send them a letter, arrange a meeting, etc.? Will you have a formal proposalfor them, or provide them with some information about the station and itsgoals and objectives?
What support will you be seeking from them?
What support can you offer them? This might be discounted on-airpromotions, free newsletter articles, space on your community noticeboard,or free promotion of their event/s.
How will you maintain this relationship? This could include regularmeetings, sharing information in an informal way via email, or developinga formal partnership with a Memorandum of Understanding.

It is important that you see a partnership as an ongoing relationship whichneeds nurturing and ongoing development. It should be a priority to supportpartners by attending their events, promoting their activities and generallytreating them with the same attention which you would like to be getting fromthem. Too often, community radio stations have made the mistake of treatingpartners as supporters. They may support the station but a partnership impliesthat an equal exchange.

For further resources and training on community radio governance visit or email