Monetizing your mobile future

Is radio really ready to take hold of its future? As we approach 2011, many radio stations are still behind the game when it comes to their mobile future and the last thing I want is to see are Christian radio stations get behind in the mobile world and watching potential revenue go down the drain. It’s important for radio to analyze your future in the mobile market and what you need to get there.

This year, in the US, mobile advertising is said to be approaching $800 million dollars. By the end of next year it will be over $1 bilion dollars and by the year 2015 a whopping $5 Billion dollars. If you are not thinking about how this will affect radio, then we have a serious issue. Having a marketing plan for your digital assets, with a heavy focus on mobile, is not an option but a real necessity. Moving forward with your 2011 mobile marketing plan, think through these questions:

1) What do you currently have? (Apps, mobile, website)

2) What would you like to have?

3) What does your current budget look like in creating new digital assets?

4) If you are short on funds, how can you come up with a budget? Maybe a digital partner?

5) How will you monetize your new digital assets? Pricing?

By asking yourself these questions, you should be able to go into the new year with specific goals to execute in the mobile world. A simple app will not do. For about a $1,000 though, a new basic app could be created for you to be able to stream your station, connect with important websites and social media sites and have an ad management system to monetize the application. Its important to plan out your goals and surround yourself with the right people to make sure that the project gets done in a timely manner. Too many stations will try to find the cheap way out by hiring someone internally, or a friend, and then have to wait six months to complete the task they first requested.

Now the biggest push back that I receive from stations in this quest is money. This should no longer be the case, as there are too many businesses out there that would be willing to help your station by up fronting the needed budget (around $2,000-$5,000) to create a custom app for both the iPhone and Android. By doing that, you would agree to give them free banner ads on your new app for the next six months at no cost. Trust me, it will work. A major radio station in a large market partnered with a company that was willing to provide $10,000 to develop custom apps (very nice custom apps), if they would simply put their logo up in the corner as a partner. If you need an app, then you should be willing to do the same. So start asking.

Now you have your app and maybe even a mobile website, but you may not be sure how you are going to make any money from it. That’s okay! It’s time to train your underwriters. Get some outside help from digital consultants. As a digital consultant, I spend time following advertising trends and costs to help you set up a realistic pricing sheet for your partners and how to execute on it. If your station does not have underwriters, then look for alternative solutions such as commission only companies that will monetize your apps for 30 percent of the profits.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record when it comes to radio stations executing on developing a mobile strategy, but its becoming a necessary move in the digital world we live in, and I don’t want to see any radio station be left behind. So get moving and start planning.