Selling a radio program in Uganda (and elsewhere)

Hello community-oriented media of Uganda,

Developing and selling good radio is not easy, as many of you know, and why investment (even cooperation) in innovation and content development is broadly weak.  Most radios rely on copying or donor funded programmes to lift the bar and appeal to listeners.

We are currently working with several relevant and quality radio programmes, among the best produced in Uganda, and widely broadcast, which have a common problem: no airtime sponsor, locally or nationally.

This means program sustainability and to some degree reach and effectiveness is affected, sometimes terminally.  Most donor funded programmes end when the donor money runs out!  

We also faced this issue whilst being involved with an innovative technology-enabled youth radio program recently.

A key issue is the lack of audience data (numbers) to sell to potential advertisers.

Community radio needs a combination of numbers and a content (and audience) story.  

Ideally a program that is different, relevant and meaningful, that can capture the attention of defined people.

Note, there are motives for organisations to get involved with good radio programmes and reasons / obstacles not to bother.

Radios need to identify these factors and be able to a) reinforce or enhance the motives and b) address/overcome (all) objections where possible.

It also needs to understand the client, its goals, strategies and challenges.

Unfortunately, most programme sponsorship proposals we have seen in Uganda are not convincing in these areas, relying more on hope and goodwill to get the business.

The key questions a proposal needs to ideally address span the following:

• What is the product (program), its purpose & goals?
• Who is the program for, who is it trying to serve and in what ways? Target audiences and desired effects, the changes in knowledge, attitude or behaviour is the programme aiming to achieve.
• What are the features of the program (how it works to reach and impact) including its broadcast time and format, and explain why has it been designed like this.
• How has the program performed to date (if relevant), what evidence do we have? This should include audience survey data if available, a mix of quantitative and qualitative usually helps.  Don't rely on the fact that advertisers just want radio logs to confirm the program/message was played.
• How do we plan to improve the program / better achieve audience goals?  How do we know what is working or not (how are we monitoring and evaluating the programme)?
• What partnership / involvement options are available? The fewer the better.
• Why is radio a good choice for the client?
• Why would the recommended option(s) suit the client - help the client achieve its objectives (which should be known)?  State the benefits, what they mean in real terms. 
• Address identified issues or risks (which may be perceived). Is any other reputable company involved? How we will secure listeners and/or listener engagement. How we improve throughout the programme.
• What investment is required by the client to get these benefits?  Focus on benefits not on low cost or cheapness, as we have seen so many do. A recent proposal targetting a major sponsor offered an advertising 'discount' for a new unique high-quality programme, reflecting that the vendor (media company) lacks confidence in the product.
• Why will this investment be worth-while / produce a pay-off? Is the investment good value / better than alternatives? You may want to use feedback from prior sponsors of the program if appropriate. Is it worth doing compared with other options available to the client?
• Next steps are?  How can we help you decide/answer more questions/make it happen?

The coverage and emphasis needs to vary if client is

A) Government department (or political party)

B) NGO or similar

C) Commercial company

Client objectives (and proposal requirements) are typically more detailed moving from A to C. Governments tend to have the broadest most general goals, like the current Ugandan leader pronouncing to eradicate household poverty (ie sometime, somehow, somewhere.....).

Would you like more information or help to sell your radio programme or approach prospective sponsors / advertisers?

If so you can send us copies of your task and the advertising/sponsorship/partnership proposals you use / have used, for a start. These will be kept confidential and only used for reference and educational purposes.

Crowdfunding and community media

As I have raised before, crowdfunding is a worthwhile strategy to consider for community media to retain independence and pursue the work it wants to do.

Crowdfunding, is defined in Wikipedia as: the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.

There are several crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Gofundme, and they work well, but none can guarantee you a desired result. But unlike with most donors, you can run a campaign at any time, so get the money you need when you need it. And yes, they have been used to fund radio programmes in some parts of the world.

This idea resonates well with community media as ideally they should be collecting 25% or more of their funding (we say 50%) from the community they serve via small donations, memberships and sales. Indeed, their core operational and key staff funding should be from the community (listeners and fans).

Of course this is easier said than done. Some radios here don't believe it is possible, though most have never really tried to do it or executed well. Most don't know how. A few only see public funding in terms of the international community and expat Ugandans. And of course, the Internet (and say e-payments, even credit card) is not a household item in Uganda, with usage only around 15% of the population. But hey, mobile money is very big!

An American community radio station has achieved some success using crowdfunding, refer the story below. It attributes this largely to the culture of the resident (urban) community, in more strongly supporting local business.

Credibility also counts, how much respect does the community and listeners have for your station?

http://thelantern.com/…/power-to-the-people-local-radio-st…/

This initiative won't necessarily work as well in Uganda (or other places).

However it is not so much the method or technology that matters, but more so, the concepts, and how they relate to a community radio in Uganda.

A few things to think about:

• From the perspective of the giver (or most of them), crowdfunding is an investment not a donation.
• Success with this method means thinking that crowdfunding is about building a cohesive funding community, not simply collecting a few gifts (or sugar and bread from a politician). Are you willing to do so? Are you willing to develop and maintain a real relationship with people?
• Being serious about achieving milestones before collecting the money (or some of it). Too many radios here see the money, not the task. Many don't do anywhere near enough to justify the money they get (this applies to NGOs too). Are you willing to change your mindset, how you think and work?
• Think about how you want to make something specific possible in an innovative way. Givers want to invest in new ways, not support general operations. Do you have a radio based program idea to better tackle the growing problem of malaria in Apac District?
• What outputs and outcomes will the giver see, hear and feel? One radio in Arua gives back to the community in terms of sugar and bread. This is misguided, as the benefit provided by a community radio is not in terms of such rewards but programmes that enrich the lives of listeners, affect and impact them in tangible ways, and that are better than the community can reasonably expect. Do you have or plan any such programmes?

Hope these notes have helped you a little. I will cover this topic more in the next edition of Participative Marketing for Local Radio e-news, stay tuned.

All questions and comments welcome.

What is participative marketing?

Participative marketing is a new way of thinking about a timeless concept: marketing is not just something that big corporations do to consumers, but something that everybody does when engaged in purposeful activity. What's new about the idea of participative marketing is that it sets out to weave a strong web of relationships to help bring people together for a common purpose. If it works properly, there's no exploitation, but a filling of mutual needs. "Participative marketing" extends the idea of "relationship marketing" to cover all types of communications and social networks.