The first step in any media marketing is to determine prime demographics for your area. While outside research companies could do a survey (read: cost money), informal surveys in which employees guess ages done at ski school desks or ticket windows can identify segments such as 18 to 24, 25 to 49 and 45+ age groups. If the staff records even every tenth person, surveys done twice a season can provide a mountain of valuable data. They might show, for example, that ski school purchasers are markedly different in average age than average ski ticket purchasers or that the average age of snowboarders has increased during the season. This provides the groundwork for efficient, smart media planning and purchases.
The next topic to tackle is determining a geographic target. Is yours a destination area with multi-state draw or a smaller day-trip facility? The draw of smaller areas corresponds to a prime trading region in concentric rings from the facility. The smaller the area, the greater the emphasis on the closest rings.
The same survey methods mentioned above can be used to determine key zip codes and counties that may point to untapped markets or suggest increasing exposure in current zips. Medium-sized facilities can target specific metro-markets and heavy-up presence in selected zips. Smaller areas can rank by zip code or sectional center facility (first three digits of zip).
Fortunately, radio provides the ski marketer with a number of format choices, each geared to reach specific demographic groups, but this also makes choosing the right station more difficult. Many radio stations present themselves as having the greatest number of 25- to 54-year old listeners. However, the savy marketer, now armed with specific demo research, wants 18 to 24’s or 25 to 49’s or 35 to 54’s. Also, plan on looking at station coverage. Does its signal correspond to your prime geographic areas? What portion is missing or wasted?
For 18 to 34’s, formats such as Top 40/Adult Contemporary, Modern Rock and Alternative usually work well. For 35 to 54’s, Solid Gold, Adult Contemporary, Classic Rock and Jazz formats target that audience.
Ski marketers often stretch media budgets using barter deals with the radio stations. But this requires scrutiny.
The better rated a radio station is, the less it needs to consider barter as part of a cash/ barter buy. Most often, those stations accepting 100 percent barter have weaker ratings. They key: work on barter arrangements with stations reaching your prime target audience versus a shotgun approach. But, if your schedule has run early in the week or late at night, you might just as well have handed out the lift ticket vouchers in the parking lot. At the same time, consider what the radio station does with your vouchers. Restricted mid-week lift vouchers don’t hold much value to their clients. As you would expect, barter works best when both parties perceive an equal benefit.
Once you have selected appropriate stations—demographically and geographically—the next task is to plan the media buy. For prime stations, negotiating the buy well before the season starts is the best way to get a good deal. Remember to remind stations that your prime selling season is usually their weakest in demand. Media flights (consecutive runs) can be “pulsed” with a higher number of spots per week for three or four weeks or, with the same budget, placed with lighter weekly frequency throughout the prime season. You’ll also save on spot cost if you are willing to run across broader dayparts such as 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 6 a.m. to midnight, but remember that audience size varies dramatically by daypart and station format.
When mid-season arrives, the question to ask is: What’s working? There are some simple ways to find out. Conducting exit surveys using ski hosts placed near points of entry or exit can identify the strongest stations for your area. This should be done before and after your flights. Additionally, sales data gathered at cash registers (as Radio Shack does it) may show a new pattern to zip codes that could be attributed to the media buys.
Don’t be afraid to make mid-season changes if you’re not satisfied with the research results. Bring it up with station management and/or consider different station line-ups.
Radio is a great medium for reaching skiers and riders. It is targetable, affordable and offers ski areas a multitude of choices. Done right, it could well prove to be your lead media source.
