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What XM Satellite Radio Should Be Doing at the World Series
On the heals of my post yesterday about Story-crafting I can't resist commenting on XM Satellite Radio's plans to market to baseball fans by passing out coupons good for their portable receivers to all 40,000+ ticket holders to game one of the World Series in Chicago on Saturday.
This is old school marketing where the marketer tells the story and the consumer has to listen and respond in the narrow way as prescribed by the marketer. In fact fans who received the coupons have to buy at least three months of the $12.95/month service to get their radio. Way to build a nice barrier to entry XM. It's passive buy before you try marketing.
What XM Should Do
It's all about sampling the content not the hardware. By simply giving out coupons they don't allow potential customers to do either.
XM should:
-Develop special one station receivers to give to every fan on the way into the game.
-Partner with MLB and Fox to provide the best content possible.
-Do pre game and post game programming to cross promote XM content.
-Produce the game coverage with as much listener participation as possible. Use fan interviews, call-ins, contests, trivia quizzes, etc.
-Allow fans to trade in their receivers for discount coupons good for discounts on hardware and service.
-Consider broadcasting to those receivers that aren't turned in for a week following the game as further promotion of XM content.
A freebie that's got a hidden cost to it is doomed. You're bait and switching potential customers. Those prospects will feel cheated before they even hear the content. Pay per use media needs to be all about sampling. You don't buy a car without test driving it. You don't buy concert tickets to bands you've never heard before. What makes them think people will sign-up for audio content they have never heard before?
A single use sampling of the experience provides true motivation to buy. If customers feel that they can participate in the creation of the consuming experience they will take ownership and passionately evangelize the product, service or experience.
Bask in headlines like these, XM, because that's all you're likely to get out of this promotion.
Satellite Radio Outfit Outfits Baseball Fans
Technorati Tags: B2C | baseball | Chicago | first impressions | game 1 | interactivity | marketing | MLB | Fox | radio | satellite radio | stories | story-crafting | storytelling | subscribe | technology | World Series | XM
October 20, 2005 in audio publication, Award winning publications, Brand enhancement, Current Affairs, Sports, Web/Tech | Permalink
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Comments
You're going to have to pay for service anyway. What's the big deal about paying for three months upfront?
Posted by: Dustin Solis | Oct 20, 2005 8:16:07 PM
I think the idea is to get the product out there. Its sort of like what they do with the car manufacturers. I dont remember where I read this, but I did read that most XM subscribers have more than 1 subscription. I believe its like 60% or so, so maybe thats the goal here...either way it gets the XM name out there.
Posted by: Michael | Oct 20, 2005 8:22:35 PM