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We do a special drive once a year geared only to New Members. it’s our June Member Day and we offer a challenge grant and a gift if they join at any level. Usually it’s a tshirt. With the opportunity to help unlock a large challenge and a gift we get a good response. The messaging is basically the same as every other drive, the same cases as always, but by calling out non-members it really helps. We usually see a ton of lapsed people come back too. I think by making it an event targeted only to non-members they realize today is THE DAY to make a difference because it’s just for them.
Hello Sabrina. I’m at an AAA station and we do 4 drives a year, each one runs different days. 2 are about a week, the other 1 for a few days, and 1 a one-day drive. Each year they can change the days they run based on outside factors (like holidays, or overlap with other station events that we do like our annual holiday concert in December.) On the one hand every year is unpredictable, even if we always did drives at the same time. And some years we see great results on a particular day but the next year that day fizzles. The one thing we sometimes see regularly is better results when it rains. Good weather = low donations. It will be helpful to learn how to boost things, especially on the fly. We have gotten on board with more emails. The old thought was we were bothering people with too many emails, but now we see emailing daily, and twice a day inthe final 2 days, really does have a positive impact.
Looking forward to working with you and the other co-horts in this group.
Cheers,
Kathleen Allard
WFUV Membership DirectorGreat point, Sonsera. Courses like this give us tried and true tools to use for drives, but then life gets in the way and leave us wondering if we need to change up how we do things, be it a pandemic, recession, national news breaks, etc. Will be very helpful to get advice on this, along with the basics. Thanks for mentioning your concern, it’s a very valid one for the year ahead.
Cheers,
Kathleen Allard WFUVHi Lauren. I’m also at an AAA music station and still feel like a newbie when it comes to drives. I love sessions like this but I think sometimes that AAA is a different animal and a bit looser at times with pitching. I’m hoping this seminar gives me some solid info and tools to use to keep things steady, especially during those quiet times when the phones don’t ring and we all start to panic!
Cheers!
Kathleen AllardHi. I’m Kathleen Allard, Membership Director at WFUV public radio in NYC (AAA format)
I’ve been here for 4 years, and prior to that was in membership at WNET (NYC PBS station) for 12 years. I have become more involved with drives while working in my current job though, and radio is so different than television, so I’m hoping this course can help me work more effectively in my role, and with others at the station.
My biggest pain point is not fully understanding how all the different departments work during a live drive, and what can and can’t be done to “pivot” when we need to turn things around. I’m looking for tools and tips to learn how to “pivot” in the moment without tipping the boat.
I hope to get a better sense of what elements make the most successful drives. Is it the theme? Challenges? Hosts? Pairs? Are producers really needed? Covid changed how we operate and some folks don’t want to go back to the traditional ways. I’m open to change, but at what point do we decide if the new ways are better (solo pitching), or if we need to go back to old ways (pairs and producer)?
Looking forward to meeting everyone and finding building my toolkit in time for Fall!
