Turning Ideas into Radio Results: Learning Waves Certificate in Digital Sales for Radio.
The Certificate in Digital Sales for Radio Course is carving the path in the ever-changing digital world within radio. This course offers a structured approach to selling digital in commercial radio in Ireland. It provides up-to-date statistics and information on the digital landscape for radio and shares best practice tactics on how to package, pitch and price your various digital offerings with template plans shared throughout.
In 2022, Learning Waves developed the programme with digital expert, Joanne Sweeney from the Digital Training Institute. Joanne is a published author, and her first title looks at the use of social media by law enforcement agencies. She is a writer for Social Media Examiner, the world’s largest social media website. She hosts a weekly podcast called JSB Talks Digital and a weekly vlog of the same name. She also delivers webinars on Big Marker, the world’s largest webinar community.
Joanne has been working with the network since 2012 and all training programmes are designed to have a practical application and to deliver results for those attending her training programmes - the Certificate in Digital Sales for Radio was no different.
At the end of the second Certificate in Digital Sales for Radio Course that was delivered in 2023, Joanne, along with Learning Waves completed a case study to determine the impact of the course on those attending and the organisations they worked for. 15 radio professionals from sales, digital content and programming, across 7 radio stations, completed the programme and case study looks at the impact of the course on 3 of those radio stations. The results of the programme are detailed below.
Increased Revenue
This course has been the catalyst in creating new projects across participating stations. Not only does the course provide the tools to create new sales strategies, but support it also provides tools in pitching these ideas to attendees’ respective teams. This resulted in the generation of revenue worth €50,000 across the 7 participating radio stations.
Podcast Creation
As part of thecourse, attendees explore a variety of digital offerings such as podcasts. Margaret Kenny, WLR FM, created a new podcast during this course, ‘I do. Do you?’ The WLR Wedding Podcast. This was a new podcast launched with each episode sponsored by a paying advertiser. This was a new digital offering created during the Certificate in Digital Sales Course. Margaret’s goal for this podcast was to bring on clients that normally would not advertise, for example, solopreneurs or SMEs. She wanted to achieve this goal with this podcast. It was a success.
“I wanted to share my mid-term podcast stats with you. I couldn’t have done it without Learning Waves so thank you! The results of the podcast speak for themselves - Total Listens: 1,959. Total Users: 1,191.” Margaret Kenny, Podcast Producer, WLR FM.
This course gave Margaret the tools to develop the idea of her podcast and create a powerful pitch to the team at WLR FM. Although this form of podcast was a new idea for WLR FM, the project created a new stream of revenue for the station.
“Margaret Kenny completed this course and it had far reaching benefits, one being that the series of podcasts that she produced did really well. It was new for us. We’ve managed to price them properly and we’re hoping to do another series now on buying, building a house and creating a home. So, it worked really well. It has practical benefits for us that we’ve monetised pretty much straight away.” Des Whelan, Managing Director, WLR FM.
Selling Digital
This course has helped attendees create the tools to sell digital within their own stations. One tool that is essential in creating advertising revenue is a Digital Rate Card. During the course, Joanne guided attendees in creating this document, which is now used to pitch their ideas to the teams at their respective stations. This tool has longevity and can be used for future projects after the course ends.
“Despite being in radio sales for over a decade, I knew I needed to upskill as the sector has transformed. I knew it was going to be tough at the beginning as my role doesn’t directly link to being on social media. I now have a better understanding of selling digital and feel more confident because we have developed a Digital Rate Card for our station. I prepared a campaign pitched to sell digital assets and this is now a template I can use for other existing and potential clients.” Yvonne Kelly, Advertising Sales Executive, Galway Bay FM.
To find out more about the Certificate in Digital Sales for Radio and how it can benefit you in 2024 click here. Hear some of the feedback from participants and station managers below.