Brief summary of activity
The participants create a plan / strategy for promoting their own show. This exercise is a good reason to talk about potential listeners, target groups and outreach strategies.
Aim of the activity
Discussing media consumption habits and to learn more about promotional tools.
Expected Outcomes
The participants learn more about media consumption habits and the listening habits of the audience – they will be able to plan the promotion of their shows / events. The trainees will also get acquainted with various (free) ways and tools of promotion.
Experience and skills required
No special experience required though having a basic knowledge about social media tools is an advantage.
Infrastructure, setting, resources
No special infrastructure is needed, only a comfortable training room.
Length
30 minutes.
Material
Short instructions for the players on paper cards. The cards contain the name of the target groups (for example: local inhabitants of a small settlement, 18-26 years old young adults from a big city, people with disabilities, university students, hard rock music fans, etc.)
How the activity should take place
The trainer gives paper cards that contain the names of target groups to the participants (2-3 persons can work together).
Their task is finding ways to reach the given target groups. The trainees have 15 minutes to list a few ways, methods, tools in order to reach the potential listeners.
Examples for target groups – local inhabitants of a small settlement, 18-26 years old young adults from a big city, disabled people, university students, etc.
Every group presents the strategy and the tools of promotion in plenary in 5 minutes, then the whole group can add what they think about the outreach strategy – the trainer moderates the discussion.
Recommended max. number of participants and trainees to trainers ratio
1 trainer for 8 or 10 trainees.
Risk and possible adaptation
It might happen that the trainer does not know all the promotional tools and applications that are mentioned by the trainees but it is a good opportunity to exchange experiences. This exercise in this way does not work with people with learning difficulties.
Variations
In case of people with learning difficulties try to find together parallel platforms where the radio show can be promoted. Create a promotion with a photograph and a short text to facebook – appoint 1-2 trainees from the group who is responsible for taking a photograph, other 1-2 trainees who are responsible for scripting a promotional text, 1 who edits and 1 who uploads it, etc. Work together as an editorial team.
Tips for Trainers
Since the online platform tools and applications change very rapidly it might happen that the trainer does not know all the mentioned applications and promotional tools. Let the participants share their ideas with each other and list new ideas.
Scheduling
In the very last phase of a training.