Evolving Membership @ Public Media Stations

I want to further the conversation @mkramer has started, which is significant. The cash cow for local stations has been the almighty pledge drive — a phrase that’s become antiquated, because very few people “pledge” to give anymore. They fork over they’re credit card info and that money goes straight to the bank in a couple of minutes. And if your station is still relying primarily on “The Drive” for revenue, you need to get a different general manager — because you should always be generating revenue at your station, over the air, online and by growing the number of your Sustainers every month.

So let’s unpack some of Melody’s ideas, which are very much rooted in the barter economy models of young western European towns and villages — and even in the American West, where you could trade your labor for room and board.

Offering up a skill to the station, like coding or graphic design.

For a station of a certain size — I’m thinking of a rural or small NPR station — this could be a game changer. If the station manager has the trust of the community, this could even be an annual affair where the station convenes the local coding brain trust to identify ways in which the station’s digital presence could be improved. Then they’d have to commit to the one thing they’d do to make it happen.

What about a larger station, a midsized or large NPR affiliate?

The advantage of a larger station is that — at least in theory — they can incubate these types of experiments on a small scale within a department. We do that in our development department at Alaska Public Media as we explore ways for people to be more involved in our organization beyond answering phones for “The Drive”.

The other thing a larger station can do is partner with an organization that may be below the station’s weight class in terms of budget and scale — but has desirable skills or access to a demographic. WDET in Detroit has a long history of working with local non profits and coders to create infographics and interactive elements — and always with an eye towards accomplishing a very specific goal or answering a certain question. I think if the station is clear about what it’s trying to accomplish, people will galvanize behind it.

Events — oy yoy yoy

I’m a fan of events. I look at them as marketing that makes money, especially for stations that put no money into a marketing budget, but expect some kind of financial return on their events.

If you talk to our peers without towers who rely almost entirely on events to generate the bulk of their revenue, events are a giant headache. They look at them the same way some of us look at “The Drive”.

Public Radio East tried something that Melody addressed in her post — what if people could pledge to do something for the community? In a membership campaign, Public Radio East told people if they called in to become members, the station would match each dollar with a bag of oyster shells as part of a reef revitalization project in partnership with a local group. And they did what Melody has identified as significant — they then went back to those people who gave and invited to participate in rebuilding the reef.

It was an agreed upon community need. It was relevant — and it told members that the station was the place to go to in order to get involved in the solution. The crass term for it is cause marketing — but I’m not that cynical. I think public media’s mission elevates us beyond pure marketing and into the realm of involving our communities to address a need or aspiration.

Stations Are Out There

Lots of stations are experimenting with these ideas. I’ve mentioned a few. “The Drive” is still going to be the cash cow in the mean time — but I think Melody is absolutely right that how people think about their involvement with an institutions — any institution — is changing. We all want to be a part of the solution.