Last month when I arrived at NAB I noticed something that may have been there in previous years without catching my eye, an NAB merch booth. I’m not a big souvenir guy and I’d already paid an overweight fee for my checked bag being over-filled on my flight in, so I didn’t buy anything. But, I did snap a pic and make a mental note about it because I think there’s a lesson radio can learn from that NAB merch booth. It’s a great example of something radio seems reluctant to do at a time where we desperately need to do it, maximizing every revenue opportunity.

It’s easy to look at the cost we all pay to go to NAB, roughly $200 for the exhibit pass (if you don’t have a code to get it free) and up to a grand for the all-access pass, and say they should just throw in a shirt. But, we all know that simply means the cost of the shirt would be rolled in and bump that price up a couple extra bucks. Personally, I prefer the option where people who care to get a shirt or a hat that says NAB can buy one if they want and the rest of us can have one less thing to carry around all day. Plus, free shirts tend to be the cheaply made shirts that most people end up throwing away instead of wearing. But, from NAB’s standpoint, having a merch booth makes a lot of sense. You’ve got 58,000 attendees, 48% of which are first-time visitors and 22% of which traveled from one of 145 countries other than the United States. That’s a lot of potential $30 shirt sales, not to mention hats, mugs, and so on to pair with booth and registration fees and help cover the cost of a massive event in a city where everyone gets a cut. So, the question is, why don’t more radio stations do this?

Mainly it’s because we believe that radio giving away free station merch is such an established precedent that no one will ever buy station merch. That’s simply not true, especially for the top brands in any market and for unique brands that extend beyond their 60dbu coverage areas. However, like what the NAB did, that station merch has to be higher quality, in-style and not covered in more logos than a Nascar. 

I can’t tell you how many big radio station events I’ve been a part of or attended over the years that attracted large built-in crowds where everyone else was selling merch, the artists, sponsors and vendors. But, yet the station responsible for putting on the event and inviting everyone to the party just got up on stage and threw out a couple cheaply made t-shirts they’d traded from a sponsor. Besides having merch specific to our large station events, every active station should have a merch store on their station websites that sells station merch 24/7/365. Especially if it’s setup in a way where the station turns a profit without having to mess with the logistics of stocking and shipping everything themselves. 

Of course, selling merch is just one example of how radio can maximize our revenue opportunities. A few others include studio rentals, creating a self-checkout aisle, sponsored imaging, studio sponsorships, sponsored video content, sponsored video livestreams, subscription models for stations and shows, audio/video remotes, targeting political and issue revenue and many others.

What do you think? Should radio stations sell their own merch and what are some other missed opportunities to maximize radio revenue? Comment below or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.

Pic by Andy Meadows.