Roger Gomoll's New Macro/Micro Strategy for PledgeDrives
     During pledge drives, public radio stations behave a lot like commercial radio stations. The main difference is that the public radio pledge drives have only one commercial sponsor that delivers its message about 4 times per hour in 4-minute chunks, and that sponsor is the station's membership department. 
     "Macro" strategy is about what is said during the drive. This is where the General Manager and Development Director choose what messages effectively communicate the mission and values of the station. Short, 30-second case points are determined in advance to describe what the station does, and its relationship with its listeners. These messages are paired with "closes," which are essentially sales pitches. Three or 4 pair of case and close messages might add up a 4 to 6 minutes. Just like commercial messages for a for-profit station, these points must be included in a break.
     "Micro" strategy is about how these points are communicated in each individual break during the drive. It's formatics. Storytelling. It's the connection made between the announcer and the listener. This is where the Program Director can help the drive succeed. And it's where the skills of your on-air talent are especially valuable to seamlessly fold in all the elements of a good break - transitions, time/temp, intros, forward promotes, and of course, the pledge messages. (1/3/12)