Objective
Solve a communications challenge for client with a need to communicate with its high-profile and time-pressed audience of public health officials, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The association client approached Riester Influence wanting to boost the visibility of its program content among its members. At the time, one of the association’s primary channels of communication with its membership was email newsletters, meaning the organization’s members, public health officials, had to try to find time to read available content.
They presented three communications challenges:
- The association produces high volumes of content and programming, such as blog articles and white papers, but was finding low engagement.
- On top of being overwhelmed with the pandemic crisis response, the association’s internal staff felt their hard work did not reach the level of recognition it warranted among association members, fellow staff, and industry colleagues.
- The news media was hyper-focused on select public health stories, which often did not include the more nuanced and detailed perspectives of the association’s research and in-house experts.
Strategy
Riester Influence proposed a daily, 5-minute audio newscast as the medium to deliver the association’s news in a mobile, on-demand format.
Results
The broadcast professionals at Riester Influence have conducted and produced more than 1,400 interviews and reported more than 2,850 news stories to date.
Since its launch, the newscast has grown in both listenership and reputation. As of its first anniversary on air, Influence has produced 470 newscasts [as of July 28th, 2023] (Monday through Friday) with over 150,000 listeners.
The average monthly listenership has nearly doubled since its launch. In 2021, the newscast averaged 3,442 listeners per month. In 2023, the show averaged 6,375 listeners per month, increasing month over month, with the most recent month recording its highest total ever, with more than 9,000 listeners per month logged in June 2023.
Further, this growth has been achieved without advertising. The association’s budget is for production alone, with growth coming from listener referrals, guest promotion, and social media.
In addition, the newscast has grown the association’s reputation and influence in its other efforts, such as in media channels; its media relations staff find quotes from the show in publications such as Politico, showing their target reporters are listening to the show. The newscast also has addressed the challenge of its low newsletter engagement. Now, the two platforms drive interest in each other, with the client reporting growth in email newsletter clicks.