Help Sirius XM Boost It's Sales!

[SSF]

If you were able to sit down with the Executives at Sirius XM and present them with your own ideas on how to best promote the new company what would you suggest? In order for this new company to survive it needs to reduce cost and increase sales. I think it's safe to say that everyone here wants to see it thrive and succeed. This forum is filled with fans of Satellite Radio, Lifetime Subscribers, Investors, Music Enthusiasts, Geeks & Gadget Lovers, Technophiles, Stern Fans, Bubba Fans, etc, etc. We love what we have and want to enjoy it for many years to come. It's time to shake things up at Corporate and get involved.


:bigthumbup:


One of my proposals would be to offer a 30 day trial of the Premium Internet Radio to all new subscribers. This would draw attention to an often overlooked feature that is actually one of Sirius' best products.

Another would be to follow suit with the cell phone companies and offer some accessory bundle promotions. If I could buy a new receiver with the offer of a home and car dock and save $20 I would be more inclined to buy the bundle. Or maybe I could buy a screen protector kit, a leather carrying case and one dock for a discount. Like ccell phone companies they could offer drastic discounts on outdated merchandise like they do with last years Bluetooth headsets.

I have not seen a television ad for the company yet. If one exists it's not being broadcasted enough. I think commercials boasting the same things mentioned during the FCC battle, that the new Sirius XM is a service like iTunes, HD Radio, Satellite TV, the Intnernet, etc - that it could potentially draw a different, younger demographic. Sirius XM is hip but it's not marketing itself in a reflecting manner. Howard is the man but you can't rely on talent alone to sell the new company. You need to boast about the talent AND how cool and familiar the technology is as well. Not too mention start boasting about HOW LARGE THE COMBINED MUSIC CATALOG IS COMPARED TO ITUNES, RHAPSODY, ETC! If they let teenagers know that you can store 8GB of your personal MP3 library in addition to saving Loved Songs and recording blocks of music they will be demanding Mom & Dad to get them an SL2.

So that's my two-cents on what I think could help Sirius XM draw attention, a younger audinece and wider national base, boost interest and make everyone realize what we knew all along - that Satellite Radio is far superior to other mediums available and as they add additional services on top of the TV and GPS, it will become a real force in the multimedia marketplace.

So get those creative juices flowing and tell Sirius XM how you think they can improve and draw more subscribers!

- Sirisuperfan

 

[Sirius Rich]

All good ideas and I would add:

Make it easier for Sirius XM to be given as a gift. One of the more successful sales efforts I have ever done was give a few important clients a Sirius radio and a year's subscription. I would give more but it is a pain to switch subscriptions as some of my clients in the past wanted to pay for Sirius themselves after the first year. It takes too much time and trouble for me and the client to call Sirius, cancel my sub and renew in their name.

 

[ctkatz]

for some people the reason they went with satellite radio was because it offered content that could not or would not be available locally. i know it sounds crude, but i would push the fact (somehow) that its content is not controlled by the fcc, so anything and everything can be found on satellite. and just to keep the sanctity of the content promote the hell out of the family plan too.

for those who travel around a lot, i would also promote the fact that there is no channel seeking if you want to listen to your favorite radio host from bangor, maine to san diego, california and all points in between. the two big draws on radio are rush limbaugh and coast to coast am. i know c2cam is on satellite radio, don't know about rush but if you promote those guys on satrad, that's going to be a big draw as well.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Stop being so secrative. Rumours kill subs. Come out with your channel list. Be done with it.

Fix your hardware. The SL2 has been waiting for a bug fix for memory corruption since Feb.

Allow dual subs to make one of their subs a family plan.

 

[secrecyguy]

I actually, I think we should re-title this on how we can try to save satellite radio.

As for sales, I think they did everything they can do to sell it. Now it's up to the people if they want it or not.

So this is my proposal...

1 - Eliminate some of the DJ positions and maybe even look into DJ free music channels.
2 - Is it really worth paying big bucks for big celebrities to be on satellite radio. For example, Howard Stern. Because if they don't increase sales that much for them to pay big bucks for them to be on the radio, than we should not have them.

Anyway, we see what happens next year. I heard they going to be talking about how to make the company to start making a profit. So we see happens next year.

 

[Tgajr]

My proposal

1. 6.99/month to add a radio/subscription EITHER XM or Sirius
2. Get Rush Limbaugh - he is the last pillar of large loyal listeners. Like him or not he is the Howard Stern of political radio.

 

[TSS Taylor]

1. 6.99/month to add a radio/subscription EITHER XM or Sirius
2. Get Rush Limbaugh - he is the last pillar of large loyal listeners. Like him or not he is the Howard Stern of political radio.

Did you know him and Howard share the same birthday?

 

[no1hedberg]

1 - Eliminate some of the DJ positions and maybe even look into DJ free music channels.
2 - Is it really worth paying big bucks for big celebrities to be on satellite radio. For example, Howard Stern. Because if they don't increase sales that much for them to pay big bucks for them to be on the radio, than we should not have them.

I don't know why people who aren't fans all want to get rid of Howard. Whether you like him or not, (and obviously I do) the fact is satellite radio might well be dead already if not for him. He's brought more than enough subscribers many times over to pay for his deal, and frankly your subscription price isn't affected one way or the other. He's also brought satrad into the mainstream. I'd be careful what I wished for. A huge percentage of Sirius's subscribers came because of Howard Stern, and I dare say that a large percentage of that group might not stay when he retires. In the current economic times I don't think we could say for certain that satrad could survive a large exodus of subscribers.

 

[kingchuck69]

Here's an idea: create some attack ads against terrestrial radio; how about an ad that talks about their abundance of commercials and cookie cutter music? Maybe an ad that talks about the way they censor their music? How about an ad that talks about their cheaper radios, like the Stratus and their ala carte plans?

Just some thoughts...

 

[MikeV]

I don't know why people who aren't fans all want to get rid of Howard. Whether you like him or not, (and obviously I do) the fact is satellite radio might well be dead already if not for him.

While I certainly won't disagree that Howard did great things for Sirius, and he may well be worth what he's making in the initial contract, if he can't continue to draw in more subscribers at the same rate, he shouldn't be making as much in the future. I hope that for the viability of the company, they don't pay him the same or more when his contract comes up for renegotiation.

And I'll say the same about Oprah too... she's also a big draw, but now that there's only one player in the market, rather than paying a celeb a massive amount to woo them to one service over the other, we'll hopefully see some more reasonable paychecks for these celebrities.

As far as what else might be able to be done...

- Marketing needs to get their act together and fast. The next holiday shopping season is knocking on the door, and with new receivers and a new channel lineup expected in time for the holidays, and confusion over the merger pretty well cleared up (save the pending programming changes, which won't be so much of an issue for new subs), marketing needs to be getting ads together, start working on the retail establishments, etc. to get the latest stuff promoted.

- Free-to-air channels with limited commercials might not be a bad idea either. Take the mainstream radio formats, stick 5 minutes of commercials an hour on 'em, and make them free for all (a la POTUS, Emergency Alert, etc.). That way those channels have their revenue stream, and current non-subscribers can still experience something better than terrestrial radio. With millions of OEM radios out on the roads, those who don't subscribe could still be able to take advantage of their satellite radios. Obviously, when you subscribe, those same channels would then lose the commercials, or disappear to be replaced by commercial-free alternatives.

I'm sure there's more I could come up with, but it's too early to think about it more.

 

[ClubSteeler]

I'd give everyone 1 free month of "Best Of", and for those who already have it, don't charge them for a month. Hope for more ads-ons.

I'd combine customer service to one entity and allow additional radios to be added on for $6.99, even if one radio is sirius and another is XM.

I'd offer refer a friend benefits.

I'd have a few dynamic channels, always changing weekly. One week it's all Metellica, next week it all Mozart, next week it's super shuffle, next week it's Best of Stern, next week it's halloween music, Next week it's all listener requests, etc.... Something fresh always happening.

I'd love to have regional sports networks like DirecTV does. Now they don't have enough bandwidth to do it for all major sports cities, but they could alternate broadcasting homer talk shows. For example, let's look at the NFL. Maybe add 4 channels. One for the NFC/AFC East, one for the west and so on. Now I would know, that for example, every Tuesday for 6-9:00 I could tune in the the North channel and hear a local Steelers talk show every week. Then Maybe 9:-12:00 it might be a rerun of a Browns show. It could be a win/win for the local station and Sirius. The local stations' advertisers get a much larger potential audience which coudl generate more revenue in advertising, and Sirius get's to tap into this local content which will drive the NAB completely insane.

I'd offer many more cooler, smaller, radios to try to tap into the unlimited wealth of the spoiled teenagers. Touch screens, better graphics, downloadable video games, etc.

I'd try to form more partners to integrate a sat radio into other devices.. phones, pdas etc...

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I don't know why people who aren't fans all want to get rid of Howard. Whether you like him or not, (and obviously I do) the fact is satellite radio might well be dead already if not for him. He's brought more than enough subscribers many times over to pay for his deal, and frankly your subscription price isn't affected one way or the other. He's also brought satrad into the mainstream. I'd be careful what I wished for. A huge percentage of Sirius's subscribers came because of Howard Stern, and I dare say that a large percentage of that group might not stay when he retires. In the current economic times I don't think we could say for certain that satrad could survive a large exodus of subscribers.

Actually, sattellite radio would be very much alive if he never came to it. That would be XM Satellite Radio. I suspect Sirius would be gone. He was the best and the worst thing that happened to satrad.

 

[Tgajr]

Actually, sattellite radio would be very much alive if he never came to it. That would be XM Satellite Radio. I suspect Sirius would be gone. He was the best and the worst thing that happened to satrad.

I have been saying this for YEARS. If Howard was so instrumental, how did XM keep the lead in subscribers WITHOUT HOWARD STERN?

 

[ClubSteeler]

I have been saying this for YEARS. If Howard was so instrumental, how did XM keep the lead in subscribers WITHOUT HOWARD STERN?

A nearly 10-to-1 headstart pre-stern... dwindled down to nearly a 1-to-1 match in just 2 years post-stern.

 

[Jgatie]

A nearly 10-to-1 headstart pre-stern... dwindled down to nearly a 1-to-1 match in just 2 years post-stern.

Correct, XM was propped up by OEM auto sales alone once Howard signed. After Howard, their retail sales (where people actually choose which sat provider they want) dwindled to practically none. Howard, NFL, NASCAR . . . in that order . . . is what killed XM.

 

[DAB]

I agree without Stern it would have been lights-out for SIRIUS long ago. XM had a huge lead before he came on board and that gap was indeed closed up dramatically in the last 2 years. I am of the opinion that had these companies remained separate that eventually SIRIUS would have over taken XM on sub numbers.

Now there has always been this huge debate about how each counted subs. Example: Sirius counts unsold cars because Chrysler was paying them in advance for the subscriptions even though they weren't technically activated yet. XM only counted these once they were actually activated, but again the arrangement with the OEM was different. Who is wrong and who is right? Does it really matter?