Corperate Events and Radio Advertising

[NicoleScraps]

One of my friends works in the marketing dept at a local AM station. They have a party of sorts coming up and they need a photographer. She asked me if I would do the photos in exchange for a $600 credit for advertising.
I am pretty sure that I want to do this but what kind of things should I put (or ask them to put) in the contract. What are the typical usage rights for things like this? They want the photos for galleries on their facebook page and website. Do they typically ask for unlimited rights in a situation like this? It is fair for me to retain rights for use in my portfolio/website?
My other question, I guess is, have you ever had any success with radio advertising? It is AM, so they have a lot of talk, news, community events, a mixed genre of music.
I am pretty excited about it. It's going to cost me a few hours of my time and hopefully will turn into a good working relationship. Anything else that I should be thinking of here?

[BuddhaPi]

hmmmm AM?? I think if it were me I would counter offer and ask for 300.00 cash and at least 300.00 credit.. at least then you'll make something and see if the additional 300 in advertising brings in any business..Find out how many listeners they have according to neilsen or arbitron , and also ask what time slots you can have..as well as what the target audience is if it's say 50+, is that who you want to market to? You'd probably be best to aim for the 32-42 market if it exists.. Can't help much with rights, I would think you should keep them and license the images to them...

[BrianD]

Worked in radio years ago - for expanding your photography business, I'd suggest negotiating the use of your watermark on all the images they post on their websites - let them know it wont be intrusive, but it will be clear. I've never, ever heard photographers or videographers advertising on the radio - because what they do is so visual that message is lost in radio.

Depending on how much leverage you feel you have, you could even ask that each caption contains a link to your site. Tell them you'll wave the $600 in advertising, and certainly, for THAT much money (it isn't to them...this is where you prove it), they can have an intern copy the link in.

They're trying to do everything in-kind, so anything you can think of that won't actually cost them money - I say go for it.

One other question to think about in your leverage is what kind of party it is - is it a private company party? Or is it one where listeners/fans come and meet and mingle with the people who host the morning show or something? If it's the latter, you may do the following:

Say: forget the $600 in ads, images will have a watermark, put a link in the caption on all website/facebook pages, and every time the board operator/announcer mentions anything about the "Super AM Downtown Getdown..." or whatever it is, ask that they say Photography will be provided by XYZ....

When they balk, just get the watermark and link - they feel like they won and you'll win with extra traffic. IMO, radio ads for a photographer are worthless...

[NicoleScraps]

Okay, just got off the phone with her, she said that they are offering me a package deal. 30-15 second commercials in all day time slots, a link to my website on their facebook album and website gallery. And a so many tweets I forget what she said about that part. I was incorrect, it is not a party, they want shots of all of the staff doing their thing in the office, and head shots of everyone. She said about 3 hours worth of work. They want usage rights not full rights. No prints, just digital copies for the sites. They are not interested in paying someone cash. Apparently the owner of the station is really big on bartering for advertising, according to my friend. So....there are the rest of the details. I am thinking about it. The detail person (not my friend) is going to call me tomorrow to work out any kinks and answer any questions that I have.

[NicoleScraps]

Hey, thanks Brian. I didn't see you post before I posted this last one. Really good advice here.

[BrianD]

If the station owner is a barterer, then you should try to get all the free stuff you can...use the fact that spots on the radio do not help your business.

Also consider the fact that if the advertising was truly worth $600, they would PAY you the $600 and use those spots for a paying client. If they will ONLY pay you in advertising and zero cash means they can't sell those spots they're offering you for anything - think of it that way.

At the end of the day, you'll have to decide if the link/credit is worth it (and how long the link will be there)...Don't let the pro-barterer convince you the ad time is valuable for your business, but convince him the exposure online is much more important - and see what they can offer. (Web ads, maybe a once a week "local photography feature" where they post some of your work on facebook, anything that doesn't have a 'cost' to it, it sounds like this guy will be open to.)

If it sounds like too much trouble or too weird, it may not be worth it...