Listen now

We all know that a good way to drive trial of your radio station is make it available in a new place. That’s what Classic FM has done with its current advertising activity across the Culture section of the Telegraph website.

Not just The Telegraph mind, but it’s Culture section. You’re trying to tell me this is a classy station, right? Beyond the upmarket association it gets even better. The call to action on the banner and the elegant right column ad is “listen now”.

A couple of clicks (not sure why it couldn’t be one) and you’re enjoying sweet classical music while browsing through the arts pages of the online newspaper.

When you finally stop reading the Telegraph, Classic FM stays with you because it’s running on a separate pop-up window. It’s a neat execution that’s only missing a “bookmark this” link on the player so you can find it easily again on another occasion.

If we want to make listening to radio while browsing the web a habitual behaviour for a few more people this is a great way to go about it.

And it needn’t be the preserve of national brands like Classic FM.

If you’re running a local station you could offer a similar service to non-profit community groups whose websites are a local resource. Or why not make carriage of your station part of a deal with a local advertiser?

The advertiser adds your station to their website and in return you offer them a few more spots. You could even customise the code so their own ad formed the pre-roll audio.

I’d be interested to see examples of where this is happening already so if you spot any do send them my way.

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