Sirius XM Should Stop Blaming The Media
From March 12-26, Sirius XM is offering a free preview of its service on all of its radios nationwide. By my estimation there are at least 15 million deactivated Sirius and XM radios. This is a great opportunity for the company to regain lost subscribers that may have canceled or failed to renew at a time when the company faced an uncertain future. Unfortunately, the company seems to feel that this information is on a “need to know” basis. The company has apparently sent out e-mails to many of its former customers, most of which ended up in SPAM folders as some of our readers have pointed out.
In the conference call held just days ago, the company blamed a drop off in retail and OEM subscribers partially on the media’s talk of doom. That is certainly a likely reason which was only accentuated by a poor economic climate. This hypothesis begs the question; What has Sirius XM done to counter the negative perspective that had been created by the NAB controlled media? The answer is: NOT ONE SINGLE THING! In fact, Sirius XM did nothing to promote its exclusive NFL coverage last fall. Sirius XM literally has billions of dollars worth of talent and yet it does absolutely nothing to promote any of it including Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, Opie & Anthony, not to mention its sports packages in which I include Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. Like a secret society, only current subscribers are allowed to know that Sirius XM will broadcast the entire NCAA tournament in a matter of days.
There has been talk of Sirius XM attempting to renegotiate its current contract with MLB, which any investor certainly welcomes. As a Sirius Everything subscriber myself, I would probably upgrade my service to gain access to MLB games. That was of course, until last week. Amid absolutely no fanfare, and hidden deep within a conference call that analysts and investors were privy to, Sirius XM quietly announced the availability of the worlds first INTEROPERABLE Radio; The Sirius XM Mirge! That’s right folks, the very same radio that caused a 6 month delay in the merger process and the single most anticipated satellite radio product in the history of the world is now available. The one radio that makes it possible to get ALL the programming that Satellite Radio offers and yet somehow, someway, Sirius XM’s marketing department has failed to put together so much as a small classified ad in a local newspaper to announce this monumental occasion!
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The same should be asked of Sirius XM’s marketing department.
Position: Long Sirius XM
I would have to agree. Even as a SUBSCRIBER, I know very little about what is going on in this company except for the weekly lineup that I recieve in the email (that I too had to rescue the first couple of times from my SPAM folder).
If it were not for the fact that I am also a shareholder and follow the company and it’s happenings very closely, I would be totally left in the dark. Circumstances have certainly been stacked against the company, but they seem to have simply tapped out instead of trying to fight back. As shareholders, we know that the company is still fighting and making a comeback, but the listeners and POTENTIAL listeners need to know this too.
As a subscriber and stockholder, Mel (who started in marketing) should promote thier talent and sports more often. One of the first things your taught is to promote and advertise as business slows. I think they owe it to us the fans, subscribers and stockholders to make a better attempt or some attempt at “getting the word out”.
O&A 6-11
Ron & Fez 12-3
Brandon: I agree with u their hasn’t been enough done to make this company popular, they just like to keep it to themselves the only way i found out about the mirge was ur posting on the forum i have the mirge and its awsome if ur a sports fan!!! this company shuld get their acts together come out and talk!!!
I must agree. As a marketer and a longtime off-and-on subscriber, I see 1) no external customer acquisition attempts, no communication of what SXM has to offer. Music fans don’t know that Dylan and Tom Petty have shows on Deep Tracks. New Yorkers don’t know Vin Scelsa has a show. I shock people every day when I tell them this stuff. 2) ZERO communication to subscriber base, ZERO customer retention efforts. All I get also is the email. Heck, text me, tweet, when there’s something cool happening. Do anything.Individual shows have their own email database but that’s a lot of work. Subscribers should not have to work….
3) There is no understanding of customer segmentation. Don’t hawk the Elvis Channel on First Wave.
Please, SXM, do at least the basics of modern marketing!
Where I work, we recently switched our telephone hold music from Muzak to Sirius – the Sirius service at $30 per month for business use is drastically cheaper and of much greater quality. Yet it is almost impossible for your average business owner to even find out that the service exists.
Good article….how about this….WHAT CHANNEL SHOULD I TELL MY FRIENDS TO CHANGE TO? what channel on my nieces radio is 80’s on? Why did they not include the channel numbers in that promotion.
Great article. I am a sports fan and love the offerings on Sirius. That being said, I didn’t know Dan Patrick had been added to the lineup until I stumbled upon it by accident. Now that I have found it, Sirius keeps moving the time that it starts and sometimes doesn’t even broadcast the first hour of the show. Also, what is going on with MLB and Sirius. Are we going to get the games? They added the MLB channel in December and the only way I knew it was because I read it on this site. SIrius does a horrible job of advertising it’s product. Finally, where is the Iphone app at? This should be a no brainer. Come on SIrius, at least put some effort into gaining new listeners.
Couldnt agree more. One of my huge concerns reading the q4 was the decreasing in marketing expenses. One area I will never care if it increases. Mel’s cheap. Which works only if your an accountant, not a CEO. You have to spend money to make money. Sorry Mel. You need to push your advertising budget to its highest possible levels. They have huge marketing problems, and image problems as well. All fixable however, once again, because the product is superior, and wonderful. If they didnt have that, I would suspect they would have a significatly lower number of subs. Mel is lazy. He banks on auto sales, and waited too long trying to merge, and make both companies appear weak. Then to close the Malone deal , blah blah blah. Lets get going Mel. Open up your own wallet you cheap bast***.
Just to prove I can do more than bitch, here’s my ad idea. (I guess this movie went to my head) Start the commercial with a teenager listening to his iPod. As he morphs into an adult the announcer says “When you finally grow up, get Sirius!” and his iPod morphs into a Stiletto. Show the adult hanging out with Stern, Oprah, Martha, O & A, sports personalities, rock and pop stars! End with “Only on Sirtius XM!” Again Mel…I take checks!
Yowsa Cool Commercial !!
They should cut you a check right away and have you start on production STAT !! but be careful they don’t litigate you first, and shut you down for ‘infringement’ !!
LOL !!
Having been laid off on Friday, I’m available full time.(wink)
Brandon,
In case you dont know…The worlds first interoperable radio isn’t really. Its only a Sirius radio and XM radio in the same chassis. SEPARATE chipsets on same board. It really doesn’t need any fanfair as it is not what it implies to be, and with the changing of channels you will actually get duplicate channels on both systems. This is not the “Earth Shattering” deal you make it out to be, But after reading many of your messages you tend to cloud the truth many times over.
Bottom line is commercially the first quarter is not the time to make a media push. If you combine the fact that they were in survival mode in the 4th quarter I am not sure what you expect. Running a business is a lot more difficult than watching a business. Expect Mel to renegotiate the baseball deal. Look for some sort of exclusivity. Once done or not done I think he cancels Oprah ( waste). resigns Howard. Then look for a media blitz. If cars sales continue to tank…all bets are off. He still has to manage for survival.
Alot of folks have both sirius and xm radios in their cars. paying 12.95 each, don’t want to lose that revenue…Maybe that is the reason for the stall on the launch.
Brandon, that free preview scoop is really exciting – except it is not new. They had a virtually identical free preview Dec 9 – Dec 22. If you tried something journalistic like going to the company and trying to find out if they are repeating the promotion because the December effort was successful and what kind of marketing support will be furished you might have a real story. (There is a fairly lengthy thread about the earlier preview in the “XM Discussion” group of forums at http://www.xmfan.com)
Sorry. I must have missed that commercial too. Or it ended up in my Spam folder. Either way it does not change the point of the story.
SiriusXm hasnt ever really has a good advertising system and to be honest i wouldnt start one until they get the iphone app released and working. Once they do that its a great chance to point out to everyone they are on the iphone and what they are about. The iphone app will be a nice boost i believe.
Lastly to brandon since you seem to be watching this thread.
How are you feeling about the stock at this point? Ive not heard anything about the RS but they arent moving up to quickly in sp either. I guess its possible they could hit a dollar before a RS is needed but as slowly as its moving its hard to imagine. I feel this stock in its current form is still worth about 30 to 35 ct if not more. I really feel like we are still oversold on this and it should be moving upwards.
Almost a slam dunk they will lose subs in the first quarter…no action on the stock till they start growing again.
Brandon Thanks for your input and Newman’s clever tv ad. IS ANYONE sending these kind of suggestions for marketing to the BOD or Marketing VP or Investor Relations…They need to pass this on to MEL!!!
Brandon,
Good article. I like your idea for the commercial – just the kind of inovative thinking that is missing with this company. I find their cavalier attitude towards promotion and advertising nothing short of shocking, to tell you the truth. In this world we live in today, if you don’t have some competitive spirit, and show it, failure is pretty much a guarantee. How can this management team possibly not know this?!
I believe they will start marketing aggressively later in the 2nd quarter and going forward. I believe they were trying to cut expenses and preserve what they had until they knew if they would receive the financing needed.
I bet they know this themselves all too good. They just got through the battle of their life for 6 months after trying to merge for 1.5 years.
I guarantee they have a comprehensive marketing plan for the 2nd qurter to get the word out that they are one company now “SXM” and are well funded and will have a new message.
Anyone who thinks it was possible when the merger was up in the air and with the financing up in the air is smoking crack because they were dead broke and ready to file for reorganization.
It’s a different game right now. I believe we will start seeing the $ being spent starting in April, with a nice push for Mothers & Fathers Day & this X-Mas season should be fun again.
Let’s keep the pressure on them though !
SXM.. good post! I agree that we will start to see some marketing finally from SirusXM.
I was at a car show at a dealer in anaheim ca. and they had the Sirus radio package sitting on the roof of a Shelby 500KR.
I think we will see all the efforts towards incresing subs now!!
imho
vaporgold
Good read Brandon,
SIRI/XM had urgent priorities in getting the merger complete, and then came the re/fi. Now that its all behind us for now, they can focus on ads/marketing.
As far as Mel making the comments during the CC, I agree with Mel, he had to call them out on the issue. When people keep jacking with you and running smear campaigns against you, you have to go after them or it will continue.
Sex sells, so I think they need not only market to the families but also target the younger crowds, and just go across the board to cover the whole spectrum of consumers. Not an easy task!! If they come out with a bundle with SAT/TV, this will be huge!!
Guess we wait and see for now!! 🙂
dread:
You state “When people keep jacking with you and running smear campaigns against you, you have to go after them or it will continue.”
So in a year and a half, THIS is how he gets back at them? Rediculous. Press releases cost nothing. Public speaking costs nothing. Hell, if it held current subscribers or brought a few new ones in, a commercial would have paid for itself. When there is nothing to counteract all of that negative press for so long, people start believing it. Hell, I was believing it for a while, and I know better. The company has never said anything about anything. And how many customers do you think actually listened to the CC to see that all of the press was wrong?
Exactly.
Newman,
I don’t think Mel wants to lower himself to the NAB’s level. Now that all of the “URGENT PRIORITIES” have been set aside for now, the company can focus on bringing back former customers and gaining new ones. The best way for Mel to get back at them is to shut up and work as hard as he can to grow this company once again. “Put your money were your mouth is” so to speak.
Newman said:
And how many customers do you think actually listened to the CC to see that all of the press was wrong? Probably about 2 maybe 3
Its a sad world Newman, when people believe everything that is told to them, and not going out, and doing their homework on the issue.
What really matters here, is we know the truth, and hopefully in time others will open there eyes and see it too. Until that day comes, our country, and our company, will continue to struggle!!
I totally agree. I also think that they should somehow get the hook up in medium to upscale hotels. I don’t know about you all, but one of the first things I do when I check into a hotel room is start checking things out to see what cool gadgets and devices I can screw with. I think most people are like this as well, and I could see many people getting hooked on Satradio this way. All it takes is a few times listening to it and your either hooked or not. Just my thoughts. They need to get out there and pump this into people’s ears!!!!
GO SIRI!!!
SXMInvester,
I can see your point – all the ads in the world mean nothing when you are hanging by a thread. Now that the thread is more like a rope, it’s time they pull their weight and lasso a shitload of subscribers. I just don’t want them to “string” us along indefinitely!
Steve O:
I would have to disagree. If they didnt think they were hanging on. It was bring in new money, or BK. There was really no middle ground, and we all knew that.
They could have put out SOME advertising. They could have come out and said SOMETHING. They did NOTHING, and let the negative press run away with the image of the company.
Newman,
I don’t quite understand your initial remark. I have always been a proponent of them instituting an effective ad campaign, and as I stated in my prior post, it disturbes me that they have dragged their heels in this respect. I think SXMInvester’s comment has validity; I was merely looking at this thing from a different perspective, perhaps more in alignment with his comment.
It’s a bit of a catch 22; had they done something/anything – they may not have been in such dire straights theoretically. That’s a big “may” however, because the hole they were in, and still are, is very deep. By doing nothing, they may save on the advertising budget, but they kill the image and destroy the publics confidence. And the company remains in limbo. As we know, perception is everything.
Being on the verge of bankrupcy doesn’t excuse them for months and months of silence, for having virtually zero advertising, and for being ambiguous and mysterious about decisions and information that have profound effects on subscribers and stockholders. I agree with your disagreement, but I don’t agree that we necessarily disagree. Agreed?
Steve O said:
I agree with your disagreement, but I don’t agree that we necessarily disagree. Agreed?
I disagree that in fact you agree, so in agreeing with the agreement to disagree, we are all in agreement then, right?
Hah, I get your point; I think…….Bottom Line is he (Kaz) needs to GET LOUD about The Company, The Product as Well as the Competition……………Steve Jobs’-kinda-loud. I mean, do you remember the ‘Mac guy’ vs. the ‘PC guy’ on TV?
What a masterful piece of crush-the-competition advertising that was! I laughed all the time and wondered ‘what was I missing’ in an Apple computer, perhaps……eventually getting at least an iPhone.
It was even rumored that Bill Gates felt the commercials were too ‘personal’ and cried foul at Jobs’!!
How hard would it be to tastefully strike back at the heart of a dying, commercially blatant and possibly corrupt industry such as terrestrial broadcasting……….??
disturbs. motor skills malfunction
Sirius reminds me very much of Apple which in the heady days of its youth….Early 80″s relied mostly on its cult like following of Die hards that knew they had a better option than standard PC. It took .The Big brother spot to firmly place apple in the minds of enough people to get that ball rolling.(not to mention the stock) What we need here is a Spring Blitz….)just in time for MLB etc) with a savy ad campaign (along with the Iphone app). Present this compnay for what it is…..the NEW frontier in entertainment..etc…
Exactly, see above reply…………
We need a Mac vs. PC type add campaign, where PC is the boring Terrestrial Broadcasting Syndicate!!
When Sirius releases the I Phone app,they should send out a text to all i phones and let them know it’s for free. Also send to blackberry and ATT owners. Free trials are proven to gain paying subs. Add free channels that premote premium pay services is also a way to increase paying subs. Increase the bottom line.These times are extreamly challenging. We MUST meet that challenge.
Why not Verizon, Sprint and whoever else.
As good people like RELMOR & COS have given us in depth great insight on the stock plays of Sirius Xm (along w/ other great insights) I’ve been more focused on the consumer perception side of Sirius Xm. On a scale of 1 thru 10 (10 being the highest,I would rate it a 2. I don’t mean this in a negative way. Because as COS,RELMOR & OTHERS have pointed out in the past they had soooo much on their plates. They were like Apollo 13 trying to make it back to earth on a few amps of power. So I give them a pass (the past is the past). Let’s look forward. Know is the time to get back where they left off before the idea of merger was put into action. I’ve always said they offer the best bang for your buck in entertaiment period. After making this statement my next thought is that it is the best kept secret in entertainment! It is out of sight out of mind which is truely a sin. Youv’e put together this clethra of entertainment & media that is mind boggeling but you know have got to market it. I could not agree more w/ RELMOR, spend some f’in money on marketing. Tell me 1 company in the media business that offers so much to so many. All ages,backgrounds,nationalities,etc. they offer great content for all! They need w/ their new partners to look at themselves from a distance and say what are we doing right & what are we doing wrong. They paid to put tens of millions of Sat radios out in the market & only about half are being used? That is unacceptable! Everyone reading these blog sites about Sirius, go ask your freinds and even strangers what do they know about Sirius or Xm on a scale of 1 thru 10 your gonna get a 2 again. THAT’S THE GOOD NEWS!!! This is a fantastic product and thats why we follow it not only with r minds but with our money. We all know it and are rightfully frustrated. SPEND THE MONEY ON A GREAT MARKETING PLAN AND THEY WILL COME. JUST DO US ALL A FAVOR WHEN & IF U DO. PUT AN EMPHASIS ON THE 15 to 25YEAR OLD CROWD!!! This company oozed excitement in the past, it was a “happening” and people want to be part of of something “happening”. Mel, you know what a great product u have, so do us all a favor, go yell it off the highest mountain top (money well spent)!
Just one more thing. MEL u kept saying during the heavy task of trying to get this merger pushed thru the FCC & DOJ “That U Were Competeing W/ Free”. That was the battle cry! Turn on the idle radio’s with limited content w/ a commercial injected format. The radio’s r paid for, flick the switch on these radios and set them “FREE”.
BRANDON, U R ON THE RIGHT TRACK. PLEASE KEEP PUTTING THESE TYPES OF PROGRESSIVE ARTICLES OUT. HOPEFULLY U WILL GET THRU TO SIRIUS XM!
i remember learning in college during business classes that the more effort/money you put into r&d and marketing, the more clients you obtain–They have to revamp their marketing team as thats one of the areas you dont want to cut–I didnt know about their email program for free listening–A post card mailed might have served them better
Dread said:
“I disagree that in fact you agree, so in agreeing with the agreement to disagree, we are all in agreement then, right?”
I didn’t intend to decieve, and make people grieve, because I couldn’t conceive of a way to make one believe and see whether I agreed or disagreed; would you not concede? If not, there is no reason, indeed, to feel bereaved – it’s only my creed.
NICE!!!
OK, you win Steve O !!!!! 🙂
You till got it brother!!!!
still
brain fart!!!
They are releasing the mirge only because they have to. They aren’t even going to place it in most retail stores, maybe none at all. If you spent less time crying about the company and more time listening, you would see that there is almost no reason for a dual receiver other than the fact that they were required to make one.
First issue is that Mel lied to all subscribers and congress. He told everyone no price increases for 3 years and there has been 2.
He also argued that it would not be a monopoly,sorry,it is. The free trials do not allow people to listen to anything but music or the over paid talent that no one listens to as subscribers. Yes, I am talking about Stern,Bubba and Opie and Anthony. The online charge on top of the best of price increase seems to go against Everything he promised.We have 8 collective subs in this household and I am a bit concerned with how Mel is
just turning this into a pay fm service with cursing, but only certain cursing. More commercials every day, it won’t be long before the music channels have commercials. I personally feel decieved and ripped off by this “so-called” merger. He now has all of the subscribers and the talent as hostages because it is in fact a monopoly if you want any kind of adult or non-fm radio product. The talent is forced to take what they can get. As prooven by the Bubba contract. And as a person who has gotten used to and like the uncensored and no commercials aspect of this service, feel it less everyday, Yet it costs more. If This is too long, I apologize. I already shortened it.
As a result of Sirius XM debt situation, they needed to control internal costs. Its only due to good synergy cost savings that allowed them to get the liberty bailout.
I would agree that there are many low cost marketing options available to Sirius XM that they are not moving on…
1. When new subs are down, they need to focus on reducing churn. Its 10 times cheaper to retain a customer than to sign up a new one. Sirius needs to do a much better job of communicating to existing subs. A sub should be able to visit their web site, set up a profile of interests, and then receive wekly updates on whats happening on their channels of interest.
2. Don’t know how much it would cost, but the they have no exposure outside of the car stereo departments in best buy. They need to be in the front of the store.
3. They need to offer financing options for new radio purchases. Example: $20 per month includes radio and free installation. or convince three friends to sign up, and get free radio and install for standard rate.
4. I like the idea of short term access for deactivated subs, but they need to advertise it. Its costly to send out mailers to 20 million, so perhaps a few TV ads durring sporting events.
5. Get Oprah to start hyping the Womens content on her TV show. Giver them a special sign up number, then give here a one time commission of about $25 for each member signing up, after their one year aniversary as a subscriber.
6. Free cross advertising with DirecTV and Sirius XM.
7. Get a mailing stuffer in the DirecTV bills
8. Start streaming non music content online
9. continue to improve conten t and differentiate themselves from Pandora, and Ipod/Zune subscription services. its all about content.
10. More upselling to existing customers. They already love the service in their car. offer them some halfway decent boombox options,
11. improve sound quality of broadcasts. Be better than MP3. Be true CD quality. just try it on a few channels, and you will see a new wave of subs sign up. best the best in every dimension.
Another way to look at it is – If I am sirius I am in no hurry to drive up share prices. They are already out being traded. I might be thinking that investors are so much the more interested in 2 million backed by shares at .20 than they would be only 1 million at .40! I am going to feel a lot better knowing i am getting undervalued than overvalued security. WHat’s the difference really – whhether the stock goes to .80 next july vs. next dec.? For example….
Part of their problem is their marketing, but the biggest obstacle is that they so grossly overpaid for certain talent. 1/2 a billion dollars for Howard Stern? Yes he brings in subs, but not $500,000,000 worth. Even MLB was a foolish investment. Games are available for free on AM radio, or online am streams. There are not enough people rooting for out of state fans to justift paying 100’s of millions of dollars to broadcast baseball games. As for their NFL package? FOOTBALL sucks on the radio. It always has. This day and age, everyone that wants non local games has a cable sports package that allows them to WATCH, rather than listen to their favorite teams.
EXECUTE!!!
Brandon – just caught this article as I scanned my weekend news on SIRI – I am glad to see you’ve pointed this out. Many of us have been touching on this subject in the bulletin boards – but overall I’m not convinced the management at SIRIUS XM will begin to understand how terrible their marketing is until they can’t avoid seeing it in print. In my humble opinion – S-XM’s Marketing is about as horrible as a company’s marketing can be – given the actual value the SP SHOULD be at and the fact they are essentially in monopoly land now.
I for one would like to see more written to expose the failures of SIRI’s marketing department – hopefully to a degree that will shake them out of their drug induced coma…
Brandon
just checked my wifes car. Has xm radio. not activated. she only listens to 1 fm station, nothing else. Free 2 weeks is very limited. Only about 7 or 8 channels total. What a waste of time.
My bad
10 or 11 channels this week, and a different 10 or 11 next week. Why not make them all available for 2 weeks?
I cancelled my subscription on March 12th in protest of the new extra charges for listening on-line. I told them the reason I was cancelling, and customer retention made 1 (really weak) attempt to offer a one time $30 credit. I really miss the service, but I decided to vote with my wallet. Look out cable company, you’re next.
dread,
I’m just trying not to embarrass myself, brother dread. Without your inspiration, I am nothing. You are the man…. man!