For the last several months, For Immediate Release has been sponsored by CustomScoop, a media clipping service. On each episode, Neville or I read a brief description and invite listeners to take advantage of a free trial.

On Monday’s episode of FIR, a listener—Mike Holladay—wrote in to complain about these sponsorship announcements. They were getting repetitive, he said, and he hoped CustomScoop could come up with something more compelling to fill that 45-second (or so) slot. Mike suggested customer testimonials.

The next day, CustomScoop CEO Chip Griffin sent us an email noting that even he had the feeling that the sponsor bits were getting “stale and boring. Good to know others share that feeling.” He noted that customer testimonials were probably doable, but added, “I’ll also do some thinking on other ways we could spice up the announcement a little bit so it doesn’t feel the same each show.”

Today, Chip forwarded along an MP3 as a sample of an idea he had:

The concept is a ???Media Monitoring Minute??? that we would provide. Rather than make it a straight promo piece, about 40 seconds would be a tip, idea, or info about media monitoring -??? not our service, but generally -??? followed by a 20-second mention of CustomScoop and the free trial URL. 

It would ensure different content for each show so that we all don???t pull our hair out when we hear Neville say ???Know your market with CustomScoop??? for the 100th time! But hopefully it would also provide a little valuable content to the listener. And since we???d provide the file for each show, it would be a simple matter of dropping it in to the recording at the appropriate spot.

I’ll play the sample on tomorrow’s show; then Chip will produce more for upcoming episodes. Chip also suggests that he’ll tweak the concept—or do something altogether different—based on listener response.

Think about this: A listener complained about the nature of the advertisements on our show. The sponsor responded by changing those ads. This could only happen in the social media space where advertiser and consumer are a part of the same conversation—in this case, the conversation that FIR enables. All in a matter of three days. Mike—nor anybody else—could voice the same irritation at the sponsor of a TV or radio show and have a hope in hell that the sponsor would ever hear the complaint, no less do something about it.

Who benefits from this? FIR listeners do as they get more useful content that increases their appreciation of the sponsor. The sponsor does as listeners who are more attentive to his message are more inclined to take him up on his free-trial offer. Neville and I do, because, well, we get paid to promote the sponsor’s business. Win-win-win.

Advertisers and marketers, pay attention to what’s going on here. The integration of social media and business is very real and will only intensify. You can learn to function effectively in this space—as CustomScoop obviously has—or get steamrolled by it as your consumers shift their loyalties to companies that listen to them and engage them.