SPRING, 1995
"Marketing is simple, really...It's about who we can get and how we can get them." Marketing is a consumer-oriented process -- determining consumers' needs, then developing, distributing and promoting a product or service to satisfy those needs.
Who are our target listeners? What do they want from radio that they're not getting? How can we deliver it to them? In short, "WHO CAN WE GET AND HOW CAN WE GET THEM?" That's Marketing Radio.
"Never confuse your aspirations with marketing strategy." I'm reminded of the second-tier AM with a lofty goal: To be the Information Station. Too bad their market already had one with high credibility and little vulnerability. This "strategy" was doomed from the start.
Unfortunately, merely wanting it and saying it won't make it so, because...
"Marketing is a reality game...there's no room for 'wishful thinking'." The first crucial marketing decision is defining our target. It must be listeners we can realistically attract because they are unserved, under-served or because we can serve them better. Our definition of a target cannot be merely who we want to have as listeners, because...
"Listeners don't care what we want or need." In the early 90's, many CHRs needed and targeted more 25-54's. Unfortunately, most of those listeners didn't cooperate or care. All these CHRs accomplished was to alienate their core listeners, NOT attract more "mature" ones.
Face it. Our needs are totally irrelevant to listeners. The only way we can achieve our objectives is to satisfy listeners' needs.
"Listeners don't read the trades." They live in a world we can hardly imagine. They don't know that 70's Oldies is the "hot new format." They didn't know about Rock A/C in 1990, Rock 40 in 1989 or Disco in 1978, either.
Listeners don't read the trades, but managers do...some are more concerned about following the "latest industry trend" than understanding and serving listeners in their own market. And some P.D.s are more focused on the record industry/R&R game than on playing what their listeners want to hear. That's no way to be successful.
"To succeed, you've got to be something for somebody -- enough 'somebodies' to make your 'something' viable." Your station cannot please everybody, or even a majority of listeners. But if it offers something uniquely positive to enough "some- bodies," it will be very successful!
With few exceptions, the majority of listeners in any market dislikes any given format. So what??? Radio is a "minority game," where your station can appeal strongly to a small percentage of the total and still be Number One.
Conversely...
"Show me a station that's only a 'second choice,' and I'll show you a loser." Research shows that the bulk of a station's quarter-hours come from its "P1" listeners -- listeners that make that station their primary choice. A "P2" or "P3" station only gets the "leftovers"...not enough to make it successful or even viable.
"It's not a 'hole' in the market unless there are enough LISTENERS for it." Too often, people refer to a "hole" for Modern Rock, or Urban, or Hot Country, or any other format that may not be represented in a market. But that is NOT necessarily a hole in the market!
For example, Salt Lake City, with a Black population of just 1%, has NO Urban station. But do you really think that Urban is a hole in that market? Or perhaps you'd rather tap into the Spanish radio "hole" in Minneapolis- St. Paul?
These "ethnic" examples are obvious, but the principle applies to Oldies or Country or AOR or any format! It's NOT a hole unless there are enough listeners (in particular, P1 listeners) for it.
"Definition of Positioning: It's what you're 'famous' for." Positioning is NOT an on-air liner or an advertising slogan! Positioning occurs in the minds of listeners.
What is your station famous for? What makes it stand out as different than the competition? Hopefully, your station is "famous" for what you want it to be famous for! But one thing is certain...
"You've got to be famous for something." Is it hard rock? Hot new country? Fifties and sixties oldies? Zany, irreverent personalities? The station to turn to when a tornado hits? If your station doesn't stand out for something definitive in listeners' minds, it is in trouble now more than ever before, because...
"These days, the 'middle of the road' is a good place to get run over." I wrote an entire Research Insights article on this one (Vol. 2, No. 3). This is an overcommunicated, fragmented society, where the highly polarizing succeed and the moderate get "drowned out." As a result, your station must be more precisely targeted and more focused than ever before.
"Brilliant execution of a flawed strategy will get you nowhere." In radio, we're all focused on execution and details. Program Directors rewrite positioning liners, fine-tune promotions, slave over their playlists, tweak the placement of spot sets and even the placement of spots within the set.
Great. But it's all futile if your strategy isn't right in the first place! Poor execution can sink a winning strategy, but great execution won't save a losing one.
Never underestimate your competition...WE may think they're doing a bad job, but unless they're failing to serve listeners in some perceivable way, they're not vulnerable." If you plan to target another station as a competitor, be sure to understand what you are targeting!
"We can do it better" is NOT in itself a viable strategy...
What is that station doing wrong from listeners' point of view? Precisely how are we going to "do it" differently and better? And how will we communicate that difference?
If we cannot answer these crucial questions, we're not ready for battle. Conversely...
"Never over-estimate the competition... Even a dominant station can be extremely vulnerable." It may be successful simply "by default" -- for lack of competition. It may fail to satisfy listeners in one or more significant ways. The fact is, some of our most successful clients initially "took on" a dominant market leader.
Provide competition to a station that fails to satisfy listeners, and you can quickly surpass it!
Understanding this principle is important if you are thinking about challenging a successful station. And it is crucial if your station is already successful, because...
"The most vulnerable station is one that does not know its vulnerability." One of the biggest mistakes managers make is assuming their station is "on target" because it has good numbers. That kind of arrogance has led to many stations' demise.
Someone may be researching your market right now. If your station is not vulnerable, they will seek out less formidable competition. That could save you hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars in some markets.
That is why it is extremely important to know what is wrong with your station, as well as what's right. Understand your own vulnerabilities, and you can at least minimize them.
"Research is to radio managers as x-rays are to doctors." Research reveals what your market situation actually is, rather than what you think it is, want it to be or think it should be. Research gives you an "inner view" into the minds of listeners...which is precisely where we must be as marketers of radio.
Research is the only reliable way to know "Who we can get and how we can get them." Only research gives us the perspective we need to develop winning strategies.
"Even the greatest surgeon needs x-rays." How else would he know where (and what) to cut? And you can bet your paycheck that General Schwarzkopf had satellite reconnaissance of targets in Iraq as he planned the Gulf War air attacks.
It doesn't take one iota away from the talents of a surgeon preparing for an operation or Schwarzkopf to know they had "research" before making their moves. It only makes them more informed, more effective, more powerful.
Yet it is amazing, even in this "enlightened" age, how many radio managers make major moves on multi-million dollar properties based on a whim, gut feeling or some "hot new trend" they read about in the trades.
Here's the truth about research: It is not the "be all and end all" panacea for radio. It is a powerful TOOL that talented managers use to devise successful strategies and execute those strategies more effectively. Research is the best way for people stuck in radio stations all day to understand and serve LISTENERS. And doing that is what Marketing Radio is all about.
In addition to our little black book, we have now developed a "live, in person" version of The Quotations of Chairman Mark -- a one-hour seminar. If your group or association is interested, call us at 734-662-5700.