Why Personality Matters in Media
BEFORE
AFTER
Which do you think has more emotional impact, and creates a longer lasting impression on the consumer? ”What it takes to be a Tiger” or “Less Guessing. More Knowing”? Of course Tiger became a lie and Accenture folded the Tiger Woods campaign the minute the scandal broke. But purely from the perspective of understanding how media marketing works…how would you be spending your money?
I’d place my last dime on a personality. The Accenture Tiger Woods campaign was visually arresting. “What it takes to be a Tiger” has real human emotion embedded within. The fork in the road campaign has zero emotional appeal. Who cares about a fork in the road? Even the Accenture logo is smaller. But people are STILL living and breathing every step Tiger Woods takes along his way towards his path of either success or humiliating failure.
So where do you have your on-air talent embedded within the lives of your audience? Your on-air talent is made up of real people with real emotions. Many of them have a story to tell that others can relate to. OK…it may not be as compelling as the Tiger Woods drama, but the story is there.
Use it. Cultive it. Nurture it. Market it.
Because people want to hear the story behind your on-air personalities and they want to follow them along their life’s journey. Create the story and try to understand the power that may be sitting right in front of you. Drama builds ratings, and people create the drama.
Creating a Media Product that People Want to Eat
The very best radio stations, newspapers, and local TV facilities are like fine restaurants. They have a warm ambiance, great storefronts, fabulous waiters, creative food, mouth watering specials of the day, food quality beyond your expectations, and an overall experience that you can’t wait to tell your friends about.
Then why is it that many media interactions with an audience end up like this? 
Let’s break this down so as to avoid any confusion. Think of this as a check list the next time you evaluate your own media product.
Media Brand - Is there a clearly defined “promise” that is made between you and the audience? Meaning do they clearly know what you stand for? Do you know what the name Smith and Wollenski’s stands for? How about Hooters or Chilies, or Le Cirque in NYC? Better yet…give me the name of your own all time favorite local eating establishment. Do you know what they stand for?
Service - How do you respond to a listener/viewer request for information? Is it quick, informative, personable and polite? Or is it like the waiter in the comic strip above? Each audience member has a lot of media choice. Do you treat them like a special customer, or as an annoyance to your ability to make money?
Special of the Day - Are you enticing your audience with new features, and special programming on a daily basis? Your favorite restaurant has a special everyday. Why don’t you? The best run local TV stations have a feature news investigation on a weekly basis. The poorest rated news programs don’t bother. Great radio stations are packed with special features that encourage appointment listening. That’s why a restaurant markets their specials up by 25%. Why? Because they sell.
Word of Mouth - Does your programming create stories that inspire your audience to tell their family and friends about it? Great restaurants literally survive on word of mouth. It is the most powerful form of marketing in the world. Are you generating great word of mouth advertising?
Personalized - Do any of the waiters or owners know you at your favorite restaurant? Ok…do you know your best customers? Do you tailor a special menu or experience just for them? Do you make them feel special in any way with targeted emails, Facebook, or direct mail campaigns? 20 percent of your audience probably accounts for 80 percent of your ratings. Do these important people feel like they are being treated as VIP’s? You might want to ask that sometime soon.
So all in all…how do you create the total media audience dining experience? Begin with a promise. Deliver on the promise. Exceed the promise. Say thank you. And then keep inviting them back in the door.
1 CommentClassic Rock Becomes Mega Bucks Rock
Does 35 years seems like a long time ago? Well it seems like yesterday in the music business. That’s because the music from 35 years ago is still in high demand, in hot rotation on the radio, and the artists who created this music are pulling down the mega bucks from concert tours, merchandise sales, and royalty checks. I mean who cares about music that is 35 years old? The answer is a ton of people.
Let’s do some quick math. Thirty five years ago was 1976. If you were around in 1976, then you may have been listening to Bruce Sprinsteen, Billy Joel, Neil Young, The Four Seasons, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, The Ramones, Steve Miller, Chicago, Aerosmith, Kiss, Heart, James Taylor, or The Doobie Brothers just to name a few. Guess what? These same artists can be heard in virtually every market in every city across the United States.
Can the Meters Save Radio and TV?
The Internet rocked the media world with one simple advertiser advantage. Accountability. Advertisers on the Internet can see who watches what, and when they watch it. But the playing field may become level. For the first time the People Meter gives the traditional media an opportunity to look inside the behavioral mind of their consumers. More on that later. First take a look at the history of ad revenues by media format over the past ten years.
There is a reason why ad revenues have skyrocketed for the Internet. Website use is traceable, and click thru’s can be measured accurately. Contrast that with a buy on TV or radio. The buy is placed but you are taking your best guess in terms of whether or not the spot was even seen or heard. As John Wanamaker once said, “I know that half of my advertising works. I’m just not sure which half.”
4 CommentsWhy In-Car Media Is Sexier Than Ever
Do you remember the Jetson’s space car? It was an open air vehicle that avoided all traffic delays, flew George directly to Spacely Sprockets, and best of all…it folded into a briefcase.
Unfortunately we are a long way off from having a space car in our garage. Plus traffic in major cities is only getting worse, and time spent in the car has increased proportionately. Highways are jammed, and consumers are confined to a very specific and opportunistic media space…in the car.
1 CommentFive Sure Bets for the Media Decade Ahead
Predicting the future is a slippery bet. Some things are more certain than others. For example Moore’s Law is one sure bet. Historically it has demonstrated unequivocally that the miniaturization of transistors (ie: computer speed and memory) will double every two years. So that one is easy. Smaller and smarter and faster will turn all forms of media technology into powerhouses of personal information and storage.
But let’s consider those things that aren’t graphically charted or calculated. Instead let’s look historically at those things that have mattered in the past, and will most likely matter in the future.
Leave a CommentDeath of the Old Media…uh-oh. Not So Fast.
Almost on a daily basis we are fed by the trades, newspapers, TV reports and who knows how many media related blogs, that the death of traditional media is just around the corner. Just as the Buggles claimed “TV Killed the Radio Star”, now we are warned that the Internet and mobile phones will once again put an end to radio and television. That is just about as silly as this video.
The latest national research study from The Pew Research Center suggests that people still rely heavily on TV and radio, and to a lesser extent newspapers, as their daily source of news information. TV didn’t kill the Radio Star, and the Internet isn’t killing anything.
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