First, the commercial:
Here’s a perfect example of what the Heath Brothers call “the curse of knowledge”:
The people who created this radio commercial for Radio.com know exactly what it does, and they seem to assume the rest of the world knows, too.
Radio Advertising Solves Problems.
What problem does Radio.com promise to solve for its targeted listeners?
Does it solve the problem of having to listen to music that isn’t as well tuned to your tastes as you’d like?
Does it solve the problem of wanting (somehow) to become famous?
What the heck does Radio.com do?
Is it similar to Pandora.com, where a music playlist gradually is built around your personal tastes?
Or does it allow you to specify only the artists or songs you want to hear…and then somehow share your choices with the world?
What are the results the targeted listener enjoys?
“Taking the credit” (for…what?)?
“Creating the station you’ve been waiting for”?
“Telling the world just how cool you are”?
Anyone who thinks, “Well, when people who hear this commercial go to Radio.com, they’ll find out what they can do there” is operating on a false assumption: that people will care enough to find out what the heck this advertiser does.
If you want to use radio advertising to drive targeted listeners to a website, you must give those listeners are reason to go to that website.
