There are three types of radio programmers who are going to read this.
1. Program directors who insist on airing hostile “attack ad” positioning statements, because they’re not very smart.
2. Program directors who know better.
3. Younger PDs who haven’t yet had a chance to think about it.
If you’re in Group #1, you’ll dismiss what I’m about to say.
Group #2 will nod their heads in agreement.
But it’s Group #3 that I’m really aiming at.
You know all those positioning statements you hear in which one radio station ridicules another? It’s called “trashing the competition.”
98% of the time, it also deserves to be called “stupid.”
There have been a few very smart, very successful “attack campaigns” that were effective because they were strategic. They weren’t borne of animus or demo ego. They were part of a well conceived plan to beat the radio competition.
My favorite of that tiny minority of successes was Randy Michaels’ destruction of Q105/Tampa by “The Power Pig.”
Your city probably has a “restaurant row.” A bunch of good restaurants, all clustered together within 2 or 3 blocks.
They cluster together deliberately: Good restaurants profit by being close to other good restaurants. If you’re a diner, that’s a nice neighborhood to find yourself in.
Well, the radio dial = Restaurant Row. That’s your neighborhood.
When’s the last time you saw a sign over an establishment on Restaurant Row proclaiming, “All the other restaurants on this block will give you food poisoning”?
You already know the argument about “not using your airwaves to promote another radio station by attacking them.”
If you have a bigger audience than they do, that’s a valid argument.
But there’s another reason why publicly attacking them is a stupid thing to do:
If you’re going to the trouble of attacking them, undoubtedly it’s because you see them as a direct competitor for your audience.
If so, some of your listeners also listen to that other station.
Do you really want to tell your listeners that the other stations they like are lousy? That they’re idiots for listening to them?
Finally, if you need to attack a competitor to make yourself look good, what does that say about the quality of your radio station’s programming?
Comments on this entry are closed.
Question:
How do you contrast this (what you said above) with “positioning?” example: 7up is the un-cola
how’s this grab ya Dan. ” listen to us, because the rest of the dial is full of crap.”
Additionally, ridiculing artist that your listeners may like, tells them they are stupid by association. IOW, focus on what *you* do well.
A radio station doing that is like posting to Facebook in all caps. THE PERSON WHO POSTED IT DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THE INTERNET NEIGHBORHOOD – THEY DON’T REALIZE IT’S YELLING. Do they ever look at neighboring posts? The only people in my feed who do it are two old radio guys, Dan O Day and Scott Shannon. Sticks out like a sore thumb, looks angry or preachy, either way amateurish.
I am the PD for a rock station in a small market. There is one other rock station in town, and a couple more from nearby towns. These other stations air high school and college sports broadcasts. We do not air any sports. I have created a few promos that point this out: “it’s Friday night and you want to rock, but the other guys all have a game on. When you want to rock you want us.” Or: “when the other guys are airing a sports broadcast you don’t care about, we are rockin’!” Am I foolish?
@Dave: I think your idea is good.
Your first sample is the better of the two, because ultimately it’s about the audience.
The second one ends with ‘We are rockin!” — which makes it about your station, not about your listeners.
Overall, you just want to take the focus away from talking about “the other guys.” Keep your focus on the benefit to your audience.
Maybe something like:
“Friday nights in (market) and you want to rock, not listen to sports broadcasts. That’s why we’re here. Radio X — rocking 24/7. Yeah, that even includes Friday nights.”
But no, I wouldn’t lump you in among the “dumb” radio program directors.
Old saying never mention your competition
the trick is to get THEM to attack YOU.
This also implies to online radios….