This is Part One of an interview I did with Ray Edwards, a former radio guy who saw the writing on the wall, took a deep breath, and began a new career that ultimately provided greater security, greater financial rewards, and greater personal satisfaction.
View this radio career video online.
A radio interview — whether it’s with a celebrity, government official, listener, etc. — should be a journey of discovery.
The interviewer’s job is not to ask a question, wait for an answer, and then ask another question.
It’s to lead the audience to a place they haven’t been before: a new insight or understanding; new information; new emotional context for the subject being discussed.
Listen to your most recent interview and ask, “Did we discover anything?”
If the answer is no, then you wasted your time and your listeners’ time.
This is the third in a series devoted to helping radio advertising professionals teach their clients what they need to know in order for their radio commercials to succeed.
It’s hard to believe that we still hear commercials that command listeners to “drop what you’re doing and hurry on down to the big sale.”
Our buddy Nick Michaels refers to such language as “doggie commands”:
“Set a button for 102.7 on your car radio right now!”
“Tell all your friends about the new station you’ve found!”
“Roll over! Sit! Beg!”
Do you like being told what to do?
By a stranger?
But how can you deliver a Call To Action without commanding?
By inviting:
“Maybe you’d like to set a button for 102.7 on your car radio right now. That way, you’d always have your favorite Classic Rock songs waiting for you…at the tip of your finger.”
Or by suggesting:
“You could set a button for 102.7 on your car radio right now. That way….”
When writing copy, often I do want the Call To Action to be strong. But I’m likely to deliver it as a rhetorical question:
“So why not bring your family to Luigi’s Italian restaurant one night this week…and let our family meet yours?”
Or as a conditional statement:
“If you’re tired of wearing glasses and contact lenses, maybe it’s about time you discovered how Lasik Eye Surgery can change your life. For your free, no-obligation consultation, just give us a call at….”
Years ago, I had a nifty pair of folding sunglasses. I inadvertently left its protective case in a taxicab in Las Vegas.
A few weeks later, back home in Los Angeles, a local radio station offered a prize to the first caller who could answer a particular music trivia question.
The prize? A pair of folding sunglasses.
I didn’t need the sunglasses, but I thought, “I’ll bet they come with a protective case.”
And I knew the answer to the music trivia question. What luck; I rarely listen to this particular station.
I grabbed the phone, dialed the station’s number a few times, and found myself talking to the morning host.
Off-air, I correctly answered the question,
“That’s right!” he exclaimed. “Hold on a minute; I’m gonna put you on-the-air. What’s your name?”
“Dan,” I said.
I knew that at the end of the call he’d ask me, “What is your favorite radio station?”
I knew what station I was listening to. But wanting to be a “good” contestant, I actually wrote down the station’s name on a piece of paper in front of me. There’d be no chance of my forgetting.
The song ended.
I was on-the-air with the jock.
He asked the trivia question.
I gave the correct answer.
The jock acted excited, described the prize again, and congratulated me.
I knew what was coming. He was going to ask, “What is your favorite radio station?”
I waited for it.
Sure enough, the jock finally asked:
“So, Dan….Who is your favorite morning DJ??”
I had absolutely no idea.
Not a clue.
After the longest silence in the history of American radio, finally I blurted out, “You are!”
Here’s the radio commercial….
Presumably Ralphs Grocery spent a lot of money researching and developing the “Simple Truth” product line.
If only they would make an infinitesimally smaller investment in some decent copywriting for their radio commercials.
They waste the first five seconds of this 30-second advertisement by saying:
“These days it seems like a lot of people are trying to take care of themselves a little better.”
Really? By “these days,” do they mean over the past few months? Few years? Few decades?
We’re told where we can find “Simple Truth” products without being told what those products actually are and how they can add to our lives.
We’re told about “the green circle on the packaging.”
Marketing Note: If the packaging is good, you don’t need to use radio advertising to tell people what “the green circle” means.
“Plus, it’s delicious and affordable.”
Well, that’s reassuring. The anonymous hired voice says it’s delicious and affordable.
1. Are “delicious” and “affordable” in contrast to the rest of the food Ralphs sells?
2. Only an incompetent copywriter refers to the advertised food as “delicious.”
3. I can safely assume that what “she” finds delicious will be delicious to me, too?
4. “Affordable” — to whom?
5. No Real Human ever says “affordable.”
What a waste of however much Ralphs is spending on its radio advertising.
