First, the radio commercial:
The message delivered by this radio advertising:
“We, the advertiser, have some sort of discount!”
Rather than tell us about the discount, we are instructed to “learn more” at their website.
Sure. We’ll do that. We’ll assume the responsibility of educating ourselves about Progressive Insurance’s new discount.
Of course we will.
The latest issue of my Radio Programming Letter includes points out a serious mistake made by most radio station websites.
It also includes an updated version of my “Air Personality’s 10 Commandments.”
This posting is for subscribers to add their own comments….
Here’s another video of over coach extraordinaire Nancy Wolfson, explaining why it’s important, when recording or auditioning for a TV commercial, to create your own “mental storyboard.”
If you can’t view the video player above, click here for an alternate player.
Often a reader of this blog will post a response that disagrees with something I said. (Unbelievable, I know.)
Usually I don’t offer a rebuttal, because the “Comments” feature doesn’t exist so I can argue with my valued readers.
But sometimes a comment does raise an issue that’s worth further explanation. Which is why I hereby launch this Friday tradition of Responding To Something Somebody Said Somewhere Else On This Blog At Some Time.
A radio station owner wrote:
“We encourage the client to be in the commercial for at least 3 seconds, saying their name and inviting customers to come see them. What happens is their friends tell them they heard them on the air…music to any advertiser’s ears.”
Yes, that appeals to the advertiser’s ego. But is that the promise you made? “Buy an advertising campaign on our station, and we’ll flatter your ego?”
I’m guessing that, instead, you are promising to help increase the client’s business.
Selling the radio advertiser a campaign featuring the client’s voice so that people will tell him they heard him probably is not in the client’s best interest.
It’s as though your doctor has told someone, “You absolutely must lose weight, or you’ll die of a heart attack,” and you sell the guy a pair of trick glasses that makes him look slimmer in the mirror.
A young radio jock asked me to comment on his aircheck.
A couple of my remarks might be useful to someone you know….
1. My biggest suggestion is that you infuse your delivery with a bit more energy.
I don’t mean you should sound hyped or phony, just a bit more intense.
It sounds as though you’re sitting back in your chair. If so, sit up straight and then lean into the mic a bit, tensing your stomach muscles (i.e., tightening your diaphragm).
That change in your physicality will increase the alertness and intensity of your voice because your body will be more alert.
Sounding casual is good; sounding bored isn’t.
2. When you’re talking to a caller on-air, your voice tone should alter to reflect that of the caller.
Do you use the same voice tonality when talking to your mother as when talking to your best friend, your girlfriend, or a prospective employer?
Probably not.
Is the caller excited, but you still sound completely laid-back? How about letting some of her excitement inform your own vocal delivery?
Is the caller whispering? Maybe you should respond in a more confidential, personal tone.
I’m not talking about “pretending” or “mimicking.”
I’m talking about establishing rapport with your callers and thereby making the conversations more interesting to your mass audience.
