DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

The most important adjective used to describe a great radio promotion director is:

“Proactive.”

Great Promotion Directors probably are overworked.

They have impossible demands placed upon them by all the other departments.

But they’re never surprised.

They think ahead, plan ahead, and act ahead.

And they don’t “wish” or “hope” for what they need.

They think, plan and act ahead of time to get what they need.

Amy Porterfield

Today we did an info-packed teleseminar with Amy Porterfield, author of FACEBOOK MARKETING ALL-IN-ONE FOR DUMMIES.

This posting is for attendees to share their own honest reviews of the teleseminar.

I thought there was a ton of good info. But maybe I’m biased.

If you were there, what did you think?

P.S. Here’s where to get your copy of Amy’s book on Facebook Marketing.

Three ways your radio advertising can bore your targeted listener:

Talk to them about something that isn’t relevant to them.

I’m an American, which means that, for me, soccer is a boring sport to watch.

When I used to attend my young son’s soccer games, during the times when he was on the bench I’d shake my head and wonder, “Why are all those other parents watching when Matthew isn’t playing?”

When Matthew wasn’t on the field, the game lost its relevance to me.

Talk to them in a way that doesn’t make the relevance absolutely clear.

You know the cliché, “It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it.”

With a radio commercial, it’s what you say and how you say it.

Talk to them in a way that is completely predictable, based upon the expectations that have been established by most commercials.

If the first words or sounds of a commercial trigger a response of instant, complete recognition, then the listener will mentally tune out.

If you know what the weather forecast is, then as soon as you’re told, “And now the weather,” you stop listening.

And — think about this — if you do know what the weather forecast is but you don’t know the score of last night’s basketball game and immediately before announcing the score the radio station says, “And now the weather,” you stop listening.

Because they were too predictable, you stopped listening…even though your prediction was wrong.

It sounded as though it was going to be nothing more than a forecast, and you didn’t need a forecast….

So you stopped listening.

When an advertisement begins and the targeted listener thinks, “Oh, it’s another car dealer commercial where some guy screams at me over bad, loud music,” the listener’s mind is freed to attend to other, less predictable (and therefore more interesting) diversions.

A Loyal Reader Writes:

“I’m a PD who is responsible for writing all the imaging material for my stations. Coming up with ideas for these seems to be more challenging every day. Do you know of any good resources for ‘stealing’ creative liners?”

No; that’s not something I would recommend even if knew of any.

Station Imaging doesn’t come from using other people’s liners; it comes from creating, communicating and building upon a genuine connection between you and your audience.

Despite widespread belief to the contrary among radio programmers, Station Imaging does not consist of snappy one-liners.

Real Station Imaging is a combination of two thing:

1.  Reflecting back to your core audience the ways in which they really do use your station (entertainment, information, companionship — it varies according to your station and your audience).

2.  Making a promise to your listeners.

What do you promise?

You promise to deliver what your audience already has told you they expect from you (i.e., #1, above).

Station Imaging Is Not Sloganeering.

Sorry. I realize it’s easier to parrot a clever slogan than to identify and then communicate your station’s Unique Listening Proposition.

Illustration:

What’s the slogan upon which Federal Express (now FedEx) was built?

“When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”

Wrong. Sorry, that was a trick question.

“When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight” was not a slogan. It was a promise.

So you begin your quest for a good station liner by answering the question, “What promise do we make to our listeners?”

And then you look for ways to present that promise compellingly and concisely.