Lisa Dollinger is the CEO of Dollinger Strategic Communication, based out of San Antonio, Texas. Dollinger is very well known to the radio industry, having helped clients grow their business and brands for over 20 years now. She was the first employee (VP of Communications) for Capstar Broadcasting, working with CEO Steve Hicks.
On June 18, we release our entire Most Influential Women in Radio list and Lisa Dollinger is on that list. Here is an extended interview with Lisa about how she’s helping clients, spreading the gospel of radio, and what she would like to see the industry do better.
Radio Ink: Why do you believe you’ve been successful?
Lisa Dollinger: My experience and relationships are second to none and they drive the success of my business. My clients trust me to maximize every opportunity to showcase their businesses, people, brands, and shows around the clock and in real time, keeping them top-of-mind with their audiences and helping create a positive business environment for their growth.
That gives them a competitive advantage that builds their brands and creates awareness of product benefits and differentiators, driving qualified leads and conditioning the market for their product or service. So my success is directly tied to my clients’ success, which means consistent performance is paramount.
I am also very selective about the people I work with, and that includes clients, vendors, and associates. I only work with best-in-class companies and shows, and I often bring clients together for joint initiatives that create an alchemy that multiplies opportunities for all involved. I’m grateful for the trust my client partners place in me. I try to earn that trust and confidence every day, so I work hard and I’m constantly evaluating strategies and tactics to build ongoing momentum and create business opportunities for my clients. Being responsive, agile, creative, curious, and opportunistic continually fuels success.
Radio Ink: How do you push yourself to constantly learn?
Lisa Dollinger: I continually monitor the media and entertainment ecosystem to keep my finger on the pulse of our cultural and business environment. I also study a wide variety of informational sources every day for insights that factor into consumer behavior, choices, and preferences. That data informs the decisions I make and the approaches I take to achieve the business objectives of my clients. I read constantly, stay informed about innovations and trends, and study businesses outside of our industry to identify new opportunities to break through with client messaging. I also consume a lot of media and talk to and learn from the people I know and work with every day. I attend as many conferences as I possibly can and I serve on boards of directors to broaden my perspective and enlarge my circle of influence. Importantly, I try to listen more than I speak. The best ideas typically come from the most unexpected places and you can learn from everyone you encounter.
Radio Ink: What are you doing to make the radio industry stronger?
Lisa Dollinger: I tell stories every day designed to place radio’s greatest companies, shows, personalities, products, and services front and center with target audiences and shine the brightest, most positive light on the power of our medium. I do this at the market level and nationally with advertising, marketing, consumer, and business/financial audiences. As I share these stories within the radio industry, I hope that I can multiply the power of that informed advocacy across the country and around the world. That drumbeat of positive, data-driven messages has great power to change the way people think and act, and helps them to better understand how we effectively connect great content and experiences with consumers and brands, now more than ever.
Radio Ink: What do you want to see radio do better?
Lisa Dollinger: I see this pretty often, but just because you’ve been doing something the same way for the majority of your career and that has worked for you, doesn’t mean that that approach is going to work today or tomorrow. That is often wishful thinking and it holds people back, and prevents their stations and companies from evolving as quickly as they need to be able to compete most effectively in the changing marketplace. It’s OK to move from your comfort zone and try new things. If it doesn’t work, then you’ve learned something and you can adjust accordingly. But staying where you are is actually falling behind. It’s exciting and fun to learn and to grow and to be opportunistic, using our incredible assets as an industry in different ways to drive better results. What could be more fun than that?
I also believe that more fully diversifying our industry can only improve and strengthen our product and service mix, and the teams we build to deliver that. It’s important to find talent in unlikely places, to listen and learn from them, and to give them chances to fully develop and do great things that will continue to fuel the long-term health and growth of our businesses and industry.
Reach out to Lisa and congratulate her at [email protected].
