(By Loyd Ford) We often think we are the center of what is happening. It’s not a radio thing; it’s human nature.
The truth is different. People on this planet are completely selfish. You are NOT the center of their lives. They pay attention to what they want.
Only what they want. And all the time. I call this, “Where’s the ball?” That’s because our real jobs are to find out where our audience is, what they like, what they want and get in front of the parades that matter and give them what they crave.
If you are on the radio today you have more tools than ever to reach out to attempt to gain the attention of what I call ‘the listeners you most want to attract’ and the audience you want to grow for the brands where you appear. That’s only good news if you know what to do. Knowing what to do has a starting point. So, let’s get busy with connecting the dots of being the most successful person in your market doing this important work.
- Start with the end in mind. What is the actual target audience of the brand or brands where you appear? Not what you think the target audience is. Find out what the company goals are for the brand or brands where you appear and what the strategy is to build audience. The first big key is finding out what the people who pay you are trying to accomplish and bind your talent to the mission of achieving those goals with audience. This is the way to grow your value with operators and gate keepers in our industry.
- Do your research. Find out what the target audience lifestyle looks like today. What do they like? What is their home life like? What is their work life like? What worries them? What do they like to do when they get free time? What streaming services and social media are they using most? What is important to them about local? How do they feel about healthcare, safety, family and Covid related issues? The better job you do researching and understanding them, the better on-air talent you will be and the more valuable you will be to the company you work for today (and in the future).
- Once you’ve researched, use what you’ve learned to create your view of content and create your on-air as well as your social media content strategy. That is correct. As an on-air personality, you should have a social media content strategy, including your strategy for contribution of visuals, text, engagement and even when and how often you post different kinds of content (all focused on what you’ve learned in your research about your target audience in your market).
- When it comes to podcasting, you are encouraged to put a lot of thought into the value to launching a podcast. What is your goal? With so many podcasts available in the ‘wild, wild west’ of the podcasting universe, wouldn’t it make sense to put yourself at the head of a ‘tribe’ that already exists or to fully develop an idea that could draw intense interest from a significant group of consumers? We actually believe in recommending that radio concentrate on advertiser opportunities (with subject matter likely to lend itself to passionate advertisers so they can “own” podcast real estate that strongly appeals to them) and a passionate group of consumers.
- When you prepare for on-air, you are responsible for knowing what your programming management wants out of your on-air and really preparing content for every on-air break you have during your show so you are prepared to ‘hit your marks’ and sound professional. But keep in mind: Your prep should also concentrate focus on what listeners want and what they will ‘stick around’ for in their busy and selfish lives.
Try to forget or dismiss all that noise you hear about Spotify being your competitor. You and what you bring to your individual show is a huge difference between local radio and a service like Spotify. Our jobs now are really to develop the kind of content that makes us break through all the noise consumers (listeners) are subjected to daily and be someone they literally point to as a must listen situation for them for the time we are on the air.
Finally, the next time you are in casual conversation and someone says a monkey could be on the air, tell ‘em to just try it. We’re in the content business. If you are really doing the work of practicing top-flight content like no one else in the market, there ISN’T anyone else that can do that job. You are the winner.
Loyd Ford consults radio stations, coaches personalities, and provides behavioral and strategic programming to radio with RPC. Reach him anytime. 864.448.4169 or [email protected].
