Local radio may be asking the wrong question.
For years, we have asked, “How do we sell more radio?”
That question still matters. But it may be too small.
More recently, we have in a variety of ways expanded to other offerings and struggled around the words radio, media, audio and other ways to describe our business. Digital has also led radio down a path of ever shrinking profit centers. I’m not “against digital,” but I do encourage our local radio clients to focus on profit center.
Our way of describing radio at Rainmaker Pathway Consulting Works is that you and I are in the local relationship business.
A better question might be: “What valuable assets do we already possess that local businesses would pay to access, understand or participate in?”
And: “How are we actually telling our relationship story?”
That changes the conversation.
Because local radio has three assets that are often undervalued: Data, relationships and proximity.
Start with relationships.
Local radio stations have spent decades building connections with local business owners, community leaders, nonprofit organizations, schools, sports programs, personalities, listeners and consumers. Those relationships are difficult for an outside technology company to recreate. In fact, their “relationships” are transactional, the weakest form of relationship.
Then consider proximity.
Local radio remains close to adults who make real financial decisions every day.
They buy homes.
Replace roofs.
Purchase vehicles.
Choose doctors.
Hire attorneys.
Join gyms.
Eat out.
Travel.
Invest.
Remodel kitchens.
Care for aging parents.
These are real people with needs, problems and money to spend.
And then there is data.
Local radio should be thinking much more seriously about ethical first-party data collection.
Newsletters.
Contests.
Listener clubs.
Events.
Surveys.
Digital registrations.
Research panels.
Loyalty programs.
Community databases.
Not because radio should become creepy. Of course not.
Because better information allows radio to become more useful.
More valuable.
Imagine knowing that thousands of people connected to your brands are homeowners, parents, sports fans, travelers, business owners, boaters or people considering a major purchase.
Suddenly you are not simply selling commercials.
You are helping businesses understand and connect with a marketplace.
That can create entirely new revenue lanes.
Consumer research.
Lead-generation products.
Sponsored community studies.
Business intelligence reports.
Exclusive networking events.
Local membership programs.
Category-specific databases.
Advertiser education.
High-value experiential marketing.
Even local marketplaces built around trusted radio brands.
The opportunity is not to abandon broadcasting.
It is to expand what broadcasting makes possible.
The transmitter is still incredibly valuable, but the transmitter does not have to define the limits of the relationship business.
Local radio already owns something many emerging companies desperately try to manufacture: Familiarity, access and relationships inside a local community.
The smartest local operators may increasingly stop asking only, “How many spots can we sell?”
They may start asking:
What problems can we solve because we know this community?
What can we build because people already know us?
What information can we responsibly collect that makes advertisers more successful?
And what new businesses become possible because we already have proximity to adult consumers with money?
That is where innovation gets interesting.
Local radio may discover that some of its biggest future revenue opportunities have been sitting inside the building all along.
They simply weren’t labeled “radio.”
