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 Video did not kill the radio star. And neither will satellite radio nor
will iPods (not even video iPods). However, there are seismic shifts
that are affecting the traditional "terrestrial" radio industry in
dramatic ways. The radio medium has always been a strong means to
efficiently reach targeted local and national audiences. And it's been
underappreciated for its selling power. Nonetheless, it is going through
massive change and with change, come opportunities.What should a smart marketer do to best use this rapidly changing medium? 1. Most importantly, regardless of any industry changes, marketers need to create radio advertising that is interesting and not merely a recitation of facts. Use the absence of visual to your advantage and create interesting messages which capture the listeners' imagination. Radio has long been the home to miserable boring announcements. Create advertising with the listener's enjoyment in mind, and not merely a laundry list of stuff you want to tell them, and your ads will be much more effective. 2. Negotiate placement of advertising within a commercial break. With the dramatic growth of commercials per hour in the past 10 years (a phenomenon that is thankfully now receding), memorability of radio advertising has been on the wane. Memorability of individual commercials drops in half from beginning to the end of lengthy commercial breaks. Where a spot runs in a commercial break really matters. Therefore, aggressively negotiate early positioning within breaks (without premium). Stations which run lengthy breaks don't like to guarantee positioning. Push back hard, regardless. And smart radio groups have now realized that they needed to reduce commercial loads to retain listeners and increase advertising effectiveness. 3. Use 30-second units and even shorter units if you are able to. Clear Channel and several other radio groups are now selling :30s as standard units rather than the traditional :60, and I suspect the other radio groups will ultimately follow. If your message can be delivered in a shorter unit, go for it. And just don't talk faster and cram 60 seconds of info into 30. Sometimes the less you say (and the smarter you say it) the more the listener remembers, and the more they ascribe benefits to a product or service that weren't even said. 4. If your product or service has national distribution, use satellite radio as an advertising medium -- now. While the roughly 65 music stations on both XM and Sirius do not accept advertising, the non-music satellite stations -- talk, comedy, sports, news -- do accept advertising, still at a far less intrusive load than most terrestrial stations. The satellite radio industry is approaching 10 million subscribers and is rapidly growing. Sirius, accelerated by Howard Stern's ("The King of All Media") long anticipated arrival, XM with Major League Baseball, and other high-profile programming make satellite radio a viable ad medium. Listening habits of those who have satellite radio show deep erosion of traditional radio listening, so it's important to use satellite as an adjunct to capture these listeners which tend to both drive more and have more discretionary income, but listen to far less traditional radio than they used to. 5. Experiment with podcasts. Podcasts, programs of various lengths downloaded to the exploding MP3 owner base (dominated by iPods), are a terrific way to "sponsor" content and create programming that's relevant to your brand or service. The growth of podcasts was accelerated by Apple's release of iTunes 4.9 in June that made downloading a podcast a snap. But marketers need to back up and think about how to integrate their product/service into the content of a podcast, not just run spots. This is an exciting new medium worthy of deep exploration. 6. Develop an HD radio strategy. HD Radio is becoming a reality. With an HD receiver a listener can receive multiple stations on a single frequency. In January the HD Digital Radio Alliance, a joint initiative of leading radio broadcasters announced that 28 markets, including Philadelphia, will begin broadcasting HD2 multicast programming. Most Philadelphia-area radio groups and key stations are involved. Initially, HD2 stations, many of which will feature a broader variety of programming will be commercial free. While there are very few HD receivers in consumers' hands currently, 15 companies will be manufacturing them. But over time as penetration of HD receivers increases, new HD2 stations will provide opportunities to reach more tightly defined, narrower audiences. Smart marketers will want to experiment early on with these stations when they accept advertising. In summary, marketers need to be experimental. Radio, at its core, is the audio delivery of information and entertainment. Historically, its strengths are the relationships built between the listener, the announcer and the music or information content. Though technology is changing the means of delivery, the overall desire for audio information and entertainment remains strong. The challenge for marketers will be to create marketing programs that best meet the changing consumer and changing technology. Lonny Strum is the Managing Director of Strum Consulting Group, a strategic business & marketing consulting organization. He can be reached at 856-770-1154 or at lonstrum@strumconsulting.com |
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