DON'T ANNOUNCE;  TALK ON THE PHONE TO YOUR FRIEND (our Target Listener)

We're working together to help the Talent to hear, to really understand, how his delivery is not true. We're listening to breaks and the delivery has a false and hyped approach. How can we break through and help this Talent to really get it this time---to stop being a bad actor, and start communicating for real?

Stop the aircheck,  define the target listener (lets say her name is Mary and she is 29) and  ask the Talent “how would you say those words to your friend Mary on the telephone?”

Pick up your office telephone handset, give it to the talent, and ask them to demonstrate. "I want you to say the same break now, but say it to Mary on the phone here".

The Talent automatically adjusts his phrasing and inflection to be more true to himself.

Next time he feels a loss of focus in the control room, get back in the game by picking up the phone and practice the break. It won't be long before he'll never need again to play the telephone game.

What's the Truth of This Thing?

Scratching my head, trying to come up with an idea for this promotion.

Hey...what would happen if I just told the truth?

What's the truth about our listener and this thing?

What's the truth?   Go from there. 

It will be relatable.  It may be startling.  It just might be very memorable.

PPM

1 Minute x 5  (within 00-14,15-29,30-44, or 45-59) = One QH

So if I get you for some five 1-minute portions of the quarter-hour,  I don't need the other 10 to win the full quarter-hour with you. 5 will give me 15.  So will 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14.

In this sense, a valuable programming strategy not only strives to win another occasion of listening.  It is also valuable to deflect an occasion of listening from most-shared competitors who are habitual destinations for your listener.

Choose to not compete against everyone.  Win the listener.  I'm not talking about accidental cume in the vicinity of a meter. For many "heavy deeps" there are only 1-2 competitors that are truly significant sources of gain or loss in minutes.   Do you know who they are?  Can you take minute 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,or 14 away from them this quarter-hour?  Yes you can, with a position and a plan.

DIARY

Recall is All.  

If they don't remember you,  they don't write you down.   Study the science of memory.

#1 trick to improve the memory of any experience is to make it emotional.

Next to habitual radio listening (that which the user believes they do every day) emotional radio listening is easiest to recall.  If you want to disrupt the market and get some bang in the next rating period, get emotional. 

Diary keepers are regular folks who suddenly become acutely aware of something they hadn't thought about before- their consumption of radio.  Be easy to remember.

FANS:  The 80/20 Rule

Regardless of the measurement: PPM or Diary or just good ole ROI,  we see again and again that the listener-customer who has the most impact on results is the Fan.  

Take care of the Fan.

Many stations need to completely re-imagine how they think about Fans.  Consider just this one point.  How many stations have a blanket policy that a listener is allowed to win a contest only 1x per 30 days.  Some companies go so far as to limit winning to 1x per year.  They post generic contest policies that apply to all their listener-customers.  They tell the portion of Fans who enjoy contests, "sorry you can't play again".  Wouldn't it be better to reward Fans with all the prizes all the time?  "Here, have another!"

The truth of radio success is that the more Fans you have, the greater your influence on all things they participate in.  Including Arbitron.