2-20-2012
I was recently having a discussion with Vice President of NextMedia360 Brian Foster about a station operator who commented on a website product I am fond of. ?But won?t it cannibalize my listeners on the tower?? the owner said. Brian?s response to that statement was a good one and it lead to some other questions worth exploring.
Carl Magnuson: ?Will Facebook cannibalize my listeners??
Foster: Carl, it?s one of the biggest "leaps" most broadcasters have to take. I always say this, do me a favor...have your jocks run the following message on air, "Listeners of WXYZ, DELETE your Facebook account today. We want to be your friends on air and need your full attention, delete Facebook today to show you stand with WXZY". How many listeners would? We cannot kill the appetite for digital content - if a listener wants it, they want it. That objection tells me the broadcaster is really asking, "If I give them additional choice digitally will it make them want it more than my current offerings?" We do not have the power to give or take away that kind of behavior, only to service it. So in short, even if you are not there?your customers are.
Carl Magnuson: And in serving that need we need to be there or we miss an opportunity. Why the hesitation from so many?
Foster: It is all about the focus. We need to better understand how each decision affects our three distinct customers. While we ?own? our delivery device, we must understand that we ?operate? a brand. When it comes to brands little things matter, read the autobiography on Steve Jobs, you will see the power of paying attention to the little things. It is very easy to focus on the overall monthly P&L; it is much more difficult determining all the ancillary items that affect our audience growth and advertiser loyalty. I have been blessed to work with a company and management team that is very willing to take the path less traveled to serve the specific needs of our three customers. I would not say that broadcasters are hesitant to ?pour it on? new ways and places, I would say each manager is making the best decisions they can based on the priorities laid out for them. Change has to happen at the top as we set priorities. Our CEO has been very active in realigning our focus, but he has the foresight to include BOTH our board of directors and our managers.
Carl Magnuson: Is Radio an audio content distribution channel, or is it more about what we build on top of the distribution?the added value of news and content curation, local connection, charity activity, events and live appearances?
Foster: When you break down radio to its purest form, it is simply a delivery device. No different than streaming, texting, letters, carrier pigeons (ok, maybe a little different then pigeons). It serves as a conduit between one audio source, and numerous listeners. What we do with this device is up to us (and the FCC of course). Now, this definition is evolving as other channels are opening up allowing one to many, and one to one communications. It is our job as broadcasters to evolve this delivery device to best serve our three customers: audience, advertisers and investors. There must to be a balance in the needs served, if investors trump audience, the product suffers. Conversely, if we become so audience focused we lose our revenue model, this becomes a very expensive hobby. Ignore our true advertiser?s needs or over restrict our offerings and we are no longer relevant. It is with this balanced focus of audience, advertiser and investor that we need to discuss the growth of just what this powerful delivery device can become.
Carl Magnuson: Is competition for listener attention with new media good for radio?
Foster: They say competition forces us to sharpen our game and get better. I tend to disagree, I would much rather have no one to compete against and just own my audience out of sheer monopoly. I set my own rates, play what I want, do what I want and only when I want to do it. I would play Avett Brothers, Cowboy Mouth, and old DMB cuts all day long and collect my checks. Now, that is the honest answer but also not a realistic one. To ask if competition is good or not is not the question, because we can?t control it, it just is. Ignoring this won?t make it go away, so let?s get real about it. We are very close to seeing total digital integration into the automotive dashboard; this could be the thing that killed radio. However, we have heard this before as well (TV, 8 track, CD, iPod, etc...) There is still time to make sure our product is relevant and servicing our three distinct customers. The world is still our oyster for a little while longer, it is what we do in the next few years that will determine our future. And it is vitally important that our planning for the future takes place with our three distinct customers in the room.
Carl Magnuson: So for those three customers?What are three things radio can do to set us apart in the media industry today and insure we win tomorrow?
Foster: This is a great question, and like any good client needs analysis each solution will vary greatly on the need and our ability to execute.
1. Listeners: Realize who they are and play to it. I always say pretend our audience is like a party. In the past, radio would be the guy who kicked in the door two hours late, grabbed a beer and slammed it. We were the party starter who set the tone?we are rock stars. Today, radio needs to realize, for the most part, social media sets the tone. We are now a co-host, who welcomes people in, finds their interests and takes them around the room connecting them to others who share their passions. We cultivate trends alongside of a host of other opinion shapers. This doesn?t mean we have a diminished ability to connect to an audience, if anything we can now connect on a deeper level. Make sure when putting together your publishing schedule (otherwise known as your on-air war book) that it includes a healthy dose of listening.
2. Advertisers: We do needs analysis meetings to focus on clients, true. However, our passion must stretch beyond that and focus on our client?s customers. Why is this guy in our advertiser?s business right now? Why not their competitor? How often is he here? When did she decide to come? What was the message that pushed him over the top? How would she share that message with friends?
Good marketing mirrors consumer shopping patterns. Learn which message works with each stage and reverse engineer the solution from that. Now you are thinking like an agency and now you can monetize your whole platform. People buy knowledge, not ads, the ads are the end result. A quick trip to NextMedia360.com will show you we try to practice what we preach.
3. Investors: Have to be careful here because each situation is so different. However, even the most established Owner/Operator is still an investor and it is our job to service their needs. We need to be aware of their goals and show how our plans fit into their objectives. The four years running my own department has taught me a great deal about expectations. See their questions and challenges as a positive, and use it as a catalyst to really develop a plan that keeps our industry sustainable. For my own division, we identified 5 areas that we feel we can impact. Not all of these goals are revenue related. I try to trace back all my activity and show how it achieves one of these 5 larger concepts. When it comes to communicating up, don?t get caught up in the weeds of details. Make sure you lay out a plan that addresses their needs, and show how you are operating inside of that plan. Lastly, don?t take it personal; use the feedback to challenge your own beliefs, just as you ask your employees to do after one of your meetings.
Carl Magnuson: What are those 5 larger concepts?
Foster: A NextMedia trade secret! [laughter ensues] Though I would like to mention these are just my thoughts and what we at NextMedia360 use to evolve our platform. If you don?t see yourself in these answers, please don?t take it as me telling you what you need to do. I get very tired of people writing scathing blogs, making universal statements about specific needs for all of Radio. This is just what works for me and my team whom all have been instrumental in setting the pace and who all have made real contributions to our vision.
Brian Foster is Vice President of NextMedia360. Reach him at bfoster@nextmediagroup.net
Carl Magnuson is a contributor to RadioInk.com and Co-Creator/Director of Sales for the Social Radio Platform. Reach him at carl@socialradio.org
