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Warren Buffett, one of the most successful investors and financial strategists of all time, was asked recently on CNBC what he looks for in a new venture. His reply was the same one he has uttered in interviews for over thirty years… “durable competitive advantage.”
Only companies who demonstrate a stable and enduring advantage, which differentiates them in a noteworthy way from their competition, are eligible for investment by Warren Buffett.
By the same token, only stations who demonstrate a stable and enduring programming differentiation from their competition—also known as “stationality”—are worthy of busy listeners’ time investment.
Radio’s “durable competitive advantage” is “stationality.” Stationality is the nature of the relationship between listeners and your radio station. The relationship a listener has with your radio station’s brand ultimately determines your success.
Whether I am consulting radio stations, interactive companies, or magazines, our branding and programming efforts all boil down to one thing: management of our brand’s perception in the consumer’s mind.
The average person will only remember seven types of soda pop, seven types of toothpaste, seven types of cereal, and seven radio stations. Most often in Arbitron diaries, we only see three radio stations that are “top of mind” enough in the listeners’ world to make it through the spiderweb of his or her brain onto the diary paper.
This Radio Ink Three Part Series on Stationality explores the relationship between listeners and their favorite radio stations. We’ll discuss some of the principal tenets of radio station branding, which we’ll call stationality.
1. Stationality is not about what your radio station does. It’s about what your radio station means in the mind of the listener.
Your station’s pattern of behavior (type of music you play, spots heard on your airwaves, personalities and imaging between your songs, promotions/contesting you run, etc.) are all merely lifeless events.
It’s the meaning or emotional interpretation that listeners give each of these events that bring them to life. A personality coming out of your speakers is just a series of words playing through an electronic machine until the listener feels something. Then, your personality exists in their mind.
You know that you have started to achieve stationality when listeners describe your station as they would describe a person.
“Majic 95 is like a friend that stays with me all day while I’m working.”
“Party 97 is always having a good time.”
“DC101 is all about standing up for the little guy.”
Each of these statements imply an emotional interpretation of the station within the listener’s mind.
Radio station claims of #1 for the best music or the biggest morning show fall on deaf and uncaring ears. No radio station has a better variety than a listener’s personal iPod, regardless of what you say.
Remaining relevant means shifting the playing field from positioning our radio stations with descriptions of what we do (most music, better variety, brighter mix) to descriptions of what our product means (feel good, relax, family, connection, comfort, sing-along, etc.)
The listener’s take-away feeling is the biggest contributor to your stationality.
2. It is imperative to understand the target listener’s world of experience.
Empathy is an important skill of a smart programmer. It is impossible to connect successfully with an audience who you don’t know.
Select a “prototype” consumer who represents your station’s most common listener. This person will be your conduit to understanding the experiences and values of your station’s audience.
Once you identify a most common target listener—for instance, 27 year old Jen, 42 year old Nancy, or 35 year old John—begin to inventory your listener’s average daily experience. An inventory of your target’s average daily life will begin to give you a snapshot of who they are. What do they do from the time they wake up, to the time they go to sleep, and everything in between?
Then, begin to dissect the driving emotion or deep need that motivates your target to do what they do. In most cases, this requires some form of personal interview or focus group with your audience.
In a recent focus group for an Adult CHR radio station, a 35 year old female described her day…
At 5AM, I wakeup and get on the treadmill. At 6, I get myself, my son, and my daughter ready. I help my husband get his lunch together, and hope to get out the door by 7AM to get my kids to daycare. By 7:15 I start my drive to work. I go through Starbucks drive-through to get a pastry and coffee. I work from 8AM to 5PM. During my lunch hour though, I get clothes to the dry cleaner and back, pick up groceries, and run other errands I can’t get done after work. Then, usually I’ll pick up lunch or pack a lunch and eat it at my desk once I get back at 1 o’clock. At 3, my husband gets off work and picks up the kids from daycare, so my phone rings continuously with them until 5… when I get off work and race home. Then, I play with the kids while I’m cooking dinner and doing laundry… get them in bed by 9. Spend time with my husband until 10 or 11 at night… which usually involves falling asleep in front of the TV. By 11, I go to sleep to start all over again.
In an effort to dive deeply into the accounts of listeners in this focus group, we shared the results with a forensic psychiatrist.
In Part II of this three part series on Stationality, we’ll share his observations and their impact on your programming and marketing. It will change the way you look at the positioning of your radio station.
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