Brian Wright “Branding”
Branding your radio product is more important than ever. The battle for top of mind supremacy requires constant attention to detail and a relentless effort on the part of all the people on your team. Letting up at all in this battle will result in both CUME and TSL loss. Yes, generating revenue, personality development and music selection are all extremely important…but the stability and growth of your station depends on how well you are branded in the minds of your target life-group and for that matter your advertising clients as well.
There are many media sources fighting for our listener’s time, memory and money. None of these sources are going to go away. In fact, many are getting stronger. I can’t tell you how many times we have talked with and focus-grouped with actual listeners who are very confused about the very stations they say that they spend the most time with. They often recall the wrong frequency, call letters, morning show hosts, etc. It’s hard to believe but it’s true.
Branding is really putting your station name/image up front in everything you do, everything, in creative ways! Look at a cereal box, the name of that “brand” of cereal is everywhere, upwards of 10-12 times on a box. A box of cereal is a tangible product, radio is an intangible. This means you have to work harder than that box of cereal to get people to remember your name. Gone are the days when a station can say, “We’ll let’s take a look at our weather…” and expect to get any brand awareness out of it. You may be shocked at how unaware average listeners are about your radio station! We must adopt the attitude that nobody knows what station they are listening to, and they always forget when they listened. This is a frightening proposition, but should stimulate us to come to a firm belief in the importance of branding. Can you name what product belongs to each of these partial branding statements?
- You’re in good hands.
- Just do it.
- What’s in your wallet?
- It’s in the game.
You knew all of them, right? Wouldn’t it be nice if your radio station’s brand name was as well known as these? Make it your goal, and you can come close. For both Diary and PPM markets, branding is of premium importance!
Brian is a 30 year radio veteran who has successfully served many companies over the years as Program Director, Operations Manger and VP of programming and consultant with Wright Media Group. For the last 15 years Wright has enjoyed building alliances with scores of stations in the US & Canada helping them grow in ratings and revenue. Contact Brian at brianw6187@aol.com.
