Building Buzz

Mark Ramsey did a terrific presentation a few years ago at CRS on “How To Build A Buzz Plan.”  Here’s a brief replay.

Step #1 - using buzz to your advantage

Are we buzz-worthy?

1.  Are we that good?
2.  What’s NEW?
3.  Is the station easy to talk about?
4.  Authenticity rules.  Make only claims you can support.
5.  Find network “hubs” (influencers in your social circle)
6.  Get those "huggers" involved in your radio station.
7.  Give away “free samples,” bite-size audio and video chunks of your radio station.
8.  Be outrageous and surprising.
9.  Fight for a well-defined cause (see ice buckets for ALS - but once it gets that big, you may not be able to "own" it.  Best to create your own local events.)
10.  Build a listener community.  Grease the wheels of buzz starting with them at live and online events.

A plan to get you to "10 out of 10," starts tomorrow.

Unpleasant Truths + Solid Advice From A Friend Of Radio

Yesterday in San Diego Mark Ramsey and a diverse group of new media experts presented eight hours of advice for radio, starting with this stat:  the majority of radio listeners asked to "agree" or "disagree" with the statement "Radio brands create unique and compelling content" disagreed.

After shaking his audience up with data showing a long decline in radio's total average quarter audience which has been trending down since a peak in 1983. the researcher delivered a passionate prescription for what radio needs to do to defend against emerging new music choices.

Take a few hours to watch the entire day's Google+ Meet Up session.  It will be time well-spent.  But, at the very least start watching the You Tube morning session at 16:00 (the first 15:00 is video of people arriving).  I predict that you will not be bored.

See comments from the crown in attendance at https://twitter.com/hivioSD.

Intimacy

1. the state of being intimate : familiarity

2. something of a personal or private nature

1. the intimacy of old friends
2. the intimacy of their relationship
3. He felt he achieved a certain intimacy with her.
4. The band liked the intimacy of the nightclub.

Can a mass media performer attain some level of it with a target audience (especially when the word so strongly connotes sexuality, or at the very least some physical contact)?

Can real, lasting intimacy occur without communication?

Fortunately, ideally, today's radio listener still consumes your content in a "one to one" mode, buying into the obvious illusion that the radio personality is using technology to share only to him or her.

The most effective broadcaster talks to one person, knowing that the content is being perceived one person at a time.

Tools which can make the magic happen:

Keep it fresh.  Stagnation in a relationship kills intimacy.
Two people exchange thoughts, share ideas and enjoy similarities and differences between their opinions. If they can do this in an open and comfortable way, then can become quite intimate in an intellectual area.Get involved in mutual activities with one another.
Comfortably share feelings.
Empathize with the feelings of the other person, really try to understand.

To overcome the barriers:

• Communicate.
• Give it time.
• Be aware of yourself and your needs.
• Don't be shy.  Showing vulnerability and weakness takes courage.
• Game Playing.  Intimacy can develop only when two people are being authentic in a significant way with another person.  The radio equivalent of this is talking like an announcer, using formal language, the Royal "we" and "us."

Start where you are.

As Mark Ramsey said after hearing Howard Stern interview Rachael Maddow earlier this year:   "That’s not just a voice in your ear, after all. It’s a voice you have a relationship with.  With TV you’re always aware of the glass rectangle separating you from that character in his or her sterile studio. But when you listen to the radio, it’s just you and that voice in your ears.  You and your friend.  This intimacy has tremendous value. And it happens not because of the right mix of songs, for hits are commodities. It happens not because of production value or messaging. It happens not because of contests and bits. It happens not because of more music or fewer commercials. It happens not because of personalization or interactivity.  It happens because that voice belongs to someone who matters to you."

Et Tu, Ramsey?

There is a spirited and intelligent debate going on at Mark Ramsey's blog in the comments section in response to his post FM on Mobile Phones? Be Careful what you Wish For.

I don't understand how Mark can cite the fact that Arbitron is still working out the complexities of measuring ear bud listening in PPM measurement as a reason not to have FM on smart phones at all.

Most of the other proponents and opponents can be grouped by their financial interests.  

Count me with Jeff Smulyan and the NAB.  My financial best interest, and perhaps yours will be served by making sure that analog radio's multi-billion dollar business continues for as long as possible, driven by the fact that more than nine of ten people in the U.S. and Canada use it every week, ten times the reach of streaming media.

Sure, let's keep working on digital radio too.  Make the product more listenable and unique.  Find a way to improve the financial model so that it's possible to make a comparable profit to FM and AM radio today while continuing to serve local communities with quality content.

On the other side:  CEA and CTIA.  If listeners can't get "free radio" anymore on FM/AM in their vehicles and mobile devices, they make more money since we'll be paying them for the bandwidth that analog radio makes so ubiquitous.  No wonder that they don't want us on their platforms.

Where Ramsey's opposition is coming from is less clear to me.  I assume it's idealism and a drive to push us all as rapidly as possible into the future, since his financial interests are supported by today's radio too.

Of course, the future is definitely coming at us lickedy split and we are in the midst of rebuilding business models to capitalize on it, but that's no reason to shut the doors and turn out the lights while radio just as it is today remains so important to so many folks (FM Chips in Cell Phones Survey Results - NAB).

I think Voltaire was right, Mark Ramsey.

Country Listeners Seem To Love Analog Radio In Their Cars

VIP Research and Mark Ramsey reported yesterday that while roughly one-third of 12+ consumers "would listen less to local radio if access to stations on the Internet was as easy to use as your radio...,“ 75.24% of respondents who listen to country music radio claim they would tune in just as much to “my local radio stations” (if offered the technology), a higher percentage than the other 17 format listeners included in the research.

The survey asked 2,000 radio listeners covering 22 markets, “If tomorrow you could get Internet access from the dashboard of your car and you could listen to thousands of radio stations from all over the world through an Internet receiver on your dash as easy to use as your radio, would you (a) Listen less to my local radio stations as I explore new ones online, or (b) Listen just as much to my local radio stations no matter what’s online.”

Fewer than half (48%) of of the country listeners (second only to 46% of classical fans, the group which was the least so inclined) want in-car Internet radio.

Would they rather have a radio in their portable mp3 player, iPod or an in-car Internet radio?

Again, (analog) FM wins (in the portable players, please).

The country radio consumers (38%) were second only to (40%) alternative listeners as the most likely to want a radio in their iPod/mp3 player.

The telephone survey of 2,141 adults was conducted August 10-25 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.0% at the 95% confidence level.

Are You Getting As Weary As I Am?

Jerry Del Colliano and Mark Ramsey are both brilliant individuals.

Both guys are longtime friends, whose expertise and access to great information makes them always worthy of paying attention to.

I've attended numerous Del Colliano (4 Bold Media Predictions) presentations over the years, having been an early Inside Radio subscriber.

I continue to rely on and recommend Ramsey's (Get Rid of your Station’s Website) innovative research approaches at man clients. And, of course, "change agents" are rarely welcomed at any time as history.

We humans are seemingly conditioned to resist evolutions and yet are also fascinated by it, as Spencer Johnson's impressive book sales over the last several decades has shown.

There were probably folks who - just like them - told every blacksmith shop around the turn of the last century to change business models immediately and indeed many of the first used car dealers were former horse traders and blacksmith shops, pioneers in a new business which ultimately employed many more people than their old businesses did, but it also turns our that the 'smithing trade can still be a very lucrative business today as well.

Let's vow to look for broader perspectives among the town criers we pay attention to, never ignoring warnings of impending falling skies, but also holding onto every existing audience and revenue source as long as possible too.

Suggestion: keep reading those negative soothsayers, but also add Edison Research, RAB, NAB, Harker Research, AllAccess, Radio-Info, AllAboutCountry and Full Throttle Country, among others, each day as well to keep your attitude in balance. (add a comment below with any other great daily radio reads you like as well)

We all "...could use a little good news today..." too, don't you think?

BCAB Video Rewind

Now, I know what you can spend this beautiful spring weekend doing, watching videos on your computer, replaying last week's British Columbia Association of Broadcasters' convention in Victoria.

Mark Ramsey (click to watch it): "The way we think about our industry needs to change. We need to broaden the focus and broaden the language."

Bob Garfield tells us we are all doomed (but then he offers a plan and some hope): "Listenomics – listen to customers and users, monitizing those conversations. We must be a master of all platforms, text, audio, and video. Whoever does the best job of listening to the audience and provides what they want will be the winner, who may not even exist yet given the fact that the barriers to entry are falling very fast."

Larry Rosin (click to see his presentation): "How can we push advertising messages that are of interest to our website viewers? Radio station web sites are improved but TV and print sites are leading the local battle. Forty-eight percent say that radio station Web sites have gotten more interesting compared to 17 percent believing them to be worse or less interesting. However, monthly visitation to radio station Web sites (16 percent) among persons 12+ lags visitation to local TV and local newspaper Web sites."

John Parikhal: Five trends impacting your success: Demographic shift, The disappearing middle, Always on, The filter factor creating a Power Shift from "us" to "the end user."

The radio "Presidents Panel:" Denise Donlan CBC, “In a world of choice, why us?” Corus' JJ Johnson, "Radio is still all about great content and great people. Stop living in fear – think forward and do something about it." Chris Gordon, CHUM: "We are leaner and meaner. Now that we seem to be coming out of this recession and the revenue is coming back we all need to invest in brand extension and staff training. The battle for radio is clearly to continue to own the mobile platforms." Pattison's Rick Arnish: "I am very bullish about the future. We have valuable brands & great relationships with advertisers and listeners. Culture is important. We use TTI (Total team involvement) and it helps our culture. We allow our market managers to make decisions, because they know their market better than anyone." Vista's Terry Coles: "The more things change the more things stay the same. We still need to create great content so we can do a better job of serving the audience."

Thanks, BCAB for one of the best meetings I've attended this year, making me excited to see what they have in store in Kelowna in 2011.

Heard At BCAB, Victoria

"There is no such thing as the TV and radio business. It's the MEDIA business and the unit of measure is ideas."

"Take inventory of what you're good at and extend it out to new areas OR think about what your customers need and work backwards. Learn new skills."

- Mark Ramsey

"The audience, thanks to the Internet, is bigger than ever. All we need is a business model."

"The revolution will not be monetized."

"Shut up and listen to the group formerly known as the audience. They are not listening to you, they are listening to each other talk about you as if your content, your brand all belonged to them."

"The winner will be he who listens best."

- Bob Garfield

"Research's unit of measurement up to now has been the household. No more. Now, it's the cell phone and the individual."

"Stop calling it 'new media,' mobile broadband is ushering in the era of 'better media,' contextual, participatory, with location-based applications. Everything we now call 'radio' is very soon going to reside in the cell phone. If you think 'radio is the original social medium,' you don't fully understand what makes social mobile media so revolutionary."

- Larry Rosin

"Innovation is not the same as creation. Take what you've built and introduce something new. Constantly. Have a formal innovation plan."

"Meet emotional needs: accompany me; reassure me; thrill me; reward me; teach me; help me escape, imagine or dream."

- John Parikhal

Will Christmas Music Take Another Fall Book Toll On The Country Format?

As A&O clients received our 48-page Christmas 2009 package this week, we started it off by resurrecting a Mark Ramsey quote from last year’s hear2.0, saying that, with the extreme turbulence in our economy today, this will be the biggest year for Christmas music on the radio EVER.

He said, “I don’t mean just the number of stations doing it. I mean the volume of listeners finding safe refuge in it.”

AC Consultant Mike McVay notes that 100000watts.com and M Street counted 418 stations which went all Christmas last December and states

“We expect all of these and at least another 50 this year. Obviously, there are another 1,000 radio stations that play partial XMAS music or go to 100% Christmas a few days before 12-25. Most every radio station will play "some" Christmas music before 12-25. That includes news/talk stations.”

But, he also takes issue with Ramsey:

“I hope that Mark is right. We consult more AC stations than anyone else, so it behooves me if he is right, but I think that the Christmas following 9-11 was the biggest ever. Having said that, it is difficult to compare apples-to-apples, since the PPM is now a part of our world.”

Holy Smokes, A&O Just Made The BIG Time

This week's A&O client conference call (Opportunities for Radio in 2009) just made the Hear 2.0 blog. (blush!)

If you missed it, set aside 45 minutes and enjoy the click as much as A&O clients (like Becky Brenner of KMPS, who he shouts out to at the start) did!