Mason's Morning Minute

Fear Sucks!

"Authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders." - Philip Kotler

One mark of a good brand is that you have a certain expectation based on the personality of the brand. True brands become life-like entities that you either love or hate. When the brand doesn’t meet your expectation you can be very upset. That’s why some of you were shocked by the title of this, and some of you weren’t.

A good example of not meeting expectations was at the annual Harley Davidson picnic. For years the hot dogs had been free, but this year they sold them, and gave the money to a charity. Didn’t matter about the charity, it didn’t meet their consumers expectations, so they were upset.

Harley’s most recent advertising campaign, however, is pure Harley. It not only meets expectations, but because it came from the minds and mouths of it’s core consumers, it had a resonance no slick slogan or jingle could replicate.

Based on what they call “road research,” Harley found out its consumers are tired of hearing about the poor economy and war in Iraq, and would rather be out riding their bikes. Now, this isn’t a case of whether that’s right or wrong, Harley is smart enough to leave that out and just concentrate on what the consumer believes. The print ad for the campaign starts out with “We Don’t Do Fear.”

In addition to reflecting their consumers mindset with phrases like “fear sucks,” they are asking them to get involved by going to the web site and write their own rally cry.

This is the kind of thing we in radio should be doing! Reflect your listeners mindset in order to meet or exceed expectations. Respond with a bold statement from their camera angle. Create an opportunity to get involved by co-authoring a movement.

What is on your “consumer’s” minds right now? Are you reflecting that mindset on-air? Or is it just time for the 9th caller?

A Change Manifesto

“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” - Josiah Charles Stamp (English Economist)

Last week, in response to my riffing about Wall Street radio, someone replied by asking me what the solution is. They pointed out that complaining without a solution isn’t very productive. So I’ve given it some thought, and suggest this 5 point Change Manifesto:

1. Give the radio station back to radio people. Your “Wall Street” model isn’t working. Radio simply can’t provide the kind of sustainable growth that Wall Street needs for success. Move the financial types aside and let the true radio people back in before it’s too late.

2. Put the listeners first. I never did figure out how ignoring the primary consumer was going to create a stronger industry, and it hasn’t. Why is TSL down across the country and we see so many reports of dissatisfaction with radio? Because we’ve forgotten that in order to provide value to the share holder we first have to provide value to the listener. Once we’ve provided value to the listener we’ll be able to provide value to the client. Only after those two constituencies have been satisfied will we be able to provide value to the share holder.

3. Allow us to sell radio as if it has value instead of “price per pound.” Your way has presented years of radio revenue downtrends, and it’s only getting worse. Unless you’re ready to take a major haircut when you sell the stations, you’d better let the salespeople know they’re valuable to your operation.

4. Invest in growing a stronger industry. Can’t the captains of the industry understand that if the tide comes in all boats rise, and that if we’d start working together we might accomplish more. You corporate MBA’s are supposed to be smart, so look up the word investment.

5. Quit blaming your people Whether you succeed or fail isn’t the result of an Excel spreadsheet, it’s because of the people you have on your team, at every level. So stop acting as if it’s their fault you’re failing. Didn’t someone once say that if you’re pointing your finger at someone there are still four fingers pointing back to you?

In researching this I found an article Eric Rhoads had published in December of 2001, a very tough time for radio. Perhaps more people should take a second look at it.

We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us

“There are no secrets to success. It’s the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” Colin Powell

Are we learning anything here? I opened up my Radio Ink email this morning, like I do every morning, and immediately spit my coffee all over my desk. In describing sagging radio revenue, one radio executive was quoted as saying. “The situation is being driven by the overall slowing of the economy, loss of liquidity in the financial services industry and the related slump in the housing market."

No doubt those factors have an effect on radio revenue just like they’re having on everyone else. However, the Wall Street Journal, in an article on March 5th, noted, “...radio advertising revenue dropped 2.6% from 2006, and more importantly, radio hasn't seen any big gains since the Internet began to take off in the late 1990's.  One analyst in the story mentioned the last time radio fell in multiple years was in the 1950's when it was challenged by TV....and projections are that it will fall 3% this year..one bright note in the story is the mention that non traditional revenue for radio, including the Internet rose 10% to $1.68 billion.”

In the same Radio Ink email is Farid Suleman saying, “If the revenue growth isn’t there, we have to reevaluate how we do business. You can’t continue to invest in programming and sales if you can’t get the revenue.” Did anyone else just have a chill run up their spine? Why does it seem to me those “radio executives” are blaming everyone else but themselves? When you turn radio into a commodity, and show the advertising community you don’t value your own inventory by constantly dropping rates, what would you expect? I’m hard pressed to figure out where the consolidation of the 90’s has really benefitted us. I suppose we’re more “efficient” now that we used to be. But part of that alleged “efficiency” has made us less effective.

We’re all in big trouble, but just like the alcoholic views their drink, the execs at the top of the food chain are refusing to see they themselves are the problem. It’s our version of “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” The WSJ sees the problem, and sees it as big as the challenge of the 1950’s. I wasn’t there for those, but it meant radio had to seriously reinvent itself and almost start over again. Fortunately there were change agents like Todd Storz and Gordon McClendon operating radio, and they weren’t afraid to take a chance.

As the cartoon character Pogo said many years ago, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

"A brand is not an icon, a slogan, or a mission statement. It is a promise — a promise your company can keep. First you find out, using research, what promises your customers want companies like yours to make and keep, using the products, processes and people in your company. Then you look at your competition and decide which promise would give you the best competitive advantage. This is the promise you make and keep in every marketing activity, every action, every corporate decision, and every customer interaction. You promote it internally and externally. The promise drives budgets and stops arguments. If everyone in the company knows what the promise is, and knows that they will be rewarded or punished depending on the personal commitment to the promise, politics and personal turf issues start to disappear." - Kristin Zhivago in Business Marketing

Yes, your station is making a promise. It may be that you’re an anti-establishment rock station, or a relaxing and refreshing AC, your listeners are reading a promise into what you do. The only real question is whether you want a hand in developing what your promise is.

A promise can be explicit, such as a “Family Friendly” promise, or it can be implicit, by focusing on and being family friendly, but it’s there.

A huge mistake we’ve been making is building a promise around a tangible part of your radio station. 40 minutes of music every hour, or the “best mix” reduces your promise to something easily copied and less important to a listener today. True brands are built on the intangible facets of your radio station, which are more difficult to copy and more meaningful to the people who are your listeners.

But like most promises, we need to prove what they think. If you’re like most people in radio you don’t spend much time thinking about what your promise is, and even less time creating ways to prove your promise. Focus is probably something you reserve for your target or your music genre, but in fact it’s much more important to focus your actions on proving your promise in ever decision you make.

What’s your promise? And more importantly, how are you proving it?

Building Talent With Honesty

"My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too." – Jack Welch

I love Jack Welch. Don’t know the man, and know his reputation as “Neutron Jack,” who seems to have downsized half of America, but there’s more of a balance to his thinking than just that. Unlike the green eye-shade myopics of consolidated radio, Welch has a focus on developing people too.

His thoughts on development revolve around being candid with people, and “differentiating” them by performance, through his 20/70/10 plan.

The 20 are those in the top 20% of performers in the organization, and you pay them well, love them, bonus them, and give them attention. They are your difference between success and failure, and they reside at ever level and in every department.

The 70 are the 70% of people in the middle. With them you tell them what they need to be in the top 20%, and give them the tools to make it happen. You encourage and coach them to be better on an ongoing basis.

It’s the bottom 10% where the controversy begins, because Welch suggests you be completely honest and open, and council them to find work elsewhere, and in some cases cut them loose. But that doesn’t mean mass firings, it means giving them candid feedback and a chance to improve, and if they don’t helping them find work elsewhere.

Welch is right that radio, like most other businesses, isn’t candid with its employees, especially on-air talent. Not everyone is a top performer, and if we can’t help them get there, we have to let them go. To do otherwise is a failure on our part.

Helping Manage Change

"Everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable. But that still implies that change is like death and taxes — it should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm." — Peter Drucker, Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999)

Few people like change, and fewer still actually embrace it. But those of us who do need to make sure we’re not doing more damage than good. From not understanding the importance of people, who the change really impacts after all, to the way different people have a different perspective on change.

Fortunately I found a great article on the biggest mistakes in managing change, and you can find it here.

Still, change is all around us, every day. From gas guzzling giants like the Escalade to the 40 mpg SmartCar. From Filofax to iPhone, from Churban to Rhythmic to Hispanic Rhythmic. I’d like to say the only time change doesn’t effect you is when you’re dead, but we all know about decomposition.

It’s not important how you feel about change, only that you understand how to deal with it, because if you can’t ignore it you have to learn how to deal with it, as it’s going to happen whether you like it or not.

Trendhunter

Unlocking Cool - By Jeremy Gutsche, TrendHunter.com

From: trendhunter, 1 year ago

| View | Upload your own

By methodically approaching innovation, organizations and individuals can generate ideas, stimulate creativity, and ultimately unlock cool. The UNLOCKING COOL presentation is typically delivered as a keynote speach with the slides used as a reference for the discussion.

SlideShare Link

Building Connections With Listeners

“It’s about connections. I want to connect with people; I want to make people think “Yeah, that’s how I feel.” And if I can do that, that’s an accomplishment." - Carole King

Want to know about one of the most important changes in programming? It’s that it’s no longer “good enough” to have simple announcers trying to be funny or entertaining, or, on the other hand, simply doing the “that was/this is” thing. People want to be more involved in radio, to be more than a passive listener, and that happens when you connect with them.

OK, most people can agree with that – we need to connect with our listeners in order to develop a deeper relationship with them. But what does that mean strategically? It means we have to have a new strategy, one where “show prep” doesn’t mean a prep sheet or what we heard on another station, but instead starts with the listener and works backwards.

Traditionally we’ve built a target listener of some kind, and then we look for things that will interest them for content. Unfortunately most of the people doing this aren’t in the target, so they begin filtering what they think the target will want to hear. We’re trying to relate, but we’ve avoided the most important step – asking the listeners what they’re interested in.

Interesting, isn’t it? We rightly spend money on perceptual research, or at least we used to, and we spend money on music research to know their favorite songs. But we spend almost no time or money finding out about the person that is the listener. We’re still relatively shallow in our understanding of what the listener is actually interested in, so it’s difficult to connect with them.

How is your air staff handling show prep? How do they understand the listener enough to connect? Or is it just business as usual, with USA Today and some prep sheet from somewhere else, keeping up a wall between you and your listeners?

The Great Jock Strap Giveaway

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” – Oscar Wilde

It was an interesting session at the Gospel Music Association last week, where Christian broadcasters from around the world had gathered for their annual convention. Author Jon Spoelstra, in leading a session on marketing outrageously, was talking about the need to examine ideas before we shoot them down. Not that it would ever happen in radio, right?

While he was GM of the New Jersey Nets, someone through out the idea of giving away jock straps with a player name on the back. Even I have to admit it sounded like the kind of idea that I’d pretty much reject. But as Jon says, it’s important to look at everything, especially the ones that we’re ready to reject out of hand. The world is full of naysayers, people ready to tell you why an idea won’t work.

We are pretty skilled at that in radio. Maybe we don’t say it’s a terrible idea, but we have lots of other ways of making it known. Like, “Where’s that being one right now?” for example. We’re much better a copying someone else’s idea than we are looking at our own. Which is a shame, because, as Jon pointed out, everyone has good ideas some of the time.

The challenge with accepting or at least looking at new ideas is that it goes against two facts we all seem to share, the dislike of change and the fear of failure. You come up with a new idea somewhere and it’s going to cause change somewhere down the line, and there is that chance it just won’t work. Who wants to take that kind of chance in this consolidated world of downsizing?

The jock strap giveaway never came about, but mainly because of cost, not “sanity.” Our business depends on ideas at every level. We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over, and we can’t simply copy others all the time. Sometimes we have to come up our own ideas, or at least be able to recognize good ideas from the people around us, but we can’t reject everything out of hand unless we want to accelerate failure.

Fighting Change

"Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up." — James Belasco and Ralph Stayer, Flight of the Buffalo (1994)

Ever notice how people hang onto something because “it’s always been that way?” Sometimes we start digging ourselves a hole because we’re so sure we’re right, and that the old way is the best way, we don’t listen well. Which brings me to a story.

KGW in Portland was a legendary Top 40 station in it’s day, knocking off a heritage competitor and rising to the top of the ratings. When I was programming the station I kept asking the engineers to look into why we couldn’t go to full power at night, since we were cutting power at sunset. For those newer to radio, it’s an AM thing, I’ll explain it some other time.

The engineers always responded that we couldn’t do anything because we were protecting a government listening station that was affiliated with the FCC. No matter how many times I asked the did nothing.

Then, a few years later, I came back as GM of the station, with a little more clout. I asked a whole new set of engineers to look into it, and got the same feedback, an FCC listening station and nothing we could do about it. But, of course, I’m known for being tenacious, so I kept on them to go all the way back and check all the facts. Finally one of them relented, and took it on as a project.

One day he walked into my office with a smile on his face, and told me the results of his three-month search. It turns out there was a listening station on 620 AM. But it had signed off the air in 1947. KGW had been low power at night for all those years because no one checked the facts, and was willing to take a new look at it.

What’s your “FCC listening station?” Do you find yourself, or someone on your team, has dug their heals in and is intractable, even when it makes no sense?

Change is hard for everyone, but as I always point out, history has shown us that the species who adapt and change survive, and the others don’t. So I guess the bigger picture questions is, which kind of species do you want to be?

Change Or Decay?

"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." —John F. Kennedy

Here’s an exercise anyone can do. Count the number of times in a week you hear someone say, or allude to, either, “That’s how we do it here,” or “It’s the way we’ve always done it.”

It’s easy to do, because we’ve all found things that work for us, some of which have delivered huge success in the past. It’s common to want to stick with something that has worked in the past, especially when it’s made you what you are today. But it’s also dangerous, because what made you a success today won’t make you a success tomorrow. Everything about us is moving at such a speed that “common wisdom” is being replaced on a monthly basis. The worst part is we have to decipher what seems to be coming from what will be coming.

I remember what the sales manager at the first station I programmed said to me, “The only constant is change.” I sort of understood what he was saying, that nothing stays the same way for long, but had no idea what that would mean 30 years later – that everything is changing on a continual, ongoing basis. Sometimes I feel like I’d rather not get up in the morning because I know I’m going to have to deal with some sort of change.

But deal with it we must – hiding under the covers isn’t really a very good strategy. I mean that literally and metaphorically, because many of us are hiding under the covers by grabbing on every possible opportunity to keep things they way they are. From research reports that motivate us to say, “I guess we’re doing OK and don’t have to change anything,” to cutting off anyone who indicates the need for change, we’re engaged in a battle to stop the world.

But as JFK says, those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. We need to build an infrastructure of change assessment, keeping the radar on at all times so we can better judge what the inevitable change means to us. We need to learn to assimilate and embrace change, for the opposite is to die a relic of the past with no future.