Tag: Commercials

Industry Views

Monday Memo: WHO ARE You Talking To?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imWe – inside-the-box – live and breathe radio. Listeners have their hands full just living and breathing. Their day is time crunched and financially challenging, and we want to be its soundtrack.

But listening is free, unlike umpteen other purchase decisions they agonize. So, what’s high stakes to us is low stakes to them. We only matter if we matter, and we’ve never had so much audio competition. Accordingly, this exercise, which has been helpful at stations I work with:

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Describe the listener your station targets. Then ask other staffers.

— Is everyone profiling the same person?

— Does your programming content address their needs and wants?

— Is station imaging about the station? Or their needs and wants?

— Do commercials offer solutions? Are you missing categories?

Well worth the investment in conference room pizza.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “The Local Radio Advantage: Your 4-Week Tune-In Tune-Up” and “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: The Irresistible Offer

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imHaving written thousands of commercials and promos, I’ve become a copy connoisseur. And, admittedly, a tough grader when it comes to delivery. Sell me and you’re good.

So, all four flight attendants caught my ear as I flew to/from a radio conference in Hawaii. The pitch came toward the end of 10+ hours each way nonstop Boston/Honolulu; and aboard the quick hops to/from Kauai.

They sounded neither sing-songy, as though they were reading; nor falsely enthusiastic. That alone impressed me. Thirty years ago, I scripted such announcements – and coached flight attendants – when I programmed 3 live USA Today Sky Radio channels aboard Delta, United, and Northwest Airlines. Back to the future…

They were hawking the Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard, which, already having a wallet full of plastic, I didn’t need. Each dollar spent earns a Hawaiian Mile (double miles for restaurant purchases), which would be tempting if I wanted to visit again. But I wasn’t sold… yet. I had been to Hawaii once before, on vacation, and only went this second time for business. Travelogue here recently explains that we East Coasters have quicker paths to paradise.

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Typically, these affinity cards come with a signing bonus. Another one I have awarded 20,000 points if I used it to make at least $1,000 in purchases within the first 90 days. So, I smiled when these flight attendants emphasized that – using the promo code on applications they were handing out – I could quickly earn 80,000 miles, a bonus “you won’t see if you sign-up online.”

And as an announcement aficionado, I noted how all four recited this line verbatim: Unlike other cards that ask $1,000 or more purchases to qualify, “Just buy a cup of coffee or a pack of gum, and you’ve got 80,000 Hawaiian Miles.”

And they explained that 80K was enough for a free round trip from Boston or New York to Honolulu, or TWO round trips from a West Coast airport… DARN tempting… if I ever want to go back to Hawaii. Still not sold.

The clincher? I can also use those miles on JetBlue, which services my home airport, Providence, and flies to the Bahamas. SOLD. And my first purchase was indeed for a cup of coffee, and I did get the 80,000 miles. So, this is my restaurant card now.

Every time I’ve told this story in a client station sales meeting, at least one rep says, “Spell that all out again?” and starts writing. Successful sellers anticipate and address objections as well as that inflight announcement. Ditto commercial copy you craft for local retailers. Welcome aboard.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “The Local Radio Advantage: Your 4-Week Tune-In Tune-Up,” and “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry News

Techsurvey 2024: Listeners’ Views on AI in Radio

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

Jacobs Media’s Techsurvey 2024 surveyed more than 31,000 core radio listeners to gather their opinions about the use of AI by radio stations. President Fred Jacobs says, “Many radio companies have jumped on the AI bandwagon but with little guidance from their audience. This exclusive data from Techsurvey 2024 provides valuable feedback from partisans of 10 popular radio formats about their hopes and for now at least, fears of AI.” Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed were familiar with AI and of those, nearly one in ten (9%) uses its applications for personal, work, or school. Gen Z and Millennialim respondents are most likely to say they use it at least weekly. There’s a strong feeling the government will need to step in to provide legal guard rails for AI use. Three in four (75%) are looking for some form of regulation. In fact, more than a third (36%) believe AI will need to be highly regulated. That perception may be fueled by the upcoming elections this November. About half (51%) say they’re very concerned about how AI might affect this fall’s political races. Members of the Greatest Generation and Boomers are most fearful of how the technology might influence upcoming elections. When it comes to three applications for radio – AI hosts, AI-voiced commercials, and AI-voiced station IDs – the biggest pushback predictably is directed at the idea of radio using cloned voices to take the place of live talent. Three in four (75%) raise the red flag over this AI application. Concern lessens when it comes to AI voice technology being used to read commercials. Still, nearly four in ten (39%) say they have big issues with radio stations they listen to using AI in ads. Respondents are most open to the idea of AI voices being utilized on station identification. Overall, about one-third (34%) have no problem, but a similar sized group (30%) expresses major concerns with this use case for AI. Jacobs Media general manager Paul Jacobs remarks, “It is still early days for AI in radio, but broadcasters need to respect the many concerns voiced by core fans of the medium. Up to now, many decisions have been made in a vacuum. Now the audience has a voice. We’ll be tracking their perceptions in Techsurveys in the coming years as the technology matures. The format level data for AI should provide welcome feedback for radio managers trying to get a handle on AI.”

Industry Views

Monday Memo: The Local Radio Advantage

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imIf you’re a news/talk station, don’t assume that you own “news radio” in your market. Imaging is important, but it merely talks-the-talk. You walk-the-walk with local news copy that delivers what solid commercial copy does: benefits. Just doing local news makes you special. But do listeners simply hear a station voice… reading something? Are you merely… accurate? Or do you deliver “take-home pay,” unwrapping the story to tell the listener something useful?

In many homes, there are now fewer radios than smart speakers. And nobody has ever said: “Alexa, please play six commercials.” But she can play millions of songs. So do streams and YouTube.

What can make a music station different from all those other audio choices is the way you help folks cope, how relevant and empathetic you are, how you sound like you have-their-back as day-to-day news has them wondering “What NEXT?”

And boosting tune-in exposes your advertisers better. So, Time Spent Listening is still the ballgame. Specifically, you need to add occasions of tune-in, and this week’s column begins a three-part series of news copy coaching tips that can help bring listeners back more often.

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Simply rewriting source material can make a huge difference. Press releases torture the ear. They’re formal, and prone to jargon and spin (especially from politicians). When they’re from the police, they’re written in cop-speak. And most press releases are written inside-out, emphasizing a process, rather than the consequence to listeners.

Process example: “At Thursday’s work session of the Springfield City Council, a decision was made to move forward with Community Days this year. The annual Community Days celebration is scheduled for June 16 and 17th. Council members made sure the Community Days funds will be handled by an independent accountant. Councilwoman Sharon Grant said…”

Re-write to lead with consequence: “The annual Springfield Community Days celebration will be June 16th and 17th. After last year’s controversy, Council members made sure the Community Days funds will be handled by an independent accountant. At Thursday’s session, Councilwoman Sharon Grant said…”

That simple tweak is well-worth the minimal effort. Listeners are mentally busy. Remove “Styrofoam words.”  Example: “State Police say they are investigating a possible case of child endangerment after a seven-month-old child was treated for severe injuries.”

Simply delete “say they.”

Next week: Ripped from the headlines… 

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “The Local Radio Advantage: Your 4-Week Tune-In Tune-Up,” and “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Connie Welcomes the Stranger’s Call

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imShe was the agent I enjoyed working with most over three decades I was an active real estate investor. We remain good friends, and her technique informs the work I do coaching agents – and attorneys and financial advisors and other professionals – who host ask-the-expert radio shows.

Understand the difference between “advertising” and “marketing”

Achievers like Connie do. Do you? Erroneously, these terms are often used interchangeably.

— Advertising asks shoppers to pick your product off a crowded shelf.

— Marketing makes them want to.

High-volume agents typically allocate 30% of net income to marketing, which produces leads. Lower-volume agents spend as much, or more, on advertising, which produces fewer leads. If you’re handing out mouse pads in the era of iPad, you’re late.

And you’re bucking human nature: Every…single…day, we are bombarded by SO many advertising pitches, that we lean-back-from commercials. But we lean-into storytelling, when the story hits home. One of the few things that can keep someone sitting in a parked car with the key on Accessories is the on-air attorney untangling the caller’s dilemma when it is REAL relatable.

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“Can you recommend a plumber?”

The caller isn’t Connie’s client…yet. The stranger got her name from someone else Connie had helped. Reputation. Word-of-mouth. “Got a pen?” she asks. “I’m going to give you his cell number. And let me know if he can’t help you and I’ll recommend someone else who’s helped me lately.” THAT is marketing GOLD. Instant relationship.

As is the attorney whose weekend call-in show offers that “the lawyer is in, the meter is off.” One that I coached offers words-to-live-by: “If you want someone to think you can help them, help them.”

Expensive syndicated TV spots – or hokey locally produced ads – and look-alike billboards – all blur-together in a wall of noise. As do agents’ radio copy that “If I can’t sell your house, I’LL buy it!” and attorneys hedging that “If we don’t win, you don’t pay.”

Yes, advertise. But rather than squandering that airtime touting yourself, do a commercial disguised as an informative feature, snack-size how-to guidance. And offer more-about-that in a free download checklist or podcast or other asset on your memorable domain name website. Or “Ask me!” by calling your memorable phone number. Tell ‘em, rather than just trying to sell ‘em, and you’ll sell more of ‘em.

Big-spending competitors look alike. You can sound different.

It’s the oldest, most-proven concept in marketing: Free samples, of your expertise and comforting counsel. Your trusted voice can differentiate you. Done right, these shows have callers asking, “May I call you at the office on Monday?” even before the host invites them to. BUT…

In too many cases, that weekend show is a well-kept secret, under-promoted by the station, and only available in real-time…UNLESS…the radio show is just one element of a coordinated interactive multi-platform strategy, which harvests and addresses your prospects’ relatable concerns via podcast, social media, email, those commercials I describe above, and a voicemail tactic SO obvious that few spot the opportunity.

Lots of work? You bet! An organized production routine is key. Find a producer – a Robin to your Batman – who can keep that conveyor belt humming, and he or she is every bit the hero as Connie’s plumber.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “Spot-On: Commercial Copy Points That Earned The Benjamins,” a FREE download; and “Multiply Your Podcast Subscribers, Without Buying Clicks,” available from Talkers books. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Well Said!

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imMark Twain reckoned that “the difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

Examples, from dueling commercials in a hyper-competitive, hyper-growth industry:

“Draft Kings has so many ways to bet on baseball you’re going to feel like a winner all summer.”

“Every at-bat is a chance to win big on FanDuel.”

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Craft copy for local retailers THAT well-written, and they will get results and you will get renewed.

Station promo copy this enabling and user-friendly will earn you tune-in and clicks: “The Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, all day tomorrow, anywhere you are, on the platforms of CNBC.”

The American Association of Retired Persons still advocates for them, but it no longer restricts membership to seniors. Otherwise, its base would, literally, die-off (radio take note). So…

“The younger you are, the more you need AARP.”

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “Spot-On: Commercial Copy Points That Earned The Benjamins,” a FREE download; and the E-book and FREE on-air radio features “Inflation Hacks: Save Those Benjamins;“and Multiply Your Podcast Subscribers, Without Buying Clicks,” available from Talkers books. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Apple Heaven and Hell

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imEver lost your phone? It’s an instant sick, sinking feeling. It’s quaint to even call it a “phone,” because it’s…everything. Including us. Like the transistor radio Boomers toted in our youth, it’s audio in your pocket.

For broadcasters and podcasters, a smartphone can be the whole toolbox. MOVIES are being shot on the newest iPhone. The cameras and editing apps are that good. TV and radio can go live, anywhere there’s a signal. And, like Alexa, Siri is conversant. Dictation isn’t just a convenient voice-to-text appliance. It makes lots of apps lots handier, and safer while driving. So, when, suddenly, my phone couldn’t hear me anymore, I went Code Red.

“Testing…testing…”

First triage: Google. But when I satisfied myself that all my settings were as they should be, I needed a person. As expected, the patient expert on Apple’s Support line had a thick foreign accent and great people skills. She had me repeating all the steps Google recommended, and told me I had to update my OS. When repeated attempts failed, I needed in-person handholding, a/k/a The Genius Bar.

Just TRY calling an Apple Store. The local number for the Providence Place Mall location rings in Texas I was told, after I cheated by reaching out to a friend who works for Apple and got me in the door. The irony is painful: They sell telephones but can’t answer one.

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Antiques Roadshow

I’ll seem my age if it’s 2023, and I’m still toting iPhone 8. Hey, it worked…until it didn’t. And the Genius Bar person explained that it had missed too many OS updates to ever catch-up. And when she ran diagnostics, enough other issues warranted the handoff to sales.

Dazzling as the latest-greatest are, I went with SE, same size/shape/appearance as the 8 being retired. It snapped right into the decorative Block Island cover case that had saved the old phone from so many drops. In the survey Apple emailed later that day, I couldn’t say enough about Matty, the sales guy who walked me through setting-up the new phone. All better now, and although it’s now sans SIM card, the retired 8 phone is a spare tire. If I want to talk to it, I’ll need earbuds. But it’s an otherwise functional iPod that will Facetime, Email, you-name-it, via WiFi.

So then?

With most AM/FM broadcast hours now automated or syndicated, stations that make local human connections will be conspicuous; and niche-topic podcasts will ooze “community.”

I write lots of commercials, and – where pertinent – we assure that “you won’t land in voicemail.” And we’ll emphasize one-on-one support. Here’s how one client – the voice you hear is the owner, whose stations are 100 miles from Dallas – sells expensive cameras, at a store in Dallas: http://getonthenet.com/CompetitiveCameras.mp3

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “Multiply Your Podcast Subscribers, Without Buying Clicks,” available from Talkers books; and “Spot-On: Commercial Copy Points That Earned The Benjamins,” a FREE download; and the E-book and FREE on-air radio features “Inflation Hacks: Save Those Benjamins.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke

Advice

Monday Memo: Like Sands Through the Hourglass…

By Editor | by Editor

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

 

BLOCK ISLAND — “…so are The Days of Our Lives.” The intro to that soap opera – er, daytime drama – is SO old that it outlived star MacDonald Carey, still heard voicing-over the beginning of each show on NBC-TV every weekday…until today. After 57 years and 58 Emmy Awards on broadcast television, the venerable melodrama will now be seen exclusively on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock.

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Advice

Monday Memo: NAB, Long Time No See

By Editor | by Editor

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

 

LAS VEGAS — As we did for CES here in January, we were asked to submit vaccination details to an app to earn a QR entry code. Once inside, there are still some masks, and – after three years – lots of hugs. The National Association of Broadcasters wanted to mash-up what had been separate autumn Radio Shows and perennial April NAB Shows this past October…until the Omicron kibosh.

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