Now What I Know......

Most of the things I spoke about in the last post you could get in an interview with a radio exec or by studying radio as an industry. There might be a little apologist in me but before I'm classified as such please let me state a few things I have learned about radio. I don't know of any website in the world that has the hyper local drawing power of radio. Hold on, I'm talking about targeted, specific web pages within minutes, hours, days, and weeks. This by my definition makes radio hyper local in nature as it is delivered today. It is the task of radio and marketers to augment their beliefs about radio and embrace this new opportunity. If radio websites could be turned into hyper local, turn key, social and search portals the bounds are limitless.

But I also mentioned marketers above; this groups needs to get their mind around creative and stop half baking the stuff at low cost only to be disappointed by the performance. If you are trying to reach Gen X or Y you better be willing to reach into you pocket. Creative needs to be targeted, relevant, and rewarding. Yes, I said rewarding, even if you are selling caskets find a way to make them laugh if you're going to market on a radio website. The best creative performance I have seen has been thought out, well targeted, and costly.

OK done with my rant, back to my point of radio is hyper local; going to a station event is a wild experience. It's a culture unto itself and I'm not talking about only a heavy rock or rap event, I've seen AAA formats who hold events that rival any 70's love fest. I do not say these things to be disparaging, this is a marketers dream. Hasn't the rant about online marketing always been that it cost a ton and reached people in BF Egypt? Radio provides a mega phone that multiple times an hour screams come to our website and do X. Additionally radio activates people all the time on how to spend their dollars; to what extent you ask? Please read the above about marketers and realize this was not intended to just online marketers. Web is not the only medium that has horrible, wore out, so tired a marching band could put it to bed, creative all over it, it's sad! This is probably why a universal expectation has never been published by either industry but it's a real interesting question. At least if you dip your toe into online marketing you get quantifiable results. As to prove this is not a jab at radio I'll post a blog soon on why radio needs to seriously think about how to do the same or except that the high dollar mark in radio has come and gone.

In summary radio provides an online environment but its existence is symbiotic with the on-air and on-site products that the medium offers. Are all necessary, no, but good marketing dollars say it doesn't hurt. If someone gets their head around the opportunity that radio provides if done correctly, tested properly, and syndicated dynamically the bounds are endless. If I could give you an opportunity to reach people online and in person would you not jump at that chance? If you are still with me after tonight, thanks for taking the time.