Marketing “PhD” (Pays huge Dividends)

Say “marketing” to a radio person and you may get an eyeball roll. That’s because we usually associate marketing with the other “M” word, “money.” But it doesn’t have to be. With creative thinking and modest time investment, you can earn your Marketing PhD – marketing that Pays huge Dividends.

Where to Start?

The good news is that you likely have the basics already in place. Let’s look at four of them.

1. 1. Intimate knowledge of your listeners
   2. A strong social media strategy and presence
   3. The ability to create buzz
   4. An up-to-date database of P1s

Intimate Listener Knowledge

While ratings reports or market demographic data can be OK places to start, that’s all they are. This is especially true in a format like country where the demos are wide. To increase the resonance of your marketing (and your overall product), you’ll need information about your P1s’ lifestyles, habits, values, hot buttons, tastes, social preferences, and what other media they consume.

Arming yourself with ILK (Intimate Listener Knowledge) is a no-fail way to make everything you do more powerful. You have plenty of no-cost options if f you feel a need to supplement your knowledge. Conduct listener panels, attend your remotes and speak with fans, engage listeners socially on the platforms they use most often (see below), even set up a time to take calls from listeners to answer their questions. We’re talking no-money/low-effort/high-reward, here.

Strong Social Media Strategy and Presence

Your social media strategy starts with identifying the platforms each segment of your audience uses most often. There are significant differences across demos. Once you know this, you can tailor your posts accordingly.

While we don’t always feel like it, on-air talent are celebrities to their P1s. As such, studying how celebrities use social media effectively is a worthwhile effort. Typically, their fan engagement strategy includes a balance of intimacy and candidness, mixed with fun and surprise.

If you haven’t done so recently, audit your social media posts as well as those from your air staff. Comparing them to successful celebrity posts can give you ideas for ways to power-up your posts.

The Ability to Create Buzz

As creatives, this is right in our wheelhouse. Quizzes, questions, challenges, relevant memes, reposting or directing listeners to artist posts, meaty teases on targeted content that will be on your next show, sharing your unique take on things, listener salutes, showing or suggesting your station being used in unexpected places are content ideas that work across multiple platforms.

Audio and video can increase interest and stickiness. And of course, in-person events are huge opportunities.

Before you roll something out, ask, “Is this buzz-worthy?” Time spent with this question can go a long way in increasing the effectiveness of your marketing.

A Database of P1s

Listener databases are as valuable as a playlist of powers: each has value now as well as in the future.

Think of email communications with your subscribers as a series of social media posts but with greater longevity. Plus, they’re listener-friendly in terms of consumption flexibility.

Additionally, they are dramatically more effective than social media. Hubspot.com reports that the ROI on email is a healthy 36:1.

Don’t come at me with an excuse like, “I don’t want to spam my listeners” as a reason for not leveraging your database. The New York times cites research that “casually reaching out to people in our social circles means more than we realize” and that “people tend to underestimate how much friends like hearing from them.” Since you ARE a friend to your listeners, a regular email strategy seems like a no-brainer.

The next time a fellow broadcaster bemoans the topic of marketing, you can share what goes into a marketing PhD.

Then you can give each other a fist bump instead of an eyeball roll.

Related:

Effective Emails start with Strong Subject Lines

Do More with Less by Empowering Your Super Fans

_{© 2022, Mike O’Malley, Mike O’Malley, LLC}

_{Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash}