Need a last minute Christmas idea before the break? Find out a lot about your boss’s wife and buy them a Cameo as a Christmas gift. Then present it to them on your last show. Say your budget is $35 so it’s a D-lister and do it under the banner that if your boss’s wife likes you, you’re safe from a RIF!
Be strategic about your content messaging and be different from anything else out there and you stand your best chance things will cut through. We were looking for a fresh way to do character development with David, Sue, and Kendra, Magic 106.7, Boston. When doing a standard character development exercise recently, we happened upon some traits the entire team had that were odd (in a good way). When doing character development, it’s always most efficient when listeners connect with a core attribute they have in common with you (i.e. being a spouse, having kids, liking sports, owning a pet). But sometimes, it’s the quirkier things which are the stickiest. Here’s “Getting to Know You”. Kendra hoards receipts. She never throws them out. The audience is told this fact then callers are challenged to guess how many receipts she has in her pocketbook that morning before she reveals the awful total. I love this take because, while letting the listeners into the lives of the cast (we do this with all three cast members), it’s not your standard tell a story, then ask for phone calls, that makes it work for me.
With an interest to do a year-end ad, Match.com could have done one that was fact-based – listing the number of people they matched, how many of those couples are still together, and how effective they are at finding that special someone for everyone who joins.
Or they could have done something timelier, funnier, and more relevant. Which is what they did.
Millions have viewed and shared the Satan ad online. It begins at the start of the year, where Satan meets his match (her name is “2020”) then revels in what a dumpster fire things have been for everyone. It’s very funny and memorable. Its core attribute, though, is its relevance. Every one of us thinks this was our year, too. Looking forward, it ends with the tagline: Make 2021 your year.
I’m always talking with shows about how important it is to be a reflection of whatever is going on right now. Simply put, if you were to re-air the program your show did today in a few weeks, would it feel old, stale, and out-of-touch for those listening? If the answer is “yes”, that’s a good sign because it means the content choices today were relevant to listeners’ lives.
This is why Match.com’s Satan ad works. Anyone watching is nodding up and down because this is their life at this moment – we are thinking (and experiencing) it. The absurdity and humor are the sticky parts to make it memorable.
One of our many strengths as an industry is to reflect back to the audience what is going on in their lives for connection. When listening to shows, I screen how much of our content feels evergreen and if the topic could be done anytime, by anyone. Was it something to do just to eat up time? Or is the show in touch with what’s going on in the world right now and using those topics as content to do fun, interesting, contemporary, and unique things that no one else could do? That’s relevance.
Sure the Match.com ad won’t age well down the road. But, that’s the point. That ad makes a connection with the audience (pun intended) and makes you laugh so it’s remembered because it’s about right now. Affirming those images separates it from all the other dating services and, if you’re looking for love, you join them because they’re top-of-mind.
Doing a great radio show is a strategic process. Encourage your talent to know the topics happening right now and to swipe right, using them to create relevant and entertaining breaks that makes the show meet the moment. Visit our Hot List page here for a weekly starter list of those big topics – sign up your talent to get it each Sunday (that’s on the page and it’s free).
Tackling these topics from the talent’s point-of-view defines them. Then doing epic shit with the Hot Topics creates a vibe where listeners will return each day out of a fear of missing something. We look for relevance in every brand we interact with. Your audience does, too.
Doing so makes your talent, their show, the radio station, and our industry matter to the lives of our listeners which means more occasions for higher ratings.
I have focused on three key kinds of content over the years: what’s up locally (because local matters if you live in town), things going on in pop culture or the news (these are the “now topics” that set your relevance), and then things going on in your life that position you as just like the listener. Consider stories from your life our version of #metoo content. You want the audience to hear the story and think, yea that happens to me, as well. Such is this week’s break from Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix. Mark has the typical marriage with his lovely wife, Rose. They do battle over how the dishwasher is loaded, just like you and me. Mark tells the story, which is the initial connection point to convey he is like every listener in the audience who is in a relationship. Then, they move to phone calls for listeners’ stories of connection – these calls turn the listeners into the focus of the conversation (it’s never a bad thing to make them the star of your show) and give the guys more stories to hear to have their fun. Real life is usually the best content, because of the strategic message and authentic humor.
Who wants to go Christmas shopping in the malls or even on-line with Covid? It’s too exhausting. Find two gifts you were given last year in the house and ask listeners to help you decide who on your list gets them.