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What Are Listeners Really Thinking?

By Andy Beaubien, BPR

As radio people, we often live in a dream world where we assume that our listeners are hanging on for every word we say. The photo below is comical because it expresses the erroneous belief that our listeners’ lives revolve around our station. We act as if our station is as important to them as it is to us. The sad truth is that their lives do not revolve around listening to the radio.

Humans are quite adept at tuning out talk that they either do not want to hear it or that they have heard so many times that the words no longer make any impression at all. We have often been told that the best way to make someone remember something is to employ endless repetition. However, anyone who has raised children knows that endless repetition is not an effective way to affect behaviour.

Consider the above photo caption “more great music coming up.” After hearing this phrase repeated hour after hour, it is highly unlikely that it makes any impression whatsoever on the listener. (If you have to tell someone that something is “great” then it probably is not so great after all.) Perhaps the best promotional phrases are the ones that are backed up by hard fact. For example, “Centre City’s only Classic Rock station”.

Another typical message is “Coming up next hour, the latest hit from Miley Cyrus.” In other words, listeners will have to wait until the next hour to hear the promised song. In the age of instant gratification, few listeners have the patience to wait that long.

Here are some basic marketing and promotional rules:

1. Make the message believable. Base the message on fact.
2. Vary the message. Each variation makes a unique impression on the brain.
3. Avoid hyperbole. Ex.: “We play the best music ever made.”
4. When possible, allow a live presenter to deliver the message. Pre-recorded messages lack credibility especially after they have been heard numerous times.
5. Do not call attention to negatives such as “playing fewer ads than the other station”. This is simply a reminder that we run ads too.
6. “We’ll be back right after the news”. This statement begs the question “Where are you going?” In this instance, you are reminding listeners that news bulletins have a higher priority than music. This may be fine for a news/talk station but not for a music station.

The lesson is simple. Learn to think like a listener.