How to Attack the Market When You’re New (or Newly Reborn)
By David Kidd, BPR
Launching a new radio station or radically reinventing an existing one is not a gentle exercise. You’re not entering the market to be “noticed”. You’re entering to disrupt habits. And habits, as we know, are far more stubborn than opinions.
Most failed launches make the same mistake: they behave like they’re asking for permission.
Successful launches behave like they’re taking territory.
- Don’t Sell the Station. Sell the Problem You Solve.
Listeners don’t wake up thinking, “I need a new radio station.” They wake up thinking, “I’m bored of this,” “Nothing here fits me,” or “Why does this all sound the same?”
Your job is not to describe your format.
Your job is to frame the enemy: what’s wrong, tired, predictable or broken in the current market and position yourself as the solution.
Every great launch is a protest movement before it’s a product.
- Choose a Very Clear Line in the Sand
If you’re for everyone, you’re for no one.
New or reborn stations must polarise a little. That doesn’t mean being silly or offensive — it means being distinct.
What do you do that no one else does?
What do you not do that everyone else does?
What kind of listener will love you — and which ones definitely won’t?
Remember the early 90s and what Guy Zapoleon referred to as the Doldrums in his brilliant music cycles theory? “No Rap, No Hard Rock” drew a line in the sand for Soft AC’s in that era of Urban and Alt Rock…..successfully.
Clarity beats cleverness every time.
- Win One Beachhead Before You Invade the Continent
Don’t try to win the whole market at once. Pick a winnable, identifiable audience segment and obsess over them.
If you can become essential to 10–15% of the market, growth becomes much easier. If you try to be vaguely liked by 100%, you’ll be passionately loved by nobody.
- Over-Market It (Then Over-Market It Again)
Most stations dramatically under-invest in telling their story — especially after launch.
You should assume:
Nobody is paying attention
Nobody understands what you are
Nobody remembers your name
Fame is built through repetition, not explanation.
And remember: internal boredom with your message is a sign it’s just starting to cut through!
- Sound Like You Mean It
Nothing kills a new format faster than being tentative.
Your on-air product should sound like: “We’re here. We’re confident. And we’re not going away.”
Listeners can smell uncertainty.
- Measure Traction, Not Just Ratings
In the early phase, use internal strategic studies to determine:
Time Spent Listening growth
Passion and advocacy
Who is switching to you, not just how many
Improvements in key perceptions such as Best Music.
Key principles of playing the attack according to Ries and Trout include:
- The Core Strategy: Attack the Leader’s Strength
Unlike military warfare where you might attack a weak point, in marketing, Ries and Trout argue that the main attack should be directed at the leader’s strength, but specifically where that strength is actually a vulnerability (the “weakness in the strength”).
- Find the Weakness: Analyze the leader’s position to find a gap.
- Don’t Imitate: Do not try to be “just like” the leader.
- Example: Avis did not try to be a better Hertz. Instead, they used “We try harder” to exploit the fact that the market leader (Hertz) had become complacent.
- Key Tactics for the Attack
- Repositioning the Leader: Change the perception of the leader in the consumer’s mind. A classic example is Scope positioning Listerine as having “medicine breath”.
- Focus on a Single Feature: Narrow the focus to one specific attribute that the leader lacks.
- The “Against” Position: Establish a position that is directly opposite to that of the leader.
- Speed and Focus: Because the attacker usually has fewer resources than the leader, they must concentrate their forces on a narrow front to break through.
Summary of Tactic:
Ries and Trout highlight that successful attackers often win by using the leader’s own strength against them, forcing the leader to change or lose market share.
In short:
Successful launches don’t politely join the market.
They pick a fight, define a cause and recruit fans.
Everything else is just a frequency change.
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