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Love Those Who Love You

By David Kidd, BPR

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal in April this year about the US retailer JCPenney.

It centred around the corporate strategy being implemented by the new CEO.

“The new chief executive isn’t trying to win new customers or court younger, hipper buyers. Instead, Marc Rosen hopes to revive the 120-year-old retailer by focusing on those who already shop there: budget-conscious American families.

That is a departure from predecessors who tried to woo millennials, appliance buyers and even yoga enthusiasts, to name a few. Those strategies failed to keep the chain out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020.

His goal now is to once again make JCPenney a destination for people who want affordable curtains, mattresses and silverware as well as clothes for work or leisure.

“The biggest difference this time is we are loving those who love us,” Mr. Rosen said, adding that “we need to give them more opportunity to come back and find things they love.”

As programmers we are often under pressure to continually grow market share.

Now, if your station is the perennial cellar dweller in the ratings, I can understand the following probably won’t apply.

However, at successful stations there is a fine line between keeping those who love you happy and trying to please the rest.

Whatever you do on air and off air should never be at the expense of those fans who love your station …your P1’s, your partisans. They are the ones most likely to recommend your station to their friends…they become your brand advocates and provide much needed “word of mouth”.

Even your P2’s are at least listening to your station…they just need to LOVE it.

P1’s and P2’s may have different programming priorities or music tastes (your research will tell you this).

If that’s the case, it is often a balancing act to lure those P2’s into becoming P1’s while not disenfranchising your loyal fans.

But, like JCPenney…never forget to love those who love you.