No Stinking Marketing

You don't need no stinking marketing.

After all, your station is an institution, a legend in your town, right? Everyone knows who you are and what you do, right?

Well, ponder this:

"Having all but locked down the GOP nomination, Mr. McCain can use the next few months to reintroduce himself to the American people. It is not safe to assume that most voters have closely followed the race thus far. What many people know about Mr. McCain they like, based on his valor, honor and love of country. Now he needs to build on this by retelling his life story in a vivid, moving way." - Wall Street Journal, 2/14/08.

If John McCain was a radio station, he'd cut his marketing budget. After all, he's been on every TV screen, and in every newspaper nonstop for months now.

Why waste money on marketing when he has such high name recognition?

Because when you want people to vote for you, name recognition is not enough. People have to connect in an emotional way with your story. They have to understand what you stand for. They have to like you, believe in you.

I know, I know, voting for the next President of the United States is so much more important than voting for your favorite radio station.

But the task of building a strong brand image, of persuading voters (P1s) that you are like them, that you share values, hopes, dreams ... all of that is similar, whether you're marketing a candidate or a radio station.

So, watch for McCain's spots, coming soon, and then compare them with the spots you would have run if you hadn't had to cut your budget 60 days after it was approved. Notice all the differences. Notice the frequency.

Notice how they make you feel.

No wonder Radio's been overshadowed by the iPod....

We can't even figure out how to market our stations with an emotional message, much less budget to run the spots if we could.