“In business, copying is often seen as the fastest path to success, but true innovation comes from having the courage to go your own way.”
— Richard Branson, Entrepreneur and Founder of Virgin Group
We’re just three days away from Quitting Friday – the second Friday in January when most of us drop our New Year’s Resolutions. According to Ask Mr. Google, the Top 5 most resolve items are:
1. Improved Health – Fitness
- Lose weight, start exercising, and adopt a healthier diet.
2. Improved Finances
- Budgeting better, saving more, reducing debt.
3. Improved Education
- Picking up a hobby, learning a language, acquiring a new skill.
4. Improved Mental Health
- Reducing stress, practicing mindfulness, meditating, and therapy.
5. Improved Relationships
- Quality time with family, improve, and make new connections.
Among us broadcasters – what’s missing?
Resolutions for our brands – sonics – talent – uniqueness.
As you travel through the belly of America, the landscape feels remarkably uniform. Corn, beans, cattle, poultry – it’s all the same in Iowa and Indiana—increased sameness in these dark winter months. Press the ‘scan’ button on your radio – as I did in my October 15th column – and you’ll hear the same tunes and atmospherics by format.
Country, Top 40, Classic Hits, Adult Contemporary – sounds the same in Minnesota and Michigan. Much of the radio landscape in this country follows a repetitive pattern. And it’s not just the radio industry – far from it.
Have a look at the automobile industry and its trend toward mini-SUVs. As spot revenue tightens and human resources are starved for time, a growing shroud of complacency settles in with regularity. Some of the best distinctive and unique brands are planted in smaller markets where resources are hungry while bigger players – which are rare in The Bigs – are scarce but do occasionally pop off the dial.
The rise of centralized programming and syndicated production pieces has stifled local creativity. Brands by format are largely diminished to indistinguishable sounds and voices.
Here’s why it’s crucial for your brand to stand out:
Platforms like Alexa, Spotify, Prime Music, Siri, and Pandora are portable, making access possible everywhere. Just. Like. Radio.
SiriusXM—initially dismissed as a niche product while arguing that listeners wouldn’t pay for radio—has picked up our best talent.
Creating a unique, memorable brand takes a time investment – but it’s doable. Ideation below to set your ‘cornfield’ apart from the one ‘across the field’:
Build A Secret Weapon Category
Outlined in my October 22nd column, curate a Secret Weapon list. Great songs that only YOU air. Take credit for the uniqueness. Craft imaging to introduce the song and a line about the background. Close with a back sell of the song and how it’s exclusively heard on your brand.
As with great on-air promotions – say you’re going to do it – do it – and then say that you did it. Own it.
Tell Stories With Your Imaging
We coach talent to tell interesting stories about experiences or observations. Do the same with your imaging. Get inspired by greats like the late Legend Nick Michaels and his still-syndicated The Deep End. Ideas for Secret Weapon Records are found there, too.
Here’s a freebie from a client:
“The core of this duo were classically trained studio musicians in New York before the heavy allure of Hollywood pulled them away. Like their friend Carlos Santana – they rotated musicians in studio sessions. This studio musician’s ONLY technique – gave every song a unique sound. They would peak in the 70s with their biggest work – ‘AJA.’ Also, working with a bevy of session musicians helped avoid ego fights in the creative process. A prosthetic phallus in William Burroughs’s novel ‘Naked Lunch’ gave them their name. Steely Dan IS (your ID).”
Aural Activator In Your Top Of The Hour
Better yet – put it in all of your imaging. Covered in my August 27th column, an Aural Activator is the sound that instantly identifies the brand. Think Intel Inside or McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It.” Often, McDonald’s branding only includes the first five notes of the jingle – without lyrics. You know it when you hear it.
A half-century back, legendary programmer Bill Drake created a signature drum sound to aurally ID his stations. Others used a Top Of The Hour tone – like CBS News does today. Is your market known for a ‘sound’? Nashville – music so perhaps a guitar riff. Seattle – the birthplace of Grunge. Indianapolis – race cars. Deploy a unique sound for your brand to aurally pop in the listener’s mind.
Actively Seek Emerging Talent – With Your Signal
Give interested kids your radio station. Seriously, engage students in your community with time on your radio station. As I discussed yesterday in Consultants Corner, work with local schools OR Boy and Girls Clubs to launch an after-school Radio Club.
Put interested emerging talent on early Sunday evenings. Nobody is at your radio station at that time and a well-trained student advisor would chaperone. Local interest will follow. Use your school’s P.T.O. as a mouthpiece to market it.
At a recent elementary career day, under my guidance, student teams wrote, voiced, and produced their own commercials. They were engaged and fascinated.
The challenge lies in being noticed amidst the noise. Developing innovation is a time investment. It requires patience, but the payoff is worth it.
From a Josh Spector newsletter, he challenged his readers to answer the following about what branding professionals do:
“Our brand is the only brand that ___________________.”
I would love to see your replies. Reach me here.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Kevin Robinson is a passionate award-winning programmer, consultant and coach – with multi-formats success all over the country. He has advised numerous companies including Audacy (formerly Entercom Communications), Beasley Broadcast Group, Westwood One, Midwest Communications, Townsquare Media, Midwest Family Broadcasting Group, EG Media Group, Federated Media, Kensington Media, mediaBrew Communications, Starved Rock Media, and more. He specializes in strategic radio cluster alignment, building lean-forward tactics and talent coaching – legacy and entry-level – personalities.
Known largely as a trusted talent coach, Kevin is the only personality mentor who’s coached three different morning shows on three different brands in the same major market to the #1 position. His efforts have been recognized by The World Wide Radio Summit, Radio & Records, NAB’s Marconi, and he has coached CMA, ACM and Marconi Award-winning talent. He is also in The Zionsville High School Hall of Fame as part of the 2008 inaugural class. Kevin is an Indiana native – living near Zionsville with his wife of 39 years, Monica and can be reached at kevin@robinsonmedia.fm.
