7 Habits Of Highly Effective Email Marketers (And Programmers)

David Baker, VP of Email Solutions at Avenue A/Razorfish, applies Stephen Covey’s core principles of the “7 Habits” to create more effective email marketing – and YOU should too!

Habit 1: Be Proactive.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.
Habit 6: Synergize.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw.

Read the entire article here.

Geometric Insight: Is your content highly effective? Not only can Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits” core principles be applied to email marketing, as David Baker demonstrates here, but the”7 Habits” principles and process can be readily applied to content creation and delivery on-air, online, on-site and on-device.

Bonus: For more email insights, click here to view PromoSuite’s Listener Email Study.

The Theory Of Branding (And Building A Successful Radio Station)

KLM’s theory of branding is based on the same principles that apply to building a successful radio station that will stand out from the competition. If you want to win, you must:

1. Create an identity that stands for a set of values. (What does your station stand for?)
2. Emblazon your product(s) or service(s) (read: shows, bits and features) with it.
3. Communicate it consistently. (Remember, frequency sells.)
4. Grow and change with the marketplace and the consumer (user/listener).
5. Become a way of life for a loyal franchise of customers (clients) and consumers (users/listeners).
6. Attract new users (cume) and grow unendingly.

Engaging Emotions Through Effective Radio Ads (+ Content)

Engaging Emotions Through Effective Radio Ads is the second part of a Radio Ad Lab project originally conducted by Gallup & Robinson (G&R) in 2007 and designed to assess how well Radio ads generate emotional responses and engage with consumers, compared to television ads.

Findings from the study reveal that in effective Radio ads:

• Strong beginnings make a difference. An involving point of entry distinguishes some of the most successful Radio ads.

  Word selection matters. Words that are sensory-laden, emotional, or empowering have a demonstrable impact on the emotional reactions of consumers.

  Audio can be powerful. Audio can generate stronger emotions than visuals, especially when the tonality in the ad is used effectively.

  Brand mentions have an impact. The best Radio ads mention the advertiser’s brand multiple times, strategically placed to correlate with moments of high consumer engagement.

The highest scoring and best performing ad in the study exhibited all of the above, a strong indication that Radio commercials are highly engaging to consumers when the creative process follows these patterns.


Download the Full Study
Download the Executive Summary


Geometric Insight: The very elements that help make effective radio ads - strong beginnings, careful and contextual word selection, powerful audio and impactful brand mentions - should be applied to content breaks and imaging as well. Engaging emotions enables you to strengthen the connection and increase the level of interaction consumers (read: users/listeners) have with your brand.

[RAB.com]

Geometric Interactive Insight: How To Use Video To Generate Revenue For Radio

Did you know that VIDEO is the key to you making money EVERYWHERE on your website?

How?

Existing Web sites that incorporate video see lower bounce rates, higher levels of engagement, and more repeat traffic. This increases the value of the non-video portion of the site, driving up eCPMs for more traditional display advertising.

And that's important because the IDC forecasts that the real market for online ads is emerging and will grow sevenfold by 2012, hitting $3.8 billion domestically. As I’ve stated many times before in articles, blog posts, presentations and meetings: The digital dollars are there. The question is…Are you getting your share? Increasingly, video will contribute to online content generation, but more importantly, REVENUE generation.

Twistage CEO David Wadler shares his insights in a good how-to article outlining points to generate dollars from video on your website at AdAge.com. Not only does he highlight the fact that the inclusive of video on your website helps to lift the revenue you can generate from other display pages, but there are more great tips to help you generate revenue with video too, summarized as follows:

• Sponsorship: Offering sponsorships of the player, a series of videos, or perhaps even of the entire video experience can be a compelling option for a brand advertiser.
• Focus on the audiences your brand can pinpoint
• Balance your zeal for monetization with the quality of the user experience
• Create great content. The better your content and the more engaged your audience, the higher eCPMs will be for your videos.

Thanks to Mark Ramsey for sharing this article and his summary with me. Click here to see David’s full article.

13-Point News Checklist

My friend and fellow consultant Mike McVay shares his suggestions for news. Use this checklist to critique your news department.

1. The call letters or station slogan should be showcased at the front of the news and mentioned again at the end of the news.

2. Timechecks should appear at the beginning of the news, at the spot breaks, and prior to the final outro of the cast.

3. You should promote upcoming news items the same way the you promote ahead with upcoming music; i.e., “traffic and weather are next,” etc. Give the audience a reason to continue listening.

4. Keep the story count HIGH.

5. Use audio ONLY where it makes sense.

6. Do not use the network’s outro on wired actualities

7. Does the content of the news pass the “Who Cares” test?

8. Are stories written in the language of the audience?

9. Does the content include stories from the following interest categories?

• Heart
• Purse
• Health
• Relaxation
• Local
• National

10. The delivery of the newscaster should be natural and believable.


11. Weather forecasts should be prepromoted. Are the forecasts compact and easy to deliver? Do not give more information than the audience cares to know regarding weather; i.e., Monday through Thursday mornings tell today’s weather. Monday through Thursday afternoon, give tonight’s and tomorrow’s weather, Friday and Saturday should contain the forecast for the complete weekend. Sunday should be today, tonight and tomorrow.

12. Does the newscast include current temperatures?

13. Does the position of the news within the format hour compete with your primary rival or is the news hidden?

Live The Emotion Of Your Brand

Every station, website, show, personality or feature is a brand. And it’s the emotion of your brand that helps connect you with users/listeners/viewers/clients, moving them to think, feel or act.

With that said, ponder this…

How do we live the emotion of the brand we represent? Do we know what that would look or feel like?

8 Critical Things Every Personality Needs To Know About PPM

As a student of marketing and media, I believe that inspiration and insight can come from anywhere. Over the years, I have personally programmed, consulted or advised multiple formats. And although I work mostly with contemporary formats like Rhythmic, Top 40, Hip-Hop, Urban, Hot AC, Urban AC and Inspirational, I’ve always had a special affinity for the Country format.

I’m not sure what I find most compelling about Country. It could be the “story-telling” that I hear in the format’s hit songs, the amazing “story-telling” capabilities of country’s top personalities (other personalities take note) or the values and passions promoted by the format (other programmer’s take note).

Maybe, it’s all of the above (or just the fact that my dad had an eclectic record collection).

But one thing I know for sure is, every time that I’ve had the opportunity to talk or interact with Country programming legends like Ed Salamon, Larry Daniels or Jaye Albright, I immediately see how “best practices” in one format can be modified for or applied to another.

In radio, some things are universal - regardless of format – and Country consultant Jaye Albright clearly demonstrates this idea as she reveals “8 Critical Things Every Personality Needs To Know About PPM.” Here they are:

1. No matter what anyone says, there are no experts yet. It's too early. We're all still trying to figure it out.

2. PPM loves music, so your greatest risk of audience loss is opening the microphone. Relevance and engagement are the name of the game. Content must consistently connect.

3. It's almost impossible to make the average listener spend any more time per occasion. Teasing a list of artists 'coming up,' is ineffective. Create events and ride the wave when they gain traction to increase the number of times your most loyal listeners tune to you.

4. There is no such thing as exclusive cume. Fortunately, your cume is much larger than you ever thought it was, based on recall measurement.

5. PPM metrics replicate the behaviors we see in music research, streaming audio audience flow, MediaEKG and other forms of behavioral research data on radio usage. The more you live with the data, the more it looks like reality. For example, you'll know when one of your heavy user households goes away, leaves town on vacation for two weeks.

6. The quality of the sample is a concern, of course, but, due to panel management, it appears to be better and more consistent than the randomness of the diary samples, which are getting worse and worse due to the growth of cell phone only homes.

7. The transmitter may be on the air but if the encoder isn't working, you are functionally off the air. Ditto with your stream and HD side channels too. Some extra meters to read during your shift.

8. You have twice as many competitors for your listeners time as the diary led you to believe. On the other side of the same coin, you get sampling from many more other stations than we previously thought.

Thanks for sharing your tips, Jaye! More from Jaye here.

Geometric Insight: I couldn’t agree with Jaye more. In today’s competitive environment, I tell the personalities all the time that they must evolve into authentic, engaging, multi-media brands now to remain relevant to listeners/users in the future and beyond. Under the PPM, every aspect of your on-air presentation has to be more compelling and seamless each time you open the mic. Everything is an event! And you must create “appointment listening” programming opportunities (read: events) on your station or show to encourage repeat tune-in vertically, along with increased horizontal (day-to-day) tune-in, to move the ratings needle in a PPM world. Let’s be real, you can only stretch time-spent-listening (TSL), or average-time-exposed (ATE), so far as “time-squeezed” listeners encounter more daily distractions amid a plethora of media choices and marketing noise. Are you PPM savvy - and ready?

Avoiding Marketing Mishaps

"Satire is a lesson, parody is a game."

- Vladimir Nabokov

Here's a lesson in the creative marketing process...and how it can easily go awry!

[View video]

What are you doing to ensure that your creative process remains focused and on track? Don't get lose sight of your goals and objectives. Design your marketing and promotional campaigns for ratings, revenue and client success by effectively managing your creative process.

[via Tom Asacker]

What’s Your O.S.T.?

If you want to consistently win your share of ratings and revenue you must thoughtfully...

• Define your Objectives
• Strategy and
• Tactics and share them with everyone on your team.

With the Arbitron Spring ratings results rolling now and Summer blazing away, your should begin turning your focus towards the Fall book. What objectives, strategy and tactics are you working on to make sure you have the best Fall ever?

The Web Doesn’t Care

From Seth Godin:

The web doesn’t care - and here’s why:

[The Net] is the first mass marketing medium ever that isn't supported by ads.

If a newspaper, a radio station or a TV station doesn't please advertisers, it disappears. It exists to make you (the marketer) happy.

That's the reason the medium (and its rules) exist. To please the advertisers.

But the Net is different.

It wasn't invented by business people, and it doesn't exist to help your company make money.

It's entirely possible it could be used that way, but it doesn't owe you anything. The question to ask isn't, "but how does this help me?" as if you have some sort of say in the matter. You don't get a vote on whether Google succeeds or whether your customers erect spam filters.

The question (for marketers and content creators) to ask is, "How are people (the people I need to reach, interact with and tell stories to) going to use this new power and how can I help them achieve their goals?"

Geometric Insight: More than ever, broadcasters must be consumer-centric. Every decision made about content and services your brand provides--on-air, online, on-site and on-device—should be viewed thorough the lens of the consumer. Does the consumer want or need this? Or will the consumer even care? And if not, why are we doing it?

Now Playing Billboard

“The Sound experience is about the musical discovery that happens when each song is played on the station… [utilizing technology] we are able to extend that experience into our marketing efforts to offer instant gratification for our consumers.”

-Sammy Simpson, KSWD Director of Marketing/Advertising

Utilizing an advanced “Radio Data System” technology, Los Angeles station KSWD The Sound yesterday launched an innovative “Now Playing” feature on the Clear Channel Digital Outdoor Network, as part of KSWD’s advertising campaign. [Read more]

Is your outdoor this innovative? If not, it's time to GET CREATIVE!!!

Conclave 2008 Pics