“Hey let’s put that song in rotation, it sounds good on the air.”
“I think that morning show benchmark is really gaining traction. My wife and her friends love it.”
“The station is sounding too old. It’s probably time to start playing some newer music.”
Is this is how your radio station conducts research?
Radio is fighting daily battles within a never-ending war for top-of-mind awareness. This is no time to trust your request line or mother-in-law for market intelligence. Rolling the dice is not a sound strategy.
Amazon is often rightfully credited with coming up with innovative ideas. How Amazon evolves those ideas into big, successful initiatives is by utilizing market research.
When the company launched Amazon Prime, it offered unlimited two-day shipping for $79 per year. The price increased to $99 and now $119, but also includes added features like Amazon Music and Amazon Prime Video. How did Amazon navigate which features to focus on and which price points were viable?
Research.
Amazon doesn’t just use research to determine how to grow – it uses research to know when to quit.
Even Amazon fails sometimes, as with the Fire Phone, Amazon Local and Amazon Destinations. By using research to track customer perceptions and product/market fit, Amazon was able to mitigate further losses and shift resources into profitable segments.
Do you really know what’s working and what’s not working on your radio station? What if you’re running a feature that’s not compatible with the brand and you have no idea? What if the only measurement you have of your morning show is ratings and you don’t actually know if its familiarity and appeal are growing?
Rolling the dice is, as they say, a crapshoot.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos likes to say “We start with the customer and work backward.”
Are you truly focused on your customer?
Sure, you can gather the troops in a conference room and detail your target listener on a whiteboard. But wouldn’t it be nicer to actually know who your listeners are instead of guessing based on wobbly ratings? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know which ones have the best potential of converting to P1s?
You better believe Amazon knows all about its competitors, probably better than their competitors know themselves.
They’ve done their research.
How much do you know about your competition and its listeners?
Radio should constantly innovate with fresh, new ways of entertaining its consumers. By conducting research to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, you can focus on what works and feel confident your strategy is sound and optimized for success.
It sure beats rolling the dice.
