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What is positioning? Radio station positioning establishes the competitive reason for the listener selection of your station versus that of your competitor and the unique position you intend to occupy in their mind. In other words, it identifies why customers/listeners should care about you in the first place. Have you ever wondered why well known, products and services are so successful over long periods of time? Have you ever wondered why these products and services are so well respected by the people who use them? I speak of names that, once you hear them you will be able to instantly develop a picture in your mind of that product or service. You will know about that product, most likely will have used it and you will have an opinion about that product. These products include McDonalds, Primark, Marks and Spencer, Visa British Airways, Hertz, Vodafone, Tesco, Nike, Google, BMW and EBay. Of course, there are many more but this list is good enough as an example. What is clear is that each of these companies is very successful. One of the biggest car brands in the world started out as an idea that Adolph Hitler had....the people's car...or in German....Volkswagen, now VW. Consider too, that all major successful brands have a major competitor fighting for share of the market (a position in potential customers minds). Burger King compete with McDonalds, Debenhams compete with Marks and Spencer, Avis compete with Hertz, Orange, Virgin, O2 all compete with Vodafone and Mercedes compete with BMW, Matalan compete with Primark and so on. Other brands also compete in the market but the further down the list you go the less well known the brand is, Try it, if Debenhams is no 1 and Marks and Spencer is no 2. Who is number 3, 4, 5 etc. Now take this a step further. In all of these cases the battle is for the customers mind. I referred earlier to the fact that you have an opinion on major brands. Do you prefer to use Google or do you use Yahoo. Do I buy a suit in Primark or Matalan. You have a mind ladder of choice in your mind that allows you to choose one brand over another. This is the infamous mind ladder in your head that all major brands want to be part of and not only that, they compete with each other to get to the top rung of that ladder. Now you need to look at how they market themselves. All major successful brands continuously tell people that they are better than their competitors but do not say very much about their own
products. If they do tell you about their product they will focus on one particular part of their product. Let's look at three cases of where that happens. 1. Tesco currently market their business by saying they are cheaper than Asda. For their part, Asda are doing the same thing. They say they are cheaper than Tesco. Both are competing daily to try and convince us all that they are cheaper than their competitors. This is a battle between them for the best position in your mind. 2. BMW on the other hand have a different approach. They know that people respect and trust their product so when they bring out a new feature in their cars they simply market the new feature rather than the whole car. When most manufacturers went to front wheel drive BMW simply explained why rear wheel drive was better. Simply, they were creating a position in their customers mind about the virtues of rear wheel drive. 3. Hertz versus Avis is the biggest battle for the mind in the car hire market worldwide. Over time Hertz continued to win the battle and remain number one in the car hire market. Avis decided that instead of continuing to try to beat Hertz they decided that they would consciously position themselves as number two. Avis stated position is 'No 2, we try harder'. I would just like to look at one exceptional story that moves above the mind ladder battle. A brand so good that it does not matter what product that brand is attached to it still succeeds. It started as a record label, moved into the record store business, the airline business, the mobile phone business, the TV business, the train business, the cinema business, the radio business, the car racing business and even the spaceflight business under one brand name... VIRGIN!!! This brand is so strong and successful that it competes in lots of different markets and has been able to get its foot on the ladder (mind ladder) in each market it competes in. It keeps going because it is not at the top of the mind ladder in everybody's mind but it is getting there. It has a clear simple image headed by a single name and a man that is known and trusted by many. The moral of these stories is that a successful product MUST win the BATTLE OF THE MIND before it is deemed to be a successful brand. That battle takes place in your customers (or listeners) head and nowhere else. To win this battle you need to own a rung on the mind ladder. Then you must try and improve your position on that ladder until you get to the top rung. I can tell you now that it is easier to climb the ladder once you're on it than it is to get on the ladder in the first place. If you are not on the ladder you cannot take part in the battle at all. How does this all relate to your station? Radio everywhere, big or small, is a product and it must be thought of that way if it is to succeed. The only difference is we have two types of customers, listeners and advertisers. It is simple and I challenge anyone to deny the fact that if you have plenty of both the station will be a huge success... agreed? Three statements that will make the chairperson a very happy person are when the majority of his customers and listeners say; I listen to Community Radio because I like the music they play...
I listen to Community radio because the give me the local news... AND I advertise on Community Radio because... If your listeners say this and your advertisers say this then you have established a position on their mind ladder. This determines the position of your radio station in their radio listening patterns. This is good and proves you have got on a rung on the mind ladder. That is the goal - but you are not there yet. Let's look at the listener first. There is great store put in the fact that your Community Radio station is going to be an instant success when it goes on the air. I agree that you see your community as a strong community with distinctive values and loyalties that make it unique. This also makes it likely that any correctly run station that 'positions' itself well in that community will be successful. If it is the goal of the station to be successful then that is ok. It is more important to look at the degree of success because it is the long-term viability of the station that is central to whatever you do. I suggest too that getting listeners to listen and stay listening will be a much, much harder task than is expected. Why is this? There is competition everywhere, on the radio, music players, the Internet, TV. The all compete to get your listeners to listen to them instead. You have to ask them to make that choice now. The battle for listeners does not take place on the streets or homes in your community. The battle for listeners takes place in their heads. That is where the decision to listen is made. People do listen to radio. At the moment they don't all listen to you. That's ok, you have got to earn their trust, their loyalty, their respect and you must provide what they want and you must uphold your promises you make to them. What is clear is that they do listen to a wide variety of other stations. They listen because they know those stations; they like those stations and are loyal to those stations regardless of what you might think of the stations already available to them. They will continue to listen to those stations until something better comes along. What you think does not matter. Even though you have started broadcasting you are just another product for them to choose from and it is only at that time will your position in their minds begin to form. That is provided they know you are there in the first place. Community radio, its presenters and management will never have any say in the decision people make whether to listen to your radio station or not. The radio listener will decide what he or she wants to listen to and will only make that decision on the basis of what value it has to him or her. You can influence them by proactively creating 'a position' in their minds so when it comes to the choice they make on what radio station they choose to listen to, you are in their minds already and are part of the choice they make. While this might sound negative, it is not. There is an opportunity here for Community radio to be proactive and create an image and strong local identity in the minds of your target listener market. What will happen if you don't do this? Let's look at a good example. KCBC, the situation at start up is surprisingly similar to what is happening in your community station now and you can learn from this.
oKCBC came about because of the drive, persistence and determination of one person who was passionate believer in real local radio. oHe wanted a local station that operated locally, with local news and presenters who knew the area. He wanted the station to be a voice for the local community. oThe station, when it went on air covered a relatively small area and specifically covered the areas of Kettering and Corby boroughs. It did not have Wellingborough in its official broadcast area until much later on. oThere was a large team of presenters made up of paid and voluntary staff. oThere was an accepted belief that before the station went on air it was going to be hugely successful instantly. (Believe me, there was. I was there)...it was not. It took time and bloody hard work and on air discipline to build it. When the station went on air it did create a stir in the local community. There was TV coverage of the launch, full-page articles in the papers and there was a good reaction to it generally. It had a strong well-focussed music position, it had a good local news position. Presenters were good (not brilliant) but disciplined enough to make the station sound reasonably professional. Then negativity crept in, both in the listeners mind and inside the station. The station music policy became loose. It began to play different genres of music unannounced or planned. News bulletin times changed and the stories that it covered were not correct at times. Arguments as to the direction of the station became more frequent and presenters started to present in a way that not one show blended with the next. KCBC became lots of little stations at different times of day. There was no cohesion across the day. It also became clear that the station was focusing on Kettering only and started to neglect Corby even though it was part of their official area. Over time KCBC became weaker still. Its founder left and others moved on. While all of this was happening advertising revenue was dropping (the station never did break even) and the quality of commercials and general production values across music policy, news and presentation was poor at best. The mistakes they made were regrettable and avoidable. They had no long-term strategy about where they wanted to be in the listeners mind. That huge mistake, combined with an undisciplined format and presentation team meant that the position of the station was unclear in the listeners mind. The KCBC listener could not identify why they should listen to the station. The product (what came out of the speaker) was changing all the time. In the long-term it did not deliver the promises it made at the start (a local station that operated locally, with local news and presenters who knew the area. A station that promised to be a voice for the local community.) They broke the promise they made to the listener when they launched on 6th April 1990. 'Radio station 'promises' on air becomes a 'position' in the listeners mind'. In relation to 'positioning the station' in the listeners mind, management at KCBC did not consider it ever. Had they done so and developed 'on air' strategies to achieve a strong, clear position in their listeners mind and stuck to it, they would have been successful then and probably successful today. Again you may ask the question, what has this to do with your community radio station. My answer is...EVERYTHING!!!
1.Your station must clearly define and develop a strong, clear, simple position that is easily understood by the listener. 2.Document your position regarding music, news and presentation style and make certain it is clearly understood by every member of the team who works in or with the station at all levels. Act on those policies and be rigid in their implementation. 3.Your station must tell its listener what its 'position' is and use every facet of the stations output to get 'the station position' fixed in the listeners mind. 4.Consider 'the station position' in the listeners mind before implementing any format or general station output. One of the major guiding factors with every radio station (product) I have worked on is a conscious decision to be clear FIRST on what 'position' I want that radio station to be in 'in the listeners mind'. In radio station terms, I would consider 'position' when deciding on music played / weekend format / station ids/ promos / news / staff hired/road-shows/station liners used/ and so on. If it did not fit with where I wanted the station to be 'in the listeners mind' I simply did not do it. Furthermore, in retail business the three accepted wisdoms are location, location, and location. If you transfer this to radio (a product that is intangible.. but everywhere) the three accepted wisdoms are...position!....position!.....position! (In the listeners mind) I now wish to be more specific and apply the positioning argument to the position Community Radio wishes to place itself in the listeners mind in your area. Please note one thing first. Every successful programmer and every successful presenter has one thing in common. They can hear what they want to achieve in their head before it is broadcast on the radio and they are not concerned about what they like personally. They want to create a strong position in the listeners mind. So that is what they focus on. So what needs to be done now...? Firstly define who your listener is...and be specific. Then define the station position you wish to achieve in that listeners mind and, only then.... oDecide when local news bulletins should be broadcast and focus on content. ( your 'local 'position') oDecide on music played on the station. (80 to 90% of output and hugely important / (your music 'position') oDecide on what features to run on your station. (your local 'position') oDecide the weekend format on your station oDecide what imaging package used on your station. oDecide what presenters present what programme on your station. Then decide after one month if it working or not...if it isn't then change it fast because it is damaging your 'position' and damaging your station and your business and...losing listeners.
Positioning exercise Try this little exercise in positioning a specific part of your station output. I would like you to consider specifically why some stations play a music bed under the national and local news whenever they are broadcast. Please note that I am not saying it is a good or a bad programming element. I am simply asking why it is done. oDoes it make the station sound better? oDoes it make listeners listen to the News? oDoes it add to the news bulletin as a product in itself? oAre we trying to cover inadequacies in the news delivery? oAre we trying to cover inadequacies in the news content? There is a simple answer of course. The boss decided that we do it...so you do it. But that is not the answer I'm looking for. I want to know what 'thinking' was behind the decision to play music under all news bulletins. Listeners don't care if you play a music bed under the news. What they do care about is hearing the bulletin above the car engine, the washing machine, the kids screaming and so on. Any other noise that adds to that 'clutter' is negative. Time and time again radio stations add 'stuff' to their output without serious consideration of the consequences. If I were to take an educated guess, I would say listeners do not like music beds placed under news. Experience tells me that they find it at least annoying, and at most perceive that it provides a cover for poor presentation.. This all seems to suggest that music under news is not required at all and does nothing to improve the station position in the listeners mind. So, why do they do it? The late Chris Carey, the owner and driving force behind Radio Nova in Dublin had a very simple answer to this specific question. He regarded all programme elements broadcast on Nova as bits of furniture. In their entirety they made up one big cohesive station sound. He wanted everything broadcast on Nova to be well produced, clearly audible, distinguishable and justified. When he said 'justified' he meant it had a specific reason why a programme element was broadcast on his station. If that reason did not exist then it was not broadcast. He was also very aware that all other stations at the time had loads of 'stuff' on air and, his view was they sounded cluttered. His station sounded clear, crisp and easy to listen to (not easy listening). His next move was quite clever. He decided to 'position' Radio Nova as Dublin's 'clutter free' station. Told the presenters to talk only after two records and used simple jingles that constantly promoted the 'clutter free' sound. News was presented dry using a quality newsreader, Bob Gallico. The news in and out were simple recorded sweepers that promoted 'news bulletins times', 'localness', 'unique to Dublin' and of course 'clutter free'. In summary, he took the perceived listener preference for a clean simple 'sound' combined it with the fact that other stations were all cluttered up with 'stuff' not really needed on air and then proactively captured a position in the listeners mind that Nova was 'clutter free'. Every programming decision he made after that move was defined by its ability to add to the 'clutter free' nature of the output.
Nova was a local pirate station for Dublin. The impact it had on radio in Ireland and the UK generally was phenomenal and very successful. There are still stations in Dublin today that follow a 'clutter free' position and format and all are very successful. That success is based on and determined by their position in the listeners mind where they consistently hold strong positions in the radio market. Community radio does not want to be like Radio Nova but the thinking behind its creation can be fully applied to any station of any size and format. So when considering position of the station in the listeners mind, it is the small programming decisions, not just the big ones that secure your stations position in your listeners mind. The biggest 'sin', the biggest 'cardinal mistake', the biggest 'faux pas' of all that can make now is not to seriously consider your stations 'position in your listeners' mind at all. You have three positions to establish in the listeners mind; 1.Local/Community position in your listeners mind. 2.Music position in your listeners mind. (80 to 90 % of your output) 3.The news position in your listeners mind. If you work on these three positions separately you will cover the three main facets of your product that will generate success...if you get it right in the listeners mind. Finally, presenters are a weird bunch. They see it as their right to do what they want to do on air. They love to have their ego massaged, they love to have people say they are brilliant on air. They thrive on this by pandering to the few (a small handful of friends or colleagues usually) who voice an opinion and focus their shows on them while forgetting whom the real listener is. Some local stations allow the 'lunatics to run the asylum' and the results of that are plain to hear. Without exception, these presenters are usually inexperienced and need guidance to help them understand what they can achieve if they follow certain immutable principles of radio presenting. Are your radio presenters a talented bunch?...probably once you get rid of the bad habits. Are they able to reflect what the station manager wants?...probably, if they know what he wants, Can your station be successful? Most definitely, if the manager makes sure his team apply his agenda and not theirs. The biggest question and the hardest question of all....is the managers strategic view of what he wishes the station to be both correct and achievable with the resources he has in place? Only one person can answer that...yes you've guessed it.....THE LISTENER The real listener listens at home, listens in the car, wants to hear the latest news or local information, wants to hear some good music for the twenty minutes they listen to the station in the morning or afternoon and they want the person on air to be credible and relevant to them. Sounds simple and it is. Community radio has the ability to be uniquely local and has the ability to implement a great music format and great news service. These three disciplines are the pillars on which you build your product. If listeners don't get any combination of these three in place and presented well to them they will choose to listen a station that has these in place. Listeners won't think twice about fiddling with the dial to find that station either. Forget the vocal minority (they have a vested interest) and focus on
those who listen.... but say nothing. You have joined the fight to win the battle for listeners' minds and it is the listener who will decide entirely on the basis of what comes out of that speaker if you win that battle....nobody else!
For more help or advice on 'positioning your community radio station' or 'building a successful community radio brand' the visit http://www.radiosolution.co.uk For more information on how to position your station go to http://www.radiosolution.co.uk
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