A few years ago, as digital started to become a viable advertising choice, prophets of doom were already heralding the end of traditional media. In stark contrast, it’s radio that has benefitted more than any other traditional medium from the growth of digital says John Walls. Question now is –what do clients really want from on-air/online campaigns – and more importantly – what should radio stations be offering?
It should come as no surprise that radio is ideally suited to integrate with digital. After all, radio is the original social medium, a place that reflects the listener’s life, interests, whilst allowing them to interact.
That said, the rise of digital was a godsend for radio stations in that it allowed listeners to interact with the station on a variety of platforms including websites, SMS, Facebook and Twitter, whereas in the past interaction was possible only through calling in, writing letters or perhaps at the station’s annual concert.
The beauty of radio – which is precisely why it is so complementary to digital lies in the personal relationship listeners have with the medium and by extension, their favourite stations and DJs. They become a part of our lives.
Think about how you consume radio. You wake up with your favourite DJ, you brush your teeth with them, you drive to work with them. We spend a lot of alone-time with the radio -very much like we do with digital media.
Our perception of radio is that it’s a one-on-one relationship with our favourite station or DJ, whereas with TV and print, the perception seems to be that we are just one of millions.
The advent of the digital era, however, has breathed new life into radio by making the stations realise that their brand is in fact everything. It’s not just about who has the most listeners or the best license conditions anymore. It’s now about building the station’s brand as well as that of its presenters so that consumers will want to interact with them across multiple platforms.
What this means is that the airwaves are now just the starting point of the relationship the station brands build with listeners. While it is still where they fall in love with the station’s brand, digital platforms are increasingly becoming the place where listeners engage with that brand.
Late bloomer…
In the early part of this century South African radio lagged behind the world in terms of digital connectivity and take-up. Whilst many in radio saw this as a handicap, the reality is that it turned out to be a real bonus.
It’s my view that radio stations in countries who implemented this digital technology first saw digital as a separate medium and many of them set up separate companies to market it. All they succeeded in doing, however, was cannibalising their own ad revenue.
By the time radio stations in SA got serious about digital, the radio industry, worldwide had realised that digital had to be seen as an extension of the station’s brand. The offering to both the advertiser and the consumer had to be an integrated, multi-platform one.
Having said that, over the past couple of years I think there’s been something of a slackening-off in innovation by SA radio stations when it comes to their digital offerings.
For instance, some stations have developed huge databases of loyal listeners but have yet to find a way to offer that audience to advertisers in a way that sells product directly, and in a measurable way.
This is the next challenge for our radio stations if radio is to remain the favourite bedfellow of digital. They need to develop and focus their digital offerings in a way that deliver what clients are looking for, namely:
- access to segmented, targeted groups of listeners
- one-on-one contact direct from client to listener, but capitalising on the affinity the listener has with the station.
- Advertisers need to create genuinely attractive offers, which are exclusive to that station only. This will enable them to have direct access to listeners. Radio stations, on the other hand, need to understand that a listener will see value in genuinely lucrative commercial offerings. Even if it’s as basic as 50% off their next purchase of bread and milk, listeners will appreciate that their station has delivered something valuable and exclusive to them
- Measurability- Stations should ensure that they deliver detailed post-digital campaign reports to give advertisers a clearer idea of what it is they should be looking for in their next campaign.
In summary, the way forward is for stations to offer controlled access to their listener databases, whilst clients should strive to make genuinely valuable and exclusive offers. The end result of any radio-driven digital campaign should be direct sales on the part of the client with a comprehensive post-campaign analysis detailing exactly who did the buying.
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