Perception
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Ken Dardis
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October 16, 1999 |
Simplified, it's the difference between 3:10pm...
and seventy minutes past two in the afternoon.
Perception is fixed until a ‘defining moment'
comes along which alters your view (something
akin to realizing your station web site just sits there).
Then you seek new information, make a few
decisions and implement change.
Relative to the Internet, there are a lot of
defining moments at hand for radio. |
The objective of gathering a local audience to sell to an advertiser doesn't play well on the Net. |
Internet Portals, like Yahoo and LookSmart,
are adding their own radio stations to their
list of services. What will this do to broadcast
listenership, and to your station's ability to attract
an Internet audience?
Except for a small number of cyber-related
businesses, the Internet is not being embraced
as an ad-delivery vehicle. It appears (at this
early stage,) advertisers are looking for more
than a limited message presented as a banner.
Advertisers want immediate results.
Advertisers want to use the Internet
but they don't know how.
Radio should show them.
But, before radio sales teams talk with clients,
we need to get our own sites working.
On the Internet, radio needs to place emphasis
on providing useful information - an item we've
gotten away from on the air.
Why is your site up?
What does it do for the user?
What is the benefit to an advertiser?
Most radio station web sites I've visited
appear to use ‘Field of Dreams' logic:
"Build it and they will come." |
But today, an industry that crawled online only
four years ago is wildly revamping its approach.
We found listeners are using the Internet
differently than we originally perceived. |
|
We show it. They see it.
At least that's what we thought. |
No one asked ‘What do we offer so,
after they visit once, they "want to return?"
Or... "How much does it cost to provide it?"
Radio management has found web users
have an insatiable appetite for fresh, useful
information: That translates into "what we've
done online isn't good enough."
Which is why there are a number of managers
who look at the Internet with jaded eyes.
| Here is the current perception |
Unless your web site has specialized content,
it's destined to sit there gathering dust.
After visiting a local station web site, users
judge that site. The evaluation is based on
how it compares with other sites the user
has visited.
Many of these ‘visited' sites are very expensive,
high-tech, interactive experiences.
In comparison, the user can't help but conclude
the station isn't hip enough to provide a quality
web site. Even though a station doesn't have the
money, (nor should it be expected to produce it):
the average cost for a site is now $250,000.
(Forrester Research)
We may be late, but radio is still going to the party.
As the number of people online approaches
100 million, the value of an Internet property
comes from knowing how to use the media
not how to deliver users of that media
to an advertiser.
Modern radio has become accustomed
to offering the audience less and less
without adverse affect on local numbers.
But you can't get away with that in cyberspace.
Do you use the Internet to deliver programming,
billboards, information or a service?
Perception says there's room for all.
But it better be worth the user's time.
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