While the Spring Arbitron survey just finished, and before you know it, the Fall Arbitron will be upon you. Mike McVay says it is never too early to start planning ahead and offers up a strategy to prepare for the next rating sweep –
Mike McVay
By Mike McVay
The Spring Survey just finished, and before we know it, the Fall Survey will begin. Here’s a strategy to prepare for the rating sweep.
RATINGS
First, what can you learn from your station’s historical performances? How have you performed in the winter and spring in previous surveys? Is there a particular month in the survey that is traditionally difficult for your station? Are there changes in market or audience conditions that you can predict? For instance, what day do most schools get out in the market? How will your audience’s lifestyle or usage of radio change after that day? Did anyone change format as they exited their Christmas music tactic? You’re not living in a vacuum. With a format change, even if it doesn’t compete directly with your station, you can be affected.
In reviewing your station’s historical ratings performances, are there observable patterns in listening that can help you plan your programming or promotions? What are the highest rated hours on your station and highest PUR (persons using radio) hours for your market? Are you offering the best programming possible during those hours? For years we have discussed surge hours with client stations. These are the hours where you should run your big contests.
Have you checked your “Station Information Profile” (SIP) at www.Arbitron.com to ensure that your slogan or station moniker is on file with Arbitron?
MUSIC
Start the new survey by playing 100% power category songs. Power Gold, Power Recurrents and Power Currents. The rotations will be tight, but if you can weather the complaints of repetition that come from inside your building … you’ll have a huge rating result. The listeners NEVER complain about hearing their favorite songs too frequently. The only complaints you’ll get will be from your own people. TIGHT wins!
Are your rotations on-target for the TSL on your station? Do TSL trends on your station, market, or in your competitive situation warrant any adjustments to your music rotations?
Are there any renegade songs in your music library? Have you checked and double-checked to ensure that you’re playing the hits and playing them often? If you are unsure of the hits, conduct local research. If you can’t do that … then reach out to us for a “Safe List.” We send out a fresh “Safe List” every six months. A fresh one is coming.
If you have research at your station, have you considered trading your research with other stations of similar format inside your company or social circle? Comparing the “power” songs in your test to the “power” songs in other tests from stations in your format can help to identify the cast-iron power titles for your format. (Of course, you’ll want to have permission from your General Manager before you willy-nilly distribute your research to other stations and companies).
Are your higher testing/mass appeal songs playing in higher rotation than the secondary or tertiary songs in the library? Check your music scheduling system. Print out a day’s worth of music and then write the test scores beside each song. Are you playing 1 power for every 2 regulars? Is your hour balanced with Power and Regular songs?
Keeping in mind that most listeners hear your station in small pockets, does every 15 minute time-frame on your station serve as a representation of your product’s musical “center sound?” The music essence of your radio station should be the same quarter-hour-to-quarter-hour.
In your music scheduler, have you set up safeguards to prevent fringe songs from playing too close together? Does your Airstaff know which songs to use when they need to “fill” a song slot?
PERSONALITIES
Have you had an air-staff meeting to discuss your plan and encourage the personalities on your station prior to the sweep? Are they aware of your audience composition and important geographical pockets in your listening area?
Walk away from the station for a day and listen for an hour or two to each of the talent on your station without interruption just as a listener would hear your station. What do you hear? Are there inconsistencies in the formatics from shift to shift? Are your personalities truly speaking to the target listener or a miscalculated projection of the target?
Are key members of your team under contract? Have you identified the essential members of your staff and taken measures to ensure that they won’t be tempted to “cross the street?”
Are daily promos being produced for your morning show? Do they rotate evenly and do you vary where they air? Do this so that the audience is completely exposed to your morning show.
Is your morning show firing on all cylinders? Are they consistently capturing the “big story” of the day on their show?
What resources does your team have for show prep? Are they all useful, or are they just precluding other opportunities for budget or barter utilization? Have you considered purchasing a new show prep system or subscribing to magazines read by the target audience?
Has anyone from the programming or operations team dropped into your morning show’s meetings recently?
We use a show prep system whereby you create ONE item for each element of the system. Emotion (What’s going on in the listeners’ world while you’re on the air?) Image (What is the Image of the radio station? Sell it once a shift in your own words.) Area (What’s going on in the area?) Activity (What is the radio station involved in?) Artists (Give the audience one piece of information about an artist.) You need only one per/hour. Not all four … just one per/hour.
PROMOTIONS
Does your station have a major strategic promotion planned for the survey? Has legal council approved your contest rules? What’s the purpose for presenting the contest? There needs to be a clear understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish … and what you expect as a result of presenting this contest. Do NOT air a contest “because we have to do one.” Be tactical in your thinking.
Is everyone that will present the contest up to speed on the execution and on-air formatics surrounding the contest? Prepare a memo that explains the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the contest. Distribute the memo to your Airstaff as well as to the receptionist. He/She will need to be able to explain the contest to listeners that call the station.
Are there any press-release-worthy events happening at your station? Who is responsible for drafting the releases and making contact with local press? Do you have a flight schedule for your press?
Have you considered a planned stunt or event to draw attention to your investments in outside marketing and advertising? Don’t underestimate the value of defacing your own billboard to attract attention to it.
Have you produced station imaging and recorded promos for your strategic promotion? Sell the fantasy of your promotions. Great promotions are like LIFE … Expectation, Realization and Memory.
Are you planning to invest in external marketing during this survey? Do you have the timing planned out to coincide well with important segments of the survey? Have you tested creative for television, billboard, bus-boards, etc. in focus groups? Remember that not testing and adjusting your message for the medium you’re using can be costly.
SIZING UP THE COMPETITION
Do not live in a vacuum. Know your competitor so that you can dominate them in the ratings. What are “they” doing that is worthy of our concern and concentration.
Review the positioning statements and benchmarks of your key competitors. Are there claims or statements you need to diffuse? What “steel swords” is the competition using that is important for you to block and tackle in programming and/or external marketing?
What maneuvers can you make to further maximize the strengths of your cluster to block and/or reposition competitors?
Who will be making noise in the market this survey? What external media will you be up against (TV, billboards, direct mail, and stealth telemarketing)? Will your programming and marketing plan be competitive and crippling in the face of your competitors anticipated moves?
Do NOT underestimate your competition. We often allow our ego’s to cloud our judgment … and we underestimate our competitors. Don’t fall prey to ego.
Have you wandered through the sales department or attended a sales/promotions meeting recently? What are the sales people hearing on the streets about your competition? Don’t argue with the assessment that you hear. Say THANK YOU for sharing … and then walk away to examine your notes. Maybe, just maybe, the sales team has learned something you haven’t. Their ear is to the ground. We programmers live in an office.
AIMING FOR #1
It goes without saying that being a “winning radio station” goes far beyond simply scoring well in the ratings. While the ratings are certainly one barometer for success, there are other indicators for success such as revenue, respect from industry peers, and market notoriety. This checklist should assist you in moving the needle for any of these indicators, including the Arbitron survey.
For more ideas like these, we invite you to visit McVayMedia.com and sign up for our free programming e-newsletter. Visit www.mcvaymedia.com and sign-up for your FREE subscription.
This article was authored by Mike McVay for FMQB. Contact Mike at McVay Media for more information on their consulting services. Mike@mcvaymedia.com or visit www.mcvaymedia.com
