Is Radio Sirius?

Recently, I have been hearing radio commercials in the Pennsylvania community that reek of poor strategy. These ads tell the listener they should not have to pay for radio and goes on to bash satellite radio, but without saying satellite radio. I’m confused. Why would a company use their own product/service to talk about a competitor? Especially when the competitor is already getting tons of press without their assistance. In addition, they are doing it during commercials – the very reason people leave radio.

I am so surprised by this strategy. ClearChannel, the heavy hitter in radio, seems to be the biggest offender in airing these “don’t pay for radio” ads. These guys are supposed to be masters of their medium – I mean when they started the whole national KissFM pre-packaged, branded stations thing I thought they were geniuses! It’s not my kind of music, but as a business plan, it was a great move.

So why do I think telling your own customers “not to pay for radio” is bad strategy?

Well, where do I start? First rule: NEVER talk about your competition to your target audience. This rule is only broken by the power-house brands that have such a stronghold on mindshare that they can toy with the rules.

Talking about your competition makes you look weak. In addition, any end-user that was not paying attention to your competitor will be after you tell them about the other guy.

Telling your customers they are making the wrong decision can create a great divide and even push people to your competition and make them very loyal to the very thing you wanted them to stay away from.

I see this strategy as a HUGE misuse of time and money. Instead of having their staff work on ads telling their customers about “not paying for radio,” they need to be making their product better! When has a consumer ever not used a product just because you told them they shouldn’t? -- NEVER. They want the best product and in the end the customers that were more concerned with pricing were not focused on product benefits and features to begin with. And now, more than ever, it’s about customized and personalized products. Radio should be leveraging their interaction with the consumer in ways that satellite can’t compete with. For example, local touch points, direct interaction, diverse talent, local information, relationship, interaction on the web sites, etc.

Satellite radio is not showing any signs of slowing down and they are working hard at beefing up their muscle to beat radio to a pulp. They focus on talent, music, no commercials, access, etc – making their points of product differentiation apparent in the minds of the consumers. You won’t hear them saying anything directly about radio or how you can get NPR, and local NPR, and not pay for it. They focus on how there are no commercials which highlights a weakness of their competition by showcasing their own features and benefits without referencing radio that requires no payment.

Another point is the people that pay for satellite are not the same audience that don’t or won’t pay. So radio is blindly throwing darts and missing the mark all together. Radio needs to stop and take a look at their demographics and make a marketing plan that hits the consumers that will be staying with them, not the ones that are going to be leaving anyway.

My message to radio is, “Stop telling your consumers your product is not worth paying for and doing it in commercials!” It all seems a bit ironic and moronic.