Branding Does Matter

Marketing Warfare by Reis and Trout was my introduction to what the real meaning of branding meant. As time has passed, the book's basic elements hold true and they apply to all types of products including radio to this day. This is true today, especially in a time when fewer people have a radios in their homes. I know people in radio who don't have a radio in their home, which is a great indicator of how times have changed.

I have been reading articles and research and listening to podcasts out there from Fred Jacobs,Mark Ramsey et al in regards to the rise of Smart Speakers. After talking to a friend of mine, Cory Daniels, about how I like my Alexa, I asked him if his station was on the Smart Speaker platforms, which he confirmed. So, while he was on the phone, I told Alexa to play his station. Unfortunately, she was not able to find it and played another similarly named station. But when I asked Cory for his station's call letters, she found it immediately. She then said the station name, but when I asked her to find it via the name she used, she could not.

This brought up a conversation about how to use these Smart Speakers and if they are the "new radio". I am a big believer (especially after seeing a lot of the research and watching the sales numbers on these things) that radio is back in the home with the Smart Speaker. I believe that now, more than ever, the basic principles of branding are more important than ever. (as is making sure the Smart Speaker keywords are how listeners will find you...like the old SIP) But the key is have your local audience find your local radio station on the Smart Speaker.

My thought process is this, based on my Echo, if I want to find your radio station, I merely ask Alexa to "play (insert station here)". Sure, it is pretty easy to find WMMS, Z100, Groove 99.3, etc. They have bought in to be part of the Smart Speaker platforms and all have a strong brand in their respective market place (some nationally) which has made them pretty easy to find via Alexa. They are also using the right keywords for her to find them. Most of these stations stations use their brand names and call letters as the way to find them. Some station have their own skills. Cox, Cumulus and EMF have specific skills for many of their stations, which makes finding and playing their station's streams even easier.

But what if you are known only by your dial position or list your station by call letters that are not said more than once an hour? What if you are a Kiss FM that has many incarnations in many markets? What if you don't have a distinctive name or brand. If I ask Alexa for Kiss FM, what will she play? KIIS in LA or Kiss FM in Peoria or Kiss FM Dallas? If you don't brand yourself well enough and push that message out the the listeners, Alexa will give you the best guess or the most popular choice that is closest to your brand name, as requested by the listener.

The conversation I had with Cory was really interesting, he, as do I, believes that Smart Speakers are the new radio. TechCrunch research has shown that 39 million people have Smart Speakers and the early adopters of the technology will be the winners. The rule "first one in, wins" holds a lot of weight, as those are the same stations which have the chance to make mistakes and experiment with the platform.

The day of the clock radio is pretty much over, sorry to say. (I think my 5-year old daughter may be one of the last to have one, but she definitely knows how to use Alexa...and will probably commandeer it soon) Many homes use their Smart Speaker for music, as mine does. We also use her for Sleep Sounds, the alarm clock and when the alarm goes off, she will turn on the radio station we request at the time we requested.

This is the new reality.

A lot of radio stations are on board, but a lot of great stations are not. It is only a matter of time until they are, but the question will be "is your branding strong enough to stand out?" Is your version of Kiss FM strong enough,? Is Rock (frequency) strong enough? Is Hot (insert frequency)? Time will tell, but as long as the brand is strong, it will cut through and survive.

Strong Branding for Coke has worked for 130+ years, including their New Coke debacle. I hope strong stations don't make those missteps. When New Coke didn't work, the Coca-Cola company had a plan to save the brand over a short period of time. Back then we didn't have the ability to get the message out as quickly as we do today, via Social Media, et al. This makes it incumbent that the brand is strong and the message is on-point from the beginning. Missteps are not as easily forgiven as they were when Coke missed the mark.