Yes, the nation’s retailers are once again hoping and praying for a strong end-of-year shopping season. And in anticipation, a new study from Motista is urging holiday-dependent businesses to not just push the emotional button (friends, family, giving, etc.) but connect with customers in a meaningful way.
Thus, there is more value in the emotionally connected customer than the satisfied consumer. Motista points out that creating connections is an activity that requires considerable work and effort. But the payoffs can be great.
As I read down Motista’s list of key findings, I started subbing out the words “retail customers” and inserting “listeners.” Here is the result in the key findings below:
- Connected listeners are better listeners. Motista makes the point that when your audience feels an emotional connection to your station, they are more likely to “shop” there. They also note that connected listeners are twice as apt to respond to direct mail offers.
- Connected listeners are more engaged through social and mobile channels. OK, Motista is talking shoppers, but the point is that this audience is ten times more likely to visit our website and/or mobile content. And they are four times more apt to “follow” on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
- Stations build connections by fitting into the real lives of listeners. Maybe this one is a tougher putt, but the key finding here is that a brand that simplifies your life (connects you to the music you love, the concerts you’re interested in, the content that you value) can benefit you in many ways.
- Connected listeners will recommend stations to friends and family. Jacobs Media clients know how we value the Net Promoter metric for evaluating the audience’s propensity to recommend. We track this all-important metric every year in Techsurveys for stations, formats, and other demographic data. To understand the power of recommendation is to understand true connections. As Motista concurs, when listeners feel a connection with a brand, they are 50% more likely to recommend it to others. This is the Holy Grail of the consumer relationship.
So as we head into the holidays, watch and listen for the retailers who are applying these principles to the relationships they are trying to foster with you and your family.
And then consider how you can use some of these same principles to strengthen the bonds that you have with your audience.
It could be a great holiday season.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Fred – Thanks for leading an important discussion.
For 25 years I have stressed that if you can’t answer the question “what’s in it for me…why should I care” on behalf of the listener then the content you are sharing will not be relevant or will personally connect on an emotional level.
Again it seems the Internet guys are doing yo-mans work in this area. They know that “content is king” but “context” is what connects. Internet start-ups are identifying problems and sharing the solutions for the user (listener) in a context that is personally relevant and timely so it really matters.
The Clue-Train Manifesto says – “there is no market for pitches”. Yet in radio we continue to pitch (5 and 6 spots at a time) what in the end is in our own self interest and not the customers (listener).
The reason is the business model is quickly becoming irrelevant. The focus is on the wrong target. It’s time to stop selling the audience (Arbitron numbers) to business. The solution is to partner with business and solve real problems that real people have. Obsess over the wants, needs and dreams of the listener.
And when it starts happening in the retail world, you know there’s something going on here. Thanks, Mike, for the observations and for participating. Good to see you in Chicago.