RANDOM THOUGHTS ON BRANDING YOUR SHOW ONLINE

I'm on the road traveling this week for work, so I asked "Marconi, The Night Ninja" to write me a BLOG. 

You can hear Marconi all over the country live at night on "Rock 2.0", a Dial Global Radio Network 24/7 format.

Find our more on Marconi here

http://marconibologna.com/
http://spreaker.com/user/marconibologna 




Today when it comes to marketing and branding in broadcasting, it is smart when naming anything to check to see if the URL, Twitter and Facebook names are available first. 

I have seen so many radio stations name something and have to have some long URL or weird hard to remember twitter name.  It seems silly when you can give your product or station a name that's easy to remember without having an underscore or add a frequency or a dot FM/US, or worse DOT NET!!

I have several URLS that I use for branding. My main sites are http://MarconiBologna.com, http://MFPod.com, http://altraindie.com/.  All of them have matching twitter and Facebook accounts. I also own http://RockRadio101.com.

Even when I am just playing around with an idea for naming something, I check for availability of ALL social media names.

Having a last name like mine isn't easy and for spelling most people butcher it.  Most people I know aren't even sure how to spell Bologna either.  Since I use my real last name and most things Marconi are already taken, I have done my best to adapt at least with a online brand name that is catchy and "clever" enough to be remembered.

I also find that companies always want to create apps that will cost them tons of money when almost everything they are paying for can be found for free online. 

I use all things FREE!  My tumblr page looks better and functions easier than most radio station websites. Best of all I can post to it from my phone and connect it to many social networking sites.

For my streaming I use Mixlr.com and a laptop I bought at a pawn store. My music playlists are made on Spotify which with my premium account covers RIAA and other royalty fees. Plus I spend no time uploading music into an automation system and can update my playlists on my phone.

For my podcast I use Spreaker.com. It was created by an Italian inventor (not related to this one). It includes a DJ console where I can upload imaging, news clips, songs or anything else I might need for my podcast. I can login from any computer with a microphone and do my podcast LIVE. When I'm done it automatically uploads to SoundCloud.com which posts to my twitter, facebook and itunes feeds. Best part, wait for it...I can broadcast LIVE from my phone! The audio quality sounds like a marti unit.

For free I can go for 30 minutes or for $20 I can go up to three hours live.  I also use Mixlcloud.com to post podcasts with bigger guests because the embed display looks really cool on my blog.

Finally, STOP using YOUR OWN VIDEO PLAYERS! YouTube is the best and yours is NOT better.
So unless you can make things that look and function better than these free apps, you really have no reason to spend $$ on expensive apps that function like a product from the 80's.

-Marconi

DON'T REMIND ME ABOUT MONDAY

Picture this.  It's Friday afternoon.  You're on your way home for a long awaited weekend after a really tough day at work.  You probably hate your job and don't want to think about it until Monday.  While you're stuck in traffic, thinking about firing up the grill, having a few beers and being able to sleep in tomorrow, the jock comes on the radio and starts talking about the weather.  He adds "and for your back to work Monday forecast...."  (I actually heard this last week on the radio). 

WHAT!  It's Friday afternoon.  I don't want to think about Monday going into my weekend.

BTW, on a semi-related note, no weather forecast on the radio should be more than 36 hours out. 

While I'm on the topic of Friday programming.  Don't run a morning show promo on Friday afternoon.  For the same reasons as stated above.  It's Friday.  My weekend.  I don't want to think about Monday before my weekend has even started.  Start your weekend morning show promo on Saturday. 

Think about your listener.  What are they doing?  What are they thinking? 

Put yourself in the mind and place of the listener...in everything you do on the air.

BENCHMARKS...REALLY?

I recently got a call from a major market personality who was moving to a new daypart.  The PD told him that he wanted the jock to "put your own stamp on the show."  So the jock called me and wanted to know what kind of benchmarks he should do.

Without hesitation, I told him to never do benchmarks or features just to do them. 

In the last few years I've totally changed my tune on benchmarks.  In the past, I would have come up with a list of things for this jock to do. 

But today, I think most benchmarks are played out with no real thought or strategy behind them.  A lot of jocks like to have something "to hang their hat on" and they mistakenly do that with pretty weak and ineffective benchmarks that do nothing to move the ratings needle.

Instead, I told this personality, "I'd rather hear you talk about something topical, that your audience is talking about, then a weak benchmark.  Make the show your own by being you and doing things ONLY YOU can do.  Talk about your kids and your life experiences.  Be relatable and real.  Be a storyteller.  Do something that can only come from you."  These are all more important than a benchmark. 

Rethink any benchmarks you are doing.  Ask yourself "why" and "what's the benefit for the listener?"