NAVIGATING THE DIGITAL RAPIDS

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2013 All Rights Reserved

In a river, too much water flowing through too little space creates rapids. The same thing applies to the digital river. Too much information flowing through too little time creates mental rapids. As long as you are able to control the boat, a ride through the rapids can be exhilarating and fun. When the speed of the rapids causes you to lose control, that fun ride becomes uncomfortable and you want to get out of the boat.

We are about the leave the over communicated world and enter the hyper communicated world. A place with rapids so intense the ride is terrifying. The audience /consumer will be drawn to messages which allow them to slow down and temporarily lose the out of control feeling.

The messages that stand out and attract will be longer and slower, not shorter and faster. They will be easy to digest because they will have more emotion than facts as their content. Tell a story, in a low key human voice using less flash and more depth of  feeling.

THEY COME FOR A FEELING

Nick Michaels

Copyright American Voice Corp. 2013 All Rights Reserved

Why does the audience listen? Is it the content? Or is it something deeper? The content is a means to an end. That end is a feeling.

They come for the feeling. 

When you make your messages about that feeling, you are connecting at their deepest and most personal level. You are connecting with them about the reason why they came.  If you want to reach the audience and connect with them, do it via the thing they care about most, and the reason they came. The Feeling.
The link below is a perfect example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjOleyFMMgw

ENGAGING THE NEW AUDIENCE

Audience Engagement Begins With Discovery And Participation
Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp.2013 All Rights Reserved.

The over communicated world has created a unique and very hostile environment for our messages. The audience is now our newest and biggest competitor.  Does your message allow the audience to discover and participate. Are you revealing yourself too early? The way to engage the audience is to make sure your message causes the them to ask this question: "What is this and who is bringing me this message?" Then make sure that the message is about their deepest needs, wants or fears. Do not make it about your product or service, make it about something that matters to them. Then somehow attach yourself to that feeling. That is how you make the connection.

Click for video:   A new audience and a new relationship

IT MAY BE YOUR MONEY BUT IT IS THEIR TIME.

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2013 All Rights Reserved

In The Over Communicated World, Time Becomes More Valuable Than Money.

There are two sides to every message, the sending and receiving side. In the over communicated world the only side that matters is the receiving side. I know it is your money that is spent to create and deliver the message, however, because of the new environment, created by the over communicated world,.the audience pays for it with something far more valuable to them.They pay for your message with their time.

Is your message worth it to them? Was it a good deal for them? How did they feel when the deal was over? These are the questions, that when answered correctly ensure that the audience/consumer feels the the trade was a good one.

DELIVERED OR RECEIVED?

Nick Michaels

Copyright American Voice Corp. 2013 All Rights reserved

Your message may have been delivered but was it received?

There is a big difference between a message being delivered and it being received. Junk mail and spam emails are delivered every day but not received. 

We live in an over communicated world. The amount of information is overwhelming and that creates an extremely hostile environment for all messages. In this environment we retreat into a defensive position and unless the message is vital and personal and emotionally engaging or extremely entertaining, it will not be received.

All messages come with a price. The currency with which we pay for all this information is time. As more and more information is tugging at our sleeve, time becomes more valuable. Where it is spent is based on a compelling reason for the spender. If your message is not about that compelling reason, it will probably be delivered but not received.

MOVING FASTER WHILE SITTING STILL

Nick Michaels

Copyright American Voice Corp. 2013 All Rights Reserved

The over communicated world We are now living in it, and are quickly moving beyond that, to the hyper communicated world.

 It can be a very uncomfortable place.

The downside of too many messages is the inability to focus on any one thing long enough to enjoy it.  One of the effects of the over communicated world is the feeling that life is moving faster, even though we are sitting still.  An occasional ride on a roller coaster is fun, but living on one is a nightmare.

Media, and especially advertising and promotion, can take advantage of this by making their messages slower and lower.  In audio messages, speak softly and use the power of the pause. In the over communicated world, messages that subliminally make you feel more comfortable have an advantage over those that do not. That advantage can be the difference between your message being received or rejected.

HOW MUCH TALK SHOULD THERE BE ON A MUSIC STATION IN THE PPM WORLD?

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2013 All Rights Reserved

There has been much concern about how much talk should be allowed on a music station in the PPM world.
I have seen numbers that range from 4 seconds to 12 seconds, all designed to minimize the perceived damage that talk causes. After much thought, I think I have come up with the real number.
The real number, however, is not a fixed point.
The real number is: never more than a half second past interesting.

DO PEOPLE REALLY DISLIKE TALK ON MUSIC RADIO

By Nick Michaels
Copyright 2013 American Voice Corp.

People don't dislike talk. They dislike silly talk that wastes their time. They dislike condescending talk spoken in an insincere manner about things in which they have no interest. They dislike boring slogans that waste their time. On the other hand, if you give them useful, interesting, engaging information, that makes their relationship with the music deeper and more meaningful, they not only like it, they love it. By creating a richer environment for the music, you make their listening experience a richer one. The stories behind the songs, about the songs, underneath the songs, and the voices of the artists explaining their music, cement the relationship between the listener and the content for which they came and that cements the relationship between the listener and the radio station/program.

USING SOUND TO OVERCOME AUDIENCE DISBELIEF

By Nick Michaels
Copyright 2013 American Voice Corp.

I have always believed that one of the main purposes of sound in an audio message is to help the audience suspend their disbelief. They have so many messages coming at them today; it is getting harder and harder to get through to them.  My producer, Terry Gangstad, is a genius at creating what I like to call audio cinema. The best way to describe it is to say “it’s like going to the movies with a blindfold on.” The sound is very authentic. The kind of sound you hear in films. The other thing we try to do is to use character voices to augment the announcer. If the audience believes the sound, they tend to believe the words more. I love the way he used sound in this promo to make it feel like it was recorded it in a real Diner. Click here to listen to it.

MANIFESTO FOR THE OVER COMMUNICATED WORLD

  By Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2015 All Rights Reserved

In the over communicated world:

• A whisper is louder than a scream.

• What the audience discovers is more important than what they are told.

• For advertising to be accepted, it must detach from overt selling and become about emotional engagement.

 . Engagement begins with discovery and participation.

• Write powerfully, read humbly.

• Speak in a human voice.

• Make them feel, not think.

• Time is more valuable than money

• There are two sides to every message, sending and receiving, only the receiving side matters

• Every message is a meeting.

• All messages swim in the same ocean.

• Filtering comes before acceptance because information is just more water, filtering is a life preserver.

• The best way to attract an audience is to back away from them.

• Trying to make your audience understand your product is a waste of time; instead, be the product that understands your audience.

• The audience is us not them.

• The best messages empower the audience.

•  The negative space matters.

ALL ABOUT THE FEELING

by Nick Michaels

Copyright 2013 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved.

Why does the audience listen to your station or program?

In this over communicated world all “time spent” decisions are made based on a compelling reason. Focusing on this reason is the best way to make your station or program connect with your audience so that they want to listen longer and tune in more often.

Is your imaging based on explaining your playlist or content?

Why?  Unlike TV commercials or outdoor or direct mail, which are designed to attract new listeners, your on-air image advertising is only being heard by people who are already listening to your station.  Stating the obvious several times an hour, telling them what they already know, is a waste of the audience’s precious time.

Being station-centric  leaves the audience out of the process.

Instead of speaking from the station’s perspective, speak from the audience’s perspective. Take the focus off the radio station and put it on the audience. Specifically, on why they listen.

Why they listen has more to do with how the content makes them feel, than the content itself.  

For the audience the content is a means to an end. That end is a feeling. When you trigger that feeling, you are connecting with the audience.

To figure out why they listen, define that feeling as precisely and concisely as possible. Try to reduce the definition to three words.

All News                                                                     Now I Know

Talk Radio                                                                  Wasn’t I Right

Classic Rock / Classic Hits                                       Take Me There

Country                                                                       Share The Feeling 

AC                                                                              Time For Me

For the audience it’s all about the feeling.

When you look at it from the audience’s point of view, the radio experience is all about the feeling. The feeling is why they listen.  Are you helping them connect to that feeling?  We can help you do that. For some examples please click on the three-word definitions above.

Contact: NickMichaelsRadio@gmail.com    

WHOSE NEED IS YOUR MESSAGE SERVING?

By Nick Michaels
Copyright 2013 American Voice Corp.

Whose need is your message serving? The station's or the audience's?

In the over communicated world, unless you make your message about the audience's need it will most likely be rejected.

Why will it be rejected? Quite simply, they don't have time for your need.

Trying to make the consumer understand your product, requires a time commitment on their part. Whether it is a :30 second commercial or a 5 second promo it starts with you tapping them on the shoulder and asking "excuse me, may I have :30 seconds to tell you about the new Chevrolet?" Increasingly, today, the answer to that is no! The reason for that answer is the over communicated world. A place where too much information is being processed through too little time.

So how do you overcome this obstacle? Make the message about the consumer's need. While they may not have time for your need, they almost always have time for their own needs.

Let's say that one of their deepest needs is spending more time with their family. Make your message about that and then figure out how to attach that message to your product. Instead of trying to make the consumer understand your product, be the product that understands your consumer and make the message about their needs. If you do that, it has a much better chance of being accepted.