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.