by Terry Segal on August 11, 2009
in Marketing
It seems like a good idea – make the day’s top story the lead in your news topical.
Think again.
Every other station is doing the same thing. Your topical gets lost in a sea of sameness. That’s okay if you’re the news leader. Viewers expect that station to run with this story. It has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Not the leader? All you’ve done is feed that monster with little to show in return.
Why not lead with a story that’s unique to your station? Stand apart from the others. Give viewers a distinct reason for watching your station.
You can always promote the day’s top story later in the topical. Give it a mention and let viewers know that your station is on top of things.
Give it exposure, but not prominence.
The importance of differentiating your product holds true in promotion as well as in the actual newscast itself. This effort never ends.
Successful stations work at creating an identity all their own. News and promotion are partners in making it happen.
The three most overused – and least effective- words in news promotion are
accurate, complete, and dependable. They sound good and highlight attributes every station desires. Attributes that every viewer expects.
Therein lies the problem.
Using accurate, complete, and/or dependable in describing your news and
weather efforts does little to differentiate your product. You end up making
the same claim that competitors do. Why then, should viewers watch you as
opposed to the other guys?
Your promotion (and its news product) needs to make your station stand
apart from others. It should showcase strengths and capabilities unique to
your station. That’s why viewers watch you. They lose out if they don’t.
Here’s another reason using claims such as accurate, complete, and dependable fall short. People need a reference point against which to evaluate the claim. Thinking about the opposite is the easiest one people can use.
Broadband suppliers compared their speed against slower dialup. Just saying broadband was fast would give people little, if any, reference point to judge the claim.
Go back further in time. The car was introduced as a horseless carriage. The comparison gave people a reference point to judge the value of this new invention.
What’s the counterpoint to accurate in terms of news and/or weather coverage? None of your competitors is billing itself as the “inaccurate” station. Same with the complete claim. No station is boasting about incomplete coverage. Dependable? It’s unlikely your competitors suffer from an image of not being dependable.
Your claims lack a reference point that allow viewers to see their value. They become empty rather than powerful attributes.
Let’s hope that your news provides differentiating factors for you to promote. Otherwise, your promotion will resort to using concepts such as accurate, complete, and dependable. They’re coverups for a news effort that fails to set itself apart from others.
by Terry Segal on June 15, 2009
in Insight
Positioning is both one of the most discussed and poorly executed concepts in news marketing. Ever since Jack Trout and Al Ries introduced the concept, nearly every major news strategy meeting includes a discussion about positioning.
It makes for good conversation, but things go haywire in the execution stage.
That’s because stations misunderstand some key aspects of positioning:
1) Recognize that the word “position” is a verb not a noun. A station gets positioned – a station doesn’t assume a position. Consider the act of positioning as a “journey”; it’s not the final destination. That difference is critical because it underscores positioning as an ongoing act(s) of creation. Every decision and action that you take either builds upon or helps destroy your position.
2) You don’t create your position, the viewer creates it for you. Your position is formed in your viewer’s mind. Any changes, whether you view them as positive or negative, take place there. Ignore that fact and you’ll spend fruitless time and money getting nowhere. Many stations fall victim to the disparity between what they and what their audience think their position is.
3) Consistency is a key in establishing a position. Your efforts need a sharp focus and laser type execution in order to burn a position in the audience’s mind. That only happens when a station has focus.
Let’s talk about the last issue – consistency and the importance of focus.
How Stations Undermine Their Position
Viewers position a station based on the marriage of the station’s personality, coverage, and presentation dynamics. The merits of a station’s on-air execution, coupled with the clarity and impact of its marketing effort, create the position (sometimes it’s what the station wants; other times it’s not). The more disjointed and chaotic these efforts, the more ill-defined the position becomes.
Stations often hurt themselves by frequently changing their marketing messages and / or newscast approaches. Marketing messages are especially prone to this behavior because station personnel mistakenly believe that what seems dated to them is also dated to viewers. They forget that the audience’s exposure and recognition to any station effort lags considerably behind that of station personnel.
This constant change and tinkering is best described as a lock of focus. Viewers can only effectively position a station after consistent exposure to strategies and tactics that lock in an impression. Focus. Focus. Focus.
A Baseball Analogy Illustrates The Power of Focus
It’s June. The baseball season is in full bloom. Let’s use a baseball analogy to highlight the importance of focus as it relates to positioning.
Contrast the life of a utility player with a regular everyday position player. The utility player can play many positions, but he’s usually called upon to fill in when somebody is injured or in a slump. He has no regular place to play.
The everyday player has a defined position. The team has entrusted their success to this player at a specific position. He represents the team and helps build its identity. This role is further magnified when the player is considered a star, even more so with a superstar.
The utility player is versatile, but not valuable enough to be rewarded with an everyday position. The position player is FOCUSED on one position and the team needs his expertise daily. People come to the ballpark to see position players – the stars – not utility players.
Which team would win more games? A team comprised of utility players or a team comprised of every day skilled position players? Which team would have a stronger identity?
What holds true in baseball also holds true for your station. In business, building your identity and reputation around a ever changing collection of services and / or products is like fielding a team of utility players. Little identity – no star power. No audience draw.
You want to build your business – your news identity - around a star, hopefully a superstar.
FIND YOUR STAR. FIND YOUR FOCUS.
STAY WITH IT.
by Terry Segal on June 15, 2009
in Insight
Shift your thinking on how to beat the competition. It’s not about being better than the other guys. It’s about being different.
News people are a competitive bunch. Ask anyone in a newsroom to compare their efforts to the competition and you inevitably get comments about being better than the other guys or claims about being the best in a specific news category.
Big problem. You’re banking “fool’s gold.”
Framing your success in terms of being the best or better than your competition is an illusion. It rarely translates into how viewers perceive your efforts versus the competition.
Such judgments are purely SUBJECTIVE. They reflect your view of reality and nothing more. Are you certain that your view of of the world is the same as others?
Just talk to any group of viewers regarding your station. You’re apt to get a variety of different perspectives. What does that tell you about your claim of superiority? Your view of the world?
Want proof?
Coke or Diet Coke?
Pretend that you’re standing in front of a group of people holding a can of Coke in one hand and a can of Diet Coke in the other. Ask them, “Which is better?”
Different types of groups are sure to give you different answers. A group of teenagers will likely say Coke is better because they’re after the sugar rush. A group of diet conscious people will likely choose Diet Coke for obvious reasons.
So, which is better? Coke or Diet Coke?
Now, let’s ask another question, “Are they DIFFERENT?
Yes, they are different. One’s a red can, the other one is silver. One’s 140 calories, the other one calorie. One’s got a sugary taste, the other a slight after taste.
These differences drive people to select one product over another. There’s more clarity regarding each and a more OBJECTIVE basis for defining each product’s identity. The appeal of each product is magnified by these differences.
So, people choose either Coke or Diet Coke because it satisfies their specific needs – not because one is better than the other.
The same holds true in news. Being different spurs you to satisfy specific needs of viewers. It allows you to capture an audience.
The Folly of Being Better
Your news success depends upon giving viewers clear and compelling reasons to watch you rather than your competitors. Focusing on being different drives you in that direction. Trying to be better simply encourages mimicry and sameness. You develop a belief that you’re actually doing it better (you’re really not) because you lack the objectivity to see otherwise.
And sadly, your viewers are not that focused on which station is doing it better. They’re motivated more by which station is fulfilling their needs. How else do you explain why the other guys are winning despite your insistence that you’re doing it better?
Stations chasing the market leader really get punished by this focus on doing it better. They spend valuable promotion and marketing dollars trying to convince viewers that they’re outperforming the big guy. Sadly, viewers are likely to give market leaders even more credit because of the pronounced attention.
Unless you’re promoting meaningful differences, you’re actually helping reinforce the market leader’s dominance. Ouch.
How to Make Your Newscast Different
Where can you establish a difference? Lots of places:
1. Better integration of the web and other off channel outlets in your news efforts
2. Consistent feature segments on topics that matter to viewers
3. Emphasis on storytelling rather than canned meeting footage
4. Cultivating a stable of experts to explain issues and augment reporter efforts
5. Developing a unique visual presentation
6. Effective community outreach and visibility
7. Well crafted and executed marketing campaigns that marry consumer and advertiser goals
8. Producing newscasts that emphasize what’s relevant to viewers rather than what’s easiest to cover
Offer viewers a clear choice. Create a viable alternative.
Focus on being different, not better.
