People are always looking for value in everything they consume and experience. When the word “value” is used, it can often have the connotation of a “discount” or “cheap”. In the media business, we often find ourselves always seeking value in financial terms. In many cases, it may mean doing more with less. Working with a cheaper vendor because of budget concerns. Just doing the bare minimum to get a product across and “feed the beast”.
Value
But money is the wrong currency when determining value.
Time is the most valuable currency.
There are so many things going on in the average person’s daily life. Work, school, commuting, eating, socializing, relaxing — it’s almost as if there is never enough time in a day to get everything done. Add in a near limitless pool of potential entertainment options — when do potential listeners have enough time to listen to you?
Create your value to the listener.
Why should someone listen to you and your station? Every business creates some form of value.
In a case like manufacturing, a manufacturer takes raw materials and creates value by producing a product for a consumer. A fast food restaurant creates value by convenience while a fine dining establishment creates through enhanced quality and expertise.
A radio station needs to create value for a listener to want to seek it out as an entertainment and information outlet — where they can spend their highly valued time and feel like it was time well spent.
That they got value from their time spent with you.
Negative value
When a listener does not feel like they got a great return on their time spent with you — that it was a “low value experience” — it can build a negative opinion of your brand where they may think twice in the future whether to spend their time with you. Or worse, that one experience, if bad enough, can become a complete turn off if that listener can find better value for their time in other places.
Positive value
When listeners enjoy their time spent with your station, they walk away with not only a sense of good value from the experience — they will be more likely to return more often with each successive positive experience. This positive value has ripple effects — as more people feel like spending time with you is worth it, it opens the door to more influential people and brands to seek to associate with you.
When people spend time with you, they spend money with you
People spend time with people they see value in
Friends. Family. Even your favorite store or cafe. You choose who you spend your time with because you see the value in spending your time with them.
From an economic perspective, you are likely to spend more money while socializing with the people you see a positive value spending time with.
It may be a dinner date with a dear beloved. Gifts — whether it be for a holiday or “just because”. Drinks at the bar with friends. A trip to the mall with friends or family. Could be a trip to the local mini golf course, actual golf course, or even a bowling alley. Or on an even bigger scale — a vacation with people you value and enjoy spending your time with.
People spend money on things and other people that they see value in associating with.
Influential people spend time with influential people
Popular people usually like associating with popular people. A radio station that creates great value will draw an audience that is emotionally invested in the content that is created.
“Popular people” — ranging from celebrities to athletes to politicians — are people, too. They will want to befriend radio talent and thus a radio station that they also see value in spending their time with.
This creates a content snowball where these “popular people” will want to come onto the show, creating a bigger draw of potential listeners who will tune in for this “popular person”. This is individual brand association that creates a super fuel of value for listeners to want to spend time listening and associate themselves with your brand.
Brands associate with brands people want to associate with
Companies are not robots — people work at companies. Companies are usually looking to both advertise with brands that are successful in creating value (usually quantified by ratings) and befriend them.
However, like in their own personal lives, the decision makers at these companies want to befriend those they see value in. By creating a radio product that a large number of people see a personal value in spending their time with, people who own or handle finances for businesses are bound to be among them.
They will be more prone to do two things:
One, they will want to spend money on something it values — its brand promoted on a popular media outlet.
Two, they will want to associate with what other people associate themselves with.