At McQ Media, we work with financial and retirement planners and advisers to design and implement talk radio programs that get results. We believe that weekend paid programming, often branded as the worst content on radio, can sound good, be compelling and get results. As I listen financial planners on radio today, I hear several aspects of programs that I believe are limiting the program’s quality and ultimately response.
Using Syndicated “Out of Town” Hosts: There are several radio production companies that market a ‘one size fits all’ approach to financial planners. Each week, the planner becomes a featured guest on a nationally produced program that buys time on a local station. Put another way, the planner is a secondary focus of a program that the planner is paying for. The programs sound great on the air, often featuring professional air talent. Only one problem…and it’s a big one: The program is not about the local planner. In a 48 minute hourly program, the listener might hear the planner (and the person paying for the program) for 18 minutes. Because there’s so little focus on the planner, this type of program is not a good investment of marketing resources. I’m sure the producers of these national programs argue that they’re creating content at a quality level that the local planner is not capable of. I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree with this position. We believe the planner should and can be the ‘star’ and the focal point of the program that they are paying for.
Badly Designed Program Clock: The program clock is the design of the segments of your program. And, it doesn’t necessarily have to follow the guidance of the radio station. In fact, many financial programs I hear are missing opportunities because of bad clock management. With the right clock design, you can take your program to a new level of effectiveness and avoid sounding like an infomercial.
Overselling: Too often, planners on radio make the mistake of pitching way too aggressively. We encourage our clients to think about engaging the listener first and selling second. Give the listeners compelling and interesting content and you’ll ‘earn the right’ to sell what you do. Beyond that, placing your call to action and selling messages strategically within your broadcast (at best times in program clock) is critical to maximizing your listening levels and response
Trying to Do a “Live” Program: Some financial planners try to do their programs live each week. We don’t recommend this route. In addition to the potential compliance issues that can result from saying the wrong thing or worse, having a live phone call go badly, it’s just not that much of an enhancement to be live. You can sound ‘live’ but still be prerecorded with properly program design. I regularly hear from listeners to our programs that believe we are live in studio.
Lack of Preparation: I generally hear two extremes with regard to preparation; either no prep that results in a host going ‘off in the weeds’, or the opposite, which is a total scripting of a program. In reality, somewhere in the middle of this spectrum works best. We show our clients how to achieve a sweet spot of planning a program (and even scripting some of the content) balanced with strategic ad lib time. Weekly prep for a financial talk program doesn’t have to distract you from your primary business focus, but it does need to be considered.
Lack of Systems: We teach our clients to create systems that result in maximizing their time invested into the program. As a client builds content and program history, our systems make it possible to reuse content without creating a rerun sound.
Lack of Training: On air skills can be learned. And while it’s true that people’s natural skills are a factor, I’ve never met a motivated person who couldn’t be coached into competence as an on-air host. But, like many specific skill sets, coaching is critical.
If you want to take your radio program to the next level, contact us and let’s talk about your specific situation. With proper planning and execution, your weekend program can be compelling and a highly profitable resource for building new business.
CEO
McQ Media Inc.
