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“Most ads focus on ‘features and benefits’ because most marketing is created by morons.”
Wish I had said that, but it’s a quote from Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads.
Features and benefits are designed to sell you something we think you need right now. They don’t get anywhere close to feelings.
They are not intended to create a lasting relationship.
“More music and less talk” has nothing to do with the ache in your heart when you’re grieving.
It offers no help when your heart is pounding with so much anxiety that you can’t breathe.
It’s not interested in anything about you as an individual.
It’s not trying to ask questions about how you see yourself and your life.
It doesn’t care about your needs, much less filling them.
‘Features and benefits’ are not intended to be the foundation of a lifelong relationship.
Why do you insist on selling the superficial when you have a wide open road straight into a listener’s heart?
How does it feel to listen to your station?
No, please don’t just blithely skip to the next line.
How does it FEEL?
Until you can answer that, until you understand that every liner, every promo, every word spoken by any voice on your station has the potential to forge a deeper relationship with each individual listener, or – alternatively – be part of the mindless blather all listeners barely notice, you’ll never be essential.
How does that feel?