Thursday night, for example, about 11pm Eastern as the late news began, you would have found a small group of us firing thoughts back and forth from the home base in Iowa to Florida to New England as we brainstormed ideas about helping our client stations cover big breaking news. Earlier in the week, we had a similar session regarding an issue that many stations simply have to deal with: growing news ratings and digital traffic against well-established competitors.
The reality is it is very, very difficult. Despite their best efforts, or in some cases, because of them, lower-rated stations often just… sit still. In many markets, these stations were late to the news party, getting their news operations going years after the dominant stations were in the game. They’ve undergone countless brand and staff changes, network affiliation switches and a stream of owners. The deck is stacked against them. Can they dig out of the hole? Yes. But it takes a tremendous commitment from the top down – ownership, senior management, and the entire staff – which simply doesn’t happen often.
There is a recipe, and it’s a simple one in theory, but execution is another story. Fundamentally, you have to be very, very different. You need to craft a completely alternative format and brand, execute it relentlessly and then promote it extensively via your own on-air and outside media. You have to cook up a genuine alternative brand that is clearly and obviously different than anything the market has ever seen. You have to invest in your product, your people and your marketing and commit to the time it takes for the tide to turn. It’s a huge undertaking and the entire organization from corporate leadership to senior station management to everyone on staff must recognize that.
In many of these markets, the news audience is shrinking, not growing, so what’s the source of the ratings lift? The competition. It becomes a game of takeaway. Why would another station’s loyalists switch to a station trying to grow? Because the product and brand is vastly different.
The dilemma is many managers simply don’t want to make that kind of commitment. They try to improve the lower-rated product, make it better, rather than making it vastly different. But there is no “better.” There’s only different.
The bottom line is successful media managers are risk takers, visionaries and non-conformists. They engage the team creatively, have confidence in their ideas and skillfully communicate those ideas up and down the line.
Put another way, it’s like the restaurant business. If there are three established Italian spots in your neighborhood, would you open another one, hoping that your gravy recipe (where I live it’s “gravy” not “sauce,” BTW) will be enough to bring in a crowd on Friday night? Of course not. You’d open a steakhouse, or Thai, or anything BUT Italian. You’d zig when they zag. You’d try something different and may very well find a market for it, but trying to do what the other guys are doing – and trying to make it a little “better,” simply does not work. On the other hand, a menu of quality, compelling and completely different content, cooked up with just the right amount of spice, may well be a recipe for success.
Helping stations come up with the winning combination of ingredients – it’s just one of the issues I look forward to collaborating on in my second week at CJ&N.
Bon appetit.
