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July 30, 2007

Knowing What Works in Radio Advertising: The Paradox

We know what works in radio advertising. It comes from the thousands of tests we've conducted over many years that have filled in the vast universe of possible actions one can take in building a radio advertising campaign with reliable guideposts pointing toward success and away from failure.

But there's a subtle paradox involved in that 'knowing' of what works - a paradox that we're required to understand fully before we can actually provide people with the benefit of our knowing.

The moment you believe you fully know everything, you essentially know nothing.

Think about it this way. If you know everything, you stop questioning. You stop looking, asking questions, seeking answers. And when you stop looking you stop growing and learning - you stop getting better. Worse, though, you become rote, acting out of habitual patters and approaches. You get mindlessly repetitive. You get boring - and if you've been exposed to advertisements lately you'll see how common this is. How all ads start sounding the same and they all air in the same places.

So 'knowing' successfully requires the combination of two mindsets.

One mindset is that of the wise old Sage. It a mindset that acts with a confidence that comes from the combination of deep experience and lots of hard data about what works and what doesn't.

The other mindset is the 'child's mind' approach. The approach that encourages us to look at a situation, a campaign, with fresh eyes as though we're seeing this campaign and radio advertising for the very first time. Think of the way children are curious, uninhibited, not afraid to fail or ask a direct question, unencumbered by knowledge and unconditioned by experience.

Posted by Jeff Small & Brett Astor at 10:01 AM | Permalink