It’s time to repeat it. Air personalities are the future of radio. Many stations promote personalities with promos, but that’s just the start. Programmers should make their stars the face of your brand.

In the past, radio was able to compete for four main positions: Music, Information, Promotion, and Personality. That’s changed, and you know it, whether you want to admit it or not. Radio is no longer the “go-to” media for music. Information is transmitted in seconds via mobile devices. By the time it’s on the radio, phone alerts and notifications have popped up. Promotion is more challenging than ever in a world crowded with offers like $1 billion (and more) lottery prizes.

The Face Of Your Brand

Those elements still have a place on commercial radio, but they’re no longer enough to build a brand. The one advantage that remains is personality. Establishing personalities as the face of the brand scares some programmers. What if they leave at the end of their contract? What would happen if they took the audience across the street? And isn’t it a disadvantage when negotiating that next contract?

These are some reasons stations assign a generic name to morning shows (a bad idea, by the way). Of course, those are concerns. But that doesn’t stop marketers from promoting Shoehai Ohtani, Lebron James, and Messei. They’re stars that attract audiences. And they can be leveraged.

But not every air personality is qualified to be the face of the brand. They must be strong personalities. Promoting average talent or DJs that don’t move the needle won’t get you anywhere. By the way, if you don’t have high-profile talent, we should talk. You probably need a talent coach.

How To Leverage Them

Some personalities are strong enough to build the entire brand around them. Others are not, but here are some ways to build their popularity and make them the face of your brand:

Spokesperson: Position and promote programming features, music, and contests. Find ways to get them on the air, frequently talking about the station’s benefits. Endorsement is a powerful tool.

Positioning: Create imaging and promos around unique content and the stars that create it. Radio stations can’t win a position as the place for Taylor Swift, but they can be the place for the morning show. Connect the stars to the station brand.

Features: Develop high-profile features branded with the personality’s name. Make it Peppy & Zippy’s Thousand Dollar Minute.

Contests: Don’t just give away concert tickets. Give away (talent’s) tickets. It’s not the WXXX Concert with Justin Bieber. Make it a Peppy and Zippy event.

Marketing Opportunities

Website: It’s amazing how stations have more updates about Hollywood celebrities than their stars. Don’t let that happen to your brand! Build an online and social media presence around the talent, rather than forcing them to fit into the station’s social pages. Be sure to use lots of videos in high-profile spaces.

External Marketing: Why run a TV commercial with a generic spokesperson or model? Or a voiceover and no actual people? Use personalities to promote the station. Make them more famous and use their appeal to give your message more impact. The same applies to online videos and outdoor advertising (billboards, etc.).

Email Marketing: Wouldn’t that open rate be higher if it came from a person the audience likes rather than a station name? Of course, it would. Here’s why.

Conclusion

Radio needs stars. Broadcasters should not be afraid of them. Find them, nurture them, embrace them, and promote them. They’re the one resource that can drive our future. Would you like a personality-based show worth promoting this way? Let us help. We specialize in developing and inspiring on-air superstars. For more information contact us.

Pic generated by AI for Freepik.com.

Tracy Johnson is a talent coach and programming consultant. He’s the President/CEO of Tracy Johnson Media Group. His book Morning Radio has been described as The Bible of Personality Radio and has been used by personalities worldwide.