'Read This NOW' !!

What do you think of the title of this week’s Ezine?
“Read This Now”.
Do you think it’s maybe a little bit pushy?
Possibly a wee bit rude?
Can’t say I blame you.
Who do I think I am anyway, telling you what to do??

Funny how, on the radio, we can sometimes come across as pushy and rude with our listeners though, isn’t it?
‘How so’, you ask?
Well, let’s take a look at some of the words and phrases we use and how they can be interpreted by our audience.

Phrases like:
“Stay right there” and
“Don’t move” and
“Make sure to be here”.

Let us for a moment take an example from your life.
Imagine you have arranged with your friend to meet up for a coffee and a chat. You haven’t seen each other in a while and the arrangement was made three weeks ago.
You are excited to meet up again and the morning of your meeting you decide to send your friend a text message.
Your text reads :
“Coffee. Today. 4pm.U better show up”.
I bet when your friend receives that text he/she won’t be too impressed.
Comes across slightly arrogant, don’t you think?
We know that what you were trying to do was show your friend that you are excited about the meeting and that you want to show this, but the wording you chose conveys a different message.
If you wrote:
“Looking forward to coffee 2day”, it would be seen in a completely different light.

Now, walk into the on air studio with me again, where we see the presenter in the middle of a gig. Coming up in fifteen minutes is the ‘Top5at5’.
Naturally, the presenter will want to alert the listener to this fact. It’s a big feature. An important bench mark.
So, the words used are:
“The ‘Top5at5’ is on the way. You better be here for that. Make sure you don’t miss it”.
Right?
Well, if the purpose of the link is to order the listener about, then sure. By all means. But, if the aim of the link is to persuade and invite the listener to stay with your station until 5PM, then definitely not.
Speaking like this is ordering the listener about.
It’s telling them what to do.
It’s bullying, of a sort.
“Don’t miss it”, “Be here” are not invitations, they are orders.

The fact that it’s fairly apparent that they are orders means we all recognise them and that we have all, at one stage or another, used them.
Maybe they are crutches, maybe they are used as a bridge. Whatever they are used for does nothing to change the fact that they are orders.

“You do as I say”, “I’m telling you what to do”. That’s what comes across.
“You better be here at 5PM, or there’ll be trouble”!!!!

It simply does not work.
It’s the exact same as the hostile text reminder to your friend.
Your friend will probably show up for coffee and maybe be a little annoyed with you.
Your listener, however, probably will not show up.
And the harder you try, the further you push them away.

There are so many better and effective ways of reminding your listener.
Nice ways. Subtle ways. Friendly ways.
You can use the old Hook and Tease:
“Madonna was number one on yesterday’s Top5at5 but there’s another song getting more votes tonight…..they’ll battle it out at five o’clock…….”,
or
“I wonder will your favourite song be on tonight’s Top5at5”?
Or
“So far Robbie Williams’ new song is the big vote getter on the Top5at5 Would you like him to be number one? You can vote for your song on……..”.

It’s the same message: ”Top5at5 on the way in fifteen minutes”, but a different manner.

You are now including your listener in the conversation, rather than ordering them about.
We all love to be included, don’t we?
So will your listener.


By the way, the title at the top of this article should have read:
“You might enjoy reading this article”.
Nice. Don’t you think?



To find out more about ‘Speaking To Your Listener’, contact brian@bmacmedia.com


Have a great week,
Brian.



http://www.bmacmedia.com

Passionate About Radio.