The Art of the Tease

NOTE:  The following is an excerpt from the new book Morning Radio Revisited

Learning to relate emotionally is difficult, and can be overwhelming if you try to do it all at once.  Start small, but start now.  Modify your language to create colorful segments directed to individuals rather than a large audience.   If you have trouble understanding how to do it in content, work on telling short stories in teases.  The most common point of tune-out is when commercials begin, so learn to promote effectively into those breaks.  Encouraging the audience to listen through breaks, tune in more frequently and tell their friends should be part of your show already, so work on designing these elements creatively.

Personalities commonly relate what they are going to do instead of selling why to listen.  A typical promotion may be, “Your chance to win tickets to see (artist) at the arena is coming up tomorrow morning at 7:20.  Just be caller 7.”

This is giving away paper (tickets), when they should be selling the experience.

Promotion is all about inducing the audience through one more tune-in occasion, one more quarter hour, to be just a little bit more memorable.  How can you seduce them, lure them to actively participate with you?  One important aspect is to focus on the attraction, not on the mechanics.  In our example, a more effective tease would be, “On (date), the lights in (arena) will dim…a buzz will rise through the crowd…and (artist) will sing (play song hook in background)…and you’ll be there…listen tomorrow morning at 7:20 to win”.

Promotion is selling, and an effective sales technique is providing a solution to a need or fulfilling a desire.  There’s a big difference between selling and hype.  Think of it as creating demand for content by placing it in the path of your audience’s interest.  It’s not how many times you say it, but how you stimulate a desire to buy it.

This principle should guide you through the entertainment process from preparation to show construction to execution.   Isolate the most compelling aspect of your content and answer the question, “What can I say, and how can I say it, that will cause them to react, participate and share with their friends?”  Then, design a plan to create anticipation, drama and expectation.  Building anticipation and expectation is important to a story, and that starts with the tease.  Studies show that dreaming of winning the lottery produces more happiness than winning the lottery.   Make a few simple adjustments each hour, crafting words into colorful stories.  Before you know it, habits will start to change.  Here are some examples:

OLD: “Hi, this is (your name here).  I’ll be with you until 3 o’clock this afternoon, then make way for (next personality).”

Review: They don’t care what your name is, how long you have to work today or who is coming up next.  There’s nothing in this for the listener, and you’ve just wasted 15 seconds of their life with mindless chatter.  Promote something they can use now.  When phrases are frequently repeated, they tune you out perceptually and don’t hear it anymore.

NEW: “Coming up, learn how to get your kids up and ready for school in just 15 minutes.  They’ll be on time and you can do it starting tomorrow morning.  (Next Personality) will have that at 3:05″

Why it’s better: This gives the audience something to think about, and adjust listening habits, particularly if the listener has kids.  Even if they don’t, it’s still interesting because the same technique could apply in other ways.  This tease puts the benefit in the spotlight, promotes the next personality through content and builds forward momentum.

(Continued in Morning Radio Revisited)

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