Strategic Perceptual Studies

This is a broad market study conducted to measure brand performance and the level of a radio station’s listener engagement in order to determine the best strategy moving forward.

What sets our study apart from others is the process:

1. This study will be a collaborative environment that encourages your team to think more deeply about their brand
2. Our summary presentation will give you more clarity about your brand and where opportunities for growth are.
3. Our process ensures that all stakeholders will have ownership of The Strategic Action Plan.

This study will show the current performance of the product in relation to the potential of that product category, and whether further growth will come from product adjustments, marketing or both. This study will also measure the size of the product category the station is in relative to other formats and will show to what degree you “own” your category. You’ll know if you’ve tapped out the potential of the brand or if further avenues of growth are possible.

The Brand DNA Study will showcase the factors that are your Key Brand Drivers – the things that truly influence first-choice listener decisions. We will also uncover how your brand is perceived in these key areas.

Our report also includes our exclusive Brand Health Chart, which rates your radio station from 0-6 stars, and it gives a crystal-clear view on the strength of your brand.

The process all begins with a “Discovery Call” with us and all the stakeholders of the stations; we discuss all of the key issues that impact the left-hand side of the decimal point.

Possible goals could include:

1. What are the station’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
2. How is the station doing at defending its format position? How big is the format opportunity? Have we “maxed out” our potential or is there further room for growth, and will that growth come from product adjustments, marketing or both?
3. What is the narrow target that will provide the most cohesive music product?
4. What are the Key Product Areas that drive first-choice listening, and is the station “famous” for the things that matter most?
5. Is the station’s balance of music styles, tempo and eras in-line with what the target audience is looking for? Are we playing enough of the textures that our audience may want?
6. What are the morning and at-work parameters that are most important? How is the station doing in the important areas?
7. What is the familiarity and appeal of the station’s talent?

As part of the meeting in which we present the key findings of the study, we will put together a Strategic Action Plan for each station, and the plan will be designed as collaboration between our strategists and your management team, so everyone is invested as a partial designer of the plan. This document becomes a navigational device for the radio station’s staff.

The Strategic Action Plan consists of the Strategic Marketing Model, which includes:

Your investment in a Brand DNA Strategic Study also includes follow-ups on the Strategic Action Plan. About 30-60 days after the strategic meeting, we schedule a call to review the progress of the plan. In addition, our team does a DNA Music Strategy Audit™ that takes an actual monitor of the radio station and overlays the DNA Music Map over the top. This gives us a clear view on how closely the station is following the music strategy.