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Business lessons from a breakfast radio show

For about 20 years I have had to turn the tv or radio off at the first note of Chris Evans voice. At dinner parties the conversation has often turned to who does and who doesn’t like him – and most people don’t sit in the middle.

When Terry left radio 2 I wandered around airwave wilderness for a while but couldn’t find my home. Gradually, I started to listen to the ‘ginger whinger’. I had to get past my intense resistance to the tone of his voice, the seemingly infantile banter and the patronising buddy system which I felt existed only to elevate him.

I grew curious to know what made intelligent adults want to listen – a friend with a PhD in English waxed lyrical about him. To be fair, his old name – the ginger whinger - didn’t seem appropriate as he rarely whinges. He’s nearly always positive and upbeat. He has an amazing ability to muster mass support for a cause or an event and his popularity would appear to be growing. What is his secret?

It struck me that being either intensely liked or disliked is an advantage in business, whether it is an aim or a by-product of success - it’s the same with Bounty and Marmite and look how successful they are. It creates impact and noise which travels far and wide. What else works?

He is a fantastic marketer. Here are just some snippets from the last week::

1. Repeat, repeat, repeat – his message.
2. Use the principle of social proof – ‘everyone is going to be there’
3. Take action now – encourage people to pick up the phone/go to our website/text me…
4. Build excitement and anticipation – ‘ only 3 days to go until you can book your tickets to carfest North, only 2 days to go’  you get the gist of it.
5. Use the tactic of limited availability – only 100 cars are going to be allowed.
6. Create a sense of fun.
7. Lead by example – he buys into his own idea by being at the event himself, (or at least he says so!)
8. Use great connections and alliances to deliver spectacular events.
9. Make the most of every platform available to you – The One Show, FB, Twitter, radio, website etc... to reinforce the message
10. All in all, a campaign attitude

I still worry that he doesn’t have Moira Stewart’s best interests – her reputation - at heart. And then I remind myself that she’s old enough to make her own decisions and perhaps she’s just having fun. I have to admit, I am too!