The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

Literally, I read a line from a NASA press release in a voice which will cause a favorable female response then the same line in a voice will cause a favorable male response. That exercise reminded me of how a radio station engaged in some audio A/B testing of its audience. I conclude that story here.

It is (to me) a little amusing that most people unfamiliar with the station's format wouldn't have noticed the difference, but long time listeners noticed. More importantly, new listeners noticed. New listeners who weren't able to differentiate the existing format from the old advertising format were easily able to differentiate the existing format from the new advertising format. Most importantly, the new listeners acted upon it.

Here's where some "side-ways" social networking comes in. I call it "side-ways" because it was social networking in a way that most people aren't familiar with.

Usually social networking is driven by content which draws consumers. More consumers draws more advertising dollars. More advertising dollars draws more content and the system spirals until a comfortable, profitable equilibrium is reached.

This time the new listeners were communicating to their peers that they responded to an ad on the commercial, classical radio station. Because the peer group was in a tight demographic they shared their shopping finds, that meant they shared where they discovered their shopping finds, that meant they talked up the station, that meant the station got more listeners, more advertising dollars, more content, more listeners, ...

The spiral was there and not in a way anyone anticipated. It is reaching its equilibrium a little over a year from the start of A/B testing.

Links for this post:

• Beth Morrow
• Gender based marketing posts
• Gender-Specific Marketing Discoveries Podcast
• Audio A/B Testing, Part 1