1. Building Your Strategic Action Plan
Steve Hunter E.W. Scripps Company

2. Why a Strategic Action Plan?

3. Parts of a Strategic Action Plan

6. Choosing Your Strategic Posture

7. What is your Strategic Posture?
Defensive Offensive Flanker Guerilla

8. Defensive You are the market leader
Clearly own the format hill with your radio station.
Have high ratings which makes you a target!

9. Offensive Attack the market leader head to head
You have to have a great product to take on a market leader.
Have a solid marketing budget to back it up.
Goal is to unseat the market leader

10. Flanker
Identify a weakness in your competitor and you expose that weakness
Find a narrow gap in the market and you attack it
Use one of your stations to protect one of your stations by using a flanker to take down another market leader

11. Guerilla
A quick attack on another station meant to hurt them short term
Usually not long term
Can pivot quickly to the next battle
Good use for a translator or limited signal
These can be fun

12. Choosing Your Targets

13. Identify your Target Identify your broad target
What is the “bulls eye” target?
The narrower the better

14. Designing Music Targets
A good music target is usually 10 to 15 years
Be specific
Male vs. Female percentage
The best way to determine a music target is though strategic research

15. The Product

16. Imaging Focus What is your station famous for?
If you asked people to tell you the first thing that comes to mind when talking about your station, what would it be?
Stay consistent and deliver the message
It is all about branding
Choose a primary and a secondary imaging focus

17. Programming Lineup

18. Music Architecture

19. Music Architecture

20. Quarter Hour Balance
Is every 15 to 20 minutes a good representation of what your station is?
People do not tune-in “at the top of the hour”
If you look at PPM data, you will see how people really use your radio station

21. Commercial Load

22. Clearly Defined Most stations do not have a commercial load policy
It is important for programming and sales to have a clear policy on available inventory
Make sure that your traffic director has a copy
Make sure that you review this with the sales manager

23. Promotions The role of the promotions director has changed
Part of the branding team
Needs to be able to think strategically
Plays a vital role in the radio station
They must understand your strategic action plan

24. Station Position

25. What is your Position? What are you known for? Best Music Most Music
Newest Music
News, Weather, Traffic
Entertaining
Fun On-Air Talent
Best Talk Shows

26. Primary This is how you sell the station every break.
It is what you are known for
“#1 Hit Music Station”
“New Country Leader”
“First for news, weather and traffic”

27. Secondary Sold at least 50% during the hour Not always necessary
“50 minutes of music every hour!”
“We start your workday with one hour of non- stop music every morning at 9.”
“10 songs in a row”

28. Setting Goals

29. Outlining Your Goals

30. Setting your Goals Pick realistic goals Look at your market history
Don’t set goals that you will never hit
Set Social Media Goals
Make sure that the whole strategic team understands the goals

31. 30/60/90 Day Goals

32. Music Selection Strategy

33. Designing Music Montages
These are primarily used for music testing
Pick 5 to 6 songs that really represent your station
Using Mediabase or BDS is a great way to design a montage for your station
Remember – cast the net wide
Don’t make it to obscure, too new or too hip for the room
All songs should be very familiar!
Montage should match the average era of your station

34. Designing Music Montages

35. Custom Music Panels Pick stations that you suspect do music research
Pick stations that perform well in their target
Reevaluate panel every quarter

36. Custom Music Panels

37. Research

38. Types of Research Market studies – Look at the market and all stations
Music testing – Testing your library
Focus groups – Good way to talk with your P1s to find out what they really think
Airplay Intel – Uses M Scores from Nielsen

39. Sample of Airplay Intel

40. War College

41. When was the last time you listened to your station and digital stream?

42. Checks and Balance
Take a day to get out of the station and listen to your station the way that a listener listens
Don’t forget to monitor your streams

43. What is your competitor doing?
What are they doing right?
What are they doing wrong?
Never underestimate your competition

44. Taking Down Yourself
If you found yourself programming the competition, what would you change immediately?
This is a great exercise to involve your entire team
Do quarterly monitors on your competition
Watch your competitors on Mediabase or BDS every week

45. SWOT Analysis

46. Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
S.W.O.T. Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

47. S.W.O.T. Analysis Do one on your station Do one on your competition
Make this a team activity

48. Putting it Together

49. Sitting Down With Your Team
The biggest issue that you hear from your team is that they want to feel included
Do they all know the target of your station?
Do they understand the market?
Can you tell you what separates your station from the competition?
What are you famous for?

50. Reviewing Your SAP The document is a “living” and “breathing” document
Review it every 30 days just to see if there has been any changes
Review it in your quarterly monitors with your strategic team.
Always review after a major research project, monitor or music test

51. Quarterly Monitors Make the time to do them
Try to do them outside of the radio station
The PD, OM, GM and 2 to 3 key members of your strategic team should be present
Consultants should always be involved either in person or by phone
Do a recap
Documentation is so important

52. Auditing Your Music Scheduler
When is the last time that you audited your music scheduling system?
Check the turnovers, clocks and categories
Delete songs and imaging that doesn’t need to be in the database
Get somebody from the outside to look over your software.

53. Steve Hunter Steve.Hunter@Scripps.com
Operations Manager of E.W. Scripps Tulsa