What is the value of knowing every consumer's age, sex, and zip code, along with their music preferences? And what is the added value of being able to reach out and touch these consumers with messages personalized to them?
Answer that question and you have begun to unravel the power of Pandora's selling proposition which, unlike the average Google Adword, has the added punch of audio, and unlike your radio station, has the ability to match consumers with messages that are relevant to them individually.
I talked about this and other topics with Pandora's Chief Revenue Officer, John Trimble.
John was diplomatic about this advantage, but the truth is that any broadcaster who streams audio has the capability of gathering this same data on consumers just like Pandora does. Yet the vast majority don't do it – yet.
Folks, what are you waiting for?
Are you waiting for advertisers to demand it? Because by the time they do there will be suppliers much more accomplished and connected than you are.
Are you waiting for your peers to gather it? Must you always follow a leader who is himself a follower?
Are you waiting for listeners to email you and ask for additional hoops to jump through in order to consume your content? They won't.
Are you waiting for the content to be so compelling that listeners won't bristle at the slight speed bump of entering some simple identifying information aimed at making their overall user experience better? If so, then create more compelling content and mark that problem "solved."
Listen to this conversation with John Trimble and get a sense of the respect that exists between Pandora and its consumers (a.k.a. listeners). Listen and get a sense of the future that's yours if you're smart enough to pursue it.
Hear me congratulate John for landing planet-sized product placement in the movie Avatar.
Finally, hear why Pandora's Tim Westergren reportedly claimed the discovery of a cool new song is better than sex.
Assuming your partner is the Music Genome Project.
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