If your station is playing Christmas music, I’ve got good news and bad news.

The good news is you’ll help minimize your station’s biggest barrier for growth – playing unfamiliar music to those tuning to your station for the first time.

The bad news is new listeners have no context for understanding what your station is about.

The great brands – Chick-Fil-A, Starbucks, Toms Shoes, the Green Bay Packers – offer a context as to how their brand is meaningful. New listeners, however, don’t know that. They don’t understand the relationship of Ken and Barbie on the morning show; they don’t understand why your station changes format to play Christmas music; and they don’t understand the benefit to them of continuing to listen after Christmas. (In listening, some stations don’t seem to understand that either).

Do you know why Disney cast members wear tags with their name and hometown?

Frankly, Disney knows that you don’t care where they’re from – unless you’re also from there. Disney knows that the name tag can begin a conversation that can start a relationship which can change the experience with a new visitor. And experience is what they are all about.

Disney knows that unless they systematize welcoming visitors the cast members won’t do it. Why? Because cast members already know who they are and where they’re from. One can’t read the label from being inside the bottle.

Seth Godin says,

“The only one who has heard all of it is you.

Jerry Garcia performed thousands of times, and he was the only one who heard every performance.

The same is true for the work you’ve created, the writing you’ve done, the noise in your head–you’re the only person who has heard every bit of it.

Tell us what we need to know. Not because you need to hear yourself repeat it, but because you believe we need to hear it.

Take your time and lay it out for us, without worrying about whether or not we’ve heard you say it before. We probably haven’t.”

Consider these ideas:

• This Christmas season have your talent share WHY they do what they do at least once or twice per show. “People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it.” ~Simon Sinek
• Introduce your new listeners to our CCM artists as you play their Christmas songs. Matthew West isn’t just a singer, he’s a guy with a story. In fact, he’s a guy with a story about being a guy who writes songs based upon his fans’ stories. How would you introduce Matthew to a new friend at a party?
• Share the story of how your station got started and why it’s on the air. Legacy matters. Which is seen as more valuable? A set of used golf clubs, or a set of clubs once owned by Walt Disney?