My youngest daughter purchased a turntable a couple of years ago. To play vinyl records. When I asked why she made that expenditure, her response was something like, “Daaaaad, do you know how much better the quality of sound is coming from a vinyl record?”

I feigned surprise. I feigned ignorance, as if she’d just discovered the latest breakthrough in musical enjoyment. If she only could’ve heard some of the albums from my collection in the ‘70s. But I digress.

This discussion ensued not long after I had intentionally decided to purchase a used car with a CD player in it rather than one that did not.

I’ll probably mess up the chronological order of things, but there was a time when 8-track tape players were going to make vinyl expendable. Then cassette tapes were going to make 8-Track players obsolete. And all those technological advances were going to ruin Radio.

Almost simultaneously, cable television was going to make the networks obsolete. VHS tapes were going to close movie theaters. Compact discs would further damage the movie industry and push VHS to the side. Then Blu-ray was going to improve upon CDs. I don’t think Blu-ray ever took off, and movie theaters are still open.

Back to Radio. Any day of the week I can tune into talk shows on not one, but two different AM stations in my area. I can listen to AC-DC or The Eagles on three different local radio stations. I can tune into Norah Jones on two different local stations.

I thought radio stations were supposed to suffer a quiet death?

In his recent LinkedIn blog post Gary Vaynerchuk explains that society is about to enter an interesting phase of extremes. He calls it the Retail Barbell Effect. On one side of the barbell is technology to its most extreme: AI, robots, and other things we haven’t yet imagined. The other side of the barbell is analog. Vaynerchuk calls it “extreme analog.”

Gary V explains extreme analog in simple terms. He believes that while technology continues to provide benefits to humans, the more advanced technology gets, the more people want to have a human, physical experience. Like sporting events, concerts, running clubs, restaurants, etc. People having ‘physical’ contact with other people. Community.

What does this mean for small business owners?

Matt Cerminaro recognized some startling Google search data. Google searches for “analog radio” are at an all-time high.  Same for terms like “boombox” and “disposable camera” and “vinyl” and “1990s.”

Another data point supports the analog radio interest. This is out of Canada. According to this report, Canadians spent more time listening to AM/FM radio on all devices than any other medium.

Radio stations have not only survived the technology onslaught, but they’re actually thriving. For small business owners, this offers the most practical way to tell your story to prospective customers.

The data also fortifies the theory that human beings still crave personal experiences. How do you make your customers feel when they walk into your space? How do customers feel on the other end of the telephone? When they leave your shop, do they want to come back?

I’ve been writing about Customer Experience a bunch lately, as opposed to customer service. Here’s another one.

Small businesses that thrive during the next decade are those that will create the type of customer experience that people are craving. Vaynerchuk theorizes that the more extreme technology gets, the more humans will crave physical experience.

“If you have a business today, your job is to build that feeling on purpose for everyone around you: your customers, your employees, your vendors… Because pretty soon, the product and price are going to be close to even, across the board. What won’t be even is the experience you create and the emotion you generate…”

– Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary V is not discouraging people from utilizing technology and running and hiding from AI. Just the opposite. In fact, he believes that one extreme will feed the other.

When potential customers wander into or telephone your small business, are you going to provide the human experience that they’re craving?

If you’re searching for a way to create extraordinary human experiences and someone to tell your story in a way that reaches those who are craving it, give me a shout. I’m happy to help.

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