Does Christie Brinkley Listen to WOWO Radio?

Does Christie Brinkley Listen to WOWO Radio?

I was reading an article from Mediapost that mentioned that  baby boomers who are becoming senior citizens are not what you might expect. To illustrate their point they pointed out that at age 63, Christie Brinkley could be considered a “senior”.

She is a Baby Boomer and she was featured along with her two daughters in the 2017 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

Since a big chunk of the WOWO radio listening audience is the Baby Boomer generation, I ask this question:

Does Christie Brinkley Listen to WOWO Radio?

My answer is defiantly not.  Well maybe, but not likely.

Since she doesn’t hang out in the midwest and I’ve never heard her call the Pat Miller Program to express her views on, well anything, if she listens, we are not aware that Christie Brinkley is a WOWO Radio listener.

However, over the years I have found many women who will confess to me that they are a WOWO Radio listener and they think that they are a out-numbered.

On one hand, yes, there are more guys than gals that listen to WOWO’s news talk radio format, but not by much.  If you were to take 10 typical WOWO listeners and put them in a room, and these 10 represented the WOWO audience, you would have 6 men and 4 women.

I was doing some research recently and from the data I have access to, more women age 40 and older in the Fort Wayne area listen to WOWO than any other radio station. When I look at Baby Boomer women, WOWO has twice as many Christie Brinkley types compared to the other Fort Wayne radio stations.

Let’s circle back to that Mediapost article that mentioned Christie Brinkley.

Quoting here:

Christie Brinkley, who at 63 appeared in this year’s 2017 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue rocking a bikini alongside her daughters—all the proof you need that 60 can be confident, sexy and in the spotlight.

Brinkley said, “In a country that’s very ageist, people love to put you in little boxes. Women feel very limited by their numbers. On a personal level, I thought, if I can pull this off, I think it will help redefine those numbers and remove some of the fear of aging.”

At 60 and beyond, Boomers continue to be a dynamic and powerful consumer segment. They may not be considered young, but their youthful energy has them constantly on the lookout for new and improved products and services that help them achieve the active, full lives after 60 that previous generations could only have imagined.

Here’s a couple of take-aways from the Mediapost article that you can apply to the women and perhaps men who listen to WOWO radio:

1. They represent a large and growing consumer market

At 37 million and growing, Americans in their 60’s have been the fastest-growing age group since the turn of the century.

2. They have big spending power

The average net worth for 60-somethings is significantly greater than it is for Americans in their 20s (by 99%), 30s (+67%), 40s (+27%), and 50s (+13%).

Nearly half (40%) of today’s 60-somethings are still working.

On top of that, many 60-somethings are choosing to forego leaving a large inheritance and instead are opting to spend on experiences they can share with their children and grandchildren in the moment.

3. They’re not slowing down

Today’s 60-somethings know they’ve still got it. Their mindset is characterized by a steadfast belief in their abilities, a desire to learn and try new things, and wanting to raise the bar on what’s possible at this life stage.

They understand the need to care for their health differently than when they were younger, so they pay more attention to their diets, stay informed about advances in healthcare, use supplements and prescription drugs when needed, and take fitness seriously.

4. They embrace technology that matters

80% of 60 – 69 year olds are online, and nearly 8 in 10 of those online use smartphones.

They are leading the charge for devices and services that make their homes more secure and efficient. Next up is technology that will help them monitor and manage their health.

5. They’re a big influence on their adult children. 

More than previous generations, Boomers and their adult children like, trust, and go to each other for advice.

When I listen to WOWO radio, I hear ads for home improvement, luxury automobiles, financial products and other big buck items that Baby Boomers are spending their money on.

Want to know more about how to invite WOWO listeners to spend money with you?  Contact me.

How I Can Help You Invite People To Give You Money

How I Can Help You Invite People To Give You Money

About 18 months ago I wrote a list of some of the advertising options I offered as a member of the WOWO Radio Advertising Sales Team.

Time for a fresh spin and update and if you want to listen to the podcast version instead, click here or scroll down to the end of this article.

Today let’s cut to the chase of what I do and why we should talk…

How Scott Howard Can Help You Invite People To Give You Money would be the title, but I prefer not talking about myself in the third person.

How I Can Help You Invite People To Give You Money is more my style.

On the surface, I sell radio advertising on WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana which is pretty cool.

Some people I sell ads to just want that.  I want to buy some radio commercials, they say.  That’s it, nothing more, just tell me how much it will cost and let’s get to work.

I can do that and I will do that if that is really what they want.  It all depends on the person at the other end.

If they are a media buyer or marketing director for a big company and they know what they are doing with advertising and marketing, then I’ll give them what they want with some insider knowledge about the characteristics of the WOWO audience.

However 90% of the time, the real issue is not that simple.

Business owners want customers and they are willing to do almost anything, including having a guy dress up in a dirty chicken costume, standing at the side of the road, waving at passing cars just to attract attention in the hopes that some of those people will pull over and buy something.  If you missed that story, here’s a link.

Radio advertising on WOWO is a different animal than radio advertising on most other stations.  Why?

WOWO is a news/talk formatted radio station and most of the others are music formatted radio stations. Listeners to news/talk are less irritated by commercials than music station listeners for one.  I also have more options and opportunities to create a bond between the listeners and the local personalities on WOWO and I can leverage that bond to include the businesses that advertise on WOWO.

One day I’ll dig further into how that works, but after 3 1/2 years as a WOWO insider, I have seen and heard some amazing things pertaining to the effectiveness of WOWO radio ads that blows me away.

Remember, the topic today is: How I Can Help You Invite People To Give You Money.

We’re not limited to just the people who listen to the radio commercials on WOWO because our parent company, Federated Media has also invested in the digital world of advertising and marketing too with our Federated Digital Solutions division.

Honestly, I took a skeptic stance at our digital division when I joined a few years ago because I have experience in the online world, both in website design and development and the social media side too.

I wanted to make sure that anything I offered was the best for the investment spent for the companies I was talking with.  And I have discovered some more pretty cool things we offer in the digital world that allow me to Help You Invite People To Give You Money.

On the digital side, I am running campaigns that reach across the country and some are pinpointed to specific cities that are beyond the reach of WOWO Radio, but are targeted to the right people in the location that my advertising partners wants to invite to give him money.

I have the success stories to back this up too whether it’s radio or digital or a combination.

One thing I offer that is unique among my WOWO Radio sales team coworkers is the connections to others that can help with your business marketing outside of what you can buy from me.  My connections seem to go pretty deep and wide and beyond just marketing services but into other aspects of running your company.

Oh and there is another category of marketing tools I have at my finger tips that can actually create a list of Hot Leads, people who have given us their contact information because they have Opted In to be contacted and yes, they want to give you money.

By the way the whole premise of people giving you money in this article is not necessarily money for nothing, it’s people who want to buy what you have to sell.

Ready to see how this could work for you?

Want to see specifically How I Can Help You Invite People To Give You Money?

Let’s talk.

It’s Media Report Card Time!

It’s Media Report Card Time!

Yesterday I was reading an article from MarketingCharts.com so you don’t have to, no, really I do enjoy looking at this kind of stuff and pulling out some of the highlights.

It relates to an upcoming podcast episode and article I wrote that will be debuting in a couple days, too.

Here’s the highlights:

  1. We are spending more time with “Media” than ever before.  Over 12 hours a day. Technically this would have been impossible a few years ago, but not now.  Which brings us to the second highlight:
  2. Multi-tasking is in full swing and for media that means watching more than one screen at the same time. Those smartphones are being used by more and more of us instead of staring at the TV screen like zombies when the commercials come on.
  3. Print Media is shrinking.  Not just the number of pages or the number of readers, but the time spent reading newspapers and magazines by each person is dropping.  Over the last 5 years, each of us who still read print spend 15 minutes less every day.
  4. Radio listening, according to the report is steady. More on this in a second.
  5. Time spent with Digital media continues to grow.  No surprise to any of us right?

Those last two items, Radio and Digital are the two areas that I work in and can help you craft an effective plan to use radio and digital to grow your business.  Want to know more?  Ask me.  Also check out this weeks Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast episode Thursday on this website.  Here’s a link.

Till Death Do Us Part… A Mother’s Day Love Story

Till Death Do Us Part… A Mother’s Day Love Story

Everyone has their favorite stories about their Mom for Mother’s Day and Dad for Father’s Day that they will share on Facebook.

I want to do a couple of things differently.

My parent’s love story is summed up in what happened in 1998 on Mother’s Day weekend.

My parents met in the 1950’s when he was in the Navy and she was living at home near Chicago.  My Mom and her friends would take the train to Navy Pier on the weekend and meet some sailors.  One time she met my Dad and they married with a “till death do us part” line in their vows I suppose.

I didn’t come into this world until my Mom was 26 and Dad was 29.  I was blessed to see the fun and struggles and there’s plenty to tell but today I’m going to fast forward to Mother’s Day weekend 1998.

My Dad had been diagnosed with cancer a few months earlier and now was in hospice care.  My Dad always would grumble about Mother’s Day and Father’s Day being “merchant holidays” but he also knew how important those days were to his wife.  A rose or a dozen would always be included with a romantic card.  But in 1998 it was going to be different.

I was living about an hour away but came to see my Dad that weekend. His cancer should have ended his life by now but he was still with us even though he was unable to speak.

We communicated by my talking to him and him signally his answers. On Saturday I bought a rose & Mother’s Day card  and helped him sign it so that when my Mom visited Sunday, the tradition continued.

Monday, the day after Mother’s Day 1998, we got a call that he passed away, quietly when no one was in his room.  It was if he waited. Waited to give my Mom one last Mother’s Day card and rose and then waited until no one was in his room the next day to leave this planet.

That’s a dedication of,”Till Death Do Us Part”.

No matter what you think of Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day, celebrate it the way the Mom’s and Dad’s in your life want to remember it.

Did You Remember The Invitations?

Did You Remember The Invitations?

I’m going to keep this short and sweet this week.

Well, maybe not so sweet depending on how you and your business measure up.  Also, if you prefer to listen instead of read, this article is also in podcast form which you can access here or at the end of this article.

I’m going to break down the purpose of advertising to a very simple concept.

The only reason you should advertise is to invite people.

That’s it.

Want me to say it again?

Ok: The only reason you should advertise is to invite people.

How important is it to invite people?  Here’s a story about an event this month that I’m involved with.

I recently joined the Board of Directors for Homebound Meals of Fort Wayne.

In the weeks leading up to my officially being on the board, I was brought on board to help with the social media accounts for Homebound Meals.  And this month, they are hosting a fundraiser event complete with a silent auction to raise funds for this non-profit organization.

This event is called Tapas and Tini’s and is going on this evening, May 11th at Club Soda in Fort Wayne.

I’m not an event planner and never want to be in that position and fortunately, that was not my role.

Those in charge of organizing the event and planning the silent auction put in hours and hours of work for this event.  Hundreds of dollars of items were asked for and received for the silent auction. Food is being prepared, decorations are being set up and it is going to be a wonderful event.

But take a moment and play along with me for a second.

How successful do you think this fundraiser and silent auction would be if we didn’t invite anyone to show up?

We’d still have hundreds of dollars of items ready for bids in a silent auction, but no one to bid.

We’d still have plenty of decorations and plenty of wasted food if we didn’t invite anyone to join us.

The hours and hours of time that was put into the organization would have also been wasted if we didn’t invite people.

I think you’ll agree that it would be not just foolish but stupid to do all the work and preparation and not invite people to the Homebound Meals Tapa’s and Tini’s fundraiser and silent auction tonight, right?

It’s okay because we did the right thing.

We did invite people, including spending some money to advertise.

On Monday morning, a few days ago, I stopped in the Homebound Meals office to see how ticket sales were going and there were only a handful of tickets left.

We invited people to come and they are coming.

That’s a lesson that I wish every business owner would understand and take to heart.

You need to invite people.  You need to let them know that you exist and you want to help them.  You need to let them know how to reach you and how to buy from you.  This is the purpose of advertising. Invite people to be your customers.

Because without customers, you don’t really have a business.

By the way, Homebound Meals has been around for 40 years.  I first became acquainted with them about 25 years ago when my parents were getting meals delivered to their home.  But I had not given them any thought for over 15 years because they did not invite me or advertise to me in any way that I recall until earlier this year when I was invited to join their board.

The lesson for your business is that you need to always be inviting people, or you will be forgotten.  Invite, invite and invite again. Don’t stop.

Need help inviting? Let’s talk.  This is my invitation to you.