No Quick Fix

No Quick Fix

by | Apr 8, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

One of the concerns that I sometimes hear when talking to a business owner about investing in an advertising campaign is how long it will take to get results.

Or a variation is the opposite…

Can we handle all the business we get if we start advertising with your radio station?

My friends, there is usually no quick fix.

Advertising is usually not like a faucet that you turn on and customers come rushing out to buy what you have right away.

It takes time.

How much time?

Depends on how many ads you place and how often they air and a few other important factors.

However to the untrained, it might seem like things are closer than they really are.

Last month my wife and I took a trip to Washington DC to see the Cherry Blossoms and sightsee and along with a memorable trip, I’ve also got material for a few blogposts and podcast episodes.

The first day of our arrival, after checking in to our hotel and enjoying dinner at a local Irish pub, we decided to walk over to the Capitol Building which I knew was about 3 or 4 blocks away.  We could see it from the Irish pub.

Then we glanced over towards the Washington Monument and decided to hike thru the National Mall to the Monument where there were more Cherry Trees and it was my intention to continue to the Jefferson Memorial.

However as we started the first part of our journey it was getting dusk and our perception of distance and the time it would take was off.  We did make it to the Washington Monument, but there was no way we were going to continue that night all the way to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial on foot on Friday night.

A couple days later, with some pre-planning, I made arrangements for us to get a tour of the major sites of Washington DC that included transportation and from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the daylight that Sunday, we could see much more clearly the big picture of how far we were from the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building.

The lessons we learned about quick fixes:

  1. Plan ahead
  2. Understand the journey
  3. Know when to regroup and find a different method
  4. Dress appropriate for the journey

Those same lessons apply to marketing your business, even the last one about dressing appropriately.

Want help? Contact me.

Older and Wiser

Older and Wiser

by | Apr 1, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Facts are facts, right?

Yes and no.

When you look at numbers or other facts, it’s often not enough to just look at the raw data.  We can learn so much more by digging deeper and being curious.

Curiosity is a term that came up in a recent conversation with a friend this year and we both agreed that it’s essential to understanding something and avoiding assumptions and dispelling certain biases.

I titled this article Older and Wiser because it’s often the experiences we go through that we learn from.  However there are exceptions to this concept of becoming Wiser as we get Older.

The thirst for knowledge that we have as kids can be squashed if too many grown-ups tell the kid to stop asking questions and just conform.  However conformity does not bring new and exciting ideas, it keeps us stuck in the past.

I know some people my age who are always wishing for the “good ole days” and while it’s fun and interesting to reminisce, it can hold you back if you’re not willing to also look at the future opportunities. I also have a bunch of grandkids and one in particular that I’m thinking about today has always had a thirst for knowledge.  This person has no limits to their learning and fortunately has grown-ups that support their curiosity.

As we age, some of our values change and today I’m specifically looking at relationships with brands and products and how we as consumers change.

Marketing Charts released this study that revealed generational differences in buying decisions. When asked, “which of the following are more important than price when making a purchasing decision, the options included:

  1. Quality
  2. Convenience
  3. Customer Service and Support
  4. Brand Reputation
  5. Brand’s Ethical Values
  6. Consistent Digital Experience

None of these 6 options scored higher than price for Gen Z and there is a sharp contrast between the older generations and Gen Z for Quality, Convenience, and Customer Service and Support.

The last option, Consistent Digital Experience is the only option that Gen Z outpaced the other generations.

It could be easy to assume that Gen Z only cares about buying cheap stuff on their phone, but let’s dig deeper.

From the study:

Perhaps price is more important to Gen Zers than other factors due to their financial situations: slightly more than half (53%) of Gen Z consumers say that the high cost of living is a barrier to their financial success, and fewer than half (48%) of Gen Zers would describe themselves as fully or mostly financially independent.

Gen Z is currently ages 18-26. and compared to older generations, they have the least amount of income, so it makes sense that the price of what they buy is going to be very important.  It’s not because they are Gen Z, it’s because of their life stage that they are more focused on prices than older people.  For the most part, as we get older, we eventually have more money to spend.  We also realize the value to buying good quality stuff instead of cheap disposable stuff.  As most of us become older and wiser, our priorities shift.

This leads me to a huge mistake too many businesses make in their advertising and marketing…  They put too much focus on cheap prices and not enough attention to what grown-ups really care about:

Quality.

Convenience.

Customer Service.

Brand Reputation.

If your advertising emphasis is all about price and deals, you are not communicating to me the real reason I want to buy in most cases.

Want help in creating a campaign that offers more than just cheap stuff?

Do you have the guts to do this?  (Most businesses don’t.)

Contact me and I’ll help.

 

Narrow Minded Marketing

Narrow Minded Marketing

by | Mar 18, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

The goal of your advertising should be to increase both your sales and your brand identity. But all too often we overly focus on analytics or demographics when creating our media plans.  Narrowly targeting often means you are missing the much larger population of people not in your core demographic.

As the “New Media” (digital and social) emerged, many businesses, large and small, made the move to these platforms believing that laser-focused targeting was the answer to their advertising dreams.

Wrong!  In fact, Tide, the #1 selling laundry detergent, found that while they were focusing on the people who fit their “typical profile”, they were missing the much larger target of those who were not using their product. In other words, they were eroding their brand’s awareness and missing the target of “new and future” users. Ultimately, their sales started to decline.

In a swift move, they moved the majority of their budget back to traditional media, and sales and brand identity rebounded.

In another example, it might not seem unreasonable for a baby-products retailer to target “women 18-49 with infants”, but according to the market research firm Scarborough, nearly half of those who bought infants’ clothing, roughly 47%, were from households without children.

The same research from Scarborough found that nearly a quarter of all women’s cosmetics and perfumes, 23.5%, were bought by men.

In Roy Williams’ Twelve Causes of Advertising Failure, #9 is Overconfidence in Qualitative Data. “In reality, saying the wrong thing has killed far more ad campaigns than reaching the wrong people. It is amazing how many people become the ‘Right People’ when you are saying the right thing.”

Being too narrow-minded and focusing on only the core audience is actually eroding your brand. Hundreds and thousands of people are not in the market for your product or service today, or even soon, but someday they will be.

Thinking beyond the traditional demographics your competitors are targeting with their advertising can help you reach untapped markets to increase your sales well into the future.

Click here to read how to reach and influence “purchasers” rather than “demographics”.
 
 
Now I’ve worked in both mass media and niche media.  I’ve done mass appeal and hyper-targeted campaigns.  I would welcome the opportunity to review any advertising proposals that a typical ad salesperson presents to you to see exactly what the focus is and if it’s a good match for what you want to accomplish.
Are You Open to Ideas

Are You Open to Ideas

by | Dec 18, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

How was your year?

Are you excited about next year?

As a business owner, or manager or even someone without a title, every once in awhile we should stop and plan for the future.  Problem is many people do it alone, or with limited input.

Last week subscribers of my Sound ADvice weekly newsletter got some advice that I’m sharing today including a link for more tips.  If you would like to receive this newsletter free of charge, send me an email to Scott@WOWO.com and simply ask for the newsletter.  It arrives every Wednesday morning except for holiday weeks.

Here’s the Sound ADvice for planning your new year:

Before you owned or were managing a business, you may have been on the other side as an employee, and you probably had a lot of ideas on how you could improve your employers’ businesses.

There’s an old saying, “None of us is as smart as all of us”, or, “Both of us are smarter than one of us.” 

Guess what, like you, your staff just may have some ideas on how to improve your business. They’re in the trenches facing customer complaints and questions every day and oftentimes may have thoughts on how and what it would take to create happier customers.

There are several ways you can benefit from inviting more staff input on how to grow your business:

1.) Odds are some of your staff are from a younger generation than you and may be better at coming up with ideas that appeal to their generation.

2.) People whose opinions are solicited and respected are likely to respond positively and be better employees.

3.) When you act upon a suggestion made by your employees, they have a moral obligation to see that initiative through to success.

As the new year is approaching, now is a wonderful time to set in motion ways to improve your business in 2024.  Start by including your trusted employees in a brainstorming session.

If you want to make 2024 better than 2023, click here to read some helpful tips on how to set up, implement, and execute a successful brainstorming session.

On The Road Again

On The Road Again

by | Dec 4, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

‘Commutes Are Back’ As Time Spent With AM/FM In Cars Hits Eight-Year High.

That was the headline of an InsideRadio.com story last month and that’s great news for those of us in the radio broadcasting industry.

It’s also fantastic news for businesses that want to reach a regular and consistent audience and invite them to become their customers.

Naysayers have been predicting the end of radio relevancy for decades, and when something like a pandemic happens that disrupts our daily lives including our time spent driving, those negative voices get louder.  However as a radio insider, I have the facts that say differently.

Here’s some more from that story:

Compared to results from earlier surveys by MARU/Matchbox and Nielsen since April 2020, the height of the pandemic – when more than half (52%) of pre-COVID commuters were working at home – that share gradually fell to just 6% in the recent survey, meaning 94% of average Americans are now commuting to work.

Here in Fort Wayne, Indiana the average commute time is around 20 to 30 minutes.  Longer in the afternoon than morning for some reason. Radio continues to live in the car, or whatever you drive.  The radio station I’ve been working for the past decade, WOWO in Fort Wayne Indiana did something this year that we’ve been talking about for a few years, we added an FM signal to the WOWO listening choices.

The backstory is that with the growth of EV’s many car companies were not including AM radio in the dashboards, only FM.  While the broadcasting organizations having been lobbying Congress to force AM radio to be included in all new cars, at WOWO we decided to be proactive and rebrand with a focus on our full strength FM signal 92.3 along with our 1190 AM radio signal.  And not to get all techy, but before May, you could listen to WOWO on the FM band at 107.5, but that was a low-power FM signal.  If you had an HD FM radio, WOWO could also be heard at 97.3 HD2, but those were not as popular as a traditional full strength FM signal like we have now at 92.3 FM.

Going back to talking about people driving, last month I noticed that our two major malls were getting busier and busier as the holidays approached. Which means even more time spent in cars, listening to the radio on the way to buy from traditional brick and mortar stores, similar to what we had 4 or 5 years ago.

It’s a good sign for the local economy to see people buying locally and for radio stations like mine that are providing news and local information.  This trend will continue after the new year too and if you want help driving our listeners to your business, contact me.