by Scott Howard | Jun 6, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
This article is for the business owner who is regularly being asked to buy advertising and really needs a little help deciding what to do. (Or perhaps a LOT of help.)
Today, we are going to talk about the pros and cons of advertising agencies, advertising sales people and marketing consultants and what you really need for your business. There was a story in Mediapost that touched on this topic and we’re going to get to the heart of the matter for you.
Should You Hire An Advertising Specialist or Generalist?
You see I’m a bit of both. I’m a big picture marketing guy who has expertise in several specialties.
Start with the basics:
Why advertise? To attract and retain customers. It’s that simple.
Then why is it hard to pick what kind of advertising you and your business should be involved with?
Because there are so many options and all these advertising salespeople who tell you their advertising is the best, whether it’s true or not.
So I sell advertising, what makes me, Scott Howard different? Let’s start with a quote from one of my online profiles:
This is the Big Picture of Marketing, Advertising, and Media, down to the tiniest detail.
Combining the tools of today with the timeless, proven methods of the past and creating ideas that rely on honest, trustworthy human relationship principles.
This Big Picture concept is what makes me an advertising generalist. That’s also the term you could apply to most of the advertising agencies that offer a variety of services. But I’m not an ad agency and I have a unique perspective that’s different than most advertising generalists.
That’s also where the ScLoHo persona comes in. This unique perspective is that all of your marketing and advertising needs to be based on Human Relationship Principles or if they are not, you better have a very good reason why not.
Human Relationship Principles are the natural, organic ways we communicate with one another that promotes trust, and good positive feelings. You incorporate that into a marketing campaign successfully and your business will grow beyond what you could ever do with coupons and gimmicks.
I know how to do this because I’ve been a student of this for a few decades and there are hundreds of businesses in Metro Fort Wayne and Metro Detroit that were my real-life laboratories.
Along the way I also gathered intensive insider knowledge and wisdom regarding what could be called Advertising Specialties. These include:
- Print including newspaper, magazine and direct mail.
- Outdoor including the big billboards, the smaller signage, even the ads we see on city buses. Which brings me to …
- Vehicle wraps, promotional materials and company branded attire.
- Television advertising including cable TV.
- Social Media.
- Website design and structure.
- Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing.
- Email Marketing.
- Blogging, Vlogging and Podcasting
- and of course Radio Advertising.
Every one of these specialties I have direct experience in and have served on the board of directors for the local American Advertising Federation to enrich my knowledge and teach others. I have even taught branding at a local university, won awards from both my peers and from independent, impartial judging panels. I am not one to blow my own horn and say how great I am, that is out of character for me, but I really want you to know that since I made the transition from being a radio personality to an advertising and marketing specialist over 30 years ago, I have learned a bunch and am continuing to learn. All I want to do is help you with what I’ve learned.
Some of these Advertising Specialties I continue to do first hand and others I will either outsource, recommend others that I trust or at the very least serve as your marketing coach so that when someone tries to sell you their advertising specialty, you have an experienced professional that knows how it should be done and can help you in the process if it’s really something you should invest it. I, Scott Howard, work for WOWO Radio and we have a whole boatload of advertising and marketing solutions you can buy. The ScLoHo side of me helps you with the things I can’t sell you but can advise and guide you.
So back to my original question: Should You Hire An Advertising Specialist or Generalist? Why chose one or the other when you can have both in one person?
Let’s talk.
by Scott Howard | May 9, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, Uncategorized, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
This week, we are going to talk about a subject that goes beyond media and marketing, it’s about being Authentic and Appropriate.
The backstory on this subject is that being Authentic and Appropriate is how I strive to live my life. However I was recently talking to a new friend who works in the radio and podcasting industry and he mentioned those words and I felt a new podcast and blog post article was in order.
I’m in my 50’s and I recall half a lifetime ago (in my mid 20’s) working in Detroit. I went from being a t-shirt and jeans wearing radio disc jockey to wearing a sports coat and tie everyday because I was switching over to the advertising side of radio and would be meeting with business owners every week.
Two versions of the early Scott Howard aka ScLoHo
With help from my family, I spiffed up my wardrobe and became an equal to the business people I would meet with. At least that was the impression I was trying to convey. I probably carried it off pretty well, or is it pretty good? See, I really don’t care which is grammatically appropriate, that’s my authentic self talking.
But back to the subject of being Authentic and Appropriate. We want to trust people and trust the businesses run by people. Being Authentic is key. However, you need to temper your authenticity with being appropriate. In my personal example, if I decided I never wanted to wear a tie and sports coat when I took the job in Detroit, because I wanted to be the authentic Scott Howard radio guy who only wore jeans, I wouldn’t have lasted. Instead, I decided to grow my wardrobe and who I was. I didn’t toss all my jeans and t-shirts, I just wore them in my casual settings.
Now let’s see how this can apply to your business. What are some characteristics of you and your business that are important and needed to inspire trust and confidence?
Two examples come to mind of people I’ve met with recently. There’s the pharmacist that wears a white lab coat with his name on it. In his off hours, he can be seen in shorts, and barefoot wearing a t-shirt. If he dressed like that during business hours, he would lose the trust and confidence of his customers in many cases.
The other example is my favorite heating and cooling company. All of their techs wear clothing with brand logos and their trucks are also branded so when they pull up in your driveway, you know who it is. Imagine someone pulling up in a rusted out van wearing tattered jeans and an old sweatshirt coming over to check out the furnace. My wife wouldn’t open the door to someone like that. Not that she is a snob, she wants to feel secure that the person is trustworthy and appearances count.
You can apply this authentic and appropriate principle to all you do and to all your employees too. Be yourself, let others get to know you, but don’t share questionable stuff unless you are prepared to face the consequences.
And that brings me back to the media and marketing of your business. In all of your ads, skip the hype and keep the fine print to a minimum. Yes, you may need to have some disclaimers for legal purposes, but please don’t be a shyster. We as consumers want to spend money with businesses that we believe are honest and trustworthy.
I started out telling you that what prompted me to write this piece was a conversation with a new friend. His name is Matt Cundill and for a couple of years he has been hosting a radio insider podcast from his home in Canada. Matt is an extremely talented voice talent and his podcast is targeted to people in the programming side of radio which is his background. Here’s a link to the podcast that I was on, or just search for the Sound Off Podcast, Matt posted his interview with me on May 1st, 2018.
Matt summed up our conversation with these words,
The more I spoke to Scott about what makes a successful sales person, the more I realized that it has more in common with being on the air. Be authentic, tell the truth, work with the long term in mind…
Good words of wisdom for all of us.
by Scott Howard | Oct 10, 2017 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Let’s talk about your brand and reputation because Marketing Perceptions are Messy.
I am currently working with a local branch of an international organization that understands the importance of being accurate in their marketing messaging. So much so, that they have a compliance department that reviews all of their marketing and advertising outreach including what we, WOWO Radio are going to be doing with them this month.
I usually don’t need to jump through as many hoops as I have with this company to put together an advertising campaign for most of the people I work with, but this is fine. They understand the power of bad publicity and in this social media world how bad stuff can go viral.
I sometimes wish my local business owners were as aware of this and so that’s what we are going to talk about today.
You can control the content of your paid advertising messages because you approve those ads ahead of time.
But what about the other marketing messages that are out there?
The way your drivers behave when they are driving your company vehicles for example?
The words and actions of your staff when they are at a customers home or business?
The words and actions when your people are enjoying lunch at their favorite restaurant?
Here’s one that I take into consideration every week:
The words that are spoken that are not necessarily the words and policies of your company, but are said by a representative of your company?
Do you have a policy in place for any of this?
When I began the podcast version of my weekly website articles, I decided to play it safe and every recorded version includes the following disclaimer:
THERE IS A ROUGH TRANSCRIPTION OF THIS PODCAST ONLINE AT THE WEBSITE SCOTT HOWARD DOT ME. IF YOU WANT TO GO BACK AND READ OR CHECK OUT THE LINKS I MAY MENTION, YOU’LL FIND THEM THERE. SCOTT HOWARD DOT ME.
I WILL BE UPDATING THIS PODCAST EVERY WEEK HOWEVER IS ADDITIONAL MATERIAL THAT I WRITE THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT IN THE PODCAST VERSION BUT WILL BE ON THE SCOTT HOWARD DOT ME WEBSITE.
AND EVEN THOUGH I AM RECORDING THIS AT THE FEDERATED MEDIA STUDIOS IN FORT WAYNE, INDIANA AND I WORK FOR WOWO RADIO AND THIS IS BEING PROMOTED BY MY EMPLOYER. EVERYTHING I SAY OR WRITE IS STRICTLY MY OWN THOUGHTS AND NOT NECESSARILY THE OPINIONS OF FEDERATED MEDIA OR ANY OF THEIR AFFILIATIONS AND OR ADVERTISERS.
Click above for the link to the podcast
I wasn’t asked to include that disclaimer, but I did it as a “just in case” preventative move. I’ve been writing and publishing these stories and articles every week for years, over 6 years now at the ScottHoward.me website and other sites before that.
When I joined the WOWO advertising sales team 4 years ago, I asked and received permission from my management team to share the stuff that I write and talk about publicly. I don’t have a compliance department overseeing this before it’s published and my radio bosses don’t ask for preview copies either. They simply trust me to have the common sense to do what is right and appropriate.
Last year they came to me and asked if I would consider doing a podcast version of my website, and that’s how the Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast came about. There are links to it on the WOWO.com website. It’s a win win situation for them and for me because of the trust factor.
That trust factor is what I want you to consider as a take away from this article and podcast. You really need to let your staff know what is expected of them when they are representing your company. Put it in a company handbook, make it part of their employment contract, or what ever is most appropriate. Don’t bury it the fine print either.
You need to trust your staff to be responsible and that starts with letting them know what that means. Your customers and potential customers are watching and this is even more powerful than your paid advertising messages. Marketing Perceptions are Messy. Your job is to do your best to keep it clean.
Want help? Let’s talk.
by Scott Howard | Mar 18, 2016 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
Funny thing about writing blog posts and articles for a website that you have total control and ownership of… 
I’m talking about this one, ScottHoward.me . The funny thing is I get to decide what to write and when to write and how often and all those other things that you get to decide when it’s all yours and you don’t have to answer to others.
Did you notice that I finally reduced the number of weekly updates?
The past couple of years, I was publishing 5 or 6 days a week. Now it’s 3 days.
This is quite a departure from 2010 when I was publishing over 30 articles a week on multiple blogs.
But I bet you didn’t notice the change from 5 to 3 articles a week.
I did it to free up some time and work on quality over quantity.
I do not get paid to do this, quite the opposite, I pay all the fees and what not myself.
There is no advertising on this site either. Not a penny comes my way from typing out these words or hitting the publish button.
Except something has been happening that has been profitable as a result of posting over 1,900 articles on this site.
I have had people contact me directly to talk about how I can help them with their marketing and advertising. I wrote about this before regarding the SEO benefits. For years I have told my advertising partners to blog and none have done it consistently the way I have. My start in doing this was 10 years ago.
I’ll continue to write and share each week and if you want my help, please ask.
by Scott Howard | Dec 27, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
I publish a new article 5 days a week on this website and some weeks an extra article on the weekends.
Nearly every article is composed days or even weeks before they are published. I take time to write often in a coffee shop or comfortable chair at home. 
I encourage others to write and post often too. Even once a week is better than never. I have been doing this non-stop since 2011 on this website and other sites since 2005.
But in the last couple of weeks, I have forgotten to change the year on the “Scheduled Date” tab when writing these articles and articles that are supposed to show up in January and February 2016, have been published with a 2015 date. Subscribers may get an email that shows a new article but, when then click to read the rest on this website, it’s gone.
Sorry ’bout that but as soon as I noticed my mistake, I fixed it. You just got a preview of what’s coming next year.
Now going back to your holiday relaxing or whatever you were doing today.
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