by Scott Howard | Jun 14, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Fort Wayne, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, Uncategorized, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
I offer both radio advertising services with WOWO radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana and digital marketing services via our Federated Digital Solutions division. But today, I’m going to break the hearts of my digital marketing friends with the declaration that: Radio Advertising is the Real SEO!
Every week I have someone tell me that they want to increase their Google rank, which means that they want to be at the top of the Search Engine Results Page when someone Googles their business category.
While that may be a worthy goal, I’m here to tell you, it’s kind of a stupid goal. I’ve been around the advertising world to remember when the printed yellow pages were still being used by consumers.
The Yellow Pages was what our parents and grandparents would use to find a phone number for a business before the internet made it obsolete. This annual publication would list businesses that bought ads in each category and in alphabetical order.
For example let’s say you want to order a pizza.
This is a real pizza from Acme’s FB page
If you don’t have the phone number memorized, ah yes, we used to memorize phone numbers, now I don’t even know my kids phone numbers. Anyway, if you wanted a pizza you got out the phone book and if you were not sure which pizza place to call, you’d look in the Yellow Pages under the category Pizza. That’s where all the pizza joints would be listed in alphabetical order, at least the ones that bought an ad in the phone book.
It was better to be named Acme Pizza than Zoli’s Pizza because Acme was in the front of the listings. Sort of like looking up Pizza on Google, Acme would automatically rank number one on page one . That is until someone opened up Ace Pizza. Because alphabetically Ace Pizza comes before Acme Pizza.
I’ve had pizza from the Acme
That’s how our parents would find the number or address to all kinds of places, the phone book, because they didn’t have the internet.
But you know what was even better than being found in the Yellow Pages with all the other Pizza shops?
Having your customers remember your pizza place so they could look in the white pages instead of the yellow pages. The white pages of the phone book listed everyone in alphabetical order instead of by business category. If my parents wanted a pizza from Zoli’s pizzeria, all they had to do was open the white pages of the phone book, flip to the Z’s and find Zoli’s.
How did businesses like Zoli’s become well known so that people would look for the number for Zoli’s Pizza and not any other pizza place? They developed Top Of Mind Awareness. Their customers knew that Zoli’s was where they wanted to order their pizza from and they did.
This Top Of Mind Awareness is a Human Relationship Principle that I talked about recently. We develop preferences and those preferences are on our short list of consideration. So when someone says, “let’s get a pizza!” we don’t have to wonder, “who can sell me a pizza? and start searching the yellow pages, or to move this scenario up to today, we don’t Google “Pizza”, we Google “Zoli’s”.
Top Of Mind Awareness can help set a business apart when we look online in other ways too.
Because sometimes we do Google “Pizza” and Google gives us about 10 results on the first page of results. Let’s say Zoli’s is on that first page, but they are number 7 and the first 6 listings are for places we either don’t like, have never had, or never heard of before. Top Of Mind Awareness will motivate us to call skip past those first 6 pizza joints and call Zoli’s because just like in the old phone book days, we know we are going to like a Zoli’s Pizza.
A very old ad for Zoli’s
So back to that statement, Radio Advertising is the Real SEO? How does that work? Radio ads can create Top Of Mind Awareness. Even when we are not thinking about pizza, when the radio station plays an ad for Zoli’s Pizza, we hear it and it reinforces the idea in our head, hearts and stomachs that the next time I want pizza, it’s going to be a Zoli’s Pizza.
I’m going to use a real life example, hamburgers. McDonald’s is the most recognized hamburger brand around the world because they continually advertise to keep that Top Of Mind Awareness going. You can buy a better burger and spend more money than McDonald’s, heck you may never eat at McDonald’s but they certainly have Top Of Mind Awareness, right?
15 years ago when businesses were jumping on the “I gotta have a website for my business” bandwagon, I helped several companies be found online by promoting their website in their radio ads. We still do it. Because it works.
When a business owner tells me that he gets all his customers from Google, we dig a little deeper and discover if they actually had Top Of Mind Awareness when his customers went online or are they just one in a thousand in the search results.
I can help you become the preferred choice for your customers, want my help? Let’s talk.
by Scott Howard | Jan 27, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
Today, a step back to last year. That’s when I originally published this and here it is updated because this is important for your business:
You might be one of those folks that don’t like the idea of competition and the whole you vs. them, idea turns you off.
I understand. I’m not a win at all costs kind of guy. I believe there is room for more than one of lots of things.
You don’t have to beat your competitor in what they do. You simply need to make sure people know you are the best at what you do.
Read that again.
The battle is not with your competition. It is a battle for your customers money.
The worst way to attempt to win this battle is by selling your stuff cheaper than others.
You are devaluing what you sell when you do this.
Instead, you need to create value.
That value needs to be something that your customers will value, so you need to look at it from their perspective.
I went to the store to buy meat and cheese for sandwiches that we would be serving our family. I noticed they offered a combo deal, buy 1 pound of meat and get 1/2 pound of cheese. That sounded exactly like what I was looking for. I stopped looking at the price and instead bought 2 pounds of meat and a pound of cheese and was happy.
They made it easy for me to buy things that I wanted and they added value by pairing them together.
Each of us and our customers have spending limits. They may be arbitrary or based on comfort levels, but there is a limit each person has when being asked to invest in something.
And this is where value comes into play.
You are wanting to eat and drink something for breakfast. Do you spend pennies of a bowl of cereal and brew your own coffee? Or do you spend dollars eating out?
The competition isn’t always as direct as a Starbucks vs. McDonald’s breakfast, it is also the grocery store.
Your customers need to know why you are different and your marketing and advertising needs to set you apart from the other options, in ways that your customers will value.
I urge you, that even if you don’t want to crush your competition that you still understand this concept of You versus Them and how it applies to your business, even if you don’t think in those terms.
Need help? Contact me.
by Scott Howard | Jun 18, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo, ScLoHo's Fort Wayne
There are just too many things going on in my hometown these days. When I returned to Fort Wayne, Indiana in the summer of 1998 we had the opposite problem. Not that too many options is really a problem.
A few years ago, I used to post a Fort Wayne site of the day, for nearly 3 years straight to create a stronger online community. Last year I reduced it to 52 websites on a weekly basis and this year, one each month.
During these summer months when there is so many options for activities, I decided to pick a website that features what has become one of my favorite food festivals. And in the interest of full disclosure, the organizers of this event spend money with me on my radio station, WOWO and others to promote this event. However, this article is unrelated to that… I just think that with all the events going on in town, you should really consider this one an annual destination.
Now in their 18th year and opening today at 11:30 through Sunday, it’s Ribfest time!
by Scott Howard | Jan 15, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights
Today, a step back. You might be one of those folks that don’t like the idea of competition and the whole you vs. them, idea turns you off.
I understand. I’m not a win at all costs kind of guy. I believe there is room for more than one of lots of things.
You don’t have to beat your competitor in what they do. You simply need to make sure people know you are the best at what you do.
Read that again.
The battle is not with your competition. It is a battle for your customers money.
The worst way to attempt to win this battle is by selling your stuff cheaper than others.
You are devaluing what you sell when you do this.
Instead, you need to create value.
That value needs to be something that your customers will value, so you need to look at it from their perspective.
Last month I went to the store to buy meat and cheese for sandwiches that we would be serving our family. I noticed they offered a combo deal, buy 1 pound of meat and get 1/2 pound of cheese. That sounded exactly like what I was looking for. I stopped looking at the price and instead bought 2 pounds of meat and a pound of cheese and was happy.
They made it easy for me to buy things that I wanted and they added value by pairing them together.
Each of us and our customers have spending limits. They may be arbitrary or based on comfort levels, but there is a limit each person has when being asked to invest in something.
And this is where value comes into play.
You are wanting to eat and drink something for breakfast. Do you spend pennies of a bowl of cereal and brew your own coffee? Or do you spend dollars eating out? See the competition isn’t always as direct as a Starbucks vs. McDonald’s breakfast, it is also the grocery store.
Your customers need to know why you are different and your marketing and advertising needs to set you apart from the other options, in ways that your customers will value.
I urge you, that even if you don’t want to crush your competition that you still understand this concept of You versus Them and how it applies to your business, even if you don’t think in those terms.
Need help? Contact me.
by Scott Howard | Jan 4, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
This week is the first full work week for the new year and for many those ideas and resolutions to improve something are about to be challenged as the reality of normal life kicks in.
The holiday time off is over and most of those extra sweets and/or snacks are nearly gone. Maybe they are replaced in your frig with some strange objects known as fruits and vegetables.
I was toying with the idea of eating a salad as my usual breakfast this year. I’m still mulling it over.
Some of you may decide to change other habits, like sleep or exercise. I’ve discovered that sleep is fun. Most nights my wife and I are asleep by 10:30 and awake 8 hours later. We sort of fell into this habit a few years ago. The exercise routine I developed in 2013 when I worked at a place that had an onsite work out room and a personal trainer that would come twice a week. For a few months I was a regular until I developed an issue with one of my eyes due to over exertion one afternoon. So now I have to look for other opportunities to improve my health via a combination of exercise and food.
Maybe the “better you”, you want to create this year involves learning. Expanding your knowledge is one important aspect that we should consciously do no matter how young or old we are. And just as important is the application. How will you take what you learn and apply it to your life and the lives of others?
This weekend, the pastor at our church issued a challenge to us. It was to simply read and study our bibles. I admit there have been times in my life that I was more a student of scripture than other times and reflecting back, I know he is right. If I want wisdom and change in my life, I need to go to the source. Regularly. Not just when I have a question.
Work wise, I can easily measure my progress in black and white, in dollars, the records are there and I have goals set for me and I also have my own goals which exceed those given to me. Because that’s the way I work.
What if we took the same approach to all these other areas that we want to be better in our lives? What if instead of setting impossible goals, we set ourselves up for success, not failure? What if we didn’t give up when we missed a goal or didn’t follow through with a resolution and instead we revisited the idea and revised the plan?
The year is upon us. Every day another 24 hours passes that we live. Until we don’t anymore.
Each day, week, month is filled with choices and you and I get to decide. I’ve decided to continue my journey to be better this year, have you?
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