Digital Burnout

Digital Burnout

by | Sep 24, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Do you ever get annoyed at advertising?

I did an informal and unscientific poll of friends and strangers recently and discovered that the answer is Yes.

This is nothing new.  As long as there have been advertising, there are reasons for people to dislike it.

Music radio stations that play too many commercials in a row, that’s an annoyance.

TV ads that are just plain awful, usually it’s the locally produced ones that look and sound bad.

In the digital world there are a couple of irritants I discovered too.

One is the number of times we are shown an ad when we are online.

There is a practice called remarketing that is as old as digital advertising, that is part of the culprit.

When you visit a website, it places a tracking pixel, or “cookie” on your computer and adds you to their database of website visitors.

Then when you are visiting other websites, you start seeing ads from that website you just visited.  The reason is statistics tell us less than 10% of us buy the first time we visit a website.  So to remind you of that website you were visiting and the stuff you may have bought but 90% of the time, the stuff you didn’t buy, these ads that follow you around online.

It’s a neat concept from a marketing standpoint but it has become an irritant. A recent survey said that if you are still sending ads to people who visited your website a week after they were there, you are annoying 85% of the people you are trying to convert to customers.

Nearly half only want to see your ads for 24 hours and after a couple of days, you are just creating a bad vibe for your company.

One company has taken this seriously.

Proctor and Gamble which spends between 6 and 7 billion dollars a year in advertising announced this summer that going forward, they are reducing the number of times a consumer sees the same digital ad.

I know that there are multiple ways to track our online actions and one that seems to be missing involves connecting the dots between visiting a website and making a purchase.

If the digital marketers could get an alert when we make a purchase so they stop bombarding us with ads that are wasted, because we already spent our money on what you are still trying to sell us, everyone would be happier.

I know the technology is out there to do this, it just needs to be implemented.

If you are currently doing or are considering digital ads, talk to me first.  There are better ways to invite people to become your customers and buy your stuff without annoying them to death.  Drop me a note Scott@WOWO.com.

By the way, you can subscribe to this weekly ScLoHo Media and Marketing Article update that I share on my website, you can also subscribe to the podcast version which is pretty much the same weekly content that you can listen to in 10 minutes or less.  I also have a separate email business tips newsletter called Sound ADvice that you can get by filling in the information in the box below.  All free and yours just for the asking!

 

 

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The Power of Audio

The Power of Audio

by | Sep 17, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Which is more powerful…

Audio or video?

Is what you see more powerful than what you hear?

What stirs your heart, your emotions?

If you have never been asked these questions, you should take some time to contemplate the answer before we continue.

The visual  is thought to be more powerful than the audio but it’s just not true.

Earlier in my life, I was a radio disc jockey.  I was the voice between the songs that played on the radio.  This was before there was a TV channel devoted to playing music videos.

MTV was just that at the beginning. 24 hours a day on cable TV MTV played the Top 40 Contemporary Hit Music Videos with real live V-J’s (video jocks) doing the kind of stuff I did on the radio.  It was wildly successful at first.

But there’s a reason why MTV is not a 24 hour music video channel anymore.

It’s not that the music videos are not any good anymore.  Nope, there is another reason.

Video took away an important element from the music.

Music Video’s stripped away the personal imagination and personal emotion from the music.

Before music video’s became widespread, each of us had a more personal experience with the music when it came on the radio.

We created our own personal story.  A unique personal story, all ours, not shared with anyone because it was written in our imagination and our heart.

Now I’m going to jump 30+ years to today.

Pretend you were in a coma and suddenly you woke up 3 decades later.  Or perhaps you prefer a time machine, that sounds less scary.

As we prepare for the next decade of the 2020’s I have been noticing a trend to personalized experiences once again.

I’m referring to entertainment and information.  

Instead of watching a particular TV show on Tuesday nights at 8pm, we now watch on our time schedule.  A personalized schedule. 

This has contributed to the decline in traditional TV watching on broadcast and cable channels and the increase in viewership to services like Netflix and other streaming services.  Binge watching?  Yes, that’s part of it, but it has more to do with creating our own personalized schedule.

You may ask, “What’s this have to do with playing music on the radio or music videos?” , that I was talking about a few moments ago…

Personalized Audio experiences are also on the rise.  Here’s how and why:

The options of what to listen to continue to grow.  

Podcasting is not a foreign concept, it is mainstream.  

Now the content that you find in the podcast world ranges from one extreme to another, and the quality varies tremendously too.

There are a couple dozen podcast networks that you can use to listen to your favorite podcasts with the big three currently being:

  1. Apple or iTunes
  2. Google Play Podcasts
  3. and Spotify

If you are going to have a podcast, you want to make sure you are on those three platforms.

Something else that has lead to a resurgence in listening to audio is the growth of Smart Speakers.

This summer the Nielsen company released a couple reports that MarketingCharts.com shared that showed some interesting facts about all this.

A couple of key takeaways:

  • 92% of American Adults listen to the radio every week.  What I find interesting is that in reality, they could be listening to a local radio station on a traditional car radio, at home through their smart speaker, out and about listening on earbuds plugged into their phone, or streaming on their laptops… it all counts and the relevance of local radio stations continues to remain strong.
  • 2/3 of all “out of home listening” is in cars. The numbers show that the majority of our radio listening is done away from home. Also: For advertisers trying to get the attention of adults, the prime time for listening on the weekdays starts at about 7 a.m. and remains relatively steady until it reaches a peak between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. during drive time. I can verify this in the rating information I have access to for Fort Wayne, Indiana. 
  • 9 out of 10 Podcast Listeners are also Radio Listeners. Now we’re getting to the connection between radio and podcasts. My radio station, WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne Indiana is a news and talk formated station.  WOWO has the largest number of weekly listeners according to the latest independant rating survey.  

WOWO and our other local Federated Media radio stations take the content that was first heard live on the radio and we make it accessible to listeners anywhere and anytime as podcasts too.  Did you miss an interview with the Mayor this morning during Fort Wayne’s Morning News?  You can listen to it via the podcast.  Same with nearly any interview on WOWO and some of the morning show content from our music stations too.

We also have created podcast only shows that get a ton of listeners also.  Podcasting has helped make the entire radio experience a personalized experience. 

And remember what I said at the very beginning about listening to music and not just watching the music video?  That is why our radio stations still are so popular even today.

By the way, these listeners to all this audio on the radio and podcasts are also consumers and I have ways for you to invite them to be your customers.  Contact me: Scott@WOWO.com 

Also sign up below to receive my free Sound ADvice Marketing Tips newsletter in the box below. 

 

 

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Do You Provide Meaningful Touches?

Do You Provide Meaningful Touches?

by | Aug 21, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Maintaining a good relationship with your customers is critical to your lasting success.

Roy H. Williams in his article on Advertising Oversimplified covered this:

  1. Most customers are repeat customers or referral customers. Mass media is the most efficient way to maintain top-of-mind awareness among these groups. In addition, it will bring you new, first-time customers.

  2. Your plan to stay in touch with your customers through social media and email blasts is based on the assumption that your customer is willing to open, read, listen to, or watch what you have to say. Is this actually happening? And if not, why not? (HINT: The Subject Line gets people to open it. The content, itself, gets people to share it.)

I get direct mail pieces from a couple realtors and other business people I know and I also get some emails but most of them get deleted or tossed without being read.

I even have a weekly marketing email you can subscribe to free using the form below for Sound ADvice.  

As business people we are told that we need to be doing something to maintain that connection, but is what you are doing the right thing for your individual customers?

Even if you are doing the right number of “touches” with your email or direct mail…

Are they meaningful to the people on the receiving end?

I’m not suggesting you drop everything you are currently doing unless you see no value in it at all.

I am suggesting that you also add a personal touch, the kind that is not “mass media”.

Every once in a while, I will contact some of my advertising partners with a note, a phone call or an article that would be of interest to them.

When I did this with a Financial Planner friend of mine, she asked me how I found the article I sent her because it’s from a publication written specifically for people in her field, not the general public.  I told her my research secrets and she got a greater understanding of how I am looking out for her interests, not just selling her advertising.

Like I said, I don’t recommend stopping all your mass media advertising and only focusing on personalized one-at-a-time marketing; that proved disastrous for an old friend of mine who thought word of mouth alone would be the way to go.  He had to shut his doors after he tried that experiment and his business had a 25 year history.

Do both.

Mass media reaches both your current and future customers.  Personalized messaging can be used to retain that relationship.

Want help? Contact me: Scott@WOWO.com

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Are Your Employees REALLY Working?

Are Your Employees REALLY Working?

by | Jul 6, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

An old business owner joke goes like this; a reporter one day asked the CEO of a major company, “So, how many employees are working in your company?”  The CEO replied, “approximately half of them”.

 

It’s funny, but the problem is, it’s not necessarily a joke!  Today with the ever-expanding network of digital and social capabilities, the problem is getting worse, not better.

 

A fortune.com article stated that the average worker spends a full day of the work week doing things other than, work!  Paying an employee for 8 hours and getting only 6 hours of quality time is troubling, at the least.

 

According to an article posted by thebalancecareers.com, the most significant reasons why workers waste time were:

 

35% were not challenged enough

32% felt that there was no incentive to work harder

30% got no satisfaction from what they do, and

23% were just downright bored.

 

It’s no surprise that motivated employees with clear expectations get more done than those that simply show up and do what they “think” should be done.  The trick is, how do you keep them motivated?

 

I have a list of  “10 Leadership Tasks to Inspire Performance”  that suggests it starts with hiring. Hire on attitude and effort, you can train them on the skills required. Task #4  on the list suggests you have “clear expectations”.  Most people appreciate clear direction and boundaries and will “respect only what you inspect”.  Make sure they understand that doing non-work-related tasks are not tolerated, and you can bet the time wasted will be far less.

Now there is a fine line or grey area between wasting time on the job and taking a break.  It really depends on the requirements of the job and clear expectations set at the beginning.  Most employees don’t want to be micro-managed but they may need some help and guidance at first. 

In our company, we strive to use a coaching instead of managing set-up.  Because of the different roles people play, some have more flexibility while others need to follow procedures to the T.  Our on-air staff at the radio stations have to be on time.  As a former radio personality who sometimes worked non-traditional hours, I know how important punctuality is.  Same with meetings.  Time is a valuable resource for everyone.

Yet sometimes brainstorming, research and creativity can’t be easily measured or monitored by a time clock.  The coaching model of employee management takes into consideration the individuals work style along with the requirements of the job and finds a way to make it work. 

You may wonder what does any of this have to do with media, marketing and advertising that I usually write about.

Here’s the answer:

Your staff are a huge part of your marketing.  The customer experience can turn a first time caller or visitor into a life long customer, or it can create such a negative experience that you lose their business forever.

Even if I can bring you enough leads and potential customers through an advertising program to make you a millionaire, unless you treat them right, you will go broke.  And when I say you, I mean your entire team.

If you would like a copy of the “10 Leadership Tactics to Inspire Performance”, click here. 

I also invite you to subscribe to my Sound ADvice marketing newsletter for tips on running a better business, you can subscribe in the box below.

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Boomers Still Have The Money

Boomers Still Have The Money

by | Jun 13, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Last month when my wife and I were on vacation, the publication Mediapost shared a story that I was living at the moment.

My wife and I are Baby Boomers.

Our kids are Millennials.

The business world, or more specifically the advertising world, is focused on convincing our kids to spend their money with them, which is great except…

Except they are ignoring the Boomers.

And guess who really has the money to spend on stuff.

Boomers.

Boomers Still Have The Money.

Our kids are having kids.  5 kids and their partners have created 9 grandkids.

When you have 2 or 3 kids to support, life as a 30 year old is expensive, no matter how much you make.

But when you are an empty nester, you have more choices on what to spend your paycheck on.  

And usually that paycheck is just as big or bigger in your 50’s than it was in your 20’s and 30’s.

The Mediapost article asks:

Why do advertisers ignore boomers to focus on the “it” demos: millennials and Gen Z?

Although millennials officially outnumber boomers, let’s not forget the spending power wielded by boomers.

Age is just a number to boomers, who aren’t sitting at home wondering how to connect to the WiFi and counting the minutes until they take their next round of pills. Instead, they are traveling, spend time outdoors — and, according to U.S. News & World Report, control 70% of the country’s disposable income and spend $3.2 trillion a year.

You see, that’s what we were doing.  I had 11 days off counting the Memorial Day holiday and a couple of weekends, so my wife and I traveled to Philadelphia and New York City.  We saw a Broadway musical, took time sight seeing and exploring some historic landmarks.  We hiked in the woods, ate what we wanted, stayed in nice hotels, treated our friends and had a great time.  We really didn’t need to save up for this trip, and we didn’t go into debt.

Meanwhile my younger coworkers, whose incomes are similar to mine enjoyed their 3 day Memorial Day weekends and had to spend a larger percent of their take home pay on regular living expenses for their families.

Are you getting the picture?

Here’s another quote from Mediapost:

Millennials and hot on their tail Gen Z may have some money to spend now — but boomers have it yesterday, today and tomorrow. Targeting boomers might not be as Instagrammable as a millennial demo, but it is instantly gratifying.

Advertisers, for years, were targeting the youth.  I was one of the Pepsi Generation of the 1960’s and 70’s. The sought after age demographic, when I started in the radio business was 18 to 34 year olds.

Then as that group of people who we now refer to as Baby Boomers got a little older, the desirable demographic for advertisers was 25 to 54 year olds.  That worked for awhile, when Baby Boomers were still in the age group, but now the boomers have aged out.  Boomers are now 55 and older.

The so called wise-ones in the advertising world have it wrong.

A mere 10% of marketing budgets is allocated to the boomer audience, while 50% goes to marketing to millennials.

and

Baby Boomers outspend every other generation by $400 billion annually, providing over 50 percent of U.S. consumption.

So, how can you, as a business owner or advertising marketing director, get some of this Boomer Money?

Simple.

Invite Boomers to spend money with you.

Set aside an appropriate amount of your advertising to reach the Boomers.

I currently work with three radio stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I have a rock music station, a sports talk station and a news talk station.

The news talk station, WOWO is king.  It is the station that Baby Boomers grew up listening to back when they played music and it was a personality radio station.  WOWO still is a personality driven radio station with our news and talk format, it is the leading station for all grown-ups and the most listened to by Boomers.

The advertisers that are using WOWO to invite Boomers to spend money are doing very well these days.  

I have a couple of travel agencies that each promoted special vacations to Ireland and Alaska. (Those were two separate trips.) I saw over 50 WOWO listeners and their friends pony up the bucks to go on these exclusive trips and we in the planning stages for next year.  That’s just one example I bring up because of my vacation travels last month.

What else are WOWO radio’s Baby Boomer listeners spending money on?

Health care.

Financial Planning.

Home improvements and new homes.

Nielsen established that boomers spend almost $90 billion a year on cars — nearly 30% more than other age groups. 

and remember those grandkids and their parents?  

We spend money on them too!

Honestly, if you want to grow your business over the next few years, contact me about inviting Boomers who Still Have Money to spend it with you.  Drop me a note to Scott@WOWO.com 

Also for more marketing tips and insight, you can subscribe to my free weekly newsletter titled Sound ADvice in the box below.

 

 

 

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