Where’s The Money in 2023?

Where’s The Money in 2023?

by | Feb 27, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Depending on where you get your news and information, you’ve probably heard a lot of Gloom and Doom stories about the economy.

Some say we’re in a recession, others say “no, not yet, don’t label it with the R word.”

Some blame the President, others blame the previous President, some say Covid, others say… well whatever, it doesn’t really matter.

For those of you who age 35 or younger, your adult lives were relatively stable until 3 years ago, economically speaking.

By 2010, a mere 13 years ago, the U.S. economy was in a growth mode that lasted 10 years. Inflation was down, unemployment was disappearing, stock prices were on the upswing and overall, except for the political bickering, we really didn’t that much to worry about.

Sure, there was and is talk about climate change, human rights, making sure everyone was being treated fairly without bias due to gender, skin color, race, or anything else that needs improvement.

But for today, I’m talking about money and the health of our economy in the United States.

Generally speaking, as a group, we were doing well.

But the impact of Covid related decisions has thrown us into a bit of turmoil and confusion.  Shutting down businesses, toilet paper shortages, overwhelmed health care operations.  Followed by disruptions in the supply chain for essentials besides toilet paper and eventually rising prices has had an impact on most people.

Those of you under the age of 35 haven’t seen this before and that can create fear of the unknown.

Those of us who are old enough to be your parents, have lived through challenges similar to this and I’m here to attempt to reassure you.

I turned 63 on my last birthday and am at the tail end of the baby boomer generation.  When I was a teenager, Jimmy Carter was the President.  We had just survived the Watergate years with the resignation of Richard Nixon.  Gasoline rationing was going on because we didn’t have enough.  Our country recovered and grew in the 1980’s.

The next big crisis I recall off the top of my head would have been September 11th, 2001.  The world stopped as all air flight was grounded and we had no idea what to expect.  We made adjustments and continued until the housing market took a tumble in 2008 and again, gloom and doom was the mood.

2008 was the year that a widely unknown candidate for the Presidency of the United States went all the way to the White House on a message of Hope & Change. It was during the Obama years that those of you that are 35 or younger first started becoming aware of money and what things cost.

On my team at Federated Media, the youngest is turning 26.  She is the first year of Gen Z.  I also have three Gen X and two Boomers. The life experiences color each of their perspectives and outlooks on life today and in the future.  But each is different too due to factors not related to age.

The original question of this piece is not about attitudes but reality.

The reality of who’s got the money to spend in 2023.

As a generation, the biggest chunk is still with the Baby Boomers, followed by Gen X and then Millennials.

In advertising, there used to be an ideal age demographic that was initially 18 to 34 year olds for a number of years and then shifted to 25-54 year olds.

Nearly all the advertising was targeted to people in this demographic and the question to ask is why?

Baby Boomers were the largest generation ever, spanning the years 1946 to 64 for their birthdays and by the 1980’s most of them were between ages 18-34.

As Boomers aged and started families, the desired demo shifted to the 25-54 year olds and sort of stuck there.

Problem is the youngest of the Boomers are turning 59 this year and have fallen out of favor due to their age for the advertising community.

The exception seems to be all the medical and retirement advertising.

But believe me, the people who have the money to support your business still are the Baby Boomers with over 50% of the wealth and Gen X with nearly 30% according to several studies including MarketingCharts.com.

Marketers like to focus on youth, whether that’s Millennials or Gen Z, but Baby Boomers are the big spenders. A MarketingCharts review of the latest data published by the Federal Reserve confirms that Baby Boomers hold the largest share of US household wealth. However, Gen Xers, and to some extent Millennials, are seeing their wealth climb.

As the General Sales Manager of 4 radio stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana that target our programming to reach people with money to spend, even now, I can help you by connecting our listeners to you and your business so you can convert them to become your customers in 2023.   Email me for information:  Scott@WOWO.com

7 Considerations For Successful Advertising

7 Considerations For Successful Advertising

by | Feb 13, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Media, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

As I write this on February 13th, not quite 24 hours have passed since I watched Super Bowl 57 and yet the impact of that game is reverberating in my world.

I had no skin in the game, even though the thought crossed my mind to wager since it’s now legal, but I declined.

Many advertisers, both national and local wagered that the game would be a good place to advertise and they ponied up the funds to do so.  Despite my media and marketing credentials, I watched the game as a normal person, live and on the screen.  I am going to review the game that my YouTubeTV account recorded for me, but for now, I’m just like you.

There are very few ads that I recall as being outstanding.  I remember the Pepsi Zero ads, a couple of movie ads (but don’t recall the films they were promoting), and a T-Mobile ad.

Here’s why I remember them:

I’ve seen Pepsi Zero and Mountain Dew Zero at the store recently but decided not to buy, because I like my Diet Dew just fine.  The T-Mobile ad was for $50 home internet service and it’s because I’m already a T-Mobile customer for our phone service and I’ve checked out their internet service before.   None of the ads I saw prompted me to take action and it’s doubtful that any will in the future because, well like I said, none of the other ads are top of mind with me, less than 24 hours later.

Now I know there were other companies advertising, but some of the companies I had never heard of before and I don’t remember them now.  Even the ones that I liked, I don’t recall who they were for.

Oh wait a second, I just remembered one more for Dunkin Donuts.  They used Ben and Jennifer but gave me no reason to buy a donut or whatever they were promoting.

Super Bowl Advertising used to be considered the best place to buy advertising because of the tremendous number of viewers and the supposed impact it would have on your business or brand.

Not really, instead I’ll share with you 7 Considerations For Successful Advertising:

  1. Reach. How many people will your ad reach?  Not just anyone, but the people that are likely to be your customers.  The greater the reach, the more it will cost.
  2. Frequency. How many times will those people be exposed to your ad?  During the Super Bowl all the national ads played only once so they get a frequency score of one. Some brands aired more than one ad like the Pepsi Zero ads I saw, so they get a score of two.  The higher the frequency to potential customers, the better in most cases.
  3. Messaging. A co-worker of mine has been getting a barrage of emails from a local company that have no purpose.  He entered a contest this business has going on for several weeks and every day he gets an email from them, wishing him a nice day, or something like that but there are no offers or calls to actions.  Most people would delete, unsubscribe or report this as spam.  Your Messaging has to have a purpose.
  4. Trust.  Does your advertising build Trust in your company?  Or is it detracting from your brand and image?  If your advertising has to have a lot of legalese or fine print disclaimers, you are not building trust.
  5. The Environment. Not mother earth, the environment of where your advertisement is placed. The advertising media that you are using has it’s own brand and if your brand and theirs are not compatible, that’s not good at all.  I used to work for a group of radio stations that allowed ads for “Gentlemen’s Clubs” after 9pm at night.  Unless you are running a business that doesn’t mind being associated with that, then you better not advertise on that station.  Think about it this way.  Would you want your businesses physical location next to them?  If the answer is no, then consider the same concept for your advertising.
  6. Human Relationship Principles.  Do your ads mimic normal human relationships in their presentation?  Or are they annoying ads that make you want to tune out?  You can use humor, you can use music, you can even use a straight voice, but the very best ads are the one that flow the way our conversations do when we are talking with friends and family.
  7. Trustworthy Marketing Consultant.  The majority of advertising sales people are not trustworthy marketing consultants.  Many are simply salespeople who are limited in their capabilities.  This limitation is either because of their personality, their training, or both.

It doesn’t take a Super Bowl ad to make your business successful, it takes working with someone that can help you navigate and understand what I just mentioned and who has the competence to work with you to dig in and create what’s needed.  Contact me if you want help,  Scott at WOWO.com

Past, Present, Future

Past, Present, Future

by | Dec 20, 2022 | The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

As I write these words today, we have about 10 days left in the month and the year. Many of you are preparing to take some time off for the end of year holidays, while others are hurrying about trying to keep up with the busyness of this time of year.

Anytime is a good time to pause, reflect, and plan, and I hope you take the time to do that regularly.

Since I work in sales, there are some easy metrics to keep an eye on that deal with dollars and if you are in sales, you should keep an eye on those figures too.

However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Take a look at the details too, such as what did you sell?  How was it priced?  What was the gross profit?

Similarly, look at expenses.  Depending on your business, you may be in charge of just one side of this income/outgo equation, but take a look at the whole financial picture, not just your side.

Why do you sell what you sell?  Are you trying to sell somethings that no one wants to buy?  Or is the reason those items aren’t selling because your salespeople aren’t offering them?  Do yourself a favor and take the time to see what happened this year and why.

There’s another side of business that many companies have needed to pay attention to that a decade or two ago wasn’t really on most companies radar and that is culture.  Culture is the people relationship and we’ve learned recently that it’s a combination of reward and working conditions that determine if you will find, attract, recruit and retain the people you need to run your company.

Our company, Federated Media embarked on a quest to understand our culture in the different departments and find ways to improve it. Federated did an anonymous culture survey conducted by our consultancy the first year to see what the base line was so we could improve each year.

When huge changes in the workplace occurred in 2020 as we adjusted for Covid restrictions, we continued to evaluate and adjust and now on the cusp of 2023, we are continuing to make adjustments based on the present and future needs and expectations.

I am now in my 10th year at WOWO radio and Federated Media.  November of 2013, I accepted a position as an advertising sales representative for WOWO starting in December 2013. At the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, a couple of other changes took place as the General Sales Manager for WOWO radio was promoted to lead the entire Fort Wayne Federated Media operation and I took over as the General Sales Manager for WOWO.

Just about everything I’ve described so far could fall in the category of PAST.

Now it’s time to talk about PRESENT.

September and October 2022, another change took place.  The General Sales Manager of three of our other Fort Wayne Federated Media radio stations joined my sales team.  This lead to my becoming the interim General Sales Manager of WBYR, WFWI & WKJG while continuing as the General Sales Manager for WOWO.

Instead of overseeing and coaching 4, I now have 7.  Plus for the past few months I have been actively recruiting new team members, up to 5 more.  Was I busy?  You don’t know the half of it.

At first, I welcomed the challenge, but after a few weeks I discovered that multi-tasking has its limits.  Federated Media was actively looking for a new General Sales Manager for WBYR and while nothing is finalized as I write this to the best of my knowledge, a plan is in place to bring onboard a Sales Manager for WBYR in early 2023.

With that plan in place, it further defined our Fort Wayne sales operation for 2023 and quite frankly, it’s a relief.  My responsibilities will be more than they were when 2022 began, but less than they are right now.  Instead of running 4 stations like I am today, it will be two or three.

My question for you right now is what resources in people, product and other resources do you have now and are there ways to better utilize them in 2023?   That’s what we are doing.

Which brings me to the Future.

There are all kinds of influences, both internal and external, known and unknown right now that you need to plan for and make appropriate adjustments. If “this” happens, then here’s what we will do.  If “that” happens, here’s our game plan.  Certain elements are under your power while others are not.  Prepare, plan and move forward, the future is coming.

And since I’ve taken you behind the curtain in my life regarding the past and present, here’s a peek into the future, namely 2023…

Federated Media Fort Wayne has 6 radio stations, 4 of them are the major stations in terms of quantity of listeners and revenue, the other two are also great stations with smaller audiences and generate less revenue.  Two of those major stations, WMEE & K-105 have been lead by one of the very best leaders in the country.  Allison was just named a C.S.S. Talent Superstar for 2022 and this is the 2nd time she has received this national recognition which puts her in a unique club called the League of Legends.  Details are here.

There are lessons learned from watching her this year that I am going to integrate into my life in 2023.

First is changes in our people structure. Before I became the General Sales Manager for WOWO, my predecessor was the General Sales Manager for both our Talk Radio Stations and we are going back to that.  I will be the General Sales Manger of both WOWO with our News Talk format, and WKJG with its Sports Talk Format.  My new combined sales team features 5 full-timers with room for up to two more.  However, we’re planning on operating with just 5 unless someone outstanding comes our way that we should add to our team.

(This is one of the lessons I’ve learned from Allison: Wait For The Right Person.)  She had two openings on her two stations for the past two years and she waited and waited until she was impressed enough to bring on two new people to her teams. Allison’s sales teams broke records without those two new people because she grew and developed the 6 she already had.  It takes a lot of time, training and mentoring in the first few years to help a new person in our business develop into a fully contributing member of the sales team.

I have a couple of veterans on my team who have had their best years EVER in 2021 and 2022, so I am going to give them extra help and support to get to the NEXT level in the next two years.   I also have two others on my team who are still at the beginning stages of their WOWO careers and have tremendous potential in 2023, so I am giving them the tools and resources to grow in the year ahead.

And finally I have another veteran on our Sports Talk Station that is in a hybrid position that is getting my attention to take advantage of his unique talents to grow in 2023.

To summarize my future, it’s to grow my current team to help them, help their current and future clients even more and each of them will also be rewarded financially as it happens.

Yes, we are still taking applications and advertising for future openings because we don’t ever want to be left short handed.  People retire, spouses get offered positions out of town, things happen which can create openings.  Contact me, Scott@WOWO.com if you want more information.

While I’m doing this at the end of one year and beginning of a new year, this is a process I do all the time and I encourage you to do the same.

Evaluate the Past.

Take stock of the Present.

Plan for the Future.

January 5th Update:  Just wanted to mention that part of what I wrote in December has been delayed.  For the foreseeable future, I am going to continue to be the interim General Sales Manager for Federated Media’s Fort Wayne Rock Station, 98.9 The Bear.

We are continuing our outreach and evaluation of qualified candidates for this intrical position.  Contact me for details.  

As far as my focus, it will continue to be on our two talk stations with a supporting role for the two music stations I mentioned.

 

Trust is the Glue

Trust is the Glue

by | Nov 1, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Trust.

This five letter word is the glue that holds our world together.

Over the years I’ve been writing, publishing and podcasting, the theme I keep coming back to is Human Relationship Principles.  And the key to all human relationships is trust.

Before I dig into the marketing and advertising thoughts regarding Trust, let’s stand back at look around our world.

From the day we are born, we place our trust in an adult to feed us and take care of us.  As we grow older, we become more self-sufficient and those needs change but trust is placed in other things and people.  As simple as putting trust in the chair you are sitting in right now.  Trust that when you are driving down the road that the person driving towards you will stay on their side of the road while you stay on your side.  That’s trust.

Trust in relationships also pertains to agreements between countries.  A level of trust has to come with signing treaties. Agreements between companies always have a trust factor.

In the most personal relationships, we trust.  Trust that the person you lay down to sleep with is not going to harm you.

Trust can be broken and how we deal with broken trust will impact future relations.

Spending money on something involves trust too.  There is a reason some people buy chips from the dollar store and others buy them from the supermarket, but no matter where you buy them, you trust that what’s inside the bag is worth the money you paid.

When we don’t know who to trust, what do we do?

We look around for recommendations.

However not all recommendations are valued equally.

Research firm Ipsos released a survey that talks about who adults trust for recommendations.

The top couple of trusted groups are unchanged from surveys I’ve seen for decades.

7 out of 10 adults trust their family members and 2/3rds trust the recommendations of friends when deciding what or where to spend their money.

This has traditionally been called Word Of Mouth and I’ll get back to it in a second.

All the other sources for recommendations scored poorly,  Under 40% of adults trust casual acquaintances. Someone who works in the store or for the company were only trusted 37% of the time.

All the online resources including company websites, companies on social media, review sites, social media groups, even the social media influencers scored in the 30’s or 20’s out of 100 for being trusted enough to spend money.

Why is this you ask?

It’s all about the Human Connection.  We know our family, we choose our friends and we trust friends and family to have our back.  All those others, they’re just out for themselves, at least that’s our perception, deep down in our gut.

Marketers are looking to create advertising campaigns that will persuade us to buy what they are selling.

Smart marketers include the trust factor in their plans.

9 years ago, I joined Federated Media’s WOWO radio advertising sales team.  I had worked for other media companies and radio stations in Fort Wayne and I even worked for Federated Media earlier in my life on the air for sister station WMEE.

Why did I join WOWO in 2013?

Trust.

Ben Saurer was a young 20 something-year-old whose first real job was working in radio at a group of stations I was with and he left when he was hired by Federated Media to become their General Sales Manager for WOWO.  I knew Ben from our time together and I trusted Ben.

I trusted Ben enough to meet with him on the sly as I was working for an e-commerce company, as hour out of town, to discuss the possibility of us working together again.  Difference was, I would be working for him instead of the other way around like when we first met.

This trust factor along with trust in my own ability led to my taking an initial pay cut without a guarantee that I would earn it back; along with being the 5th person on a five person sales team.  A little background on what it means to be #5 on a 5 person team.  You’re not sitting in the superstar spot.  #5 on a 5 person sales team is a revolving door.

Nothing was promised to me, no established accounts to take over, none of that, just an opportunity that was mine to take advantage of.

All of the accounts from my past were handled by the other 4 members of the WOWO sales team.  Let’s be blunt about this.  #5 on a five person team has about a 10% chance of making it, and that’s optimistic.

During the first year, I ended up winning the Super Goal award for Federated Media’s Fort Wayne stations.  Out of about 20 sales people, I exceeded my budget goals more than anyone else when measuring percentages.  I was not the top salesperson, I was not in the top 5, I don’t know where I was actually in dollars, but I beat expectations.  That 10% chance of survival was overcome and then some.

2014 was my first full year at WOWO.  2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 were mostly growth years. And then 2019 something happened.

It was a year that exceeded expectations and budget goals again and I ended up winning the Super Goal award for Federated Media’s Fort Wayne stations again.  The difference in dollars was tremendous however. 2019 versus 2014 for me was a difference of around $500,000.

Besides winning the Super Goal award, I also won the Account Manager of the Year in 2019 for the entire Federated Media organization.  That was based on dollars.

Trust was the reason behind this success.  Business owners grew to trust me and the radio station, WOWO.  Now WOWO itself has earned respect and trust for it’s legacy that began in 1925 and in a couple of years will be celebrating a century on the air.  WOWO has had legendary radio personalities and our current line-up features two outstanding people who are trusted by their listeners.

Pat Miller hosts the Pat Miller Talk Show, weekday afternoons from 3pm to 6pm and Kayla Blakeslee is the host for Fort Wayne’s Morning News weekday mornings.

When Pat and Kayla talk, people listen.  But it’s more than listening, a relationship develops over time.  This is what happens what a radio personality is allowed to be real and share themselves on the air and as a news and talk formatted station, WOWO listeners have developed a Trust relationship with us.

The most successful campaigns on WOWO have Pat or Kayla as their spokesperson.  Their listeners Trust them,  it’s Word Of Mouth with a Bigger Mouth.

Recently I took over the sales departments at sister stations 1380, The Fan, our Sports Talk station; along with 98.9 The Bear, Federated Media’s Heritage Rock Music Station and BIG 92.3, our Classic Hits Music station.  The trust factor is there too on our music stations and here’s why…

No matter if you’re listening to Brett on the Sports Rush, Pat or Kayla talking about the news, or listening to your favorite tunes on BIG or the Bear, you are not just intellectually involved, you are emotionally involved too with your favorite stations.

Trust is an emotional connection and that is why I have seen so many businesses be successful when they invite listeners who have an emotional bond with their favorite station, also trust the advertisers, especially when the ads tie into that emotional side of us and nurture trust.

Sure, you can create some boring ads that just present the facts and hope they work.  You can create some gimmicky ads to promote what YOU want to sell, but if they leave out the human side and do nothing to build trust, your chances for success are limited.

Want to know more about how to integrate Trust in your marketing outreach?  Contact me.

https://omny.fm/shows/the-scott-howard-genuine-scloho-media-and-marketin/287-scloho-podcast-trust-is-the-glue
ScLoHo Changes

ScLoHo Changes

by | Oct 11, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

UPDATE on 2/28/2023:

Despite what I wrote and my intentions a few months ago when I wrote this piece, I am going to be updating more than once a month.  Maybe weekly again.  We shall see.  There’s just too much on my mind not to share with you.  Last night I felt the urge and wrote and published this: https://www.scotthoward.me/wheres-the-money-in-2023/

Now here’s the original article:

This article and the audio version which is podcast episode # 286 is to announce some changes. The short version is I am going to reduce the number of articles I publish and podcasts I record.

This is due to a change in focus in my life and changes in the world around us.

Right now there are 1570 articles that I wrote and published on this website and most of them over the past 5 and half years have been captured in audio form as the Genuine ScLoHo Media and Marketing Podcast.  When I began writing and publishing the articles, over 15 years ago it was the beginning days of blogging and I actually had multiple blogs.  Some were updated weekly, others 3 or 4 times a day.  This was not a full-time gig, it was a side hustle, but not quite.

Side hustles are usually designed to make money.  Writing and blogging never had a direct connection to making money for me.  This was a passionate hobby.  If I was an artist, I would have been creating dozens and dozens of pieces each week, but as someone who has spent a considerable amount of my life in the media and marketing world, writing about it has been my creative outlet.

For awhile, there were just a few of us in Fort Wayne, Indiana that were blogging consistently and then I realized I was the only one of those that started out around 15+ years ago.  Long time acquittance and friend Anthony Juliano started shortly after he joined the Asher Advertising Agency where he’s been for 18 years and his focus has changed and sharpened over the years.  Most everyone I know with a few exceptions have stopped.

First off, I’m not stopping.  I am however going to change the frequency.  My intention is to do a monthly article and podcast update instead of weekly.

Two reasons:

Time is primary for me.  In 2020, my position with Federated Media changed from being a member of the WOWO radio advertising sales team, to becoming the General Sales Manager of that team.  It has taken close to three years for me to minimize my selling role on our team. In 2020, despite my being in management, I was still the number 2 salesperson for WOWO.  In 2021, I was either #2 or #3 every month.  My goal for 2022 was to reduce my selling time even more, to next to none, and with some staffing changes the past few weeks, that looks very possible.

The beginning of October however saw some additional organizational changes start to occur and for at least an interim basis,  I am also managing 3 more stations along with WOWO for the rest on this year.  The time I need to devote to the sales teams and the individuals that make up these teams is more important than ever.

Years ago, when I was with another group of radio stations and was promoted to a General Sales Manager position, I asked my boss, which was more important, my own sales or the sales of the people on my team.  He took the easy answer and said both.  I decided that it was more important to be able to multiple my time than add.  8 plus 2 = 10.  8 x 2 = 16.

What that meant to me is instead of adding two more hours to my day, it was a better investment of time to teach, train, coach and mentor others to be their best.  That’s the multiplying principle.

Something else I’ve learned from a guy I just heard of this year, Mike Weinberg, is that that Sales Managers and Sales People should employ different skills and talents.  Sometimes they are opposites in those two positions.  Our companies outside sales consultancy has different online talent assessments that potential candidates take for different positions.  Some do well in Sales but are not so great in Sales Management.  Honestly, less than half the people we have taking any of our online talent assessments score high enough to be considered for employment.

Here’s why we put so much value in those talent assessments…

Talent is like your height, skill is like your weight.  Once we become adults, we stop growing taller.  Our core talents are what they are.  What we do have control over, all of our life, is our weight. Like skills, we can grow and develop over time with the right development.

So I said Time is one reason for my changing the frequency to monthly instead of weekly updates.

Reason number 2 is accessibility of information. You and I have access to more information that ever before.  You don’t know the answer to something?  Ask your phone!

If you want to know what I think about something, there are two ways to find out.  My website has a search feature powered by Google.  Having published so many articles on the subject of media and marketing over the years, you’ll likely discover I already answered your question.   Also you can reach out to me directly.  I don’t hide.  My personal email is Scott@ScLoHo.net and you can also find my phone number for phone calls and texts at my website too.  You can direct message me on the socials too.  I’ve been on Twitter since October 2008 and am on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn too.

Thanks for your time today, my next update will be in November