by Scott Howard | Sep 20, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Media, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
It’s a question that some people ask out loud and others may not ask me directly but they are thinking, “Why Does a Radio Guy Also Sell Digital Marketing Solutions?”
Excellent question.
Here’s the answer.
My background is in radio. From the time I was 16 until I was 26, I loved being on the air. Then I moved over to the business side creating ad campaigns in Detroit for my radio clients. I became a student and teacher of marketing, advertising, sales, persuasion, and something I call human relationship marketing.
Jump ahead to 2005 and I started using digital (the web) to market myself using the same concepts I had learned 15+ years earlier.
With me, Scott Howard aka ScLoHo, you get to work with an individual who understands both the traditional broadcast world and the newer digital world. I walked away from my paying jobs in radio twice in recent history to work full time in the digital world. The first time was in 2011, when I joined a website development firm. A couple years later, I joined a multi-million dollar e-commerce biz as their Social Media director.
Now I work for WOWO radio which is one of the stations owned by Federated Media. Federated Media also has a digital division, Federated Digital Solutions. 
Federated Media created Federated Digital Solutions because many of their radio advertising clients were also looking for ways to market themselves online. Federated Media decided to invest in creating another division of the company. During my three years, I have seen our digital division grow and we now have 20+ people working for Federated Digital Solutions.
Those 20+ people at Federated Digital Solutions (FDS) have a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. The goal was to find the best available talent in the country and create the FDS team.
But there’s more.
Several of the digital solutions use outside vendors that we have access to that you simply can’t buy on your own. We also have two layers of expertise working on all of these digital marketing campaigns. There’s the expertise of our vendors and the expertise of the FDS team.
With me, you actually get a 3rd layer of expertise. Me. Scott Howard aka ScLoHo.
Because of my background, experience and knowledge, I really do know more than most of my radio co-workers. No, I’m not a know-it-all, but I do know how to Google to get the answers on stuff that I don’t know.
Here’s something else that’s important.
I care more about my reputation than what I sell.
I care more about your success than what I sell.
When I started at WOWO, I sold next to nothing from the digital solutions offered by FDS. I wanted to see the results and I wasn’t willing to use my advertising partners as test subjects. But as I watched, observed and questioned, I saw that the performance of the Federated Digital Solutions team was top notch. I also got the opportunity to see what other companies were selling and through that comparison, I saw how we were superior to others.
I’ve seen what Nexstar Broadcast Group was trying to sell as digital solutions and it was crap.
I’ve seen the actual results of Dex Media and what they sold to come of my advertising clients and did digging and found a huge pile of manure.
There are a couple of local companies that are selling digital marketing solutions that are worthless. My friend Kevin, called it marketing malpractice when we were discussing what I was seeing, and Kevin is one smart dude when it comes to doing digital marketing correctly.
Advertising agencies, both local and national are understaffed and under-qualified to be doing the digital work they are selling.
This summer I found out one of my advertising partners bought a website for $27,000 from one of these advertising agencies and it’s really messed up. Sure it looks okay to the naked eye, but it is impossible to optimize for the search engines (SEO) due to the platform they built it on. We can rebuild it for less that 1/3 that cost.
One last item in answering the question, “Why Does a Radio Guy Also Sell Digital Marketing Solutions?”
There actually is a study that shows how broadcasting works best in driving people to your website. A couple lines from the article that caught my eye:
Here’s why radio and TV have the advantage: While print media requires hands, broadcast media leaves them free to do other things . . . like type in a URL, tweet something, or click “like.”
Want to talk? Let’s connect
by Scott Howard | Sep 15, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo Sales Tips, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Pay attention as I tell you a true story and see if it applies to your business:
I’ve got a great client, they are a true advertising partner.
Our partnership began last year when I volunteered to help them formulate an advertising and marketing plan that they could use with me or without me.
They decided to use me and a few of the advertising solutions I have available thru my radio station, WOWO and our digital division, Federated Digital Solutions.
I also help them plan and buy other advertising from others. I am their unpaid advertising consultant. But I am going beyond the advertising world with them.
I want them to be as successful as possible and anything I can do to help them to help their customers solve their problems is what I am attempting to do.
I have observed a disconnect at times in how they are communicating with the potential customers that are calling them, and it’s costing them business. 
Oh, they are very successful despite this, but they can do better.
They are a service business. If you need them to fix something at your home, you call them and they send out a technician who will diagnose the problem and offer to fix it.
But here’s where I have been observing the disconnect…
I have witnessed phone calls where a potential customer calls and asks questions and what they really want is their problem solved. Not a conversation over the phone or even possible answers over the phone.
If you are a service business and your phone is ringing with potential customers on the other end, they have problems they want you to fix. This wasn’t happening all the time with my advertising partner.
I listened to calls that the service manager took and he wasn’t setting up appointments for his techs. I listened to phone calls that the owner answered and they weren’t consistently setting up appointments either.
Advertising can make the phone ring. It’s up to you and your crew to convert those calls into happy customers.
You may not be aware that there is a problem. My advertising partners were not aware. Business was booming and they were busy.
But they could be busier.
So I’m going to do a training session with the office staff. I’m going to teach them how to answer the phone.
I’m going to teach them to answer the phone when a potential customer calls with a problem and set an appointment so they can help solve those problems and create more happy customers.
I care about this stuff. You should too, if you own or run a business. Are you missing some customers?
Want help? Reach out to me. My contact info is below.
by Scott Howard | Sep 12, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo Sales Tips, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
Too often I see so called marketing experts who are trying to game the system and push some technology that they claim will beat the pants off everyone else and blah, blah, blah…
What I look for when I see this stuff is are they also taking into consideration the human factor? Or more accurately, the Human Relationship Factor? It’s something I preach all the time. 
Last week this article from Mediapost arrived in my email which gives a few tips, especially when the buyers are age 50+:
People Make All Purchase Decisions
In a recent article, “All purchase decisions are made by people” Gavin Finn,CEO of Kaon Interactivewrote, “While data science and analytics have become an essential element of every modern marketing arsenal, it is wise to remember that people make all purchase decisions.”
He goes on to say, “Even in business purchases, the individual decision-makers are subject to the same strengths and weaknesses as consumers. Neuroscientists have proven that every decision has an element of emotion to it . . . In fact, many behavioral scientists believe that the primary decision drivers are mainly emotional.”
When marketing to Baby Boomer’s (52 to 70 years of age), focusing on product features and benefits often results in a losing strategy, especially early on in the process. As shown above, research has shown that consumers’ final decisions are not the direct product of the reasoning process; in fact, as we age emotions drive us even more in our purchase decisions. The reasoning process will confirm their decision, but it doesn’t start there.
Although all of us have basic human values and motivators that drive us, we manifest them differently as we move through the spring, summer, fall, and winter of life. Selling to Baby Boomer customers is different primarily because of this shift how we manifest values and motivators.
Our human need for identity, relationships, purpose, gaining knowledge and growth, rejuvenation and recreation are always with us. However, as we age, we focus more on having meaningful life experiences compared to our younger selves that concentrate on gaining material goods. As such, it’s in your best interest to determine and communicate how your brand, product or service provides a gateway to meaningful life experiences.
Sales professionals should begin a sales presentation by first developing a relationship.
1. Understand you’re in an emotionally charged environment and take the time to practice focused listening. Salespeople often speak to the customer in a very staccato fashion. They immediately start talking about their product/service’s features and benefits without trying to build the relationship first. This approach is not usually practical, because as we get older, we become more resistant to absolute guarantees or propositions than when we were younger.
2. Never rush the Boomer customer or patronize them. The older we get, we more easily recognize and the more we reject being patronized. Marketers and sales professionals should allow the consumer to pull wanted information; not push it at them.
3. Deliver objective information at a slow-to-moderate pace. Avoid jumping around on the issue. Maintain a steady equilibrium as you speak. Ask many open-ended questions that start the customer talking.
4. Be vulnerable, honest and open about who you are. The more honest you are, the better your chances are of developing a good solid bond in the relationship. Show sincere empathy and reduce your reliance on sales charts and other tools, and take more time to understand the Boomer’s needs and wants.
5. Saying less is more in many instances especially in the early stages of communicating. Let the consumer use his or her imagination to interpret your communications. Be prepared to provide more detail as requested.
Challenge your current sales approach and gain a better understanding of the physical as well as behavioral changes of aging consumers. Remember that as we age, we can’t hear, or taste or see as well, and if your sales approach, product information or environment isn’t user-friendly to these consumers; you’re often wasting your time.
The American historian Daniel J. Boorstin once said: “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” In other words, what stops you from knowing the truth is acknowledging a false truth as the truth. If you think you have the truth, but don’t, you stop seeking it. Keep seeking the truth.
by Scott Howard | Sep 8, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
I saw this quote a few times this year,
If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.
And I’ve also heard people react to the way they are being tracked and targeted by “Big Data”.
Big Data is simply the information that is gathered about us electronically and organized online.
Some of it is very specific, other is general.
We have been voluntarily providing this information for years.
Your first email account perhaps was a hotmail, yahoo or aol email address. Or if you are younger, maybe gmail was and is your email service of choice.
These free email accounts were collecting information about me and you and that was just the beginning.
Facebook and every single social media platform is gathering data about you.
Your phone with its built in GPS, knows and tracks where you go.
When I got a new phone last year, I added some apps for gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and a few others to take advantage of “discounts”. You may have some on your phone too.
As the quote says, if you didn’t pay for any of these services, your data is what is being collected and sold to others.
We give our data freely. In return, we are targeted with ads and offers that are customized to what Big Data knows about us.
They even tell us when we absent-mindedly agree to the T.O.S. (Terms Of Service) agreements that we click on without reading when we sign up for the free stuff.
It’s not bad and it’s not good. Data collection is neutral. It’s like money. It can be used for good or evil.
In reality, none of us who do anything online can escape and we really don’t need to.
If you want to use this Big Data to locate and target your future customers, I can do that. 
My company has partnered with the best vendors to offer these online services, more than I can explain today. We call it Opt-In as part of the Federated Digital Solutions and radio divisions of our company. Contact me for details on how we can do this.
In the meantime remember,
If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.
and relax.
by Scott Howard | Sep 5, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Media, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
I recall a few years ago watching the Emmy awards and wondering if any of the major broadcast networks were going to win any awards.
By broadcast networks, I mean the networks that you can watch over a traditional television without cable or internet. In most cities that includes ABC, CBS, NBC and sometimes FOX, CW and MY networks. PBS too.
As I was reviewing emails from the summer I saw one from MarketingCharts/MediaPost that pointed out a generation gap in how we watch. This study actually counts satellite and cable tv as part of the traditional tv group
From the looks of it, it appears that the current batch of 40 year olds are at the age of switching from watching live traditional TV to other delivery methods such as streaming or delayed viewing on other devices.
My kids are definitely watching plenty of streaming video compared to traditional television. My wife and I are over 50 and we watch streaming video too because of the convenience of it.
My guess is that the switch is not just because of our ages, but the switch will accelerate as more and more older adults become aware of the choices they have.
And now a note of caution for the businesses that are relying on their local television stations to advertise with… The audience isn’t just getting older, it’s shrinking too and will not be coming back.
How much traditional TV did you watch over this Labor Day Weekend versus how much streaming video did you view?
by Scott Howard | Aug 29, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
I’ve talked a lot recently about the term Experts.
Expert is not a title you earn by going to school or completing certain training. Being an expert involves many aspects but generally speaking…
An Expert is someone who has expertise in something beyond the average person. 
Often a degree is required, like a Doctor. Or other credentials for other professions.
But Not All Experts Are Experts.
In the media and marketing world, you can become certified and credentialed, but the question remains can you deliver? Do you have success stories? Do you have data to back it up? Do you have positive reviews? Are you following best practices?
Even if you are a nice person, you may not have earned that expert title, yet. If you want to be better and grow your expertise, you can do it.
I was researching some information for an advertising partner and was bothered by the level of expertise that an “expert” had. It was lacking… not up to par with what my advertising partner should be getting for the money spent each month.
I dug further and discovered numerous mistakes online. These were not invisible to the average person mistakes, but obvious ones to the naked eye.
It made me sad, actually because I really was hopeful that this “expert” was the real deal, but now I can’t recommend them anymore.
It’s not fair for me to publicly tell you who I am referring to. Instead I urge you to do your research. If you don’t know how to research, or what criteria matters, then ask. There are plenty of people who have the knowledge to guide you to find the right expert you need for your business. Lawyer, accountant, social media, advertising, plumbers, you name it, you can find it.
And I’d be glad to help you double check on anyone in the marketing, media, online, advertising world both locally and nationally too.
Just ask me.
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