I’m going to make this quick as it’s the Friday going into a Labor Day weekend. Many folks are taking today off to get an extra long holiday in.
Others are mentally checked out even if they are working.
Then there is a group of folks who are trying to get everything done today since they won’t be working Monday but the workload of 5 days still needs to be done.
Here’s the reminder:
You will listen to the radio this weekend.
So will your customers.
Many will decide when they are in the car, what to buy and where to buy it.
Those businesses that advertise on the radio when we are deciding where to grab a burger, (like McDonald’s) get more business than those that don’t invite us at that moment of decision.
Have a great weekend and I’ll be here to help you invite more customers to spend their money with you via the radio when you return to work.
I’ve spent more than half my life earning a living in the radio business. From my early days as a teenager getting my licence from the Federal Communications Commission (3rd Class with a Broadcast endorsement) to today as a member of the WOWO advertising sales team, it’s been quite a ride.
Last month I saw this video which features some actual radio ads from 1965, 50 years ago:
Today in 2015, radio is the most listened to media, with 90% of all Americans listening every week.
That beats the number of people who do nearly anything else with media. Even Facebook, the King of Social Media doesn’t get used by 90% of Americans weekly.
Next week, I’ll share a conversation about a chart of radio listenership in Fort Wayne and WOWO that caught the attention of a new advertising partner of mine. Stay tuned…
One thing that I’ve learned during my nearly two years with WOWO Radio is that WOWO is respected by people in and around Fort Wayne, Indiana. I have two WOWO polo shirts that I wear during the warm weather months as often as possible and every single day, I have people commenting about WOWO.
Which brings me to a simple truth of How to Add Instant Credibility with WOWO Radio.
Advertise on WOWO.
That’s it.
When your name or business name is on WOWO radio, you have made it to the big time. Friends, family and current customers will likely be the first to tell you they heard you on WOWO. Then new people, people you have never talked to, or who haven’t done business with you will start checking you out.
These new people aren’t likely to volunteer that they heard your ad on WOWO, but that happens sometimes too.
WOWO has been on the air for 90 years. That is incredible. Our AM signal is the most powerful available at 50,000 watts and for a long time WOWO was heard up and down the east coast from Maine to Florida with their directional night time signal.
Today WOWO continues at 1190am and for the past few years is also heard at 92.3 FM. WOWO’s 6am hour is also on TV and where ever you are, you can listen to WOWO online.
I’ve said it repeatedly that WOWO is the only Fort Wayne radio station that has over 100,000 adult listeners.
When Charly Butcher in the morning, Pat Miller in the afternoon or any of our newscasters talk about your business, your business is instantly elevated and given credibility in the hearts and minds of our listeners. This is not true with other stations. I know, I worked for other stations in Fort Wayne and none of them have the power to add credibility to your business the way WOWO does when you advertise.
Want to add instant credibility to your business? I can help you do that. Contact me.
Today I’m wrapping up my week of articles from the ScLoHo 2008 archives with an email I received from GasPedal.com. I have no idea if the company that owns this domain is the same that owned it 7 years ago, so I’m just going to keep all the legal stuff in at the bottom.
Word of Mouth for Retailers
Three great ways to get people to talk about your stuff:
1> Give them something to walk away with
2> Use a multiplier
3> Don’t forget to ask
1> Give them something to walk away with
Put something in their hands that will start a conversation–something they’ll literally hand to the next person they see. Think about the matchbooks that every restaurant used to give away. Put your name and logo on something for your customers to take and pass along.
2> Use a multiplier
Make it easy for your customers to talk to more than one person about you. Instead of giving them one sample or coupon–give them five. If you give someone five samples, they’ll look for five people to give them to.
3> Don’t forget to ask
Sometimes all you need to do is ask nicely. Tell your staff to end each sale by saying “Thank you – don’t forget to tell a friend!” or “we’d appreciate a review!” Do the same in your emailed receipts. You’ve got a ton of happy customers who would love to support you–they just need to be reminded (and know that you appreciate it).
Earlier this month I decided to take a week off from writing fresh articles. Some people would simply not publish and be silent. I dug through my ScLoHo archives from 2008 and found a few worth updating and sharing like this from Roy Williams.
Advertising salespeople are highly paid because rejection hurts. They told me to rub Zig Ziglar on it, but the sting and the ache stayed with me. I was 20 years old.
The smiley seminar speaker said, “Look in the mirror each morning and repeat these affirmations.”
Sorry, I’ve already got a religion and it makes me very uncomfortable with self-worship. I know there’s a God and it isn’t me.
My manager tried to teach me how to overcome objections but that only made me feel worse. People were rejecting me because they assumed I was a professional liar and now I was becoming one.
Everywhere I went I heard, “I tried advertising and it didn’t work.”
“Yeah, I know,” whispered the little voice inside me, “I see it not work every day.”
You would have fired me by now, right? I would have fired me, too. But Dennis Worden saw a spark in me that he believed he could fan into a flame. Lucky for both of us, he was right.
My career found wings the day I encountered an advertiser who had a message worth hearing. I delivered his message to my little audience and his business exploded. No question about it, my tiny audience was making him rich. Now I had a success story to tell my prospects. But a success story is a doubled-edged sword. Filled with names and dates and details and numbers, success stories cut through the doubt and make prospects say yes. But the second edge – the one that cuts the seller – is the implied promise, “The same thing will happen to you.”
But if that advertiser’s message is weak, you’ll soon be hearing, “I bought what you said and it didn’t work.” I had been groping blindly in a pitch-dark room when I flicked the light switch on the wall. Suddenly everything was clear: Message and copy are two different things.
“The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you’ve gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you’ve gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.” – Chuang-tzu, 350 BC
If Chuang-tzu had been in advertising, he would have said, “Copy exists because of message. Once you’ve gotten the message, you can forget the copy.”
That first successful client owned an auto body shop. He had an invisible location but a powerful message that had never been told. I was merely the guy who uncovered his shiny message and held it up in the light. That was 30 years ago, but I can still tell you the essence of Danny’s message:
1. No one ever plans to have a traffic accident.
2. You don’t really have to get 3 estimates from 3 different body shops.
3. You don’t even have to pay your $250 or $500 deductible.
4. Your insurance company will happily pay whatever their adjustor says is the right amount.
5. When you’ve been involved in a traffic accident, call me.
6. I’ll send out a wrecker to pick up you and your car.
7. I’ll give you a free loaner car to drive while I’m repairing your car.
8. I’ll notify your insurance company and meet with the adjustor.
9. I’ll fix your car for whatever amount the insurance adjustor agrees to pay.
10. You don’t even have to pay your deductible.
11. And since we’ve already got the paint in the gun, we’ll fix those little door dings and scratches on the other side of the car that were there before the accident. No extra charge.
12. You’ll get back a car that’s better than it was before the accident.
You don’t have to be a good copywriter to create a great ad from that message. You just have to make sure the advertiser understands:
1. They need to stay on the air long enough for people to hear them and remember their message. That’s when they’ll begin to see results.
2. Then they have to wait for the listener to need them.
3. The longer they stay on the air, the deeper the message goes into memory and the better it works.
I’ve never seen an advertiser fail because they were reaching the wrong people but I’ve seen thousands fail because they had a weak message. We create failure when we assume creative copy will compensate for the fact that an advertiser has nothing to say.
Are there exceptions to what I’ve told you? Of course.
1. The advertiser with a weak message, often repeated, will prevail over a competitor with an equally weak message less often heard. When weak vs. weak, frequency is a tiebreaker.
2. The advertiser with a weak message wrapped in cleverness and humor will prevail over a competitor with an equally weak message wrapped in a brown paper bag.
3. The advertiser with a weak message and a big ad budget will prevail over a competitor with a strong message that never gets heard.
I made my fortune searching out little businesses with strong messages that had never been heard. Everyone thought I was a great copywriter, but they were wrong. I was a great message-finder.
When I finally wrapped my head around the fact that success wasn’t determined by the “rightness” of my audience, the loyalty of my audience, the size of my audience or the cleverness of my copy, I began to sell everyone I met. I knew all I had to do was dig until I found a message worth sharing. And if the advertiser didn’t have a message worth telling, I had to convince them to create one or prepare them for a life of mediocrity.
What I said to them made sense. My prospects were sold on me long before I was sold on them.
I knew I could grow the business if the business owner would only let me. When prospects didn’t want to meet with me, I no longer felt rejection. I felt pity for them. And if they were so unfortunate as to hurt my feelings I would track down their smallest competitor and make that competitor their worst nightmare.
People say I have a big ego. But in truth I’m shy and easily wounded. I learned how to make advertising work because I was unable to face my clients when it didn’t.
My how things have changed but stayed the same too.
I’ve pulled another article from the ScLoHo 2008 archives. This was just before the 2008 Republican Convention. We now have the hindsight to see what happened.
This Presidential race has stacked up to be a true test of branding might.
McCain/Maverick vs. Obama/Change.
Both parties have found their footing and have refocused their campaigns and their message. It will be a true test of two brands that are now totally focused.
What each has to do now is dig in deep on their position, their word and their message.
The Democrats put on an excellent convention that stayed on-message and on-course. As the party out of power in DC, they have a tremendous advantage in being able to claim change as their theme. The power of one word, one sign, one message was evident at the convention this week. The Clinton’s were not easily beat, but with one word (Change) a relatively unknown guy took them down.
What the Republicans need to do most at their convention next week is to showcase one word, one sign, one look. It is not about being better than the Democrats (nobody could put on a better show than Obama did Thursday night) it is about being different in a clear and focused way.
The difficulity in politics is that you need 51% of the vote to win, trying to appeal too broadly is a temptation. But in the end, the winner is the candidate that can attach himself or herself to a powerful idea in the mind.
My biggest concern for McCain is this: What will the signs say and will they all be the same. If McCain nails that, then this could be a race to remember and he might even win.
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