by Scott Howard | Dec 10, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
It’s the eve of my birthday. It’s also what has been dubbed #TBT or #ThrowBackThursday where you share something from your past.
I went to the ScLoHo archives of 2008 and found a story that I’m updating for 2015:
Relationship Based Personal Marketing
This is a personal story.
In 2003, I returned to the world of advertising after a sabbatical in plastics, publishing, and automotive manufacturing. 
I was back in my home town, having returned to Fort Wayne in 1998, but when I joined the group of radio stations I worked for in 2003, I had never done radio sales in this town. My previous experience was in Detroit.
So, I needed to meet business owners and decision makers. I did what most people did. Grabbed the Yellow Pages and started calling to make appointments. Not much fun.
So I hit the road and knocked on doors to schedule appointments. I was better at this.
But after about 6 months with moderate success, I came across a local electrician that had a small informal networking group and he asked if I would come and speak to him and his friends.
A few days later, after being introduced to the room of business owners, I did my stuff.
Except it wasn’t exactly what they were expecting.
They thought I was going to tell them all about my radio stations and try and sell them on radio advertising. Instead I gave them something they could use right away.
I talked about marketing.
I talked about their telephone.
I talked about what their customers wanted when they called.
Together we discovered that this small group of business owners could increase their business by 20 to 50% if they just changed their phone habits, so that they would be easier for their customers to do business with.
Later some of those business owners came to me for more advice on marketing and advertising and some spent money with me on my radio stations. All of them remain friends.
A few months later, I was invited to be a guest at a B.N.I. Networking group. This was a very well organized and committed group of business professionals and I joined this group and was a member for 3 years until other commitments prevented me from attending.
Over the years I have served on marketing committees and boards for non-profits and recently joined another one. I work with an outreach ministry of our church to help those in the neighborhood that the church is located in. I have been active with a Social Media & Marketing Breakfast for several years. For awhile, we also had a Fort Wayne Friend-Up gathering that met monthly that I helped coordinate.
Basically I live my life to help others and serve. This website that you are reading is not something I get paid to do. I just enjoy writing and sharing.
I now divide my time to between giving and serving; and selling. Oh, I still do prospecting, and with the current economy that is just as important as ever. But I find that the relationships that began a few years ago by my giving have been stronger than those where I was just selling.
This year I joined another B.N.I. networking group. Not to generate new business directly from the other members, but to be a resource.
When I joined WOWO Radio and Federated Media in 2013, I started by contacting people that I knew and simply told them what I was doing. I invited them to do business with me, but not in a pushy, salesy way. More like a consultant. I’ve been blessed to learn from so many business people over the years and I am always learning more. I simply want to help others be successful with their advertising and marketing. My purpose hasn’t changed since I spoke to those small business owners in 2003 about how to answer their phones to generate more business.
This is my marketing plan and it works. I urge you to develop a marketing plan that involves relationship building through giving and serving and see how it helps you too. As I often sign my emails, Here to help, and Here to serve,
by Scott Howard | Nov 20, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
We’re a week away from Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
I asked a few 20 year olds why it’s called Black Friday and the best answer I got was because it is pitch black outside when you visit the store at midnight or 5am to cash in on the savings.
Maybe, but no, wrong answer.
For retailers that sell goods to consumers like you and me and our families, Black Friday earned that nickname because it was the day that retailers finally started earning a profit. Legend was that they operated at a deficit until Christmas shopping season. Operating at a loss is called in the red and operating at a profit is being in the black.
I say legend because it is nearly impossible for a business to operate at a loss for nearly 11 months. But here’s the real problem that has been an issue for retailers for years now: Discounts. 
Retailers use discounts to sell stuff for a couple of reasons. They discount stuff they want to get rid of to make room for other stuff they want to sell. Maybe those pink lawnmowers weren’t a great idea after all, so instead of selling them at a profit, they get discounted to what the retailer paid for them, just to get rid of them.
Another kind of discount is just enough to make you and I consider shopping with them instead of the competition. Pay full price for a pair of jeans at Store A, or pay 15% less for the same jeans at Store B.
But Black Friday is terrible for retailers. And not that much fun for most consumers who are willing to shop those crazy hours with crazy people to get crazy deals. It’s simply crazy.
Big Box Stores will always have lower prices than local retailers. You as a local retailer can’t compete on price. You may be tempted to sell something below your cost just to introduce someone to your store but it’s a scam. The customer isn’t getting scammed, you are.
People who discount shoppers are not loyal to you, they are loyal to the discount. I recently had a retailer that offered a free gift for people on their birthday which we offered to them via a personalized email. Everyday they had new customers walk in, claim their gift and walk out with out spending a dime. We did this for 3 months and sure they got plenty of foot traffic and new bodies in the store but the number of new customers was tiny. We changed things up after that with a more focused approach and it’s working.
We’ve heard plenty of horror stories about discount sites like Groupon. Often the retailer is unable to provide the goods or services and make any money because of the steep discounts and little money earned. And buyer beware on the consumer side. Here’s the fine print on a current offer for a mediocre restaurant:
Promotional value expires 120 days after purchase. Amount paid never expires. Must purchase 1 food item. Limit 1 per person, may buy 2 additional as gifts. Limit 1 per visit. Limit 1 per table. Valid only for option purchased. Not valid towards delivery or carry out.Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.
A consumer pays $15 instead of $20 for this offer. Not worth it in my book.
Bottom line is discounting is giving away money. Your Money. Your Profit. It’s not an effective way to stay in business. Want to stop the discounting game? Let’s talk.
by Scott Howard | Nov 11, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
A message to retailers and marketing managers that are having a Veteran Day Sale today:
Stop Hijacking The Holidays
There are certain holidays that have dual traditions that include a time for merchants to sell their stuff. Christmas, for example is a celebration of the birth of Jesus and it is also a time for gift giving. Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Halloween are acceptable holidays for special deals, treats and stuff. 
But when a mattress store has a Veterans Day sale, it does absolutely nothing to enhance the meaning of the holiday. Same thing for Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Presidents Day, and Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Now there are some companies that will observe the holiday appropriately. I noticed that my nearest McDonald’s restaurant is offering free Extra Value Meals to Vets today which in my mind is acceptable and if I was a vet, and I was stopping in for lunch today, I would appreciate the gesture.
But to hitch your name to a holiday as a scheme to sell stuff is old school crappy advertising gimmickry at its worst.
Signed, Consumers Everywhere.
Oh, and Happy Veterans Day with a Thankful Heart, signed Americans.
by Scott Howard | Nov 5, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
For #ThrowBackThursday or #TBT an update on an article from the May 2011 ScLoHo archives: 
In 2003 I started working in the advertising and marketing world in Fort Wayne. This was a return to radio, an industry I worked in since I was a teenager, starting out on the radio for the first 10 ten years before moving over to the advertising side.
In 2003 I started out with high standards as far as what I would accept as an ideal client and my first two were exactly what I was looking for.
Then I started to expand and try a few other ways to work with advertisers and my business grew and grew and I was very busy.
Problem was, some of my clients were not fitting my ideal client profile and they either required more work or they failed to get the results they were looking for. Sometimes both.
Over the years, I’ve become pickier.
Sometimes I tell people that my radio stations are not the best choice for what they are trying to accomplish.
Actually, what I usually do is advice them on what they need to do with their business in order to be prepared to handle what will come from advertising.
Usually that means they need to get their “house in order” so they can handle new customers properly.
Advertising and Marketing will only amplify all that is wrong with your business.
Say No to promoting your business until you are really ready, but don’t delay either.
Every day that passes is a day that your potential customers are spending their money with your competitors.
by Scott Howard | Nov 4, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
The past few weeks I have had meetings with business owners and marketing managers about how to use the resources I have available through WOWO radio and our parent company Federated Media that go beyond traditional radio ads.
I thought I’d let you in on some of these ideas because they might be appropriate for you too.
Email marketing. WOWO and our sister stations in Fort Wayne which include the local ESPN Radio stations and music stations K-105, WMEE and The Bear have an email database of over 40,000 people who have asked us to email them offers and promotions from businesses.
We have it broken down into specific categories like Entertainment, Home Improvement, and others so we can target people with different interests. One of the first campaigns I did with an advertising partner was a birthday promotion. In the first 3 months we sent over 10,000 individual personalized emails to people on their birthday offering them a free gift.
I’ve also used this to alert our database about a sale for a client and we have plans to send an email announcing a new store grand opening later this month. I already have a tax consultant that is going to use our email program to promote her business in her communities next year.
Website development. Last week I had to tell a business owner that his baby was ugly. I used those words too. We were talking about his website. Now this guy has been in business for 40 years and it was his Dad’s before he took over. He does not sell to consumers and doesn’t need help reaching potential customers in Fort Wayne.
His business model is what is called B to B. Business to Business. The very first thing he needs to do is get his website cleaned up. It failed Google’s Mobile Friendly test and had a few typos. He didn’t deny his baby was ugly and now I’m going to get some quotes on a new site. He needs a professional looking website with a responsive design so it will load correctly for everyone visiting, no matter what kind of computer or mobile device they are using to check his business out.
That’s just a couple of the Marketing Options with WOWO Radio Besides Commercials that I’m working on right now. See, my job is not to sell you the advertising package of the week that some media salespeople try and do. My job is to help you make smart marketing decisions.
by Scott Howard | Oct 28, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
Your reputation matters. It always has. Even before social media and the entire web.
People will talk about you, good or bad. Look at this survey:
This world wide survey shows that if you and your company provide a good job, more than half will tell friends and family about you. Less than 20% would share it on social media. (I don’t have the data but when someone screws up, people can get very vocal on social media.)
Just because you don’t hear about it directly (21% in the above chart), people are talking about you. We call it Word Of Mouth when it’s good. And when they are talking bad about you, we call that your worst marketing nightmare.
Give this some thoughtful consideration and if you need help, reach out to me.
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