Success in Sampling

Success in Sampling

by | Oct 21, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Debbie Fields was only 21 years old when she opened her first Mrs. Fields Cookies store in Palo Alto, California in 1977.  Seven short years later, in 1984, the marketing “novice” had 160 stores selling more than $45 million worth of Mrs. Fields Cookies.

There are a lot of lessons we can learn from Debbie’s marketing success. Her passion and determination caused her to succeed even though she had no experience, and was told by friends, family, bankers, and others that her “idea” would not succeed.

The marketing campaign that drew customers to her stores consisted of simply going out into the streets with trays of free cookies for people to sample. If you have a great product, consider finding a way to offer free samples to your customers.

Car dealers know the value of the free test drive, and vendors at local farmers’ markets have learned they sell more produce by offering free samples.

Advertising that you offer free trials or samples also speaks volumes about the confidence you have in your products or services. Mrs. Fields did not wait for customers to come into her store to offer them free samples, she went out into the streets with trays of goodies. 

“Free” is one of the most powerful words in advertising and giving samples of your product engages “psychological reciprocity” in the minds of your prospects. 

Psychological reciprocity is defined as “a deep-rooted subconscious need to do something for those who do something for us”.

FREE! If you have a product that customers will love, click here to read the 8 Keys to Successful Sampling.

Mrs. Fields Cookies was one of the first franchised cookie shops in the country and we use to have a couple of them here in Fort Wayne Indiana.  We don’t anymore due to the changes in consumer behavior and decline of major malls that was going on for awhile but then took a big hit in 2020 with covid.

When Mrs. Fields started in the malls around the country, that was a strategic location move.  See, the rent in a mall was usually higher than a smaller strip shopping center.  Just the mall itself was a destination, not just specific stores.

So the Mrs. Fields cookie stores took advantage of the foot traffic created by the other well known stores and built their brand that way.

Some of my radio advertising partners have used a free offer that was in response to a genuine need to create increased business in the past few years.  Let’s talk and see if there’s something that might be appropriate for your business.

Audio Advertising: Streaming Music versus Traditional Radio

Audio Advertising: Streaming Music versus Traditional Radio

by | Sep 23, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

I’ve been getting a lot of research and data coming my direction that I’ve decided to share with you in a series of articles I’m labeling Audio Advertising.  As a business owner or just a regular consumer, we hear and read various things that we might think are more true than they really are.

One of the ways to identify these types of mis-information is when they include absolute statements such as:

No one listens to music on the radio anymore.

Sports Fans watch all their games on TV or in person.

Podcasts are what everyone is listening to these days.

Or Radio is dead.

The past couple of weeks, I’ve addressed the Radio is Dead rumor with evidence that it’s not.  It’s alive and thriving.  If you missed those stories, go back and read or listen to the podcast episodes.

Before I joined News/Talk WOWO radio in 2013, I worked primarily for music stations.  The past couple of decades pundits were eager to declare that ad supported free AM/FM commercial radio was dying and people were now going to listen to their favorite songs via streaming services.  Pandora Music was one of thee first that has it’s roots going back to the year 2000.  It was September of 2005 that they officially launched as a subscription ad-free music service but then they added a free service that included advertising, similar to traditional radio.

According to Wikipedia, Pandora grew to around 70 million active monthly users worldwide, but that number comes from 2013.

What does this have to do with advertising?

A couple of things… 

Local businesses can pay to run ads on Pandora.  

Pandora is not the only music streaming service and others also offer ad placement, Spotify is the most recognized for home/office and Sirius XM for mobile listening in vehicles.

Pandora and these other streaming radio services never have had the number of listeners that traditional radio stations continue to have and a recent study shows that Pandora’s ability to reach local listeners with your advertising message has been declining for years.

Here are some highlights from a report from Westwood One titled What Ever Happened to Pandora:

Here are five key findings:

  1. Since consumer interest in Pandora Radio hit an all-time high in 2008, its audience and profile have significantly collapsed, according to Google Search trends.
  2. A brand-new Advertiser Perceptions study conducted in August 2024 reveals marketers and media agencies need to “take the me out of media” as they wildly overestimate Spotify and Pandora audiences and dramatically understate AM/FM radio’s shares.
  3. AM/FM radio represents the dominant ad-supported audio platform with a 69% overall share and a massive 86% in-car share.
  4. Podcast audiences soar. At a 19% share of ad-supported audio, podcasts now represent one out of every five minutes of U.S. ad-supported audio.
  5. Among registered voters, AM/FM radio leads in ad-supported audience share (69%), followed by podcasts (19%).

I’ll have more on the podcast growth trend in a few weeks.  For now, let’s dig into the Pandora data:

Ad-supported Pandora’s daily reach has been cut in half; AM/FM radio streaming is twice as big as ad-supported Pandora and ad-supported Spotify

Since 2017, Edison’s “Share of Ear” reports ad-supported Pandora’s daily reach has plunged from 12% to 6%. At a 63% daily reach, AM/FM radio’s audience is ten times larger than Pandora. Amazingly, the 11% daily reach of AM/FM radio streaming is double that of ad-supported Pandora (6%) and ad-supported Spotify (5%).

Looking at one of the charts, we see that AM/FM radio listenership either over the air or via a stream was 77% of daily listening in 2017 and in 2024 it’s 70%.  Meanwhile Pandora dropped from 12% down to 6%, Spotify went up 1% from 4 to 5 while Sirius remains flat at 5% of daily listening.

Most traditional AM/FM radio stations offer additional ways to listen to your favorite station along with a regular AM/FM radio and that’s where the streaming comes in.  In my home we have both Alexa and Google Home smart speakers which have replaced the radios in a couple of rooms in our house.  

As an experiment for this article, i listened to Pandora for about an hour and never heard any local ads.  When I looked at the display ads, again nothing local and nothing targeted to me despite the fact they have that meta data. The job I had before returning to radio in 2013 involved a lot of desk work and I would listen to Pandora for a portion of the work day.

Bottom line is in order to invite local consumers to your business, local radio is still an excellent choice you need to consider.

 

The Talk Radio Advantage

The Talk Radio Advantage

by | Sep 9, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Are you annoyed by ads?

Most of us are, and that creates an interesting conundrum for businesses that need to invite potential customers to spend money with them via advertising.

In the early 1980’s when I was a top 40 rock and roll radio disc jockey on WMEE, I remember when we introduced “20 minute commercial free music sweeps” and even though I was all about the music and not really caring about advertising, this bothered me.

This was the beginning of conditioning our audience to perceive advertising as bad, as undesirable, as something to avoid.

Radio stations that played music would stop the music up to 4 times, maybe 6 times an hour to play a couple of commercials.  These commercial free music sweeps were to prevent listeners from changing stations when the ads played because the ads played less often.  The problem was that many stations still played the same number of commercials per hour but now instead of two in a row, they would play 4, 5 or 6 commercials back to back.  I recall about 15 years ago when a local music station promised to only stop the music once an hour.  I listened and counted 18 ads playing back to back to back for over 10 minutes.  Yes, they played 45 minutes of music back to back but all of those ads back to back created so much listener annoyance that people either switched stations when the ads came on, or they mentally tuned out.

Television suffered the same fate as ads became an irritant and people spent money on ad-skipping devices such as VCRs so we could record a show and play it back later and fast-forward past the ads.

What’s that have to do with Talk Radio?

Last month I was meeting with a new advertising partner and she was telling me why she believes Talk Radio is the best play for her ads.

To paraphrase what she told me, her perception is that when people are listening to Talk Radio, they are wanting to hear what is being talked about and they are more engaged than music radio.  When a commercial break comes on as she is listening to music radio, she’s no longer invested in that station because they are not playing music and whatever song they play after the ads, she may or may not like.  However when listening to Talk Radio, the conversation that she’s listening to will likely continue after the ads and she continues to be invested in that conversation.

There’s also the less annoying factor of ads on Talk Radio.

The theory is that I’m already listening to someone talk so when the talking on the commercial starts, I’m already accustom to talking on the radio.

I’ve got fresh radio rating data that I’ll share in a few weeks that show me the listening habits of listeners of all the 20+ local radio stations here in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This data doesn’t tell us the why behind the ratings, but combined with my personal antidotal research over the years and some other studies, we can understand the Talk Radio advantage for advertising.

By the way, I can help your business reach Talk Radio listeners now on three radio stations…

News Talk WOWO continues to be my primary station, and I also have Sports Talk radio, 1380 The Fan that is filled with live play by play and commentary for sports enthusiasts. There is also one more radio station that has a 4 hour talk show every morning, 98.9 The Bear, home of Jason Lee and Kluck in the morning until 10am.  The other 20 hours a day The Bear is a rock music station, but those morning drive hours are an excellent spot for your business to connect with Talk Radio listeners.

More in the future…

 

 

Boss or Manager?

Boss or Manager?

by | Aug 19, 2024 | Sound ADvice

From a recent Sound ADvice newsletter my subscribers received this summer:

Are you a “Boss”?

 

As a verb, the Webster’s Dictionary says that to “boss” is, to order about in a domineering way. Poor customer service is often the result of interaction with people working for a boss who is not happy with their situation.

Or are you a “Manager’?

The same dictionary defines “manager” as, to handle or direct with a degree of skill. It even adds in, to treat with care.

The most successful managers today attempt to hire people who have a passion to do their jobs to the best of their ability…these people don’t need a boss. These employees need a manager who will give them access to the tools, training, people, resources, and environment that allows them to perform to the best of their ability.

 

If you’re a manager, here’s a challenge. Instead of giving your people a “to-do list”, try asking them to give you a “to-do list”. What do they need you to do to help them be more productive or deliver better customer service?

 

In our Top Ten Employee Happy-Makers, Happy-Maker #4 is, “360-Degree Feedback”…. asking your employees how YOU are doing.

 

Zig Ziglar said, “You can get whatever you want, as long as you are willing to help others get what they want. It’s also been said that you can be as successful as you want if you are willing to let others take the credit.” 

Taking an honest look at yourself to determine if you are a manager or a boss and then taking appropriate action will lead to a much more effective team.

Happy employees will deliver happy customers.

Happy-Maker #7 is “Creating Team Players”. Develop a team spirit where each player is dedicated to their teammates’ success. Any team is only as strong as its weakest player, and everyone should be encouraged to develop and help their fellow team members.

Click here to see a list of the Top Ten Employee Happy-Makers.
 
If you’d like to be included in my weekly Sound ADvice newsletter, it’s free and arrives nearly every Wednesday in your inbox, simply ask me: Scott@ScLoHo.net
What Not to Expect from your Advertising

What Not to Expect from your Advertising

by | Aug 5, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

There are a lot of misconceptions about advertising that I find myself addressing repeatedly especially with new business people who ae taking their first steps into an advertising investment.

Last month I read a column in Radio Ink by Pat Bryson that I’m going to use today because her examples are spot on and very much in line with what I’ve been preaching.

First off, let’s define Advertising.  Advertising is paid messaging that usually includes a call-to- action, and or branding message.  I can simplify that further and tell you that advertising is a paid invitation from a business to a potential customer.

That’s it.

When you send out invitations, you are attempting to communicate a message to potential customers.

What happens next is entirely in your hands.   Here’s the words of wisdom from Pat:

What factors determine if a warm body makes a purchase? Several important factors must work together to complete the sale and turn that prospect into a customer that returns again and again:

  • Personnel that are well-trained and friendly
  • Value: price related to perceived benefit
  • Parking that is convenient and accessible
  • Seasonality
  • How does the store look?
  • Are the floor displays attractive? How are goods packaged?
  • Are the restrooms clean? (a surprisingly big factor especially for restaurants)
  • Where is the store located? Easy to get to?
  • What are consumers wanting to buy?
  • Competition: today both bricks and mortar and virtual
  • Is the store known for good service after the sale? How’s their reputation?
  • Advertising (finally!)

All of these factors must work together to produce a sale. Unfortunately, many times we get potential customers in and the client doesn’t sell them.

This is true no matter what form of advertising you buy.  There is only so much that that ads can do and the rest is up to you as a business owner.  Now I know that most advertising sales people don’t take the time to work with you to help you understand the consumer journey that help you improve it so your ads are more effective.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  It’s not making your ads more effective that I’m talking about, but the buying process that follows once the ads do their job.

Again, what’s the job of advertising?  It’s not to sell your stuff.  It’s to invite people to you so you and your team can help them buy your stuff.

Advertising is a simple paid invite.

If you want help with any or all of this, let’s talk.