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 27, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Fort Wayne, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Search Engine Optimization. It’s been a “thing” since 1997 according to Wikipedia.
Here’s the basic premise. The Internet has close to 1,000,000,000 websites right now. How in this World Wide Web is anyone going to find yours?
Directories were created and that was okay for awhile then this company called Google came along and developed an easy to use simple way to find stuff online. The modern Search Engine was born and by the end of 1998, techies were praising Google.com:
“PC Magazine” reports that Google “has an uncanny knack for returning extremely relevant results” and recognizes us as the search engine of choice in the Top 100 Web Sites for 1998.
Jump ahead 10 years to 2008 and I’m telling some of my radio clients that they need to blog regularly. At least once a month, but once a week is better. At this time, I’ve plunged myself into the blog world with over 3,000 articles I published on my own blogs that year alone, on a part-time basis.
The blog articles I was writing and sharing were being picked up by Google. Let me explain. If someone was to do a Google search for something I wrote about, I occasionally would appear on the first or second page of Google. Now Google is much more sophisticated these days and there are companies that specialize in optimizing websites for Google which still has over 65% of the search engine use market worldwide. Bing is #2 with around 20% of the market.
When I launched this website four years ago this month, I worked for Cirrus ABS, a website development firm in Fort Wayne and learned a lot of stuff I could be doing S.E.O.-wise for this site, but I didn’t. I was too busy working at my paid job and writing articles on the side to take the time to add those extras to my articles.
Time Travel with me to December 2013, about 23 months ago. That’s when I returned to radio to work at WOWO. I was given permission from management to write about WOWO and radio and advertising and marketing and just about anything I wanted because they trusted me.
As I went about my work at WOWO as an advertising sales person who prefers to offer advertising and marketing consulting 1st before the selling part of my job, I started writing about my experiences with WOWO radio and recently I noticed a trend.
People were paying attention. Mary, whom I’ve known for a few years was recommending articles I wrote to her clients. But this month in particular, I was getting phone calls, text messages and emails to my ScLoHo email account from strangers wanting my help with advertising, marketing and some were specifically wanting to advertise on WOWO. It was time to do some research.
I cleared my cookies and browser history and did a search for WOWO Advertise and was pleasantly surprised.
7 of the Top 10 Google Listings pointed to ScottHoward.me
The first three listings linked to our company website at WOWO.com But the rest all went directly to articles that I wrote over the past 22 months.
I sent a note and screenshot to my friend Kevin Mullett at Cirrus ABS who decided to investigate further wrote back, Maybe even more impressive. “radio advertising fort wayne” “fort wayne radio advertising” “fort wayne radio” incognito. Depends on how people are searching.
This is what I call the power of Accidental SEO. I almost called it lazy SEO but that’s not really what happened because I haven’t been lazy. I write and publish 5 articles each and every week on this website/blog. Many of them, but not all mention WOWO. That’s not being lazy, that’s being diligent.
The reason I called it Accidental SEO is because I didn’t add all the extra tags and metadata that would help Google find me and boost my results. I just wrote a blog and didn’t stop.
Maybe what I have done isn’t duplicate-able by you. Maybe it is. You’ll never know until you start and don’t stop.
If you want to be found online in a more purposeful way, I can help you with that with the services of the Federated Digital Solutions division of company. Contact me and we will see what is the best path for you.
by Scott Howard | Oct 21, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
I see so many businesses that are missing out on making money.
Lots and lots of money. What are they doing? 
Ignoring the Baby Boomers and not inviting them to spend their money with them. But don’t take my word for it. Read this from Mediapost:
Boomers Control $14 Trillion, Essential To Growing A Business
Baby boomers are the only demographic that has gotten wealthier over the last 10 years, while Gen Xers and Millennials have seen their net worth decline or in some cases disappear, often buried under a pile of student loans. Marketers devote a lot of energy to Gen X and Millennials, but baby boomers and senior citizens represent an untapped opportunity. Recent census data indicates that people aged 55+ represent 26% of the U.S. population and a whopping 66% of the country’s net worth, or $14 trillion.
Even the meaning of “senior citizen” has changed dramatically as life expectancy continues to grow, and rock stars like Mick Jagger (72), Bob Dylan (74) and Bruce Springsteen (66) continue to write songs and hit the road. Today’s boomers and seniors are no longer constrained by the social norms they helped upend in the 1960s and 1970s. They act like young adults, taking part in education, sports and leisure, entrepreneurship, non-profits, and they bring maturity and experience to the marketplace to boot.
The implications are huge for marketers in the U.S. and Europe:
1. The 55+ population has by far the most financial power and it’s essential to count them in. Younger generations may be trendsetters, but they do not have anywhere near their parents’ resources and financial freedom. To substantially grow their business, brands must target both the trendsetters and the mass market, which means people over 55.
2. Market research should be targeted at boomers and seniors, rather than merely on the young or middle-aged. Buying behaviors and expectations have changed significantly in the past decade, particularly among 55+ consumers. It is critical to get past stereotypes and clichés to understand precisely how they have changed so that marketers don’t miss prime opportunities.
3. Boomers and seniors can be excellent partners in market research because they are demanding and focus on essentials. Marketing gimmicks or fashion statements are not sufficient to get their buy-in. Boomers and seniors challenge companies to rethink products and services in radical ways, because they demand real vs. cosmetic innovation. These populations might appear more conservative when they are simply more discerning.
The takeaway: Baby boomers are not fading into the sunset, and they’re bored by an endless stream of ads for Viagra, Florida condominiums and Caribbean cruise ships. Market research that is inspired will focus on this powerful force in the economy for the next decade and beyond. Or as long as the Boss keeps rocking, and the Stones keep rolling.
At WOWO Radio, we have the largest radio audience filled with Baby Boomers in Fort Wayne. Contact me and let’s talk about how to invite them to spend their money with you.
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