by Scott Howard | Apr 4, 2016 | ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
I’m going to take a second and talk to you about websites and your business marketing.
A dozen years ago, the rage was for your business to hop on the website bandwagon. A marketing friend of mine and I were talking about how having a website was fine and dandy, but how are consumers going to find you online? 
Since my friend and I worked in radio, we began urging our radio advertisers to include their website address in their ads.
Similar things were done in all mass media marketing including print and television ads. Eventually people thought that the key was to be found by Google.
I even left the radio world for awhile a few years ago and worked for a website development company that talked about the reasons for and methods to use to be found online organically with something you’ve probably heard about: S.E.O.
S.E.O. stands for Search Engine Optimization and it’s basically the stuff you do to your website to Optimize it so the Search Engine’s (Google, Yahoo & Bing) can find you. The concept is that if your site is optimized then when people are looking for what you have to sell, your website will show up when people are searching online.
This is not a job for amateurs, and not all professionals are equally skilled at S.E.O.
But before I lose you in all this tech talk, let me use some terminology that you as a business owner understand.
Think of your website as a storefront. It is a capital expense of doing business. You can’t really measure the direct return on investment in your website alone, just like you can’t measure the direct R.O.I. of having buying a truck for your business.
Just because you now have a “storefront online” (website), your business is not going to automatically be found by potential customers. All you have done so far is open your store.
Next you need to do what every business needs to do: Invite People.
There are multiple ways of doing this, and part of my job at WOWO Radio is to offer all kinds of appropriate online marketing solutions through our Federated Digital Solutions division.
I am amazed at the results I have seen several of my advertising partners receive, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The first step in working with me is to determine what the end result is that needs to be accomplished and that usually takes a meeting or two. Contact me and we can set that up.
But I want you to remember today that just because you now have a website, you still need a strategic marketing plan to invite people to spend money with you. I can help.
by Scott Howard | Mar 25, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Wrapping up a three-parter on mass media and advertising with a smarter way to spend your marketing budget.
First we looked at the changes in mass media and then we explored the idea of mass media marketing today.
Today, I’ll show you how to pick the advertising mediums that make sense for you.
It’s all about targeting. 
If I am selling funeral insurance, I don’t want to spend my advertising money delivering my message to teenagers.
If I am selling orthodontics, I don’t want to spend my advertising money delivering my message to people with dentures.
Mass media has specific information about their individual audiences. I can tell you the age range of all of the Fort Wayne radio station audiences and the number of listeners to each station according to the latest data that I get twice a year. Mix that information with the other sources and I can give you recommendations for what stations to consider based on who you want to reach with your message.
There is one other way to target that is possible due to the advances in technology. I’m talking about online digital ads. Imagine if you could pinpoint your advertising to only be seen by people who are interested in what you have to sell? Would that be of value?
I see you’re nodding your head in agreement.
There are multiple ways I can do this that is independent of what I do with my radio stations, however, it may make sense to do both and have me handle the coordination of everything.
After all, you have a business to run. You have your area of expertise that people are paying you money to provide. I have mine too. My area of expertise is to help you target your advertising messages to invite people to spend their money with you. Contact me for help.
by Scott Howard | Mar 14, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Last year I wrote about the problem with bad websites that are not just ugly and dated, but hurt your business reputation and the ability to be found online by people who want to spend money with you.
I’ve updated it a bit, but the basics are the same:
There are times when I need to walk a fine line.
In the marketing worlds I work in there are times when something is just not good.
The two areas I work in these days are radio broadcasting and digital marketing with WOWO Radio and Federated Digital Solutions. This isn’t a new field for me, I’ve worked in radio for decades and the digital world for 10+ years.
Click on this picture to read the sad story about this “ugly baby”
The past couple of years, I have had to tactfully tell business owners that their baby is ugly. Not their offspring, their website.
It’s hard. I had a former advertiser show me his new website and while it was an improvement on his previous site, it was still lacking many of the elements needed to bring it up to today’s standards.
And I’m not just talking about my standards, I’m talking about industry standards.
I’m going to give you a couple of links that you can use to see if your website measures up or if it needs an overhaul. Be prepared to learn a few things.
First off, there is the mobile-friendly test. Google will now punish your website search ranking if your site is not mobile friendly. Click here and find out if your site passes. Oh, Yahoo and Bing are also penalizing you too.
Another place to check is Hubspot’s Marketing Grader. You’ll get a report with a score and suggestions on what to do.
This is a good starting place but instead of simply relying on these automated tools, you really need a professional evaluation done by a human being (ME) that can sort through these reports, do a few other checks and evaluations and tell you if you have an ugly baby or just need to give her a good cleaning.
We can also talk about the purpose of your website to determine if you need to hire a professional team and create a custom site, hire a smaller developer, or perhaps do it yourself.
Are you prepared to see if you have an ugly baby of a website? Click on those links and then let’s talk.
by Scott Howard | Jan 22, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
I could write a separate article on each of these, but for now I just want to give you a list of 17 ways to increase your business profitability this year. 
1. Raise Your Prices.
2. Offer Additional Services.
3. Offer Additional Products
4. Reduce the Number of Products and/or Services you sell.
5. Develop a Marketing Plan That Makes Sense.
6. Promote Employees To The Level Of Their Competency.
7. Train, Move, or Fire Employees That Are Hurting Your Company.
8. Get Out Of Your Business and Into Your Community More.
9. Spend More Time In Your Business.
10. Ask For Help.
11. Help Others.
12. Empower Your Employees To Take Care Of Customers.
13. Don’t Fall For Advertising Gimmicks to Build Your Business.
14. Be Willing to Try Something Different.
15. Be Honest and Truthful
16. Provide Value
17. Ask Happy Customers to Tell Others About You.
Now you can apply all of these, or some of these, it’s up to you. Some may sound like they are opposites, but they really aren’t.
All of these tidbits (and others) are what I have told other business owners in the past 6 months and I’ll gladly sit down with you to explore what will work for you. Contact me.
by Scott Howard | Jan 21, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Last year I kicked off the new year with a brief series to help you be more successful when deciding how to spend your advertising and marketing budget.
This week I am sharing that information again with some updates.
Today we will go over the last 3 items on this list from a couple days ago:
You need to know who you are from 4 different perspectives:
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Your insider knowledge of who you are
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Your current customers perspective of who you are
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Your competitors perception of who you are.
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Your best potential customers perception of who you are.
Yesterday I gave you a big assignment and it is impossible to have completed it in the past 24 hours because it takes a few days to just do the bare minimum. Read it here.
However some of you want to know how to do the other three (#’s 2, 3, and 4 on the list above) so I’ll give you some help today. Save this in your bookmarks or favorites for future reference so you can do these exercises after you complete the first one.
What is your current customers perspective of who you are? You should already be doing this kind of research by asking your customers about their experience with you. I know a muffler shop that would give you a discount on your next visit if you left them a review. There are tons of ways to do this including an online survey with a service such as SurveyMonkey and others, but guess what? Your current customers are already telling others about you online, if you know where to look.
Besides the social media conversations and rants that occur on Facebook and the like, there are also plenty of review sites where your customers are talking about you. The problem you face is how to get this important information in a timely manner. I’ll tell you how in a moment.
What are your competitors perception of you? Have you ever hired an employee who used to work for your competitor? Ask them. It’s that simple. You can also do some “secret shopping” and send an intern to your competitor and have them ask what they think of you, but that is somewhat complicated and probably not necessary.
The question I often asked when I ask the business owners about this, is why is this important? Depends on the business environment you are in. Sprint, AT & T and Verizon are in a heated battle and all claim to be the best, so they’ll talk smack about each other to keep their customer base.
What are your best potential customers perceptions of who you are? In order for someone to consider doing business with you, they want to feel good about giving you their money. We now have the ability to research nearly anything and anyone that we are considering doing business with by going online. The same information that your current customers are sharing online is being read by your potential customers.
This is why your online reputation is critical. The difficulty is knowing what is being said and having the ability to respond in a timely manner.
I have a solution. I work for Federated Media in Indiana. Specifically for WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne. But I also have the ability to help you with one of the services from Federated Digital Solutions, our online division.
We offer a Social Engagement and Reputation Management Solution that can help you with all of your online reviews and social media activity including monitoring what others are saying about you. You do not need to be in Fort Wayne, or Indiana, just somewhere in the United States for us to be able to take care of this for you. Every client gets a custom quote for this service, because we only want you to purchase what makes sense for your business. Want more information? Drop me a note to: Scott@WOWO.com and we can begin the conversation about how to stay on top of all of this while you continue to run your business.
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