by Scott Howard | Aug 15, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, Uncategorized, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Time to introduce myself, again for some of you that I’ve known for awhile, and perhaps for the first time if you are unfamiliar with this website and podcast.
This is episode 75 of the weekly podcast titled, The Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast.
Launched in early 2017 as a request from a couple of the managers at Federated Media in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they were asked to create a sales and marketing oriented podcast and they asked me if I would consider doing it.
See this ScLoHo thing has been around for quite awhile. On the ScottHoward.me website are over 13 hundred articles I have written, edited and published since 2011 and the Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast is simply an audio version of most of the articles I have created since March, 2017.
The history of ScLoHo however is much longer that that.
And before we dig into that history, I want to clear something up about what ScLoHo is.
ScLoHo began as an email address and grew into an online moniker, identity and nickname. I even registered a marketing company with the ScLoHo name. ScLoHo is a made up word that takes the first two letters of my first name, middle and last names and mashes them together. Scott Louis Howard becomes ScLoHo. Look for me on Twitter, Instagram and nearly any other social media site that I am on as ScLoHo. Before launching the ScottHoward.me website, I published over 10,000 articles on ScLoHo branded blogs starting around 2005.
So ScLoHo and Scott Howard, that’s me, are synonymous.
I began working in the media world as a teenager when my high school launched a radio station. After school, I landed my first full time job on the air in Marion, Indiana at WBAT, followed by WIOU in Kokomo, WMEE in Fort Wayne, WKSY in Columbia City, WZWZ in Kokomo, and WXIR in Indianapolis. At all of these stations, I worked on the air as a disc jockey and radio personality.
Life changed when I turned 26. I crossed over to the advertising side of the radio business. I was impressed by the philosophy that the Crawford Broadcasting Company had regarding the relationship between the listeners, the radio station and the advertisers. I moved my young family to work for WMUZ in Detroit, one of a dozen Crawford stations at the time. My job was to write and produce advertising campaigns.
I loved the challenge and learning that occurred during my 8 years at WMUZ. I also did fill-in work in the afternoon and spent about a year hosting WMUZ’s morning show in Detroit. My first venture as an advertising salesperson was also at WMUZ.
The philosophy that I learned related to the trust factor we as people have. WMUZ was and is a commercial Christian radio station that has a special bond with their thousands of weekly listeners. Listeners trust the WMUZ radio personalities. Those personalities often talk about their advertising partners and so that trust factor is passed along to the businesses that advertise. WMUZ listeners trust that the businesses that advertise on their station are trustworthy.
My job was not just to create effective advertising campaigns, but to screen out the bad businesses from the good. I carry this philosophy today as I consider which businesses I want to work with at WOWO radio in Fort Wayne.
In the mid 1990’s, we decided to leave Detroit and return to Indiana. I worked on the radio again in Fort Wayne at WBTU, WFWI, WGL and WAJI. Between 1995 and 2003, along with some part-time radio work and voice over production I was doing, I took a few blue collar jobs too in the printing business, the plastics industry and even automotive.
2003 was the year that I returned to media and marketing full-time in Fort Wayne when I joined a group of radio stations in the advertising sales side of the business. I spent 8 years rising as high as one could advance at that company before I was lured away to work for a website development company and later manage the social media for a $50 million dollar internet sales company.
Kevin, Ric and me. Picture snapped by my friend Ryan Recker.
I also served on the Board of Directors for the American Advertising Federation/Fort Wayne Chapter for 7 years. I taught personal branding seminars, guest lectured at a local university, was featured in some national publications including the Wall Street Journal, won a few awards and have had a lot of fun. I have consulted and coached businesses doing newspaper and magazine ads, billboard advertising, social media and all kinds of internet marketing, along with television and event marketing. More recently I was featured on an international podcast for broadcasters to share what it takes to be successful in broadcasting.
I only share all this with you because I want you to have confidence in the Scott Howard dude a.k.a. ScLoHo, that I’m not just hear to sell you stuff. I am here to help. I’m here to teach, to consult, to advise, to coach and even guide you through the process of marketing you and your business.
Human Relationship Principles are the heart of most successful marketing and advertising efforts and I can help you employ them with your business, organization, or event.
I have learned a lot from a lot of people and continue to learn more and more every week. If you have any marketing or advertising questions or answers, I’d love to talk with you.
by Scott Howard | Jul 5, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
To be perfectly honest with you, I was in the middle of writing a 3 part series on the 3 R Formula for Advertising Success and I’ve decided to switch things up a bit.
First off, the 3 parter was turning into a 4, 5 or 6 part series and while the information is important, I have other important information and stories to share.
So today, I’m going to dig in and give you the 2nd and 3rd R’s in the formula which goes like this:
Right Message + Right Audience x Right Number of Times = Success
Once you know what the Right Message needs to be, you need to deliver it to the Right Audience.
Now, more than ever in human history, there are more options to deliver your message, but unless you deliver it to the Right Audience, you are wasting your time and money.
I work in both the digital media and traditional media worlds and have seen marketers flock to digital online advertising as they reduce their involvement with the traditional. The thinking is:
With digital media marketing, I can pinpoint the delivery of my ads to precisely the Right Audience and track everything!
Nice theory, but it’s really just a hyped sales pitch. And it’s one part of the 3 R’s Formula for Advertising Success.
Digital Media can deliver ads to highly targeted audiences. But there are plenty of flaws. Sometimes the targeting is too narrow. Sometimes the targeting is too broad. Sometimes people click on an ad by accident. Sometimes the people running the campaigns are amateurs or they don’t understand the differences in “boosted posts”, “dark posts” and well, you get the idea.
A couple years ago, I noticed a company that specialized in Social Media Marketing was doing a terrible job but they were getting paid big bucks by their clients who didn’t know any better. This stuff happens.
I’m not against digital media marketing, I just want to warn you that it’s not the only way to reach your Right Audience with your Right Message. So let’s define what the Right Audience is and then you can decide which advertising mediums to consider.
When I am working with a business owner and I ask them, who they want to reach, too many will say “Everyone!”
So I dig deeper.
Think about the big, mass appeal companies. Walmart, McDonald’s, Google, Amazon to name a few.
While Walmart and McDonald’s have become leaders in their respective businesses, there are plenty of people who will never go to Walmart and plenty who won’t go to McDonald’s. Google and Amazon seem to be taking over the world, but there are still plenty of people who avoid them at all costs.
Reaching the Right Audience with your Right Message is a two part exercise.
Part one begins with you. Who is going to buy what You are selling? Teenagers don’t buy adult diapers. Vegan’s don’t buy hamburgers. You get what I’m saying…
Part two of reaching the Right Audience is finding the advertising vehicle that matches part one. In other words, first determine who your best customers are and then get your Right Message on the advertising medium that will effectively reach your best customers.
Last week I had a conversation with an organization that is looking for volunteers to deliver meals at lunch time to home bound residents. I asked, “Who are your best driver’s now?” and the answer was people between the ages of 50 and 70. While they have some volunteer drivers in their 20’s and 30’s, they are not as stable as the older ones. It’s nothing against them, but in reality, we are going to be more successful recruiting older drivers for this organization.
There are a few advertising options available for reaching this age group and it happens that the most cost effective is going to be my radio station, WOWO radio.
The last part of this 3 R Formula for Advertising Success is the Right Number of times. Remember:
Right Message + Right Audience x Right Number of Times = Success
In this changing media world, I see the Right Number part of this formula being abused.
The Right Number should apply to each individual advertising medium you are using. Don’t add up the total number of TV ads, and Radio ads, count each broadcast channel separately.
In the radio business we often operate with the idea of getting a “3 frequency”. The theory is that it takes 3 times for a person to hear a message before it sinks in. Using insider ratings data, advertising sales people can tell you how many ads it will take to achieve this, but I have a simpler method that I’ll share one day.
Buying one radio ad or one TV ad, or one newspaper ad or one Facebook ad is never recommended. The highest frequency of one ad is always one.
However, I’ve also seen the opposite. Too many ads delivered too frequently. That’s because of not understanding the process or using an automated system that over-delivers to not enough people.
I see this over-delivery on screens, for example watching a TV show on demand that has limited commercials but the same commercials every time. Or another offender is digital display ads that have three or four or more ads on the same page for the same product, company or service.
Determining the Right Number of Times your Right Message needs to be delivered to the Right Audience is the difference between building a positive relationship with your customers or annoying them to the point where they avoid you.
When you are considering inviting people to spend money with you, you need to talk to marketing professionals who understand this entire advertising formula and how to apply it to you and your business.
If you are in Northeast Indiana and want that kind of help, reach out to me.
Here’s links to the other two articles in this series:
The First R in Advertising Success – Part One
The First R in Advertising Success – Part Two
by Scott Howard | Jun 6, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
This article is for the business owner who is regularly being asked to buy advertising and really needs a little help deciding what to do. (Or perhaps a LOT of help.)
Today, we are going to talk about the pros and cons of advertising agencies, advertising sales people and marketing consultants and what you really need for your business. There was a story in Mediapost that touched on this topic and we’re going to get to the heart of the matter for you.
Should You Hire An Advertising Specialist or Generalist?
You see I’m a bit of both. I’m a big picture marketing guy who has expertise in several specialties.
Start with the basics:
Why advertise? To attract and retain customers. It’s that simple.
Then why is it hard to pick what kind of advertising you and your business should be involved with?
Because there are so many options and all these advertising salespeople who tell you their advertising is the best, whether it’s true or not.
So I sell advertising, what makes me, Scott Howard different? Let’s start with a quote from one of my online profiles:
This is the Big Picture of Marketing, Advertising, and Media, down to the tiniest detail.
Combining the tools of today with the timeless, proven methods of the past and creating ideas that rely on honest, trustworthy human relationship principles.
This Big Picture concept is what makes me an advertising generalist. That’s also the term you could apply to most of the advertising agencies that offer a variety of services. But I’m not an ad agency and I have a unique perspective that’s different than most advertising generalists.
That’s also where the ScLoHo persona comes in. This unique perspective is that all of your marketing and advertising needs to be based on Human Relationship Principles or if they are not, you better have a very good reason why not.
Human Relationship Principles are the natural, organic ways we communicate with one another that promotes trust, and good positive feelings. You incorporate that into a marketing campaign successfully and your business will grow beyond what you could ever do with coupons and gimmicks.
I know how to do this because I’ve been a student of this for a few decades and there are hundreds of businesses in Metro Fort Wayne and Metro Detroit that were my real-life laboratories.
Along the way I also gathered intensive insider knowledge and wisdom regarding what could be called Advertising Specialties. These include:
- Print including newspaper, magazine and direct mail.
- Outdoor including the big billboards, the smaller signage, even the ads we see on city buses. Which brings me to …
- Vehicle wraps, promotional materials and company branded attire.
- Television advertising including cable TV.
- Social Media.
- Website design and structure.
- Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing.
- Email Marketing.
- Blogging, Vlogging and Podcasting
- and of course Radio Advertising.
Every one of these specialties I have direct experience in and have served on the board of directors for the local American Advertising Federation to enrich my knowledge and teach others. I have even taught branding at a local university, won awards from both my peers and from independent, impartial judging panels. I am not one to blow my own horn and say how great I am, that is out of character for me, but I really want you to know that since I made the transition from being a radio personality to an advertising and marketing specialist over 30 years ago, I have learned a bunch and am continuing to learn. All I want to do is help you with what I’ve learned.
Some of these Advertising Specialties I continue to do first hand and others I will either outsource, recommend others that I trust or at the very least serve as your marketing coach so that when someone tries to sell you their advertising specialty, you have an experienced professional that knows how it should be done and can help you in the process if it’s really something you should invest it. I, Scott Howard, work for WOWO Radio and we have a whole boatload of advertising and marketing solutions you can buy. The ScLoHo side of me helps you with the things I can’t sell you but can advise and guide you.
So back to my original question: Should You Hire An Advertising Specialist or Generalist? Why chose one or the other when you can have both in one person?
Let’s talk.
by Scott Howard | May 21, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
What’s a ScLoHo Insider Extra?
It’s an extra article that I (ScLoHo) published that is not going to be available on the Genuine ScLoHo Media and Marketing Podcast. That’s the Extra part. You as a follower, are an Insider. Before I began the podcast in 2017, I would publish at least once a week, but sometimes more often. I still will write these Extra stories on occasion, so let’s dig in.
Awhile ago, I wrote about knowing the difference between Marketing Trends and Marketing Fads. Trends are long-term sustainable and even though they may go out of style, they are worth consideration. Fads on the other hand are dangerous and you need to be cautious if you are thinking of investing time or money in them.
Social Media has been filled with both Fads and Trends and marketing people are always attempting to be on top of both. I went to a Social Media & Marketing Breakfast in Fort Wayne last year that was devoted to Snapchat. I had mixed thoughts on Snapchat as a marketing platform before and after the event.
Granted, I’m not in the target demo for using Snapchat, but never-the-less, I’m a marketing dude who understands the big picture and the human relationship principles of marketing and advertising.
Turns out that Snapchat is falling out of favor with Social Media Marketers.
This is from Mediaposts Marketing Charts:
What’s trending in social media marketing? The latest annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report from Social Media Examiner, based on a survey of more than 5,700 participants around the world, offers some insights into marketers’ preferences surrounding social media platforms and content.
It’s worth noting at the outset that the majority of respondents are from small businesses (1-10 employees), so this report is likely not a reflection of the activities of larger enterprise businesses.
(I work with small and medium sized businesses for the most part.)
The first chart is shows where Social Media Marketers are going to spend their time with organic posts. This next chart shows where they plan on spending their marketing money:
Facebook and Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) are winners in both organic and paid activity. By the way, think of Organic as an investment in time and Paid as an investment in money. Having been a full time Social Media Marketing Manager in my previous full-time employment, I have the credentials to speak from experience.
When I had a budget for Twitter and Pinterest, I actually moved those funds to Facebook paid promotion instead. Also I personally don’t use Pinterest, but 5 years ago it outperformed Facebook for trackable sales for the B2C internet retailer I worked for.
I found the better use for Twitter was for customer service and turned our account over to that department to use.
Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram all require someone to run your marketing campaign that really knows what they are doing and are staying on top of the changes that are going on. None of this social media marketing should be left in the hands of amateurs if you really want to use social media to market your business.
Reach out to me if you have questions or want recommendations.
by Scott Howard | May 3, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Do job titles matter? I work for WOWO radio and a few years ago, our parent company, Federated Media began calling their advertising salespeople: Integrated Marketing Managers or Integrated Marketing Specialists or some other variation. The keywords are Integrated Marketing and it’s being used today to describe something that has been going on for a long time.
Integrated Marketing is simply the coordination of multiple marketing messages and outreaches that work together in harmony. For years this was a role of Advertising Agencies. Businesses would pay Ad Agencies to do all the advertising creative, buying advertising schedules and telling business owners what to do to be successful with their advertising.
Sometimes that works. Often the folks in an ad agency have talents and skills that the coffee shop owner, or boat builder, or carpet cleaner lack.
Ad agencies create the ads that we see and hear on a national scale. Some that come to mind are McDonalds, Home Depot, Google, car insurance ads, those are created by advertising agency professionals.
On a local level, most companies don’t have an advertising agency to do that work. Instead they rely on someone at the advertising outlets, like the TV station, the newspaper, the radio station to do the creative work. That might work out, but each of those individuals are only working in their advertising medium.
Or there are some advertising agencies that specialize in only one or two advertising mediums. Online, especially social media marketing has been the kind of boutique agencies that have popped up in the past decade. Some are pretty good, but most are pretty bad. The online world is constantly changing and the changes that Google makes to their algorithm, or Facebook to their news-feed, are out of our control.
But let’s get back to the subject of Integrated Marketing and job titles. The reason the Integrated Marketing Specialist or Integrated Marketing Manager job title has been adopted by several of my co-workers at Federated Media is because we actually do have the ability to work with more than one advertising platform and build marketing campaigns that are integrated across multiple mediums.
Right now, this month, I am running a few campaigns for different advertising partners that I call a Hot Leads program. I am using Email, Facebook, Text messaging, Radio ads on the air with WOWO and ads online. We gather names, contact information and a few specific questions for my advertising partners that will help them connect with people who want to be contacted by these specific advertising partners. This is truly an Integrated Marketing campaign.
However, I don’t recommend this to everyone I meet with. It’s not always appropriate, or the best marketing approach for the objectives we need to accomplish.
So my business card does not say Integrated Marketing Manager or Specialist. Instead I use terms that are very specific to what I do. Advertising Sales and Marketing Consultant.
I took a deep dive into that last week and you can read or listen to what I said if you wish.
My approach is to simply work with you in the way and manner that is most appropriate. I’ve been doing this since my youngest daughter was born and she’s now 32. I can help you sort out the jargon and advertising insider terms that others use to try and convince you to buy their stuff. And if you want an Integrated Marketing Specialist, I’m your dude too.
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