Boomers Still Have The Money

Boomers Still Have The Money

by | Jun 13, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Last month when my wife and I were on vacation, the publication Mediapost shared a story that I was living at the moment.

My wife and I are Baby Boomers.

Our kids are Millennials.

The business world, or more specifically the advertising world, is focused on convincing our kids to spend their money with them, which is great except…

Except they are ignoring the Boomers.

And guess who really has the money to spend on stuff.

Boomers.

Boomers Still Have The Money.

Our kids are having kids.  5 kids and their partners have created 9 grandkids.

When you have 2 or 3 kids to support, life as a 30 year old is expensive, no matter how much you make.

But when you are an empty nester, you have more choices on what to spend your paycheck on.  

And usually that paycheck is just as big or bigger in your 50’s than it was in your 20’s and 30’s.

The Mediapost article asks:

Why do advertisers ignore boomers to focus on the “it” demos: millennials and Gen Z?

Although millennials officially outnumber boomers, let’s not forget the spending power wielded by boomers.

Age is just a number to boomers, who aren’t sitting at home wondering how to connect to the WiFi and counting the minutes until they take their next round of pills. Instead, they are traveling, spend time outdoors — and, according to U.S. News & World Report, control 70% of the country’s disposable income and spend $3.2 trillion a year.

You see, that’s what we were doing.  I had 11 days off counting the Memorial Day holiday and a couple of weekends, so my wife and I traveled to Philadelphia and New York City.  We saw a Broadway musical, took time sight seeing and exploring some historic landmarks.  We hiked in the woods, ate what we wanted, stayed in nice hotels, treated our friends and had a great time.  We really didn’t need to save up for this trip, and we didn’t go into debt.

Meanwhile my younger coworkers, whose incomes are similar to mine enjoyed their 3 day Memorial Day weekends and had to spend a larger percent of their take home pay on regular living expenses for their families.

Are you getting the picture?

Here’s another quote from Mediapost:

Millennials and hot on their tail Gen Z may have some money to spend now — but boomers have it yesterday, today and tomorrow. Targeting boomers might not be as Instagrammable as a millennial demo, but it is instantly gratifying.

Advertisers, for years, were targeting the youth.  I was one of the Pepsi Generation of the 1960’s and 70’s. The sought after age demographic, when I started in the radio business was 18 to 34 year olds.

Then as that group of people who we now refer to as Baby Boomers got a little older, the desirable demographic for advertisers was 25 to 54 year olds.  That worked for awhile, when Baby Boomers were still in the age group, but now the boomers have aged out.  Boomers are now 55 and older.

The so called wise-ones in the advertising world have it wrong.

A mere 10% of marketing budgets is allocated to the boomer audience, while 50% goes to marketing to millennials.

and

Baby Boomers outspend every other generation by $400 billion annually, providing over 50 percent of U.S. consumption.

So, how can you, as a business owner or advertising marketing director, get some of this Boomer Money?

Simple.

Invite Boomers to spend money with you.

Set aside an appropriate amount of your advertising to reach the Boomers.

I currently work with three radio stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I have a rock music station, a sports talk station and a news talk station.

The news talk station, WOWO is king.  It is the station that Baby Boomers grew up listening to back when they played music and it was a personality radio station.  WOWO still is a personality driven radio station with our news and talk format, it is the leading station for all grown-ups and the most listened to by Boomers.

The advertisers that are using WOWO to invite Boomers to spend money are doing very well these days.  

I have a couple of travel agencies that each promoted special vacations to Ireland and Alaska. (Those were two separate trips.) I saw over 50 WOWO listeners and their friends pony up the bucks to go on these exclusive trips and we in the planning stages for next year.  That’s just one example I bring up because of my vacation travels last month.

What else are WOWO radio’s Baby Boomer listeners spending money on?

Health care.

Financial Planning.

Home improvements and new homes.

Nielsen established that boomers spend almost $90 billion a year on cars — nearly 30% more than other age groups. 

and remember those grandkids and their parents?  

We spend money on them too!

Honestly, if you want to grow your business over the next few years, contact me about inviting Boomers who Still Have Money to spend it with you.  Drop me a note to Scott@WOWO.com 

Also for more marketing tips and insight, you can subscribe to my free weekly newsletter titled Sound ADvice in the box below.

 

 

 

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How Much Does It Cost To Advertise on WOWO Radio?

How Much Does It Cost To Advertise on WOWO Radio?

by | Jun 6, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Most of the business people I talk to these days are listeners to one of the radio stations I work with but they are not necessarily advertising partners with me, yet.

A big question that comes up is, “How Much Does It Cost To Advertise on WOWO Radio?”

When I started this year, I decided to focus my time and energy on working with people who listened to the radio station I work with.  In years past, I was also offering digital online services that I can also help you with through our digital department.  I will still do that, but the first criteria I am looking for is that you are familiar with WOWO.  If you listen to WOWO, we have a common bond, because I am also a fan and listener.

There are at least a half dozen factors that come into play when coming up with an answer to your question, “How Much Does It Cost To Advertise on WOWO Radio?”

Let’s take a look at them:

  1. Time of Day Your Ad Runs.  Certain times of the day cost more than others.  Nearly every time I work with a business, I place their ads in one of the most listened to times of the day for our radio station.  Why?  I want your advertising message to be heard by as many listeners as possible that can become your customer.  According to the latest rating information I have, over 118,000 people in the Fort Wayne area listen to WOWO every week.  Over 90% of them listen weekdays between 5 in the morning and 6 in the evening.  About 30% of them listen after 6pm. Ads that run during the day cost more than ads in the evenings on WOWO because of the audience size.
  2. Inventory.  We are very straight forward with our prices and use a supply and demand system. Every week or two, I get an updated rate card. This rate card tells me:
    1. How many ad slots we have sold and how many are still available
    2. It is divided by the different shows that air each week and also has a different rate for each week.
    3. If a show is 85% sold out or more, it will cost you $100 for your commercial to air.  If we are 100% sold out, we will still put your ad on WOWO, but you will have to pay more.  $125 up to $200, depending on the demand. 
    4. When inventory is tight, then ads that were bought at a lower price risk getting bumped.  I see this happening a lot a few times every year.
    5. There are times when commercial advertising inventory is less than 85% sold out and our prices are lowered to reflect that when it occurs.  However, that has become much more rare.
    6. My pledge to you is to get you the best price for your advertising campaign that takes all of this into consideration. Which brings me to another factor that determines the cost of advertising on WOWO Radio:
  3. Type of Ad. At WOWO, I have more options than nearly any other radio station I have worked with. Here’s a listing of some of the types of ads I may have available for your business with WOWO:
    1. Recorded 60 second ads
    2. Recorded 30 second ads
    3. Recorded 15 second ads
    4. Recorded 10 second ads
    5. Streaming ads heard online during our radio shows
    6. Live 60 second endorsement ads
    7. Live 10 second news/weather/sports sponsorships ads
    8. Recorded 5 to 10 second sponsorship ads
    9. Live Remote Broadcasts
    10. 30 minute (or longer) radio shows and podcasts
    11. Special Feature Sponsorships
    12. …Some other idea we come up with and get approval for 
  4. Number of ads. I do not sell one ad.  This is not worth your money or my time.  It is not effective, it is not the best practice by anyone’s standards.  Instead, I create campaigns that include numerous ads.  Now when I say ad, I am talking about the actual airing of an ad. When I am putting together a schedule for your advertising campaign, I prefer to air at least 10 ads per week in a 3 or 4 hour radio show that airs 5 days a week.  That means you are buying a majority of the show and reaching a majority of the listeners. I will gladly explain this to you in person and I’ll probably write another article and podcast on this subject.
  5. Talent Fees. This is a fee that is paid to an air talent or production talent that goes above and beyond the money spend on the air time for your ad airing on WOWO.  Those 60 second live endorsement ads you hear on WOWO, the radio host is getting paid extra for giving their endorsement and testimonial for those ads. Again, I’ll go more in depth in the future.  We also have a talent fee for writing ads if we use certain copy writers and producers on staff.  I usually don’t do this, but if there is a fee, we pass that along.
  6. Extras… Need a jingle?  I have connections.  Want to be a presenting sponsor for an event? We may have that event available for sponsorship.  Want to have one of our national talk show hosts record your ad?  That is also available under the right conditions and for a fee.

Bottom line is, if you need help, let’s talk and see what makes sense.  My goal is to make it profitable for you to become an advertising partner with me. 

And the real bottom line regarding, “How Much Does It Cost To Advertise on WOWO Radio?”  I have advertising partners who spend over $100,000 per year and some that spend $30,000 a year or less.  Contact me, Scott@WOWO.com

As a side note:

I work primarily with WOWO Radio however, I also can help you with our local ESPN Sports Talk Station and with our companies Rock Station, 98.9 The Bear.  These are 3 of the local radio stations owned and operated by Federated Media in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I can also connect you with the appropriate Federated Media co-workers that handle advertising on our other stations, WMEE, K-105 and BIG 92.3.

 

Looking for more free marketing tips?  Sign up for my free Sound ADvice newsletter below:

 

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What Does Reach Mean in Advertising and Marketing?

What Does Reach Mean in Advertising and Marketing?

by | May 30, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

If I were to ask a dozen people what REACH means, I am sure I would get at least 4 or 5 different answers, all depending on each persons life experience.

You take the basketball player and they know that reach is important in being able to grab a loose ball and that if you have longer arms than your opponent, you have a better shot at getting the ball because you have greater reach.

But in the advertising and marketing world, reach has a different application.

Reach often refers to the size of the audience that you can reach for the dollars you spend.

I was reading one of Seth Godin’s daily blog updates recently and he inspired me today.

Seth said:

Reach is overrated

It might be the biggest misconception in all of advertising.

The Super Bowl has reach.

Google has reach.

Radio has reach.

So?

Why do you care if you can, for more money, reach more people?

Why wouldn’t it make more sense to reach the right people instead?

Seth continues his article with some valid points and wraps it up with this question:

Perhaps it makes sense to pay extra to reach precisely the right people. It never makes sense to pay extra to reach more people.

So I mostly agree with what Seth says, but there are a few items he leaves out.

Both Reach and the Right People are important.

It’s not a pick one and only one choice.

It is really important to make sure the Right People are reached by your advertising and marketing messages.

I started a conversation with a gentleman named Kyle who started a company that converts old video tapes into digital media.  He can put your old videos that are currently stored on a video tape on a flash drive, a DVD, or store it in the cloud.  Initially he contacted me because he listens to our rock radio station, The Bear and thought that would be a great place to advertise.

However as I heard his story and what he needs to do, the rock station, The Bear is not filled with the Right People.  They may have a great reach of over 50,000 weekly listeners, but considering their age, it’s not the best place to find radio listeners that have old video tapes to convert.

So I am going to offer as the best option, another of out radio stations, WOWO.  WOWO is a news talk radio station with the majority of our listeners age 50 and older.  I will also offer a campaign on our ESPN Sports station targeted to parents and coaches that have videos of family and players that need to be preserved.

Granted WOWO overall has a greater reach with over 100,000 weekly listeners but we are only going to focus our ads on a smaller percentage of them and not try and reach everyone.  I can create an ad campaign that scales for the right audience and the right number of people to make it both affordable and profitable.

What about using the internet?  Maybe.  That is where we are going to send our radio listeners, to their website.  But attempting to use online ads is a gamble.  I’ve seen only a couple of business people do it successfully this year and with my insider knowledge, I’ve even backed away from recommending many of the online options.

Bottom line is that you need to reach the right people who want what you have to sell, and do it in a manner and with a message that is profitable.

Reaching a lot of people who aren’t really your potential customers isn’t usually a good idea.

Reaching a lot of people but with not enough frequency is also not a good idea, but I’ll save that topic for another day.

Want my help?  Let’s talk. Drop me a note. Scott@WOWO.com is my email.

You can also get my free media and marketing tips email by signing up for Sound ADvice on my website at Scott Howard.me

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Let WOWO Radio Tell Your Story

Let WOWO Radio Tell Your Story

by | May 21, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Let Someone Else Say It for You

When you spend money on advertising, you obviously want to say positive things about your business, and you want to brand your business in a credible way. 

While most business owners don’t want to brag, at least publicly, bragging or boasting about your business is exactly what you should be doing! 

When it comes to advertising, especially the digital and social media of today, to say consumers are skeptical is an understatement.  Today’s consumers question nearly everything they see on the internet and the trust factor increases only slightly more when it comes to traditional media unless there is something extra that creates trust.  I’ll have more on that in a moment.

Consumers will always be leery of the claims you make in your advertising.  Understanding how to get them to or make them less leery is key to getting them to open their trust. 

In this environment where skeptics are comparing your claims to your competitors, it’s increasingly important that you build “validators” into your branding.

One validator can be to use third party quotes or research to validate your branding claims. Referrals or recommendations from others can go a long way towards making your advertised claims more credible. 

That is the something extra I offer to my advertising partners on WOWO radio.  It comes in a couple of different forms.

Start with the foundation of trust that WOWO radio has built over decades including more than 20 as a news and talk radio formated station.

Back when I was a kid, WOWO had legendary radio icon Bob Sievers as their morning show host and if Bob told you something, you believed him. 

Today we have our morning news host Kayla and afternoon talk show host Pat along with our weekend hosts Rob and Rick who all do personal endorsement ads.  They are priced at a premium and they work.  In April, I had a new advertising partner with Pat Miller that tracked 35 WOWO leads for the month.  To put that in perspective, the average job this company does is around $4,000 or more.  They only spent $2000 and well, you can do the math to see how profitable it has been for them.

Along with the full fledged live 60 second personal endorsement ads, another option I have is live news, weather, traffic and sports sponsorships.  These are about 10 seconds long and businesses get an implied endorsement from the news person or show host.

Even regular recorded ads have a stronger impact on WOWO than other stations I work for and it is because of the format and characteristics of the audience. With a music format, listeners perceive anything but music to be an irritant. But with our news and talk format, WOWO listeners are paying closer attention to the talking and that includes the commercials.

I have other advertising partners that use third party and customer testimonials in their ads and that works well too.  What is the best tactic for your business?  I don’t know but let’s sit down and brainstorm.  Contact me with an email at Scott@WOWO.com

I also have a bonus article from my Sound ADvice Marketing tips Newsletter.

Click here to read the Eight Ways to Validate Your Advertised Claims.

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The Mystery of Branding

The Mystery of Branding

by | May 7, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

The POWER of Brand Identity…Still the Most Important Thing!

Running a business 15 years ago was difficult enough.  With the advent of a New Media World, it became even more difficult and more competitive. First, it was the internet disrupting the Yellow Pages and print mediums.  Then Google overtaking Yahoo, Twitter yielded to Facebook, and now Facebook is taking a backseat to Instagram and Snapchat.  Mobile phones, blogs, podcasts, smart TV’s, Roku, Netflix, Amazon, and on and on and on it goes, where it’ll stop nobody knows! 

Do you realize that the what is currently the largest Social Media Network, wasn’t even open to the public 15 years ago?  September 2006, is when Facebook went from a student only social network to one that anyone 13 and older with a valid email address could join.

No wonder so many business owners are wondering what is next and how do they survive?  The old idea of building a name for yourself and promoting it seems to be forgotten.

Or is it?

This is the so-called Mystery of Branding that we’re going to talk about.

When it comes to running a business, a few things remain steadfast.  The businesses that run a clean business inside and out, offer an exemplary level of service, and are well known to the general public will not only survive, but they will thrive. 

The world’s largest advertisers, Proctor and Gamble, did the research for you.  Several years ago, they jumped into the digital/social world with both feet.  It didn’t take them long to learn they were losing “Brand Identity”.  Understanding that their “Brand” (e.g.  Tide, Crest, Bounty) was everything, caused them to re-think their marketing strategy, and as recently as last year, moved back to the traditional electronic media and in one year grew their sales and grew their brand awareness.  Without Brand Identity or Top of Mind Awareness, you have nothing!

Strategically, most online and mobile marketing kicks in after consumers have identified a need for your products and have begun to search for, or accept ads for, what you sell. Only 10% of adults will click on a paid internet ad and only 26% of the population even has Snapchat, compared to over 90% of adults being influenced by radio every week.

To hedge your bet as you stick your toes into new digital waters, you’ll want to build a strong awareness and preference for your brand BEFORE consumers begin their search or BEFORE they have a need and begin accepting your mobile or online ads.

While the internet has disrupted all media, the intrusive power of audio media and the emotional power of music and the human voice on radio remains the strong backbone of any successful digital campaign today.

Do you have Top of Mind Awareness?

Over the weekend, I saw a message from a friend who needed a plumber, asking for a recommendation. 

Now a plumber is not usually on your mind as you go through out your everyday activities, however when you need one, you really need one that you trust and that is why my friend was looking for recommendations.

I happen to have a client who does Heating and Plumbing so they were top of mind with me and got my recommendation.

This company advertises daily on my radio station, WOWO radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana and had branded themselves so that when I was asked, they came to mind without hesitation.  (My friend is also a WOWO listener, but in his frustration with his kitchen sink, not only was his drain clogged, his mind was clogged too!)

After I told him who to contact, he then went online to get their number.  That’s how the combination of branding on WOWO Radio and the convenience of the internet can work hand in hand.

If you would like to visit about how a strategic mix of broadcast to inspire and internet to inform can help grow your business, contact me.

Email Scott@ WOWO.com and we’ll set up a time to discuss how to take the mystery out of branding your business.

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