by Scott Howard | Dec 5, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
I picked up a new book from Seth Godin recently and am reading it right now. Or perhaps by the time I publish this and the podcast goes live, I will have finished it.
But I doubt it. My reading style is reflective when it comes to things like marketing. I should tell you that the name of Seth’s latest book is This Is Marketing. There are all kinds of bonus features online you can get and a community you can join once you buy the book.
But in just reading the little portion that I’ve read before I started writing today, I noticed that there are parallels to what he wrote and what I’ve been sharing over the years.
Today I want to ask you a serious question that not many business people stop and consider.
The question is:
Do They Like You
Things are different in the advertising and marketing world from when my parents and grandparents were around. Mass marketing was common because we had mass media. Mass media was defined by a limited number of media and entertainment options and so the masses of people they attracted were pretty large because of the limited options.
In the video world for example, there were between 3 and 5 TV stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana and they carried programming from ABC, CBS, PBS, NBC and Fox. Want to know the big news of the day? Sit down and watch the half hour newscast with the family when it came on TV live.
The percentage of people watching one thing at the same time was huge in comparison to today.
Advertising by interruption worked because of the mass of people you would reach. Same was true of radio, newspaper and other forms of entertainment like movie theaters that seated hundreds at a time to watch the couple of films that were released each week.
Advertising by interruption is a topic I’ll expand on in the future but for now, I want to share with you what happens after you have reached someone by advertising or word of mouth or by accident.
That person is going to form an opinion of you and your business. They are going to ask themselves that question:
Do They Like You
This will determine if they become a long term customer worth thousands of dollars in your future, or if they are never coming back and instead will be worth thousands of dollars to your competitors.
Advertising can’t fix a broken business.
If you screw up and end up chasing away the customers that your advertising brought in, you better fix that leaky boat.
And now a plug for what I do. I make money when businesses buy advertising solutions from me that air on my radio station, WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana and/or pair it up with some of the digital advertising solutions I offer.
But my heart is in looking at the big picture of your business and the entire customer experience. I want to help you figure out ways to be sure the answer is:
Yes, they like us
Contact me and let’s start a conversation about your marketing, advertising and how to be better in ways that your customers care about.
I’m going to wrap this up with a story of a local restaurant that my wife and I really were rooting for.
After several years of being our Saturday night date night destination, the owner of the building decided that they would not renew the lease of this highly popular restaurant and bar. The owner decided that they were going to reinvent the place and after being shut down for a couple of weeks, they slowly opened with a limited menu and then a full menu.
Instead of visiting every week, my wife and I visited every other week. Then we skipped a few weeks. After our last visit, I said we are only going to visit once a month or less.
Things had changed under the new management. The last straw for me was the food was inconsistent. When I finally found a dish I loved and came back two weeks later, it was not the same. It was such a disappointment.
The service had been slow under new management due to a lack of staff, but we were willing to wait. A longer wait time for our food was acceptable since it was undergoing this transformation. The staff was also great, the ones we saw behind the bar and the wait staff that stayed under the new management were like friends.
But when the new place lost it’s appeal with the food and when you are in the food business, that’s deadly.
Sadly, I don’t like them anymore. They are no longer getting my date night money every week, or my occasional lunch money, or my recommendations to friends and business people. I won’t write a bad review online, because I want them to get it together, but not on my dime. I will check back every 4 to 6 weeks and see if they are improving. If they don’t, they will have to shut down.
My lesson for them and for you is to ask the question:
Do They Like You?
and find out ways to get better, fast.
As always, I’m here to help.
by Scott Howard | Nov 28, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Years ago, I worked for a group of radio stations that hired Wayne Ens to do research on TOMA in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
TOMA is an acronym for Top Of Mind Awareness and if your business doesn’t have it with your potential customers, you are living with an unfair advantage compared to your business competitors who are working hard to create TOMA.
I subscribe to the ENS Media email and saw this excellent reminder of why this is important.
The Story of Bob’s Tire Store
TOMA/Branding is still King!
Let’s pretend that you walked out to your vehicle this morning and noticed you had a flat tire! *$#*@!#&!! … And, it’s not just flat, it’s ruined!
If you’re like most people, your next step would be to go to the internet and search one of two things; 1) Tire stores in (your city) or 2) a specific name of a tire store you are familiar with, like Bob’s Tire Store.
Our ENS Media TOMA surveys, conducted in over 260 markets, continue to prove a couple things;
- Approximately 64-75% of people will click on a business they are FAMILIAR WITH before clicking on a business at the top of the page they are NOT FAMILIAR WITH (only 3%).
- Approximately 72% of people are very likely to use those businesses which come to mind first.
Internet marketing guru Seth Godin says, “It’s better to be sought than found”. In other words, if you’re Bob, you’re hoping that people search specifically for “Bob’s Tire Store”, but, if they search “tire stores in (your city)”, your hope is that people know you and have an emotional connection with you so you have a greater chance of getting their business. If not, the business is up for grabs. Kind of sounds like the old Yellow Pages, or as we refer to it, the “Directory of Ineffective Advertisers”.
The need to have a strong brand name, or TOMA, isn’t going away. In fact, as the internet, smart speakers, voice-activated searches and purchases become more popular, the need to have TOMA will become even more important. “Alexa, connect me with a tire store”, or “Alexa, call Bob’s Tire Store”.
As you plan for 2019, I can help you create this Top Of Mind Awareness for you and your business and discuss further why this is imperative to your lasting success.
If you are a media sales professional looking for an excellent coaching and training service, visit https://www.ensmediausa.com/
by Scott Howard | Nov 20, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo Sales Tips, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, Uncategorized, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
The Holi-daze are upon on and this is a weird and wonderful time of year. I’ve created a few items that you as a business person or marketing person, or what ever kind of person you are, you can take a look at and use to help you navigate the last few weeks of this year.
If this is make it or break it time for your retail business, it’s time to suck it up. Just because you are having to work long hours and cover for the employees that are sick or you just are short handed because all the good people have jobs elsewhere due, remember your customers.
The customers who actually drove to your store really want to buy something that you sell. Otherwise, we would have ordered it online. Just the other day, my wife was working on a project and after making a couple trips to the store, she asked me to order a tool online. It took me less than 10 minutes on a Saturday afternoon and it arrived at our house Monday. While that was convenient for my family, we are also a shop local family. Of the $200 we spent on this project, $185 went to a local store and $15 went to Amazon.
That’s because we are consciously looking to support our friends and neighbors. Locally owned coffee shops and restaurants get most of my food and beverage money every month.
The point is, the people who come to your store, have a choice to buy from you or someone else. Super-serve them and keep them coming back. Create a positive shopping experience for them and they will come back. Make it a bad experience, and you may have lost them forever.
Advertising is the part of marketing that functions as the invitation to your company. But advertising can’t fix problems that go on inside your company.
Last week I was meeting with someone who wanted to hire me to train his staff on how to upsell his customers in a manner that is not annoying, but instead is genuine.
Speaking of advertising, you really need to invite people to your store right now. People are spending for themselves and for others. They are overspending, maxing out credit cards this time of year. While I don’t believe that is a good thing to do, I’m not their mom and they are grown ups right?
Advertising this time of year might be challenging if you haven’t planned ahead.
Using television ads means you need to get a fresh ad produced and that takes time and money. Also the television viewing is different this time of year due to the holiday specials on TV and combined with the changes in TV viewing habits, I recommend you stay away from TV unless you already have it planned out.
Print ads might be available in the daily newspaper, but with the dwindling number of readers, just say no.
Social Media including Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest might work, but you better have a professional managing it, or else you can waste time and money.
I offer some online advertising options through the Federated Digital Solutions division of my company, but again, it’s kind of late to plan for this Holi-daze season. If you want to talk about it, let’s plan a campaign for the new year.
My suggestion is using radio advertising to capture customers right now for the Holi-daze season.
Within a couple of days, I can get your message in front of thousands of people right here in our city who are shopping. WOWO radio continues to be one of the most listened to radio stations in Fort Wayne and it’s a hot time right now. Our annual Penny Pitch drive is underway with money being raised for two local non-profits. Weekly events that you and your business can be associated with provide a feel-good connection.
I also can create room for advertising for a special event. Earlier this month, I put together a radio advertising campaign for an event that was less than a week away. I wrote the ads, we produced the campaign and in the 5 days leading up and including the sale days, over 50 ad invitations were heard by over 75,000 WOWO listeners.
If this is crunch time for you, let’s talk now.
Or if this is a slow time of the year for you because you are not part of the retail Holi-daze season, this is an excellent time to plan for the new year. I can make time to help you with your planning, reach out and we’ll get started.
By the way, I have a couple of ideas for retailers that you can do right now for this Holi-daze season:
- This first one was inspired by Amazon. I use Amazon to buy gifts for my relatives that are hundreds of miles away. I often spend a little extra to have Amazon gift wrap those presents. What if you offered to gift wrap purchases as an upsell to people who are in your store? Make it easy and just have a stock of gift bags and tissue paper, and charge them your cost plus an extra buck or two. You can even partner up with a local charity and give the proceeds to them.
- This other idea also was inspired by something Amazon does not do. Sometimes I buy a gift ahead of time and I don’t want it to arrive before hand. What if you offered a Santa’s Closet for people who want to buy presents now, but wait a few days or weeks to take them home?
- My last idea is something you need to start and continue forever. Collect email addresses and text numbers and offer a program to customers who sign up to be notified of special events. Most major retailers do this and you should too.
by Scott Howard | Nov 13, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Thank goodness the political advertising season is done for awhile, now we get to see and hear holiday ads. Advertising it self is neither good or bad, but you and I know that we have seen plenty of bad ads we never want to see again.
Let’s set the record straight.
Advertising is simply an attempt for a business to invite you to spend money with them.
The business may use incentives in their ads, such as the sales we have seen for Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping. Or they may simply be branding ads that are to remind us of them so when we have a need, they are top of mind and we check them out first.
Actually we live in an ad-supported world. NASCAR would not survive if there was no sponsorship dollars because the cost of the sport would have to be paid by the fans and ticket prices would be so high, the sport would die.
How about the online world? The ads we see on our favorite websites or posted next to the stories we read are supplementing the cost of those websites. Same thing with your “free email account”. It’s more than just data collection, it’s also a way to improve your online experience.
As data is collected about us from our online habits and the information we give voluntarily on sites like Facebook, the reward for you and I is we are served ads for items that we are interested in. The ads my son sees when he is online are different from the ads I see.
Try this experiment with a friend.
Both of you visit the same page on a website on your own computers at the same time. Odds are there will be different ads customized for each of you based on the information that “Big Data” knows about each of you.
By the way, if you are reading this and have a business, I can show you how to target online your potential customers anywhere. It’s a pretty cool trick, and actually more than a trick, it’s an extremely useful way to spend your money to invite customers. It’s part of the Good Side of On-Line Advertising and can work hand in hand or separate from the other advertising options I have available with my radio station WOWO.
Contact me and let’s talk.
by Scott Howard | Nov 6, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
It happened again. I got a request from an “Operations Assistant” recently asking for information including prices for advertising with WOWO Radio.
My reply was to attempt to book a meeting at their office to learn about what they wanted to do and ultimately discover what they wanted to accomplish.
They told me in an email:
We just started looking to advertise our company so right now we are just looking for prices and information on how you do advertising and from there I would take the information to my business development manager and have them review it.
In other words, they really don’t know what they are doing. I know this because they really Aren’t Asking The Right Questions.
What they need is someone who can help and guide them after discovering what they want to accomplish.
I grudgingly sent them an email with a “package” and a note saying this was an example of some of our pricing, blah blah blah. They opened the email but no reply.
So the next day I wrote them again and told them they were asking the wrong questions. Because they were clueless about advertising and marketing, getting prices is really meaningless. It’s like asking 5 different restaurants how much dinner costs without knowing what’s on the menu and then being upset because while you bought some food, it really wasn’t all that tasty.
On a side note about food, on the weekends, my wife sometimes likes to see what cheap deals there are for lunch. Last month we went to the Burger King drive thru for a cheap deal and when we got home discovered they messed up the order and the food they gave us wasn’t that good. This has happened before and so I told her we are never going back. Instead we are going to Culver’s which is also nearby. Culver’s is a little more money but two to three times the quality and the order is always correct when we pull it out of the bag at home.
Back to my original premise… Are You Asking The Wrong Questions when you are looking for answers? When it comes to advertising and marketing, I will help you determine the right questions so you get the answers you need to make the right choice.
Even though I sell advertising and marketing with WOWO Radio and our Federated Digital Solutions division, my first goal is to help you follow the right path to get where you want to go.
In the weeks ahead, I am going to launch a step by step series on how to really make good decisions on your business marketing and advertising including some angles you probably never considered. I’ll also share with you insider information about WOWO radio and other media, so stay tuned as they say.
Are you in the Fort Wayne Indiana area? Reach out and let’s talk. Face to Face. I’ll come to you.
Email me, Call me, Text me, or Message me.
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