Tell The Truth

This week I have a message to those people who are in the advertising and marketing world and I am going to also apply it to those of you who are simply in the business world.

The message is one your parents, pastor and teachers told you repeatedly from the time you could talk.

Tell The Truth.

I know, there are people who will say that what they are saying is their version on The Truth, but some things are simply untrue.  They are often buried in fine print, or fast talking disclaimers, or sometimes just claims that are bogus and outright lies.  You might get away with these because the person you are telling them to, doesn’t know any better.

Here’s what got me on this little rant today.

Along with being the General Sales Manager of WOWO radio in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, I also serve on the Board of Directors at a local Non-Profit organization.  As the only board member with a background in media and marketing, our board and Executive Director asks me for guidance in those areas.

A few years ago, a local TV station approached our Executive Director with a proposal to buy commercials on their television station and I offered to review it before our Executive Director signed anything.

What I did first however was go through an exercise we call a Marketing Strategy Model.

The Marketing Strategy Model is a template from the radio stations sales consultants that is one of the best ways to determine what to buy because it gives you a measuring stick to use when evaluating advertising proposals that ad salespeople try and get you to buy.

Creating a Marketing Strategy Model for the Non-Profit took a couple of meetings and some really in-depth questioning and research, but it was well worth it.

When I did this a few years ago, and then we looked at the TV station advertising proposal, we saw that their advertising sales rep was way off base and the proposal did not meet the real needs for our Non-Profit.  Our Executive Director asked me if there were any media recommendations I would make.

Now I knew ahead of time that WOWO radio was likely the best choice for them to reach the people for their need but that was because of my media background and insider access to rating and demographic data.  If I was working for another radio station, I would still recommend WOWO because it was the best fit for the needs we uncovered while creating the Marketing Strategy Model for this Non-Profit that I serve as a Member of their Board of Directors.

The need that this Non-Profit has is for volunteer drivers. They have all the other bases covered, but the work they do relies on volunteer drivers.

One of the other Board Members suggested earlier this year that we look at diversifying our marketing outreach.  WOWO is a conservative news talk radio station which is highly popular because this part of the state of Indiana has a conservative leaning population, politically speaking.

This other Board Member suggested we look at getting the word out about needing volunteers by using the more liberal leaning public radio station which also broadcasts a mostly news and talk format during the day.  I think it’s a good radio station too and I often listen to it on weekends for some of the Public Radio shows that are both entertaining and informative.

As the media advisor on our board, I was sent a copy of the proposal for the Non-Profit by the public radio station and as I read through the 2 page document, red lights started going off in my brain.

I knew that one line on the first page was a lie.  That one lie cast doubt on everything else in the document.  It was mentioned as a simple fact that could not be fact-checked unless you had access to the rating database that I have because of working in the local radio business.

It was also an un-necessary lie.

Here’s what it said:

W— Listeners (90,000 in NE IN) are highly engaged in the community.

I am not calling them out by name, but there is only one local Public Radio station, you can look it up.

They don’t have 90,000 listeners in Northeast Indiana. They have less than half that many.

I did my research and looked at monthly rating data that goes back 16 months, to 2020, and none of the months showed they had close to 90,000 weekly listeners.

If their underwriting director had been truthful and said “we have over 40,000 weekly listeners” that would have been a credible statement.

And honestly, for the needs of this Non-Profit, the total number of listeners is not as important as the actions those listeners take when hearing the message about needing volunteer drivers.

That’s another challenge when using Public Radio or Public TV stations.  They are prohibited from selling commercials that have distinct call to action in the message or a comparative statement.  They position themselves as commercial-free because their broadcast licences don’t allow them to sell regular ads.  They are underwriting messages, which are pretty bland.

If our Non-Profit was looking at creating community awareness with a branding message, this could have been an option to consider. However there is a current urgent and on-going need that needs to be filled and that is recruiting volunteer drivers.  That was determined a few years ago when I helped them create a Marketing Strategy Model.

There were other disadvantages of using the Public Radio Station versus WOWO along with the limitations of the message.

The audience size, no matter how I sliced it, was half of the WOWO audience and for the money, the Public Station offered only 6 or 7 ads per week compared to 30 per week with WOWO.

When I shared this insider information with the Executive Director of the Non-Profit, she also told me about how she had to make multiple calls and emails inquiring about advertising before the Public Station returned her calls and then he was incomplete in answering questions.

No matter what business you are in, always be truthful, if you lose your credibility, you have nothing.

And if you want information on using WOWO, I won’t make you beg for it.  My pledge to you is no less than 1 or two business days is the longest you’ll have to wait.  Most likely, it will take minutes, or hours, not days or weeks.   Scott@WOWO.com is your direct line to me.