Up and To the Right

My friend Ben uses the term Up and To The Right to describe the direction business should be going when you chart it out.

I’ve worked for Ben since 2013 and we worked together nearly 15 years ago too and Ben is a numbers guy.

Me, not so much, but it’s part of my work and it really doesn’t matter if you are a numbers person or not, if you are running a business, you need to know your numbers.

The Up and To The Right visual should be your growth, your income, your profits.  It might also be your expenses but as long as the income is ahead of the expenses, you are probably on the right track.

It’s become more challenging the past 3 years for a lot of folks, there is no denying everyone has been impacted directly or indirectly due to rising costs, supply shortages and staffing issues.

However, we are still here.

The world hasn’t collapse into total chaos, a black hole, or the return of the Messiah, at least not today.

So each of us move forward with the desire to have our numbers in the black and not the red.

Up and To The Right.

I’ve consulted with numerous companies over the past few decades and learned enough to be able to have an intelligent conversation on nearly any business topic or business operation issue.

However my area of expertise is in the marketing and advertising side, not the manufacturing side.  I am also really good at asking questions to help draw out answers and possibilities on those areas that I’m not an expert.

Advertising and marketing’s purpose is to sell stuff.  Create a demand, invite people to become your customers and take them thru the consumer journey or buying funnel, what ever you want to call that process that results in people giving you money for your stuff.

Most business people are amateurs at advertising and marketing.  That’s okay because they are professionals with their area of expertise.

Except when they are spending money and don’t know what they are doing.  If this describes you, try not to be offended.

Just in the past two decades, I’ve worked in both traditional and internet mediums.  Radio of course, but also print, websites, social media and a host of related methodologies to generate customers for clients.  Most of you reading this or listening to this podcast, are relatively clueless about all of this.

Your son-in-law knows how to “Facebook”.  Your buddy “has a guy” that once built websites and he’s really cheap.

The media salesperson tells you all the reasons why their audience is a “perfect match” and they offer you a boat load of free ads along with a few paid ads and you sign up and hope it works.

Please stop this insane method of spending money to get customers and talk to people who truly know what they are doing.

Also stop chasing the next big thing and fall into the trap of tossing all your money at the big shiny new digital platform.

The people you want to spend money with you are human beings, not machines.  Most advertising is annoying.

You need to buy the least annoying ads that are targeted to your potential customers using a platform that is trusted and respected.

For years, we’ve witnessed the growth of digital ad opportunities.  Many had double digit (in percentages) growth in users and so you may have flocked to those platforms.  I’m referring to:

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter, Google+, FourSquare, and the latest darling TikTok.  Those are just off the top of my head, there have been over a hundred others that were trying to become a social media giant to attract a big crowd of users that you could then advertise your business to.

But it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

TikTok is being banned by numerous governments and government agencies over security concerns because of links to the Chinese government.  Twitter is in a state of disarray as Elon Musk continues to make changes.  Facebook had been getting heat from the government for years over their behaviors and algorithms.  Having worked full time in Social, I know how you are at their mercy when they make changes.

If you are using social media as your primary advertising vehicle, it’s time to add another method that has stability and potential customers so you can continue going Up and To The Right in 2023.

I’ve shared a couple of disasters that nearly wiped out some companies that I’ve worked with because they used Social Media as their primary lead source and then the rules changes.

The other method of inviting people to spend money with you is the place that I work.  Which may or may not be a good option for you. Since 2013, I have chosen to work for WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne.  It’s a News Talk radio station that is turning 99 year old this year.

I’ve worked for other stations but nowhere as long as I have WOWO.  There is something special about the attentiveness of a talk radio listener that can be beneficial to the businesses that advertise.  It’s different than a music station. I also have a Sports Talk radio station and music stations available that we can use to invite their listeners to become your customers if you are in the Fort Wayne Indiana area.

I can point to numerous antidotal stories and studies to reassure you that you should consider radio ads, like this one just release last year about furniture buyers.

But beyond the radio station, the key to your success is the person you talk to.  Are they an expert at selling advertising or at helping companies like yours keeping the numbers moving Up and To The Right?