Local Connections Matter

Local Connections Matter

by | May 10, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Last Thursday, a couple things happened that I’m going to share with you.

First off, a little after 6 in the morning, I got a message from an old friend of mine from my youth who told me he was in town and wanted to get together.  He had me pick a place and I selected a local joint that I haven’t dined at in a few months that was also in my friends old neighborhood.  Gene lives out of town and I wanted to treat him to a local favorite, not a national chain.

Before I left to meet him, I realized I needed an update on the website and found this article I wrote 4 years ago but never published and it is still very appropriate today.  The rest of this piece I composed in 2018…

Who do you trust more to give you wisdom and advice… a nationally known celebrity spokesperson or your best friend?

Fred Jacobs and his brother are specialists who formed Jacobs Media in the 1980’s and take credit for the Classic Rock Radio Format.  The other day, Fred wrote about some of the results of a study they conducted pertaining to the Local factor.  Over the years due to deregulation the broadcasting world became a different animal than it was previously.

Ownership rules changed which allowed national media companies to form an own hundreds of stations.  On the radio side, they were able to cut staff and have the same morning show playing in several cities.  Actually they could eliminate all their local staff and fill the airwaves with syndicated programming 24/7.

The upside at first was a higher quality radio program at a lower operational cost.  The downside was that the local feel and flavor disappeared.

Fort Wayne, Indiana currently has over 20 radio stations.  But if you look closely, several of these stations are licenced to neighboring towns. Columbia City, New Haven, Woodburn, Decatur, Churbusco, Huntington, Roanoke, all of these small towns and more had their own radio stations at one time, or perhaps they are the town that the Fort Wayne stations are really licenced to serve.

These small town stations were bought and moved to Fort Wayne and are now part of a larger radio station group(s).

Similar stuff happened in local television too.  WPTA, originally was an ABC affiliate licenced to Roanoke, Indiana.  During the past couple of decades, I’ve watched as multiple changes have taken place.  It used to be WANE was 15 and CBS; WPTA was 21 and ABC; WKJG was 33 and NBC; WFWA was 39 and PBS; and WFFT was 55 and Fox.

Consolidation and reorganization has changed this line up to a degree too.  Most of the Fort Wayne audience was unaware that for awhile, some of our local TV newscasters were also anchoring a newscast in Detroit on a station that was owned by the same company. This was about 10 years ago.

I want to return to my original question and share what Fred Jacobs discovered and how that applies to us in Fort Wayne.

Fred’s article is about Public Radio but we can draw some conclusions that also apply to commercial radio and actually all media.

This  graphic really caught my eye and was this inspiration for today.

For my podcast listeners, I’ll share what I’m looking at.

In response to the statement, “One of radio’s primary advantages is its local feel”, nearly 70% agreed or strongly agreed.

All generations agree that local is what makes radio worth listening to.  Even the youngest surveyed, the Millennials, 4 out of 5 of them. had the highest preference for local content.   7 out of 10 News Talk radio listeners want local content too.

What’s so important about local?  I’ll ask my question again:

Who do you trust more to give you wisdom and advice… a nationally known celebrity spokesperson or your best friend?

See how this all fits together?

One more reason why my radio station, WOWO radio continues to dominate in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Referrals Rule

Referrals Rule

by | May 3, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

When you hear the words “so-and-so referred me/or suggested I see you”, it’s almost like money in the bank!

You’ve probably heard that it can cost five to ten times as much to attract a new customer as it costs to maintain and keep an existing customer.  And, that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers.  While finding new customers is important, finding more new customers and keeping them is the true secret to success!

Bain & Company and Harvard Business School reports that 80% of businesses believe they deliver a superior customer experience to capture repeat and referral business, while only 8% of their customers agree that these companies provide superior service.  They also suggest that a 5 percent increase in customer retention can lead to an increase in profits of between 25 and 95 percent.  Both sets of numbers should grab your attention!

While your customers are bombarded with messages from your competition, it makes sense to craft your advertising to attract new customers, but also keep you front and center with current customers.

Many businesses use internet tools like email or social media to pursue customer loyalty and use intrusive broadcast media to attract new customers. While that strategy is certainly valid, they often under-estimate what intrusive media, like radio, can do to serve as a reminder to their current customer base.

What do you do, or can you do, to provide “over the top” customer service?  And, do you tell people what you do?  Customers expect good service, but it’s when you go over and above that they start to tell their family and friends.

In business, customer perceptions become their realities. If 92% of customers don’t perceive you deliver superior service, they are vulnerable to the aggressive appeals in your competitors’ advertising.

There is a reason that successful businesses like McDonald’s, Home Depot, and GEICO continue to invest more in broadcast advertising…. they understand that to GROW their business they not only need to keep their current clients, but they also need new customers.  New customers come from one of three ways: referrals, advertising, or luck!

Want to get luckier by getting more repeat and referral business?  Click here to read 12 Ways to Generate More Repeat and Referral Business.

Are U Unique?

Are U Unique?

by | Apr 26, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

Famous women’s fashion designer and perfume manufacturer Coco Chanel said this about running a business, “In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different”.

What makes your business special?  Do you stand out among your competitors?  Do you do things that make other businesses envious and make the general public talk favorably about what you do or what you offer?

Or… are you playing the, “I’ll beat ‘em on the price” game?

If your business isn’t doing anything “special”, the only thing your potential customers can and will judge you on is price or convenience; are you cheaper or are you closer than your competitors.  Winning on price alone generally means losing where it really matters….in profits.

Assuming your pricing is at least in the ballpark, there are many things you can promote that cannot be “shopped and compared”.  What makes your business stand out in the crowd? Is it your…

  • Knowledge
  • Skill
  • Talent
  • Hours
  • Speed
  • Guarantee or Warranty
  • Extras (something you do that no one else does)

Even your advertising or marketing style can make you unique.  If your commercials and ads look and sound like everyone else’s ads, they won’t stand out.  If you create a unique style and strategy, it can make all the difference in the world.

In business, having and promoting superior knowledge, skill, talent, hours, speed of service, guarantee, or doing something extra special is often times the difference between a decent business and a GREAT business.

Click here for our free “Seven Secrets to Promoting Your Competitive Advantage” to increase your top line, and more importantly, your bottom line.
Is Generational Relatability An Issue?

Is Generational Relatability An Issue?

by | Apr 19, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

We’re going to talk about generational differences today and how they impact our relationships with others that are older or younger than us.

Last month, Mediapost shared a Quick Refresher on Demographics and that was part of the inspiration for this along with some stuff going on in my own life.

First, I’ll reveal me:

Baby Boomer, graduated from high school in the late 70’s.  I was alive when JFK was shot but have no memory of it because I was a toddler.  During most of the 60’s, I was not aware of the political turmoil or cultural revolutions that were going on.  I was just a kid.

Watergate was the first time I really noticed much about political stuff.  When Nixon resigned, I was becoming a teen and was more into teen stuff like girls and music than adult stuff.  Musically I was into Top 40 and those songs from the mid 70’s to mid 80’s were the foundation for a couple of reasons.  1st, was listening to the radio as a kid and then I was a teenage disc-jockey from age 16 to 25 on the radio for a decade before moving to the advertising side of broadcasting in Detroit in the late 80’s.

My wife is 8 years older than me and most of her friends are around her age, not mine.  We’ve been married for a couple of decades and I would tease her about stuff that happened “before I was born”.  Yet as we get older, we’ve realized that those 8 years are not as significant compared to other generations.

Our 5 kids (from our first marriages) were all born in the 80’s and most of them have kids so there’s another generation in our family now.

I recall 20 years ago when I took a break from media and marketing and learned how to run a thermoformer in a plastics plant that the people working for me were closer to my kids age than mine and that was one of the motivating factors to return to radio and get out of the very physically demanding factory world.

Now at the broadcasting company I work for, we are hiring people that are 10 years younger than my kids.  While it kind of makes me feel old at times, I’ve also enjoyed the role I play as a leader, mentor, and coach.  Plus I can still out perform many of the advertising account executives in our company, but that is not my focus.

So as you and I move forward in 2022 and the years ahead, it’s important to understand some of the differences in generational relatability that I’m about to share.  A dozen years ago I was a guest speaker on personal branding to a group of Huntington University students and realized that an example I used of TV personality Larry King was unrelatable, so the following year I updated my presentation to fix that.

Here’s the Mediapost story:

In 2018, the Pew Research Center determined that 1997 was the starting date for Generation Z. Anyone born from 1981 to 1996 is deemed a millennial, and anyone born since 1997 is a Gen-Zer.

At this point, the oldest Gen-Zers are turning 25 this year and the rest are teens or younger. (The cutoff for Gen Z births appears to be 2012.)

Among the differences between Gen Z and millennials (also called Gen Y) are:

–       Most Gen-Zers have little or no memory of 9/11. Instead, they grew up with lines clearly drawn between the political parties after the event.

–       Generation Z is the most ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history. The next most-diverse generation is millennials. Some 52% of Gen Z is white, 25% is Hispanic, and 4% is Asian, again according to Pew.

–       The iPhone launched in 2007, when the oldest Gen-Zers were 10. They came of age as social media, mobile computing and constant connectivity were part of the landscape.

–       According to a 2021 survey, the top brands for Gen Z were Google, Apple and Amazon. Netflix, Chick-Fil-A and Vans came in after that. But that survey is far from definitive. Others have put Nike at No.1, Netflix at No. 2 and YouTube at No. 3.

For millennials, the top brands were Apple, Nike and Amazon, according to marketing firm Moosylvania. Google was No. 8.

In other words, there doesn’t yet appear to be a deep divide between Gen Y and Gen Z.  That contrasts with the divide between Gen X and Baby Boomers, which was driven by some big differences. Baby boomers currently comprise 70 million people, versus 65.2 million for Gen X, according to Insider Intelligence. That doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but Gen X was marked by a “baby bust” mentality that sported attitudes of cynicism and skepticism after the euphoria of boomers.

Baby boomers also had a clear starting point (the end of World War II) and ending (1964, when the birth rate began falling). Since then, the delineations between generations seems somewhat arbitrary. As a result, those expecting a huge chasm between Gen Y and Gen Z may come up short.

Some additional insight as you consider all of this is to not make broad assumptions about someone because of the generation they were born into.  I am much more active than my son when it comes to online behavior.  I was also an early adopter compared to folks 10 to 20 years younger than me.  I had to push and pull some of my former co-workers to move forward with certain things that they thought were just a fad, but clearly were much bigger and longer lasting.  Twitter is the example that comes to mind.

Want to know more or do you have some insights to share?  Contact me.

Truth Detection

Truth Detection

by | Apr 12, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

Marketing and advertising are all about winning in the court of public opinion and it’s a tough and skeptical jury you are facing. Many of us have been misled by sales pitches or outrageous advertising claims in the past. In short, they are justifiably skeptical of offers made via advertising today.

When preparing for trial, good attorneys are prepared. They have a plan of attack and will often present their case from different angles. Advertising, over the long haul, should be approached in much the same fashion.

There’s an old saying, “facts tell and stories sell”. This is true whether in the courtroom or in advertising.  Facts can and will validate your claims. However, it’s a good compelling story that makes it believable and memorable.

In the courtroom, lawyers will tell the same story from several different perspectives and angles. Advertising should use the same approach. Different stories told from different angles will have a different impact on different jurors/consumers.

In many famous court trials, the attorney that can tell the best story, using the cleverest lines, oftentimes win.  Remember the famous line, “If it doesn’t fit – you must acquit”. Many experts agree that this one line is what swayed the jury.

The smoking gun is an irrefutable piece of evidence that convinces the jury “beyond a reasonable doubt” that your case is sound. In advertising, there are several ways to convince the public that your business is the one they should choose!

For your advertising to be successful, you must, over time, convince the public that your business is a viable and reputable option.

Does your advertising win in the court of public opinion?

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