What Not to Expect from your Advertising

What Not to Expect from your Advertising

by | Aug 5, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

There are a lot of misconceptions about advertising that I find myself addressing repeatedly especially with new business people who ae taking their first steps into an advertising investment.

Last month I read a column in Radio Ink by Pat Bryson that I’m going to use today because her examples are spot on and very much in line with what I’ve been preaching.

First off, let’s define Advertising.  Advertising is paid messaging that usually includes a call-to- action, and or branding message.  I can simplify that further and tell you that advertising is a paid invitation from a business to a potential customer.

That’s it.

When you send out invitations, you are attempting to communicate a message to potential customers.

What happens next is entirely in your hands.   Here’s the words of wisdom from Pat:

What factors determine if a warm body makes a purchase? Several important factors must work together to complete the sale and turn that prospect into a customer that returns again and again:

  • Personnel that are well-trained and friendly
  • Value: price related to perceived benefit
  • Parking that is convenient and accessible
  • Seasonality
  • How does the store look?
  • Are the floor displays attractive? How are goods packaged?
  • Are the restrooms clean? (a surprisingly big factor especially for restaurants)
  • Where is the store located? Easy to get to?
  • What are consumers wanting to buy?
  • Competition: today both bricks and mortar and virtual
  • Is the store known for good service after the sale? How’s their reputation?
  • Advertising (finally!)

All of these factors must work together to produce a sale. Unfortunately, many times we get potential customers in and the client doesn’t sell them.

This is true no matter what form of advertising you buy.  There is only so much that that ads can do and the rest is up to you as a business owner.  Now I know that most advertising sales people don’t take the time to work with you to help you understand the consumer journey that help you improve it so your ads are more effective.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  It’s not making your ads more effective that I’m talking about, but the buying process that follows once the ads do their job.

Again, what’s the job of advertising?  It’s not to sell your stuff.  It’s to invite people to you so you and your team can help them buy your stuff.

Advertising is a simple paid invite.

If you want help with any or all of this, let’s talk.

Planning In Advance

Planning In Advance

by | Jul 29, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Most of us plan in advance.

Not everything, but even the least organized and most impulsive have a tiny bit of planning that they do.  Could be as simple as having clean clothes, or paying a bill.  Or it’s a routine that you follow that could count as planning.

I’ve got a friend who is bringing back a restaurant that he used to own and operate a couple decades ago and he’s created plans for just about everything needed to open his doors this year including how to invite potential customers to his new place in a new location.

I also have some clients that plan their marketing budgets on an annual basis and won’t deviate from those spending levels until the next year.  Interestingly, a couple of my clients that are like that also want me to continue to present them new opportunities as the year progresses.  I know that if I present an opportunity that hits one of their hot buttons, they’ll consider pulling the trigger on additional spending.

We’re around 100 days away from the next national election and our media company is getting ready to launch a non-partisan informational website to provide visitors details about voting including candidate information, and voter registration info too.  I have room for 4 businesses to receive a bunch of brand awareness exposure on this website, thru radio ads, email blasts and social media posts for the 3 months leading up to election day.  Cost is minimal.  The way this years presidential race has gone is downright crazy with unpredictable happenings including a terrible debate performance and attempted assassination.

I’m doing my duty to offer sponsorship to businesses that want to be on the website and some businesses are saying thanks but we’re locked in to our spending levels for the remainder of the year.  Others have asked to have some time to think about it.  The reality is we’ll find 4 businesses that go above and beyond what they were planning and add this sponsorship to their marketing and branding.  I don’t know who will say yes, so I’m offering it to anyone I know.

Something else happened this month regarding advertising planning.  I have a client that uses an ad agency and every couple of years I’d sit down with the agency 6 months before the current agreement expired and work out details for the next agreement.  Well, the client switched ad agencies this year and the timeline for planning next years agreement has moved from a 6 month process to a 2 or 3 month process.

Besides all of this advertising and marketing stuff I do, there are 3 or 4 non-profits that I’m involved with that uses timetables and planning to make sure things are accomplished on time for the best results.  I also finalized my third personal trip planning for out of town travel that required some research and lastly my wife and I have stepped up some financial planning with a professional in a way that we hadn’t done previously.

Can we agree that planning in advance is a good thing?

Besides having clean clothes and paying our bills on time, the value of a plan with many of our life choices, be it personal or business can be considered priceless. Part of our planning should include an “Extra” line item.

For personal planning, the experts recommend we have a stash of cash that can be tapped into for unexpected stuff.  It could be to replace a vehicle that suddenly becomes inoperable, or for good stuff like a chance to take some time off to visit out of town family which is something I’ve been doing this year.

On the business side, those extra funds can be used to take advantage of items that would be good for your business but weren’t even on your radar months ago when you formulated your annual budget.

The key to all of this actually goes into deciding what is important and then creating a plan that includes flexibility as opportunities come up.

Do you have a plan or do you wing it?  Let me know and if you want help with developing a plan for your business, I have resources for helping you create a marketing strategy and connections with other professionals that can provide you with guidance and expertise in the other important areas of business too.

 

 

Are You Too Close?

Are You Too Close?

by | Jul 22, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Last weeks Sound ADvice newsletter was too good to only share via email:

You’ve heard the old expression about being too close to the forest to see the trees? As a business owner, it’s easy to fall into this trap. You have a lot going on and a lot of different things to think about, every day!

Some spend so much time focusing on mending their weaknesses that they neglect to promote and capitalize on their strengths. Still, others are so caught up with their strengths that they neglect the weaknesses that are driving customers to their competitors.

And still, others lack the objectivity to candidly assess their strengths and weaknesses. Regular objective self-analysis is crucial to the success of your business. Learning to be your own devil’s advocate can help you uncover many things that can help improve your business in many areas.

In our top seven Devil’s Advocate Questions for self-analysis, question number three asks, “Why should someone drive past your competitors to do business with you?”… “No, really, Why?…..and prove it!”

If your answer is something like, “We provide better service”, “We have friendlier people”, or “We have been in business for 57 years” quit tickling yourself to hear yourself laugh. When you try to promote “better service”, “nice people”, “years of service” or any other “generic cliché”, the skeptical consumer believes you are simply trying to take the focus off your higher prices. It’s either that or your ads become so bland that no one pays attention to the message.

For the most part, better service, nicer people, or years of experience are marketing strategies that are only effective once your customers experience them. Unless you have a way to substantiate those claims, promoting them simply sounds like another hollow advertising claim.

If you need a little nudge to help you become your own devil’s advocate and become more objective in your strategic thinking, click here to see the Devil’s Advocate Questions and discover how they may apply to your business.

You too can get this type of Sound ADvice emailed to you nearly every week, it’s free when you email me, Scott@WOWO.com

And helping you and your business create a solid marketing campaign complete with ads that aren’t filled with cliché’s is what I can help you with if you’re in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, reach out to me, Scott@WOWO.com

6 Keys To Successful Advertising

6 Keys To Successful Advertising

by | Jul 15, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

6 Keys to Successful Advertising:

Most businesses don’t really understand how advertising works. Even the ones that are advertising successfully are not understanding the why behind their advertising success and so they just happen to be doing enough of the right things to counter the wrong things that they shouldn’t be doing.

First off, we have to understand the purpose of advertising and that’s summed up easily:

Advertising is paid invitations to invite people to spend money with your business.

Some business people say that Word of Mouth is their best form of advertising, which is sort of correct except you don’t pay for that.  Word of Mouth is the organic messaging that happens when your business has a good reputation and one person tells another about your business.

The problem with Word Of Mouth is that it is slow and most businesses can’t survive let alone grow if they only rely on this organic word of mouth messaging to bring in enough customers to sustain a  business.

That’s where paid advertising plays a part in amplifying your messaging of inviting people to become your customers.

In todays terminology it’s the difference between a regular social media post and a boosted social media post.

One more important bit of information to share before I dive into the 6 Keys of Successful Advertising is Expectations.

If you expect that when someone sees or hears your ad, that alone will make them buy your stuff at that moment, your expectations are wrong.  Only a very few companies are successful with what is know as direct response advertising

The True Direct Response Advertising I’m referring to is usually set up as a profit sharing arrangement between the business and advertising medium.  Instead of paying for the ad, the business and the advertising medium agree that a set dollar amount or set percentage of sales attributed to a specific ad is what the advertising medium receives.

I’ve worked with one company where we get 50% of the sales as our advertising fee instead of a set price per commercial.  This is a national company that I work with and they already have a brand name recognition so the people who respond to the ads we air for them are in the final stages of the consumer journey to buy this product and if they use the special promo code exclusive to us, we get credit for the sale and are paid accordingly.

99% of advertising works to create Brand Awareness.  Even though the ads mention prices and sales and stuff that are trying to get us to buy now, all they are really doing is reminding us as consumers of their brand.

Why do I say this?

Because advertising is only one side of the equation.

It’s the invitation to you and me to spend money.

You and I have to have a reason in our lives to spend the money and it has very little to do with the specific ads we see and hear.

If I just stuffed myself with a delicious meal and I see an ad for another one of my favorite foods, but I’m not only not hungry but I’m stuffed, there is no way I’m going to make myself sick by eating more no matter how much I normally would enjoy that other food.

Same goes with nearly anything we do. 

We are not going to respond unless we have a need or desire.

However, the more we are exposed to something, our brains retain that information and it builds up to create a brand preference.  Then, sometime in the future if we need or want something that we’ve already been exposed to because of advertising, we will often have one or two places that come to mind to spend our money with.  That’s Top Of Mind Awareness and when organic Word Of Mouth referrals for your business come about, it’s because your business is Top Of Mind.

Now with all of this as a foundation, here are the 6 Keys to Successful Advertising:

  1. Define your customer. Not everyone is going to be your customer. What are the characteristics of the people you want as customers and that you can successfully serve with your business.
  2. Define your brand. Too many businesses are not unique in the way they present themselves.  Family owned with 56 years of combined experience is pretty generic and doesn’t really mean that much.  I have a client that has been using the branding statement, On Time, Done Right, Or It’s Free for years and while they are a family owned multi-generational company with years of experience, it’s their branding statement that defines them.
  3. Invite your desired customers to get to know your brand over and over again, consistently over time. Pick an advertising medium that allows you to make that connection and be patient.  Know the buying cycle of your business.  We eat every day.  We may buy a roof once or twice in our lives.  Make sure your invitation to me is there so when I’m ready to start the buying process, you will stay Top Of Mind with Me.
  4. Your Message has to be focused on your Customer, not just you. It’s the What’s In It For Me as a consumer principle.
  5. Plan for a long-term investment in your advertising. If you expect instant results, you’re being foolish, or just fooling yourself.  When I was 42 years old, I had central air installed in a house I just bought and the two companies I called are ones that I remembered from 25 years ago.  I never was in need of an HVAC company but when a triggering moment came in my life, I got quotes from the two companies that were Top Of Mind from my youth.  One of those companies got nearly $20,000 of my money.
  6. Remember it is impossible to be 100% accurate when you attempt to track your advertising investments. Even if you ask me as a new customer why I am spending money with your company, I won’t remember all of the ads I’ve seen or heard.  And Google is not the right answer, that’s just how I found you online to get your number.

And here’s a bonus key to success…

Most any form of advertising can help if you do it right and have realistic expectations.  However, the ad is only the invite.  It’s up to you and your business to close the sale, not the ad.

The Message vs The Media

The Message vs The Media

by | Jul 8, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

This weeks article is from a recent Sound ADvice newsletter that my subscribers received this summer.  If you would like a free weekly subscription, email Scott@WOWO.com.

In the never-ending maze of online media, on-air media, outdoor media, direct mail, and print media, business owners often ask, “Which media works best?” or, “Which media platform will give me the highest return on my investment?”

If you ask an honest and knowledgeable media person, they will tell you that the media isn’t necessarily the most important criterion when it comes to effective marketing. The truth is, there is no media that will not produce results; there are only messages that do not produce results.

The next time you hear about a hugely successful ad campaign, look at the message. I can guarantee you it was profound and something other than the norm.  Seldom will it be the media, but rather the message, that created the results. Of course, the media must be scheduled appropriately, with the right combination of reach and frequency, but it is the relevance of the message that will make consumers respond to a campaign… on any media.

Former Katz Marketing Solutions President and one of America’s smartest marketing minds, the late Bob McCurdy said, “No medium is any more captivating or engaging than any other, as the effectiveness of any medium is largely determined by the quality of its commercial content. If the creative is weak and ineffective, the medium will be thought of as weak and ineffective”.

It’s understood that generating great creative is an art form but there’s some science behind it as well. McCurdy created 14 key creative insights derived from five years of Ipsos Research, spanning dozens of radio commercials and thousands of respondents.

 

Click here to receive McCurdy’s 14 Key Creative Insights to ensure that your marketing message achieves the results you desire.
 
I also have tips and insights and the pros and cons of different media options and ad placement etc. that I’ll be glad to talk with you privately about, just reach out.
Should You Do A Holiday Sale?

Should You Do A Holiday Sale?

by | Jul 1, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights

A funny thing about retailers having sales… it might be counterproductive.

The week I am publishing this article and podcast is the 1st week of July 2024 although I’m actually writing this on June 20th.

Today when I checked the mail I saw a piece of junk mail from a local mattress place advertising their July 4th Sales Event.

Most people rarely give their mail more than a cursory glance, like my wife. However since I’m in the advertising and marketing business, I actually read many of these junk mail pieces to see what people are doing to try and get customers.

Why do many businesses like this one run a Holiday Sale?

Simple answer is because they think the extra incentive will create more sales than they would normally get around the Holiday. And because these sales are a discount offer, they are assuming that the reason we haven’t already bought is because the price is too high and this sale will fix that.

Or perhaps they haven’t given it that much thought and they are spending money to advertise a Holiday sale because that’s what they’ve always done.  Or that’s what their competition does so it must be the right thing to do.

In retail, there are a couple of options for nearly all of us.  We can buy online or we can buy from a brick and mortar store. Even that line has blurred because I can buy online to pick up or have delivered from a local store many things these days.

I decided to investigate the offers from this mattress place and found something pretty common.  It’s impossible to do a direct comparison online. Even searching for the brand name and the product description on Amazon where this company also sells mattresses, I could not find a match.  In this case the junk mail piece gave prices and descriptions but left out a very important key element… they left out the size of the mattress they were selling at these discounted prices.  I spent way more time than most people would trying to figure out if this July 4th Sales Event was a good deal or not based on the prices on the junk mail piece.

There is one line that is honest and that should have been the main emphasis, not all these price examples that leave out important details.

That one line is: 20% off every mattress purchase.

The rest is advertising gibberish to put it politely and BS to be more blunt.

I still haven’t answered the question about Holiday sales, I know.

Hang with me for a few more seconds.

Just the concept of having a sale means you are going to reduce your profit margin.  Why would you do that if you didn’t have to?  Do you as a business owner like giving away money just to bribe a customer to spend money with you?

Bottom line as to why customers buy from one store versus another is trust first, value second and the actual price is way down the list for most people.

I wish I could tell all the businesses I work with to stop with the advertised sales.

In most cases.

If you need to clear out inventory, go ahead and mark the price.  That’s a legitimate reason for having a sale.  Grocery stores do it all the time with perishable meats, fruits, veggies and baked goods that they can either sell for a discount or it will end up in the dumpster as spoiled waste.

And now the answer to: Should You Do A Holiday Sale?

Only if it makes sense from the consumer’s viewpoint.  Not because you want to bribe us and lose profits.

Gift seasons like Christmas, Valentines Day, Mother and Fathers Day, Graduations, all of those are legitimate times to run a sale, but only on appropriate items. The day after a holiday is also a good time to run a sale on Christmas or Valentines themed stuff that otherwise has to be stored for 12 months.

Here’s a good rule to follow: Most holidays should not be sales events.  July 4th, Memorial Day, Veterans Day are all non-shopping holidays unless you are selling items directly related to that holiday like fireworks.

There is no season for mattresses, but you could get creative and do a February Valentines Mattress event.  Wink Wink Nod Nod.