Marketing and Advertising Insights | The Genuine ScLoHo aka Scott Howard

Breaking the Ties

by Scott Howard | Jun 24, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

In the world of selling products and services, when all things are equal, the decision we use to determine who we purchase from is based on… perception! And that perception is, who’s better, who’s more trustworthy, and who’s more reliable!

In most cases, many businesses offer the same products or services that you offer. In these cases, standing for “something” and being “different” is what is needed to break the tie.

At this very moment, people have a need or a want to buy the products or services you sell. Their next decision is the all-important one. Where will they choose to buy, and why?

First, let’s be honest. Price is all that matters for a certain percentage of people, and you may or may not even be in the conversation. But when price isn’t the only criterion, that’s when you have a shot. Will it come down to a relationship, an emotional connection created from strong advertising, or a past experience, good or bad?

The key is getting people to know you and your business and know about your business BEFORE they need the products or services you sell.

Developing your tiebreaker, a consistent business strategy you can use to differentiate your business in your advertising and marketing can be challenging but well worth the effort.

Once you’ve clearly established your competitive difference (strategy), your challenge is to develop a unique and memorable way to consistently highlight that competitive tiebreaker.

Remember, when all things are equal, the “buy” goes to… whoever has something perceived as BETTER or DIFFERENT!

It’s imperative that you have a clear and compelling reason for consumers to choose you over your competitors.

If you want help creating your unique difference, click here to receive our Ten Tiebreaking Strategies as thought-starters for this important exercise. If you would like additional help, email Scott@WOWO.com and I’ll help you conduct a creative brainstorming session.

Your Attention Please

by Scott Howard | Jun 17, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

“Hear-Yee, Hear-Yee!” “Can I have your attention please?” “Ahem – Attention please!”

There are a lot of ways to capture someone, or a group’s attention, including words, sounds, and gestures.

In advertising, capturing one’s attention is the first step in effective advertising. If you fail at capturing their attention upfront, all is wasted. The first step is the most critical.

Since the beginning of time, it’s been known that you only have one opportunity to make a good first impression. The debate is …. how long do you have to make that impression?

Studies vary, but if you are applying for a job, a story in Psychological Science suggests it’s as little as 1/10 of a second. Other studies indicate that you have up to 7 seconds. Regardless of whose opinion you trust, the answer is still …not very long!

Your advertising message faces the same challenge. What your ads say and how they are delivered in the first few seconds dictates whether you grab the attention of your potential prospects and whether they will tune in or tune out to your message.

Reporters and authors have long known that the headline and the first sentence are what dictate whether the reader tunes in and continues with the rest of the story or tunes out. In an effort to develop the all-important “creative hook” at the top of your ads on websites, many headlines end up with more “creative” than “hook”.

Regardless of what advertising medium you use, paying special attention to the headline or first words of an ad, and getting them right, will pay huge dividends when it comes to response to that ad.

Here’s a bonus tip. Often, you will find that the best line of an ad or letter, or the best words/sentence, is in the middle. When you find it, move it to the first line, or use it as the headline.

To create more powerful headlines, click here to see the Eight Power Openings you can use to help capture more attention to your advertising.

First on Race Day

by Scott Howard | May 27, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

All month long, I’ve been featuring articles I first sent out in my weekly Sound ADvice newsletter and this one was sent to subscribers last fall. If you’d like to get them delivered to your inbox each week, just send an email to Scott@WOWO.com and I’ll add you to my list of free subscribers.

Marketing, or at least marketing that has impact, doesn’t deal with the world of reality; it deals with the world of perceptions. The perception your prospects have of your business is formed more by feelings than by facts.

A look at market share, for example, may lead one to feel that Heinz makes a better ketchup, and consumers who feel Heinz is a superior ketchup may actually feel short-changed in a restaurant that serves another “cheaper” brand.

The reality is that the ketchup perception is formed more by what kind of ketchup your mom served when you were a kid than by the actual recipe or ingredients in the ketchup.

Died in the wool Ford fans will tell you that Ford is an acronym for “First On Race Day”, while opposing Chevy believers will joke that Ford stands for “Fix Or Repair Daily”. Both sides may try and argue the facts, but more often than not, it’s the emotions that drive the perception.

While your customers want great “value”, their perception of the value you deliver is affected as much by the way your prospects perceive or feel about you as it is about the actual price of your goods or services.

Over time, the perception of your business is a product of the five “P”s in the marketing mix. You must have:

1. The right Product. Is there a demand, or can you create a demand, for what you sell?

2. In the right Place. Location. Location. Location.

3. At the right Price. Does your price match customer perception and is it profitable?

4. Delivered by the right People. Are your people trained to provide customer satisfaction? Can they walk the talk?

5. With the right Promotion. Have you created the right feeling for your business before your prospects are in the market and before they have preconceived perceptions of you or your competitors?

Your Promotional “P” can be the icing on your marketing cake. Just as there are five P’s in the marketing mix, there are another five P’s in effective promotional mixes. Click here to see the Five P’s of Successful Promotions. It’s free!

Compounding Your Brand

by Scott Howard | May 20, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

This month I’m featuring articles that were sent to subscribers of my weekly newsletter, Sound ADvice. If you’d like a free email copy send me an email to Scott@WOWO.com.

Albert Einstein said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it.”

But what does compounding interest have to do with marketing, advertising, and your brand? As it turns out, a lot!

They work under similar principles. If you invest even a small amount of money, over time, it compounds. While it may be small, it still grows. If you invest in your brand, over time, it grows too. While it may be small, it still builds. The more you invest, money or marketing, the greater it works and the more it compounds.

In branding, he who understands it earns it; he who doesn’t pays it. You see, in every business category within every market, there is only so much “branding” or “TOMA” (Top-Of-Mind-Awareness) to go around. In nearly every case, the share of mind you own is equivalent to your brand, which is equal to the percentage of business that you capture within your category.

Building and compounding your brand isn’t just for large national companies. It works exactly the same in every market.

There are several key areas to building and compounding your brand, but the most important element is consistency. Not only does this mean being consistent with your message, colors, sounds, and logos, but also with the way you approach business internally and externally. Like your customer service, return policies, guarantees, warranties, the physical appearance of your office, vehicles, and every other thing that represents your business.

Like compounding interest in money, if you stop and start, you lose or stall the potential that could have been compounding. Be consistent, be repetitive, and the compounding of your brand will take care of itself and build with time.

As your brand becomes larger, the more well-known it becomes and the more TOMA you create. From there it continues to compound. The more people know you, the more people they tell.

How important is a brand? A study conducted by Fleishman-Hillard for the World Economic Forum showed that 3 out 5 chief executives believe their corporate brand and reputation represent more than 40% of their companies’ market capitalization.

Whether you are planning on starting to brand your current business or a new business, click here to see nine tips to help get you started on building and compounding your brand.

Features Vs Benefits

by Scott Howard | May 13, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

This month of May I’m sharing a recent articles from my weekly Sound ADvice Newsletter. It’s free just for the asking and if you want to be added, drop me a note to Scott@ WOWO.com.

Every year there are millions of drills sold across North America. But here’s the crazy thing…not one person who bought a drill wanted a drill! What they really wanted were holes! If another tool would have made the holes faster, better, easier, or cheaper they would have bought that tool, not the drill.

In most business and product categories, including yours, the same is true. None of your customers want to buy your goods or services. They only want the “benefits” those goods and services deliver.

No one wants to buy insurance; they want to be protected. Nobody wants an aspirin; they want pain relief.

All traditional sales training courses address the need for selling benefits versus features. It’s pretty basic stuff, yet, we often expect our advertising to sell features to consumers who only care about benefits.

Here is the litmus test that distinguishes features from benefits: A feature remains true if the customer does not buy. For example: “John Deere tractors are built better”.

A benefit only occurs if the customer buys. For example: “Nothing runs like a Deere. Your tractor will have fewer breakdowns, saving you money and time”.

Here is another feature vs. benefit example for a regional auto parts store:

Feature: “A million different auto parts and accessories“.

Benefit: “You’ll get your parts in a day or less”.

Your benefit statement should always answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” from your customer’s perspective.

Look at your next radio script or ad proof. Are your ads only talking about features (you) and not telling what’s in it for them (benefit)? They don’t want a drill; they want a product that makes a hole!

Click here if you’d like me to work with you to uncover the best possible benefit statements for your next advertising campaign.

A Lesson on Advertising from Preachers and Teachers

by Scott Howard | May 6, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

For the month of May I’m sharing recent articles from my weekly Sound ADvice Newsletter. It’s free just for the asking and if you want to be added, drop me a note to Scott@ WOWO.com.

The goal of every preacher and teacher is to grab the attention of the people they are speaking to and make sure that they not only hear the message but also understand and retain the message.

So, what can preachers and teachers teach advertisers about advertising? The answer is a lot, if you pay attention to the formula preachers and teachers use to get their message across and make it stick!

Going back to the very early 1900s, though not taking credit for it, religious figure J. H. Jowett explained the process of preparing sermons, speaking to the crowd, and how to make sure the lesson was not only taught but understood. He said the three-part formula to help prepare sermons so the layperson could understand was this:

1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.

2. Then tell them.

3. Then tell them what you told them.

Modern-day teachers have been taught and still use this same method. They know that if their students do not get the message in this fashion, three times in a seven-day window, they won’t retain what they’ve learned and will probably fail the test.

Research has proven that your advertising must follow a similar formula. If you want your customers and prospects to retain and remember your advertising message, they must hear your message three times in any given seven-day window. In advertising, this formula is known as “a frequency of three” and it’s one of the 6 Steps to Ads That Stick.

If you think about it, advertising really is a little bit of preaching and a little bit of teaching! Use this formula and your ads will have a better chance of sticking in the listener’s mind.

Click here to read the rest of the 6 Steps to Ads That Stick and make your ads stick in the minds of your prospects.