Top 10 Holiday Shopping Days of 2023

Top 10 Holiday Shopping Days of 2023

by | Nov 27, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

If the experts are correct, retailers should get set for a very Merry 2023 shopping season.

According to the 2023 Deloitte holiday survey, the holiday spirit and spending will rebound and consumers expect to spend $1,652, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. As givers grapple with inflation expectations, they still plan to spend nearly 14% more than last year.

Are you ready for the rush?

While some gifts have already been purchased and wrapped, on average, the top 10 busiest shopping days in the U.S. account for approximately 40% of all holiday retail traffic.

Businesses that are well-planned and run well-executed events and promotions during and around these ten days will help garner more than their fair share of the holiday shopping pie. Knowing when the shoppers are ready to shop and being prepared for them is paramount to getting that fair share.

Stores that plan in-store special events and then promote them will see more significant store traffic and greater sales than those that simply sit back and “hope” people stop in. Inviting holiday shoppers into the store at key buying times can and will make all the difference.

The busiest shopping days will see some slight changes in 2023, due to Christmas falling on a Monday. With that said,  2 of the top 10 have already passed as Black Friday will hold its title as the busiest shopping day.

Are you ready?

According to an analysis from the retail traffic consulting and analytics group of Sensormatic Solutions, a Johnson Controls company, here are what are expected to be the 10 busiest shopping days of 2023:

1. Friday, Nov. 24 – Black Friday

2. Saturday, Dec. 23 – Super Saturday

3. Saturday, Dec. 16 – Third Saturday in December

4. Friday, Dec. 22 – Friday before Christmas

5. Saturday, Nov. 25 – Saturday after Black Friday

6. Tuesday, Dec. 26 – Boxing Day

7. Saturday, Dec. 9 – Second Saturday in December

8. Saturday, Dec. 2 – First Saturday in December

9. Saturday, Dec. 30 – Saturday after Christmas

10. Sunday, Dec. 17 – Sunday before Christmas Eve

While this article focuses on retail, there is major money being spent in and around the holiday season in many other business categories. For example, life insurance and investments, HVAC, and many end-of-year health care procedures are being completed.  The age-old saying, “making hay while the sun shines” is appropriate in these and other categories as well.

Most, but not all of the companies I work with are not dependent on the end of year sales that most retailers count on.  We build long term, year round marketing campaigns however we will also kick it into high gear when there is a reason like the holidays we are in right now.

If you would like help in planning any of your marketing and/or advertising events for this holiday season, it’s not too late. Or if you want to start planning for 2024, this is the time. Contact me Scott @ ScLoHo.net.

Readers of my Sound ADvice weekly newsletter got that list a few weeks ago and I’ve been working with them to make sure we have everything in place.  If you would like my free Sound ADvice newsletter too, send an email to Scott@ScLoHo.net.

 

Digital Discrepancies

Digital Discrepancies

by | Nov 20, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

I was born in the 1900’s.

I heard that line last month when comedian Nate Bargatze was hosting Saturday Night Live. Of course I didn’t watch it live on Saturday night, I saw it a few days later because we have YouTubeTV as our streaming service and my wife was catching up on some of her favorite shows.

Back in the 1900’s, (I’m talking about the century, not the decade) we saw a change in advertising targeting options mostly with the growth of cable TV that happened in the 1980’s and 1990’s and what that brought us as consumers was hundreds of TV viewing channel options instead of just the local broadcast TV signals.

Baby Boomers like my wife and I, Gen X and even Millennials like my kids are different from the current Gen Z in terms of media and entertainment experiences and choices.  Social Media giant Facebook is on the cusp of being 20 years old, and that was a game changer.  Media was not just one way from them to us.  With Social Media, we all got the opportunity to have a voice online and share our thoughts and media beyond what the traditional media companies were offering.

A dozen years ago, I took a break from radio and worked for a couple of web based companies.  Targeting to the “right people” was the sales pitch for these new digital advertising options which was pretty cool we thought.  I mean if you could only send your ads to the people who are most likely to respond… that was a game changer too.

However, there are a few flaws with that kind of thinking because it ignores Human Behavior.   I’ll dig more into that in the future but the basics are that we don’t just respond to targeted ads when they are presented to us, there has to be a need on our part to spend our money, or something stronger than a targeted ad that has created the desire within us.

There is a real problem with highly targeted ad placement, in that the controls for the systems that spit out those ads are not very reliable. Some of us are overserved ads for things we might want to buy is one flaw.  Another is getting served ads AFTER we made the purchase because the algorithms haven’t been created to address that flaw.

MarketingCharts.com released a report that says:

Only 15% of US advertisers are very confident in their ability to see all creative running across all channels, and even fewer (13%) are very confident in their ability to tie creative performance back to campaign ROI, according to a survey  commissioned by Claravine and conducted by Advertiser Perceptions.

In total, the advertisers surveyed – all of whom spend at least $50 million on digital advertising each year – estimate that the wrong creative is served to the wrong consumer about one-quarter (25%) of the time. That includes a majority (56%) who believe the wrong ad creative is served at least 20% of the time, and about one-sixth (17%) who estimate that it’s served to the wrong consumer at least 40% of the time.

Advertisers believe that their ROI would increase by an average of 29% if they were able to serve ad creative to the right consumer every time.

Now, I’m not at all against digital advertising, I just believe it’s not as complicated as some will have you believe.

Instead of targeting individuals, you need to go back to targeting known audience groups.  You can do this with social media and other digital advertising but it’s what really what advertising was all about back in the 1900’s.

When mass media like radio, print, TV, heck even Cable TV were the choices business had, they used the characteristics of the media channels audience as the determining factor for where to spend their advertising money.

Going back to my knowledge and expertise in tracking digital targeted ads, I know that when you dig deep enough, all the data becomes less and less reliable.

I challenge you to think like a person, a consumer, a person that could be your customer and the habits and characteristics they have, and then create ad campaigns that speak to them with a relevant message on a form of media that they are likely to use.

If you’re in the Fort Wayne Indiana area, I can help you walk thru this process in person.  Contact me, Scott@ScLoHo.net and we can set up a time to help you avoid all of these Digital Dispensaries and actually grow for the future.

 

Building Momentum

Building Momentum

by | Nov 13, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Are you the type of person who jumps out of bed in the morning full of energy and ready to take on the world?

Or are you like the rest of us adults who start a little slower, with a morning routine that perhaps includes a cup of coffee to perk up your senses and as you get moving you build up your energy so you’re ready to take on the new day?

This momentum concept also applies to our businesses and marketing.  When we decide to launch a business, there is a tremendous amount of planning and preparation that goes on before the doors open.

The last space shuttle took off in July of 2011 and since then, we’ve had private companies create outer space flight experiences.  But here’s some interesting data I found out about those space shuttle missions…

For many things, the most energy expelled is in the process of just getting going.  For example, when the space shuttle takes off, fifty percent of the fuel stored in those huge tanks is expended just to get it off the launch pad.

The initial effort to get anything to move is always greater than the effort required once motion has begun. Ever tried to push a car? At first, it seems almost impossible, but once it gets rolling its motion requires less effort and becomes quite predictable.

Advertising, in most cases, uses the same energy. Getting your advertising off the ground also takes a great deal of up-front effort, but once it takes hold, the positive results come with relative ease.

There are several reasons it can take longer than we would wish to get your advertising working for you.

One is the length of your product’s cycle. In the automotive market, for example, there is less than 2% of the population in the market for a car on any given month. No amount of advertising energy can make someone who just bought a car buy another.

In the HVAC business, the average person only has a need for service every 4 to 6 years, meaning less than 1% of the population is in the market for an HVAC repair person every month.

Groceries and gas are the only two things we consistently consume on a weekly basis.

Another notable reason that it takes time to get a return on your advertising investment is that people are creatures of habit. Very often they’ll keep buying where they have always bought until their current supplier lets them down.

In many cases, your advertising is simply positioning you to be the first supplier prospects think of when their current supplier does let them down….. and they will let them down!

There are many other reasons why expecting instant gratification from your advertising can be unrealistic. Like a rocket, it takes a lot of energy to get your marketing ball rolling. But, once it’s launched and gaining traction, it continues to work with much less effort.

Marketing guru, Roy Williams, in his Twelve Causes of Advertising Failure, states that failure cause number one is, “The desire for instant gratification”.

If you want to ensure the success of your advertising, click here to see all Twelve Causes of Advertising Failure to help you avoid these huge mistakes.

Now along with radio advertising, I have some additional ways to help you get leads for your business that work hand in hand with radio.  If you’re in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, reach out to me at Scott@WOWO.com.  As we approach the end of this year, now’s the time to develop a marketing strategy for the new year and that is a free service I provide too.

Some of this article was sent out to subscribers of my free Sound ADvice newsletter.  If you would like a free weekly subscription, just email me at Scott@ScLoHo.net and ask to be included.

It’s Not Just The Facts Ma’am

It’s Not Just The Facts Ma’am

by | Oct 30, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

First a few facts…

We’ve gone thru a challenging number of years in the political world as divisions between Republicans and Democrats have become more prominent, at least at the national level in our country.

Those on the left accuse those on the right of not telling the truth and those on the political right accuse those on the left of not telling the truth.

Both sides accuse the news organizations they don’t like as Fake News.

As someone who knows how media works and who observes all of this on radio, TV and online, I can not only see the biases, but I also understand the why’s behind them.

But I’m not going to go all political on you right now, I’m just going to use that as an example of Facts versus Emotion.

We may think we operate and make decisions based on logical facts but most of us are actually ruled by emotion and then we find the facts to support what we believe.

There’s another part of this that relates to how customers decide what to buy that subscribers to my Sound ADvice newsletter read about recently and I’ll share it right now.

Some consumers make purchase decisions based on relationships and some make them purely on price. They are referred to as either relational or transactional customers.

If your business sells on price alone, this information may not pertain as much to you. If you would like to sell more on relationships, pay close attention and heed this information.

Chris Lytle, author of The Accidental Salesperson, says “If you become known for what you know instead of what you sell, buyers will come to you for help and advice instead of the lowest price.” The good news is that they will pay you more for your knowledge than they will for just the product!

Chris goes on to explain “To become known for what you know, you have to actively market your knowledge instead of your product.”

A group of hugely successful auto parts stores created a strong market position in the DIY category by promoting and exploiting the knowledge of their employees. They had employees who loved Ford and others who knew Chevy, Chrysler, or Dodge inside and out. Even some who were more specifically knowledgeable about the older “muscle cars”. This knowledge took the focus off the price and put it squarely on the fact that they had people with the knowledge, and they had the parts!

As they say, knowledge is power, and the more knowledge you are perceived to have, the more people will look at you and your company as the “experts”.

In the 10 Ways to Market Your Knowledge, the author suggests, “Have an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page on your website. Monitor the questions your customers are asking and publish your answers clearly in layman’s terms. Allow your prospects and customers to ask questions online, and always be prompt in posting your answers. Most importantly, take credit for your answers and make sure the public recognizes that the answers came from you.” 

Click here if you would like to see the 10 Ways to Market Your Knowledge. 
If you would like to receive my Sound ADvice weekly newsletter, send me an email to Scott@ScLoHo.net.
A few more thoughts on Relational versus Transactional customers:
Transactional will usually only be loyal to you as long as you are the lowest price.  That’s a losing game because there is always someone else that can underprice you, even if they do it as a loss just to gain that customer.  It’s called a loss-leader.
Relationship based customers are going to be less sensitive to increases in price.  Just the other day when I was stopping to pick up my breakfast, I heard them tell a customer that the prices had gone up 20% and they said that’s fine and paid the new price.  Relationship based customers are also more forgiving when there is a problem and you explain to them the situation.
I urge all of my business owner friends to pursue the Relationship based customers, they’re the ones that will keep you growing in business.
One more fact to share with you and that is starting today, I am returning to a weekly schedule for publishing and podcasting due to changes in my schedule and the requests from readers and listeners.
Timely Marketing Principles That Are Timeless

Timely Marketing Principles That Are Timeless

by | Jul 30, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Media, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

It’s been two full decades that I’ve been in the advertising, media and marketing world in Fort Wayne, Indiana, non-stop.

During the past twenty years, there have been a lot of changes in technology and how the world operates.  However, no matter what the technological advances, there are certain principles that you can follow to be successful.  You just need to see how to apply them to whatever your marketing options are at the moment.

First a little backstory.  In was 25 years ago this month of August, that I moved back to my hometown after my Dad passed away and I thought it was going to be for a couple of months to help my Mom downsize and move to a smaller place.  But I neve left.  Instead I got married again, and my wife and I have moved a few times, all on the northeast side of town including our last move 9 summers ago that was half a mile from our old home.

My media and marketing background is much longer than 20 years.  I was a teenage radio disc-jockey and pursued that career path for 10 years before moving my family to Detroit and working in the advertising side of the radio business.  I left radio in the mid 90’s and know how to drive a fork truck, run a tool crib and operate a thermoformer.  At least I did until technology changed and improved processes with automation.

April 2003 was my return to radio advertising and I took a whole, big-picture consultive approach.  While I earned my money from the advertising I sold, I really wanted to help businesses succeed and that was more of a motivating factor than money for me.

The past two decades, I’ve worked in radio, also website development, a niche newspaper, and was the social media voice for a multi-million dollar e-commerce company.  I mention my background not because I’m bragging, but to give some substance and add some credentials to what I’m sharing.

The Timely Marketing Principles That Are Timeless transcend the limitations of technology and get to what is the most important.

What is the Most Important?

Human Relationship Marketing Principles.

  1. Your Reputation Matters.
  2. People Need to Know About You Before They Will Spend Money With You.
  3. It’s Best to Be Known BEFORE You Are Needed
  4. That last one, it’s all about Top Of Mind Awareness.
  5. Build Relationships With People, not machines.
  6. We Want To Trust, so Don’t Blow It.
  7. If You Do Blow the Trust Factor, Apologize and Make it Better.
  8. Everyone is either a potential Customer or person that can refer potential Customers to YOU.
  9. Value is the sibling of Trust.

Apply these 9 Principles to what ever you do to market your business and you’ve established a foundation for success.

Now here’s a few more Timeless Tips:

The environment of your message matters. Take the old-fashioned standby of roadside billboards. If you are a roofing company looking to sell metal roofs to homeowners, the wrong place for your message is probably the sign next to the 40 year-old apartment complex.  A better location could be the road that the exclusive golf course is on.

The content of your message matter.  Don’t yell and shout at your potential customers in a radio ad, instead talk to them as individuals, in a friendly trust worthy manner.

Be strategic and consistent with your message. A lot of business people are looking for instant results.  When they think that something isn’t working they stop it and move on to something else.  Or they are having an identity crisis and sending multiple messages out that don’t fit a strategic master plan.  Apply human relationship principles of dating to your business marketing.  Most of us are not going to commit to a long term marriage relationship on the first date.  Or on the first attempt to get a date.  You can date one person for 50 dates and get a better result than if you were to go on 50 dates with 50 different people.

And Finally…

Be where your current and future customers are so you can connect with them.  If they are radio listeners, pick the radio station that has listeners that are a good fit to become your customer.  If they are on social media, use the social media channels that are also a good fit.

Be prepared to try something new, but don’t stop doing what works, without a solid reason.

And if you need help learning how to apply any and all of this to your situation, reach out to me.

Is It A Thing or Is It A Fad?

Is It A Thing or Is It A Fad?

by | Jul 11, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Let’s jump into this topic headfirst with the reason I’m talking about this subject right now.

Around July 5th, a new social media app, Threads was launched and it’s been all over the news because… well.. the news media thinks it’s newsworthy.

Threads is connected to Instagram which is connected to Facebook which actually changed their corporate name to Meta in 2021.  Sort of like when Google changes their corporate name to Alphabet in 2015.

Anyway back to Threads and the news it’s making, mostly because of the number of users or subscribers it’s signed up.  News reports proclaiming it’s breaking records compared to other social media apps are true but with a footnote.

Facebook or Meta or whatever you want to call it is still the worlds largest social media platform when you count the number of accounts or users they have.  However if you look under the hood and ask some reasonable questions like “how many active users?” and “how active does an account need to be to be considered active?” , those numbers will shrink.  More on that in a moment.

The reason Threads has gained so many subscribers so quickly is because of two things:

  1. The Hype.  Free advertising from the media.  Because when Elon Musk took over Twitter and started making changes in 2022 that disrupted the Twitterverse, many Tweeps from the old days were not happy and looking for a Twitter Alternative.
  2. The Facebook/Instagram subscriber database.  If you have an Instagram account, you can sign up for Threads in less than a minute because Threads is currently tied directly to Instagram.  As of March 2023, Instagram has 2 Billion Monthly Average Users. That’s made it easy to pull those people over to Threads.  Twitter only had 233 MAU in March and as I write this just 5 days after the Threads launch, over 100 million have created a Threads account.

Regarding Threads, Is It A Thing or Is It A Fad?

Honestly it’s way too early to tell.

I recall in 2009 when the program director of one of my radio stations proclaimed that Twitter was just a Fad.  This was 3 years after Twitter launched and a year after I hopped on as a Tweep and built my ScLoHo Brand to national recognition with some of my Tweets being quoted by mainstream publications like the Wall Street Journal along with some more niche platforms.

The real test will be as the year unfolds and next year too. Right now people are signing up because they’ve heard about it and it’s easy.  But are they going to be active on Threads?  We have to wait and see over time.

There are some limits to the functionality compared to Twitter and other social platforms and that will evolve with time.  I’ve seen my friend Kevin Mullett and others explain the pros and cons of Threads. Scroll thru the Facebook comments until you find Kevin Mullett  here: https://www.facebook.com/djtrend/posts/pfbid02A7eh8tYxLLhcc1vmhf7xxfzLpzYXyQRU12swiuXTjTsc2JD6cro9V3DBP9ZCE9GVl

Also my friend Anthony Juliano had a very common sense approach that he shared on LinkedIn this week.  Anthony wrote:

My take on Threads, in a nutshell:

1. Yes, it’s a thing
2. A lot of people are joining it
3. But you don’t have to
4. Unless you want to
5. Oh, I understand: new stuff is neat!
6. But it probably won’t change your life, and
7. Do you really need another distraction?
8. It’s okay if you do, though, or see it as something that will move you toward your goals
9. But it’s okay if you don’t
10. And you can always change your mind later. To join or unjoin Threads. Or anything else. These tools aren’t going anywhere, and if they do you didn’t miss anything.

Except that last point #10 .. you can’t unjoin Threads without deleting your Instagram account right now. However, you can decide not to participate and simply keep your account without using it.

If you are an early adopter like I used to be and Kevin still is, go exploring on Threads.

But for marketing your business the way some people have relied solely on Social Media platforms to be the lifeline of revenue for their income… hold off.  At this moment Threads doesn’t have a way to run sponsored content, but they will in order to survive.

Because not all social media platforms last, no matter how much money the parent company has.  Google has failed numerous times including their Google Plus social platform that they simply could not convince enough people to use and it was killed off.

One last thought on the counting process of users or subscribers.  Monthly Average Users seems to be a standard for  many including the social media world. Monthly is also number that is used in the radio broadcasting world. The Radio Advertising Bureau says that over 90% of Americans listen to radio at least once a month.

I can give you real numbers that are much better criteria to look at when deciding where to spend your ad and marketing money.

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Nielsen company does a survey twice a year that gives us weekly numbers, not monthly.  And by taking a deep dive, we can look at specific hours or listener demographics.  Much like the targeting options on Facebook for certain qualitative criteria, we can look at that information for any of the radio stations in Fort Wayne, not just the 5 stations Federated Media operate.

Our oldest station, WOWO is now 99 years old and doing well.  Our other stations which include Sports Talk 1380 the Fan, WMEE, K105, and The Bear are also  doing well with a lot of listeners that want to spend money with businesses they trust.  This is not a Fad, it’s a Thing.  A Real Thing and if you want more information contact me.