Marketing and Advertising Insights | The Genuine ScLoHo aka Scott Howard

The Long Game

by Scott Howard | May 30, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

When I say the word “Future”, how far off in the future does your mind think?

Is the Future 5 years away?

Is the Future 20 years away?

Is the Future next week or even next month?

Does it hurt your brain to think beyond today?

Here in the United States we live in short time spans, relatively speaking compared to some other countries around the world.

We elect a President every four years which for many countries is very unstable. And the election cycle has become shorter and shorter. If you like your President then, you want them to last not just 4 years, but 8 years. However if you don’t like your President, you start talking about the next election as soon as possible, sometimes within 6 months.

I find it interesting that we elect government representatives who then create laws that outlast their term in office or in some cases, the laws don’t come into effect until after those that wrote them are out of office.

But enough about government and the Future, let’s talk about business and the Future. In my world of radio broadcasting, I work for a radio station that is now 98 years old. WOWO radio began broadcasting in 1925 and was one of the first AM radio stations. This year there was big news about the death of AM radio because certain automakers announced that they were not including AM radios in their new vehicles. Ford was the big one that caught peoples attention.

The National Association of Broadcasters rallied their members and lobbyists to save AM radio and due to the bad press or pressure either publicly or privately, Ford reversed course and their CEO announced: “For any owners of Ford’s EVs without AM broadcast capability, we’ll offer a software update”. As a broadcaster who knows how radio broadcasting works, the “software update” made me suspicious. If all it takes is a software update, that means the hardware was built-in all this time.

Anyway, the future of AM radio accessibility in Ford manufactured vehicles is safe for now.

On the other hand, there has been a lot of noise in government regarding the social media app TikTok. The concern is that users information is being given to the Chinese Communist Party for evil and it endangers all of us. The app has been banned by one state and the Federal Government is prohibiting it from being downloaded on devices that are connected to government sites.

Changes are coming as the Future continues to move closer and closer. How prepared are you for the changes that could occur next year? Forget about 5 years down the road or 20 years into the future… I bet there are changes that are taking place in your industry that are going to impact your business in the next 18 months or sooner and you have not prepared for them yet.

The idea of The Long Game which is what I titled this piece is not that you need to stick with doing everything the same way forever and ever, but to look to the Future and plan for what is coming or could be coming.

As I announced in May, WOWO radio prepared for the future by adding a strong FM signal, 92.3 to our options for listeners to tune in while they are driving in case their vehicle doesn’t have AM radio. We were prepared and you need to be prepared too in your business.

When it comes to inviting people to spend their money with you and your business, I have tons of options and ideas that you should consider. Some are nearly 100 years old, while others are in their infancy. Contact me and let’s play the Long Game together for today and the Future.

Win Their Hearts Or Lose Their Business

by Scott Howard | Apr 16, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom

Numerous times I’ve talked about Trust being the biggest Human Relationship Factor that you and your business need to earn and protect when it comes to the success of your business in the eye of the public.

I just saw an article published by MarketingCharts.com that talks about consumer trust outside of advertising, but just as important:

Trust is a key component of brand loyalty, but it’s hard-won and easily lost. According to a Razorfish and GWI survey of almost 1,700 consumers ages 16-64, 58% of respondents said it was a “somewhat slow” or “very slow” process to gain trust in a brand that they recalled building a relationship with.

By contrast, when thinking about a time they lost trust in a company, 70% said they lost that trust quickly.

Now this article was focused on multiple factors that can build trust or destroy it including data privacy policies, online reviews from consumers, compatibility with political views and causes and so on, but to me what really stood out was how challenging it can be to win the hearts and trust of consumers and that it simply takes time.

But more than time, it takes multiple positive touches.

On the other hand, it’s really easy to lose a consumers trust.

When we run advertising campaigns for our clients, we work on under-promising and then over-delivering. The opposite can destroy a company.

Here’s a link to the article: https://www.marketingcharts.com/customer-centric/privacy-and-security-229090

If you want help or guidance creating trust for your company, reach out and we’ll talk.

Google is the Wrong Answer

by Scott Howard | Mar 21, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

I was in a meeting with a business owner this month and as we were doing our usual “Discovery” meeting, one of the questions that was asked was:

Where are your current customers coming from?

He answered, “Google”

Bzzzzzz. Wrong answer.

Well, perhaps it was really the wrong question.

Google for advertising veterans is the new Yellow Pages.

For those under the age of 45, before Google was launched last century in 1998 and became the top search engine about 5 years later, consumers would use the Yellow Pages section of a phone book to get the phone number to a business they wanted to call or visit.

Yellow Page ad salespeople trained their business customers to ask new people calling, “How did you get our number?” and a sizeable percent of the answers were the phone book.

I mean it made sense, the phone book is where I got the number, so technically the answer was correct. This is how the Yellow Page ad salespeople sold ads, by “proving their worth” and getting the business owner to buy a bigger ad each year.

In the old days of the phone book or today of Google and smart phones, the answer to the question is predictable. If I’m in front of my laptop, I’ll Google it. Otherwise, I’ll ask my phone, because I can search with my voice. Siri, Alexa, and Hey Google are all similar current replacements for the both the phone book and laptop versions of Google.

Here’s why that’s the wrong question to ask if you are attempting to decide where your customers are coming from or where to invest your advertising dollars.

Google is the last step in a long series of steps that your new customer made to connect with you. We call it the Zero Moment of Truth.

All they need is the phone number, or if I’m searching from my phone, I don’t even need the actual number, I can call without even knowing the number.

The question you want to know is what are all the other influencing factors that prompted your customer to Google you? Was it word of mouth from a friend? Was it a 10 second video ad they had to watch before YouTube played a cat video? Was it the radio ad, the endorsement from the podcast host? The highway road sign they drive by daily or even the Pay Per Click Ad they saw when researching the kind of stuff you sell?

That’s what you should measure, and make it multiple choice because odds are it’s a combination of multiple influences that were the steps that lead to that final step of connecting with you because they Googled you.

Google is not the answer to your business success, it’s just the final step that connected them to you.

The Purpose of Your Advertising

by Scott Howard | Mar 9, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

The Purpose of Advertising is to let others know about you, your stuff, or your brand in such a manner that it has an impact.

And before I go any further, the other distinction that Advertising has over other forms of communication is that you pay for it. It’s not free.

Back to my first statement:

The Purpose of Advertising is to let others know about you, your stuff, or your brand in such a manner that it has an impact.

That word Impact. What does that mean?

Well my friend, that depends on you.

For most advertising, the impact will not be recognized until sometime in the future.

Only a fraction of a percent of the people who hear or see your ad will respond in the moment and buy what you are offering to sell.

The impact however is not wasted just because the results are not instant.

When we are exposed to advertising messages, they are creating a neurological impact on us.

The ads are creating a preference for what they are advertising for and the more you and I are exposed to an ad or series of ads, the stronger that preference will be.

I’ll give you an example from 22 years ago, when I was not working in the advertising or media world.

My wife and I bought our first house together and decided we wanted central air since the house only had old fashioned window units. I got quotes from two competing companies that were top of mind because of the advertising and marketing they had done over the years. Never before was I in the market for central air conditioning and yet here I was calling up two companies that were Top Of Mind for me. One of them got thousands of dollars that year, and a dozen years later the other company got a few thousand dollars of my money when we bought another home.

Think about it for a moment. If you are watching a show and see an ad for something, nearly none of us are going to stop what we are doing and go buy what we just saw at that moment are we?

Sometimes, and I mean sometimes, not often, the message in the ad is something that can be acted on right away. We had our local Home and Garden Show at the Coliseum recently and during the show, some advertisers were inviting listeners to visit their booth to win something.. The results were that a few of the people who heard the ads responded and told us so, but those were listeners who were planning on coming to the event anyway and we just enticed them to visit a specific business’s booth while they were there.

The Purpose of Advertising is to let others know about you, your stuff, or your brand in such a manner that it has an Impact.

And that Impact will depend on what you are wanting to accomplish.

Contact me for more information. Scott@WOWO.com.

Where’s The Money in 2023?

by Scott Howard | Feb 27, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Depending on where you get your news and information, you’ve probably heard a lot of Gloom and Doom stories about the economy.

Some say we’re in a recession, others say “no, not yet, don’t label it with the R word.”

Some blame the President, others blame the previous President, some say Covid, others say… well whatever, it doesn’t really matter.

For those of you who age 35 or younger, your adult lives were relatively stable until 3 years ago, economically speaking.

By 2010, a mere 13 years ago, the U.S. economy was in a growth mode that lasted 10 years. Inflation was down, unemployment was disappearing, stock prices were on the upswing and overall, except for the political bickering, we really didn’t that much to worry about.

Sure, there was and is talk about climate change, human rights, making sure everyone was being treated fairly without bias due to gender, skin color, race, or anything else that needs improvement.

But for today, I’m talking about money and the health of our economy in the United States.

Generally speaking, as a group, we were doing well.

But the impact of Covid related decisions has thrown us into a bit of turmoil and confusion. Shutting down businesses, toilet paper shortages, overwhelmed health care operations. Followed by disruptions in the supply chain for essentials besides toilet paper and eventually rising prices has had an impact on most people.

Those of you under the age of 35 haven’t seen this before and that can create fear of the unknown.

Those of us who are old enough to be your parents, have lived through challenges similar to this and I’m here to attempt to reassure you.

I turned 63 on my last birthday and am at the tail end of the baby boomer generation. When I was a teenager, Jimmy Carter was the President. We had just survived the Watergate years with the resignation of Richard Nixon. Gasoline rationing was going on because we didn’t have enough. Our country recovered and grew in the 1980’s.

The next big crisis I recall off the top of my head would have been September 11th, 2001. The world stopped as all air flight was grounded and we had no idea what to expect. We made adjustments and continued until the housing market took a tumble in 2008 and again, gloom and doom was the mood.

2008 was the year that a widely unknown candidate for the Presidency of the United States went all the way to the White House on a message of Hope & Change. It was during the Obama years that those of you that are 35 or younger first started becoming aware of money and what things cost.

On my team at Federated Media, the youngest is turning 26. She is the first year of Gen Z. I also have three Gen X and two Boomers. The life experiences color each of their perspectives and outlooks on life today and in the future. But each is different too due to factors not related to age.

The original question of this piece is not about attitudes but reality.

The reality of who’s got the money to spend in 2023.

As a generation, the biggest chunk is still with the Baby Boomers, followed by Gen X and then Millennials.

In advertising, there used to be an ideal age demographic that was initially 18 to 34 year olds for a number of years and then shifted to 25-54 year olds.

Nearly all the advertising was targeted to people in this demographic and the question to ask is why?

Baby Boomers were the largest generation ever, spanning the years 1946 to 64 for their birthdays and by the 1980’s most of them were between ages 18-34.

As Boomers aged and started families, the desired demo shifted to the 25-54 year olds and sort of stuck there.

Problem is the youngest of the Boomers are turning 59 this year and have fallen out of favor due to their age for the advertising community.

The exception seems to be all the medical and retirement advertising.

But believe me, the people who have the money to support your business still are the Baby Boomers with over 50% of the wealth and Gen X with nearly 30% according to several studies including MarketingCharts.com.

Marketers like to focus on youth, whether that’s Millennials or Gen Z, but Baby Boomers are the big spenders. A MarketingCharts review of the latest data published by the Federal Reserve confirms that Baby Boomers hold the largest share of US household wealth. However, Gen Xers, and to some extent Millennials, are seeing their wealth climb.

As the General Sales Manager of 4 radio stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana that target our programming to reach people with money to spend, even now, I can help you by connecting our listeners to you and your business so you can convert them to become your customers in 2023. Email me for information: Scott@WOWO.com

7 Considerations For Successful Advertising

by Scott Howard | Feb 13, 2023 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Media, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

As I write this on February 13th, not quite 24 hours have passed since I watched Super Bowl 57 and yet the impact of that game is reverberating in my world.

I had no skin in the game, even though the thought crossed my mind to wager since it’s now legal, but I declined.

Many advertisers, both national and local wagered that the game would be a good place to advertise and they ponied up the funds to do so. Despite my media and marketing credentials, I watched the game as a normal person, live and on the screen. I am going to review the game that my YouTubeTV account recorded for me, but for now, I’m just like you.

There are very few ads that I recall as being outstanding. I remember the Pepsi Zero ads, a couple of movie ads (but don’t recall the films they were promoting), and a T-Mobile ad.

Here’s why I remember them:

I’ve seen Pepsi Zero and Mountain Dew Zero at the store recently but decided not to buy, because I like my Diet Dew just fine. The T-Mobile ad was for $50 home internet service and it’s because I’m already a T-Mobile customer for our phone service and I’ve checked out their internet service before. None of the ads I saw prompted me to take action and it’s doubtful that any will in the future because, well like I said, none of the other ads are top of mind with me, less than 24 hours later.

Now I know there were other companies advertising, but some of the companies I had never heard of before and I don’t remember them now. Even the ones that I liked, I don’t recall who they were for.

Oh wait a second, I just remembered one more for Dunkin Donuts. They used Ben and Jennifer but gave me no reason to buy a donut or whatever they were promoting.

Super Bowl Advertising used to be considered the best place to buy advertising because of the tremendous number of viewers and the supposed impact it would have on your business or brand.

Not really, instead I’ll share with you 7 Considerations For Successful Advertising:

Reach. How many people will your ad reach? Not just anyone, but the people that are likely to be your customers. The greater the reach, the more it will cost.
Frequency. How many times will those people be exposed to your ad? During the Super Bowl all the national ads played only once so they get a frequency score of one. Some brands aired more than one ad like the Pepsi Zero ads I saw, so they get a score of two. The higher the frequency to potential customers, the better in most cases.
Messaging. A co-worker of mine has been getting a barrage of emails from a local company that have no purpose. He entered a contest this business has going on for several weeks and every day he gets an email from them, wishing him a nice day, or something like that but there are no offers or calls to actions. Most people would delete, unsubscribe or report this as spam. Your Messaging has to have a purpose.
Trust. Does your advertising build Trust in your company? Or is it detracting from your brand and image? If your advertising has to have a lot of legalese or fine print disclaimers, you are not building trust.
The Environment. Not mother earth, the environment of where your advertisement is placed. The advertising media that you are using has it’s own brand and if your brand and theirs are not compatible, that’s not good at all. I used to work for a group of radio stations that allowed ads for “Gentlemen’s Clubs” after 9pm at night. Unless you are running a business that doesn’t mind being associated with that, then you better not advertise on that station. Think about it this way. Would you want your businesses physical location next to them? If the answer is no, then consider the same concept for your advertising.
Human Relationship Principles. Do your ads mimic normal human relationships in their presentation? Or are they annoying ads that make you want to tune out? You can use humor, you can use music, you can even use a straight voice, but the very best ads are the one that flow the way our conversations do when we are talking with friends and family.
Trustworthy Marketing Consultant. The majority of advertising sales people are not trustworthy marketing consultants. Many are simply salespeople who are limited in their capabilities. This limitation is either because of their personality, their training, or both.

It doesn’t take a Super Bowl ad to make your business successful, it takes working with someone that can help you navigate and understand what I just mentioned and who has the competence to work with you to dig in and create what’s needed. Contact me if you want help, Scott at WOWO.com