The ScLoHo Difference

The ScLoHo Difference

by | Dec 9, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Last month I was helping an advertising partner with their TV commercial.

I do not sell TV advertising, I don’t write or produce TV ads or videos.

So what did I do and why did I do it?

I am sharing this with you as an antidote to what someone told me recently is The ScLoHo Difference.

First off, I sell advertising in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  This puts me in a bucket of about 100+ people in Fort Wayne who you can buy advertising from.  That number may be closer to 200 different people when you count the online options.

So let’s narrow it down to legacy media or traditional media such as TV, Radio, Print which includes direct mail, newspapers and magazines and we are still close to 100.

In the radio business, we have less than 50.  My company alone has 23.  I work specifically for WOWO radio where we have a team of 5 full time and 2 part-time sales people.  That narrows me down to one out of about 5.

This fact, that I am one of the 5 people that can sell you ads on WOWO radio is definitely part of the ScLoHo Difference.  However that is just a minor detail.

As I was telling my friend and advertising partner, I sell advertising campaigns to support my real passion of helping businesses with their marketing.

I’ve even come up with a phrase that further defines the marketing philosophy that I work with.  It’s called Human Relationship Marketing because it uses Human Relationship Principles.

Now, let me tell you, this is a different approach from all of my WOWO radio co-workers. Each of us at WOWO have our own approach that is as different as our personalities.  It’s also different from anyone that I have met who sells advertising in Fort Wayne, which leads me back to what my friend and advertising partner was talking about as she really noticed the ScLoHo Difference in our conversation.

Here are the details of what led her to notice my different approach:

Along with advertising on WOWO radio with me, their company also does other advertising including print and TV.

Their television advertising sales person was working with them to create a commercial that would take advantage of the coop dollars they have earned and was doing the typical easy route.  That involved using the corporate video and slapping a dealer tag on the end.  In this 30 second ad, 23 seconds was all about the big company and the last 7 seconds was completely different, with my advertising partners name, logo and jingle.  It felt like two seperate ads.  The corporate ad had dramatic movie music in the background, while the local company tag, had a bright cheerful feel, because that’s the way their jingle sounds.  The TV people did put the company logo in the corner of the corporate video but it still wasn’t enough.

The company (my friend and advertising partner) reached out to me to get my ideas and I met with them after I came up with an idea that would solve their problem.

When we first sat down to talk, my friend and advertising partner, out of frustration, asked why her TV advertising salesperson didn’t understand that what they produced was a disjointed mash-up of two separate ads and essentially a bad commercial for their company.

The reason perhaps is the way most advertising salespeople are wired.  Their first priority is sales.  Their Sales, not their customers sales.  Sign a contract and then we will put together some creative stuff that becomes your ad and hope and pray for the best.  Too often this ignores the Human Relationship Marketing Principles that I use as my starting point.

I know what I just said sounds harsh. It is.  I don’t fault the salespeople who are selling simply to make their own budgets, most of them have been trained to sell that way.  Many are successful, but how successful are their clients?  And how much more successful could they be if they took a different approach, more like a marketing strategist, instead of an advertising salesperson?

Back to my friend and advertising partner and what I suggested they do…

The company has a recognizable jingle that I has been in place since the 1970’s or perhaps even longer.  I use it and their advertising slogan in the ad campaign we have been airing on WOWO radio.  I told them to drop the audio track from the corporate video and replace it with their recognizable jingle bed. It created a warm and happy feeling for the entire ad and tied it all together.  No one else came up with this idea, apparently.  The TV station was instructed to do what I suggested and the ad is now playing.

Like I said the ScLoHo Difference is more than the ability to sell you an advertising schedule on WOWO radio, you also get my thought process and idea creation that we’ll put into action with the campaigns we do on WOWO and also other advertising outreach that you are considering.  Want to know more?  Contact me.

 

[wd_hustle id="sound-advice-sign-up" type="embedded"]

Holiday Shopping in 2019

Holiday Shopping in 2019

by | Nov 18, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Busiest Shopping Days of Christmas –      Are You Ready?

For the first time ever, spending on Christmas is expected to exceed $1 trillion dollars, and the majority of this will be spent in 6 fewer days than last year.

If you own a retail store, you have heard all the doom and gloom about people spending their money via online or e-commerce.  The truth is, it’s growing, but e-commerce still only makes up 12.3% of holiday spending.  The other 87.7%, or $877,000,000,000 (that’s $877 billion), will be spent in “Brick N’ Mortar” stores.

Businesses that are well planned and run well-executed events and promotions can help garner more than your fair share of the holiday shopping pie. Knowing when the shoppers are ready to shop and being ready for them is paramount to getting that fair share.

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

Are you ready?

According to Forbes magazine, here are the 10 busiest shopping days anticipated for 2019, in order:

  1.   November 29, Black Friday
  2.    December 21, the last Saturday before Christmas
  3.    December 26, the day after Christmas
  4.    December 14, two Saturdays before Christmas
  5.    November 30, the Saturday after Black Friday
  6.    December 22, the last Sunday before Christmas
  7.    December 23, the Monday before Christmas
  8.    December 28, the Saturday after Christmas
  9.    December 27, the Friday after Christmas
  10. December 7, the first Saturday in December

I work with a couple of retailers to help promote them during the holidays.  One of them has a Holiday Open House this week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to kick off the season before Christmas and they really do it up right with special events each day geared to their customers.

For another retailer I work with, we promote a 12 days of Christmas Savings the first dozen days of December.

Just because it is the end of the year holiday season, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should run a special promotion, it really depends on your business and if it is appropriate. If you would like help in planning any of your marketing and/or advertising events for this holiday season, it’s not too late.  Contact me and I will gladly sit down with you and help come up with creative ideas to help you have a successful 2019 holiday shopping season.

This is also the time of year to get all your marketing planning started for 2020.  That’s what I’ve been working on recently and I’ll help you too.

[wd_hustle id="sound-advice-sign-up" type="embedded"]

Business Marketing Lessons from an Election

Business Marketing Lessons from an Election

by | Nov 4, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

It’s a crazy time in my world of broadcasting.

It is Election Week 2019.

This year I have been personally involved in the process of helping candidates buy advertising time on my radio station, WOWO radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

There are a few Business Marketing Lessons that I’m going to share with you that were pretty obvious to me this year.

However, before I go any further, let me clear up a little confusion that some of you have right now.

You are thinking, “Election in 2019? I thought the Election is in 2020!”

In Indiana and several other states, we also have elections in odd numbered years.  While Federal elections are held in even years like 2016, 2018 and 2020; Indiana also has their local elections every 4 years, but a year before the Presidential election.

The way that works out is us Hoosiers get to vote for something 3 out of every 4 years.

It also means that my radio station, WOWO as a news and talk formatted radio station is the place to be for political candidates to run ads 3 out of 4 years.

Indiana has their primary elections in May, and so the weeks leading up to voting day is when the candidates run their ads.  April is often the month we start hearing political ads on WOWO, unless there is a race with a couple of strong candidates battling it out.  In the Republican Mayoral Primary, the two major candidates started early.  One of them with deep pockets actually started running his ads 6 months before the Primary!

This year I was tapped by the WOWO Management to help with the local candidates advertising.  It requires special paperwork and other details that must be followed exactly and because I used to do this for another group of radio stations years ago, plus I have a background in recording and know how to use the studio equipment… I was selected and said yes.

Here’s a few Business Marketing Lessons that I’ve learned this year from the Elections:

You have to invest time and money to get results. Last spring I attempted to reach out to all the candidates who were running in the primary election.  Some never responded.  Some responded and told me they were not going to do anything besides have their name on the ballot. Some said they would be spending money, but never did. The ones who said they were going to advertise and really did advertise with me on WOWO radio, won their primary election and are on the ballot this week in the General election.  (There is one exception, ask me about it if you want.)

You don’t need to convince everyone to buy from you, just enough to make you a winner. Historically off year elections have a poor turn out and primary elections also have a poor turn out.  We had just 14% of registered voters vote in our county this past May.  In one race the difference between winning and losing was 1,735 votes.  That candidate that I told you started his political ads 6 months before the primary… he lost by just 2,289 votes because his opponent also spent a lot of time and money getting his message out.  As I was reviewing the results from some of the races, I saw one candidate beat their opponent by 7 votes and in another race it was just 8 votes that determined the winner. How many customers do you need to be a winner this month?

It’s better to invest in your future than to sit back and rest easy. For the General election this week, I had two candidate campaigns come to me to invest in radio ads on WOWO that surprised me.  Both are running for Mayor in cities outside of Fort Wayne but well within our listening area.  The first one is the assumed favorite running against an unknown opponent yet he told me that he would feel foolish if he lost the race because “everyone assumes he is going to win and they don’t take the time to vote.”  That could happen. But he is taking the money he has in his campaign and investing all of it in advertising to persuade his supporters to actually vote on election day.   

The other race was going to be an easy win too for the candidate but then a new challenger has been gaining support and so they feel nervous.  They are also spending money on WOWO to convince their supporters to vote on election day.  Are you coasting along with your business or are you continuing to remind your current and future customers to do business with you?

I could add a few other lessons but I’ll do another article and podcast in the future on those.  Instead, here’s one very important lesson:  Once someone votes, it is too late to get them to vote for someone else. And if they don’t vote by the end of election day, it’s too late to convince them to vote.  Here’s the business lesson: You only have one opportunity to get a customers money. Once they have made a purchase, they are no longer a potential customer for that particular purchase.

This is contrary to what we think about brand building, but not really.  Brand Building is just as important, it’s the critical decision making process that leads to them decide if they should consider you or not.

More on this in the future too and remember if you ever have any advertising, marketing, sales or media questions, feel free to ask me.  Email Scott@WOWO.com

You can also subscribe to my weekly Sound ADvice newsletter than arrives in your email Wednesday mornings and has 30 seconds worth of marketing and business tips along with links to even more resources,

 

 

 

[wd_hustle id="sound-advice-sign-up" type="embedded"]

Who Are You and What Do You Do?

Who Are You and What Do You Do?

by | Oct 28, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Who Are You and What Do You Do?

Does your business name say what you do, or does it leave the public guessing?

In a perfect world, the name of a business clearly says what they do or sell…names like Valvoline Instant Oil Change or Lawn and Snow Company instantly “says” what the company does.

If your business name doesn’t say what you do, we’re not suggesting that you change the name, but, it’s not too late to develop and promote a slogan that can be every bit as strong for your identity as the name itself.

Strong slogans not only say “what you do” but more importantly describe “what” you want your business to be “known” for.

GEICO’S “Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent on your insurance” is a prime example of a slogan that tells the prospect “what” they want you to remember about them.  They will save you time and money!

For several years, I had an advertising partner that had a name that was confusing because it made them sound like they were an investment company, but they really were an alternative real estate company.  Problem was when the company was created, the name the used was geared to attracting people who wanted to invest in Real Estate, but when I got involved, they were looking for their end users, people who were buying or selling homes.  Our campaign worked because we used WOWO radio to tell listeners of our afternoon talk show, exactly what they did.  The message was out there every hour, 15 hours every week, between 3pm and 6pm.

If your business name says what you do but you don’t have a strong slogan, a good, strong advertising campaign can cure some of these ills. Today, there are simply too many names, too many competitors, and too much fragmentation for you to be remembered for your name alone.  On my radio station we have 7 or 8 heating and cooling companies.  You can’t just toss your name out there and hope that you get some of the business.  I work with 4 of them and each one has a different and distinct slogan and advertising campaign that reflects their unique selling points.

A strong slogan, used consistently over time, will differentiate you in your prospects’ minds and give you a competitive advantage.

Having strong Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) is even more important in the age of electronic media. Studies suggest that 70% of people will click on the first business they are aware of or have a preference for, rather than clicking on the first name revealed at the top of the search engine page.

In the new electronic era, radio and internet are the perfect combination.  Having strong TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness) is always the best SEO (search engine optimization).

Click here to receive “7 Secrets of Successful Slogans” that will help you create better Top of Mind Awareness for your business.

You can also sign up for my weekly Sound ADvice email newsletter which contains tips and insights just like this. Fill in your info in the box below.

[wd_hustle id="sound-advice-sign-up" type="embedded"]

 

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

by | Oct 17, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

This week I have a challenge for you if you sell products that are manufactured by someone else.

All of your suppliers have a vested interest in your success, and most of them have access to extraordinary marketing funds and resources beyond traditional co-op to help you sell more of their products.

The problem is, seldom does anyone ask for these funds! If you don’t access those funds, you are literally throwing money away, or worse yet, your competitors will scoop those funds and use them against you.

In our “How to Leverage Your Suppliers” Marketing Muscle, tactic number one is “Tender your Next Ad Campaign”. Present a written proposal for submissions for marketing support from all of your suppliers outlining your proposed advertising schedule and investment, along with any special displays, promotions, demonstrations or other exposure the winning bidder will receive.

Many business owners believe their hands are tied to rigid manufacturers’ restrictions if they use manufacturers’ co-op advertising funds, but seldom is this the case.  The Squeaky Wheel, often times gets the grease!

If you are an appliance dealer, for example, and you sell GE and Whirlpool, your GE representative has a vested interest in you featuring GE versus Whirlpool in your ad.

If you make a presentation outlining the kind of campaign you propose to sell more GE without using the standard GE script or ad copy that the manufacturer supplies, it will generally be approved by their office because they don’t want your campaign to feature their competitor.

Still, other businesses opt not to leverage their suppliers’ marketing muscle because it takes time and effort. In today’s competitive environment you need to take advantage of every competitive edge you can.

These types of ideas can also work with service oriented companies.

A few years ago, I started working with a wholesaler who set up a deal to get an extra 50% co-op rebate that was above and beyond the standard co-op program.  We found three of their dealers who have jumped on this special program and spend $100,000 in advertising, half of which they get back in credit on supplies they would have bought anyway!

This takes extra effort, extra planning and extra time to set up, but for these 3 local dealers and their wholesaler, it has paid off handsomely for the past 3 years.

Want help exploring this idea for your business? Contact me and also Click here to retrieve our FREE “How to Leverage Your Suppliers’ Marketing Muscle”.

[wd_hustle id="sound-advice-sign-up" type="embedded"]

 

Where Are All The TV Viewers?

Where Are All The TV Viewers?

by | Oct 10, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

My wife and I are Baby Boomers and we have been the generation that most advertisers targeted their marketing to over most of my lifetime.

That is until we “aged-out” of the 25-54 age demographic.

That started happening in 2001 when the oldest Boomers who were born in 1946 turned 55.

This is the year, 2019 when the youngest Boomers who were born in 1964 hit double nickels.

About 10 years ago however is when the marketing people started to wake up and realize that the Baby Boomers still were a valuable demographic for a lot of products and services.  That was when the first Boomers were preparing to hit that magic age of 65, the age of retirement in the United States.

Except Baby Boomers were not like the previous generations that were in the 60’s.  They were not in the last couple years of life, they were living a full and rewarding life.

The kids were finally out on their own, yes even out of the basement and grandkids were coming.  Some Baby Boomers still have parents alive too.

The wealth was and still is in the hands of the Baby Boomers.

Baby Boomers grew up with the mass media of radio and TV.  We remembered AM Radio and Black & White TV and saw the transformation to Color TV and growth of FM Radio.

Radio has been our portable entertainment with every vehicle on the road being a virtual sound machine while TV was our home entertainment with news and prime time shows dominating our evenings.

So it is no surprise that even with the advent and growth of the internet and all the advances from dial-up AOL to always connected smart homes, traditional TV and Radio stations were still relevant to the Baby Boomer generation.

I have seen plenty of studies that have shown the shifting audience demographics for TV especially that is top heavy with older people.

More than half of all traditional TV viewers are age 55 and older.

Traditional TV encompasses both the traditional broadcast and traditional cable TV networks.

However in 2019, for the first time ever, traditional TV viewership in the age 55+ is now declining.

Here’s what Mediapost said about this:

It’s no secret that linear TV viewing has been declining as American consumers — especially younger ones — shift to digital alternatives, but a new analysis from the equities research team at UBS shows that even older TV viewers have begun eroding for the first time.

While total viewers (two years or older) have been eroding for some time, the fact that TV’s most diehard and heaviest viewers also are abandoning the medium should come as a wakeup call for many in the TV and advertising industry.

The article also shows data that over the past ten years TV has lost 50 to 60% of their younger viewers and the only age group that grew was the Baby Boomers  but now they are watching less TV.

I can tell you why, from personal experience.

We have access to 100 channels and there’s “nothing on”. At least that’s the way it seems.

A lot of the shows are targeted to younger viewers and are simply stupid or overly sexually juvenile. The jokes would have made the teenager in me snicker, but that was over 30 years ago.

Here are the actual shows that I will watch with my wife either live or on demand almost every week, now that the fall TV season is back:

NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy, Jeopardy, Bull, The Good Doctor, Chicago Med.  The first four are without fail, the last two are likely to watch.

My wife will watch Dancing with the Stars and the Bachelor series, but I won’t. I may watch The Voice.

That’s it. Each year the number of shows we watch declines.  Not because there are less programs available, but the networks are trying to reach the younger audiences they have already lost which is stupid.

My kids are all in their 30’s and none of them watch traditional TV.  There is nothing that will change that so the networks need to wake up and do what they can to keep the viewers they have from abandoning them.

Now we do watch other things on TV.  The network news channels get a healthy amount of evening viewing along with some occasional HGTV, and we also stream stuff like Amazon Prime Movies. Netflix is a must have for my kids and their families.

As a side note, since I work in the radio business, there is also an undercurrent among the youngest, I’m talking teens and 20 year olds to listen to less traditional radio than people of that age group did decades ago, for many of the same reasons they don’t watch traditional TV. However for grown-ups age 35+ radio listening is still as healthy as ever.  I have specifics for the Fort Wayne, Indiana market if you ever want to see who listens to what, contact me. Scott@WOWO.com

Last week I read the results from the first week of the new Fall 2019 Fall TV Season and it’s not pretty.

The article I read says: TV’s broadcast network premiere week for the 2019-2020 season showed more double-digit percentage declines. 

If you are a business that uses TV to advertise, let this be a warning to you that the audience that you are trying to reach is shrinking.  If you want to see some viable solutions and alternatives, let’s talk.

How would you like to receive my free Sound ADvice business and marketing tips email newsletter every week?  Sign up in the box below.

[wd_hustle id="sound-advice-sign-up" type="embedded"]