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.

Getting Linked

by Scott Howard | Jun 7, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Among the one-liners of business success, there’s one that I’ve noticed has been critical and it has to do with connections.

I’m going to focus on LinkedIn, but first here’s the one-liner:

“It’s not who you know, but who knows you that determines your success”

This is why I highly recommend using the power of social media to build a network.

In the 1990’s as a young advertising sales guy in Detroit, I was tasked with making cold calls to find businesses to advertise. It wasn’t fun and I actually quit. Since I was not from the area, I had only a few connections and none were business owners. Armed with a phone book and a car, well that was about it. There was no social media in the 1990’s. MySpace launched in 2003 and Facebook after that.

But did you know that LinkedIn also launched way back then, in the early 2000’s?

LinkedIn used to be thought of as a place to find a job. You’d fill out your employment history and it sort of functioned as an online CV or resume.

It has become much more than that.

LinkedIn promotes itself as a social network for professionals for professional connecting which is pretty much true. I also recall the debates over who to connect with.

“Should I only Link to those people I know?”

Well, that is a good start and some of you haven’t even done that.

Please do that first. Then it’s time to really grow your network.

Anyone that you are connected to has connections and while LinkedIn will tell you whom you share connections with, it will also show you something called 2nd degree connections.

These 2nd degree connections are where the real potential value is, I’ve discovered.

It’s the Kevin Bacon Effect. The Kevin Bacon Effect was a fun gun to play to see who was connected to whom and how many people you had to go thru to connect to Kevin. Look it up if you care.

Before I was preparing this article, I had no idea how many 1st degree connections I had. Just glancing at my profile, says 500+ which seems like a lot. But when I dug deeper, I saw I have over 3,000 first degree connections!

Here’s the fun part, and I’m going to scale it down using a low number of connections.

100.

If I had just 100 connections, and each of my 100 connections had 100 connections, that means in theory I have 10,000 second degree connections.

Move that number up to 400 and do the math and that adds up to 160,000 connections.

Of course there are a lot of variables but according to LinkedIn, the average number of 1st degree connections is between 500 and 999 for active LinkedIn Profile users. When I looked at my co-workers, I saw most having less than 500 which means they are missing out.

What are they missing out on? And what are you missing if you aren’t active on LinkedIn?

When I am doing research on a company or a potential contact, LinkedIn is one of the top 5 searches I do. My role with my radio station includes looking for potential candidates to hire for positions that may open up. I also do some research on companies that might be a good fit as an advertising partner. Besides the 1st degree connections, I can also reach out to 2nd degree connections. And I do this free.

Yes, I don’t pay a dime for my LinkedIn account, and I usually don’t advise people to get a paid account either. If you instead build your contacts and connections, you will grow it over time and it will become a valuable resource.

Finally here’s the added benefit that has been happening a lot, and that is people reaching out to me. Every single week. Some just want to connect for networking but others are seeking me out because they want to consider buying what I have to sell them.

Would you like people contacting you like that? What are you waiting for? Get Linked!

Own Your Space

by Scott Howard | May 31, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Here we are in the summer of 2022 and due to some recent business meetings I’ve had, I need to give you a piece of advice that I’ve said repeatedly over the years.

Own Your Space.

Not just any space, but your space online.

This applies to you as a person and if you have a business.

A dozen years ago, I was showing college students how I created my own personal brand, the ScLoHo brand with a couple of blogs that I updated every single day.

Then 11 years ago, my friend Kevin challenged me to create my own space, not for the ScLoHo brand, for me, Scott Howard.

And so I did. It took a few months but I invested in my own website instead of using the free blogger sites from Google. This is that website I created in 2011.

It looks much different than the first version. The domain name, ScottHoward.me, was selected because the dot com version of my name was already taken. So while the layout and design have evolved over the years, this website has been consistently been the Space I Own.

Recently I’ve seen business start-ups that don’t have their own website, they are relying on socials. You don’t have a real business, you’ve got a hobby. Until you spend a few hundred bucks, buy a domain and create a simple landing page, at the bare minimum, you aren’t real.

Not in today’s world at least. Look, you don’t even have to use it to run your business, but if your own website doesn’t exist, neither does your business as legit.

I’m not into building websites anymore, but I can connect you with the people I trust. Believe me, I want you to succeed, and there are always a few exceptions to most any rule, but do yourself a favor and get Your Own Space now, for your business and also for your own personal branding.

Brick & Mortar vs E-Commerce

by Scott Howard | Jan 18, 2022 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, Sound ADvice

“Extra – Extra, Read All About It!!! Brick-and-Mortar stores are dead! E-commerce is the way everyone will shop in the future. Extra – Extra, Read All About It!!!”

If you read the retail industry trades or e-commerce newsletters and blogs at all, that chant has been thrown around for the past decade and the COVID era has made it even louder!

But is it true? To paraphrase Mark Twain, “Rumors of the death of brick-and-mortar retail are greatly exaggerated”

Although e-commerce shopping continues to grow rapidly, brick-and-mortar stores are still holding up well versus online retail sites, as many people still prefer the in-store shopping experience where they can see and try out products before committing to a purchase.

Here are some facts:

In 2020, e-commerce made up 14% of all retail sales.

Brick-and-mortar makes up the other 86%.

Total e-commerce sales in the US in 2020: $759.47 Billion

Total Brink-and-Mortar retail sales in the US in 2020: $5.6 Trillion (that’s Trillion as in 12-zeros, 000,000,000,000). Source: Forbes.com

Further proof that brick-and-mortar is here to stay is that Amazon has announced it is opening brick-and-mortar stores. These large department-like stores will be roughly 30,000 sq ft.

It’s not Amazon’s first venture into retail. Amazon, which dominates the online shopping space, made its biggest bet in brick-and-mortar with the acquisition of upscale grocer, Whole Foods, in 2017.

What does this all mean? There is good news and bad news. The good news is.. despite what the e-commerce trade magazines would like you to believe, brick-and-mortar is going to be around for a while. The bad news is.. competition is going to get even tougher for existing retail businesses. Amazon is no slouch!

While there is no denying that e-commerce is and will continue to grow, there will always be local brick-and-mortar retail stores lining our main streets. However, as competition continues to increase from all fronts, the key to survival and continued growth will be your ability to evolve!

In the Six Ways to Compete with E-commerce, tip #2 is: Offer Online Services. They say, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. The six most popular reasons consumers shop via e-commerce are lower pricing, free delivery, wider selections/variety of options, comparison shopping, no sales pressure, and convenience. With the exception of Amazon, most products found on e-commerce sights are not less expensive. It’s simple, the “convenience” of shopping online is having products delivered to your door. Keep in mind, the word FREE is key in delivery. Companies that offer free delivery (Amazon Prime) tend to be much more popular than those that add a fee.

If free delivery is not an option, BOPUS (Buy Online Pick Up at Store) may be a viable option.

The game’s not over and if you are keeping score, as of the end of third quarter 2021 (latest statistic via Statista Dec 3rd, 2021), the score is brick-and-mortar 87% vs e-commerce 13%. Yes, e-commerce grew from 13.5% in 2020 to 13.8% in the second quarter of 2021, but then fell slightly to 13% in the third quarter of 2021.

The more the world changes, the more consumers demand. To stay ahead of the ever-changing competition, as business owners we need to continue to evolve. To see Six Ways to Complete with E-commerce, click here.

Note: The statistics provide are from sites via the internet and are from non-e-commerce companies. If you visit enough e-commerce sites, you will find conflicting data which provides more favorable results for their subscribers.

I have one more important fact for you to consider and that is the reliability factor of measuring your advertising R.O.I. attribution.

Those in the web world like to push the falsehood that online is 100% trackable. Having spent significant time working in the e-commerce world, I understand what they are saying, because it is common practice to put tracking codes on the links that we see in email or online. But there are other significant factors that influenced us to click on those links such as brand awareness, reputation, word of mouth and other things that aren’t trackable. If anyone tells you that digital marketing is better than other forms for those reasons, please be skeptical and you can even reach out to me for an unbiased but informed opinion and insight.

Are You Missing?

by Scott Howard | Oct 6, 2021 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Web World, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

A decade ago, I took a break from working in radio to work full-time for a website development firm that had some cutting edge technology back in 2011.

My job was to find companies that needed website upgrades and introduce them to our platform so we could bring them into what was then the current version of the internet age.

A new website could cost $20,000 for a simple landing page up to well over 100 grand for an eCommerce site.

These days, you can hire a professional to build you nearly anything you need for under $50,000. I have a few connections that I trust to do the work for a tenth of that, depending on what your needs are.

Yet, I am amazed at the number of businesses that are missing online.

What do I mean by missing?

Well first off, I should be able to find you with a simple Google Search for your business name.

Google tries to be your friend by providing businesses with free listings so that when I am looking for you, I can find you.

And by find, I mean find your website, your location including directions, your phone number and whatever else would be appropriate.

Yet there are still too many businesses that seem to be ignoring the internet because they don’t show up when I Google them.

Similar circumstances with Facebook. Too many of you don’t exist.

Now I’m not a tech wizard nor am I a web designer, or even an expert in Search Engine Optimization anymore. Consider me your average potential customer who is just looking to connect with you or one of your competitors because I have a question that requires your expertise. Or maybe I have money to spend right now and I just need to connect with you and give you my money in exchange for the product or service you provide.

But you are missing when I ask my phone to find you, or my laptop to send me to your website.

To me, I find this shocking, that a business is still invisible online.

This violates one of the very basics of marketing. You need to be able to be found.

Stop ignoring this and either pay someone or do it yourself, but create a way for people like me to find you online.

Also, if you have not updated your website, or updated your social media this year, (or longer)… do it. Our whole world has gone through numerous changes since the pandemic began over 18 months ago and I’m sure your business has too. Update your hours, and other policies we need to know and want to know. Even if it’s back to business as usual, tell us that too.

One more tip and this is for you as an individual:

Don’t be missing online personally. You don’t have to create your own website like I did years ago, but you might want to. At the very least, get on social media. Create a LinkedIn profile, Go ahead and get on Facebook. Those two are the most important for adults who want to be found.

Sure, you can also use Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and others but don’t ignore Facebook and LinkedIn because those are the two primary social media channels still for grown-ups.

Are you missing?

If you are, what are you missing?

And are you going to do something about it?

P.S.

Everything you just read I wrote on Sunday 10/3/21 and used as the script for this weeks podcast.

Then the next day, Monday 10/4/21 Facebook.com goes down. I mean for several hours, you cannot connect to Facebook and some of their other holdings like Instagram. Does this mean that you should NOT use Facebook?

No, it just means you should not use Facebook exclusively. As I am writing this on Monday afternoon and Facebook is still down, I have full confidence in Facebook coming back online. This is just an unfortunate hiccup that will cost them some money in lost revenue. However, for the businesses that only rely on Facebook or Instagram to be found online, this will have a much more serious impact.

Go back and read what I wrote in its entirety and then do it.

Is It Time To Fall Out Of Love With Digital Ads?

by Scott Howard | Jan 27, 2021 | 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

It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

The whole magical world of digital advertising online.

For the past decade plus, I’ve seen study after study after study that talked about the shift in advertising from traditional ads to digital ads.

As a point of reference, traditional ads refer to radio and television broadcast ads, newspaper and any form of print including direct mail and phone books, also outdoor ads like roadside billboards and even in-store signage, etc. Digital ads are delivered digitally via the internet someway on webpages, apps, search engine marketing, you can even throw in search engine optimization.

Most of the predictions of double digit percentage increases in digital ad expenditures year over year have come true, just like the decrease in money spent on traditional ads have come true too.

But, has this shift in where companies advertise paid off?

According to a recent article in Forbes, the answer is either no, or not anymore, or no one knows.

There’s a lot of no’s in that last sentence. And that should concern you.

When Big Brands Stopped Spending On Digital Ads, Nothing Happened. Why?

That’s the tile and here are some of the details from Forbes:

Proctor and Gamble was spending $200 million on digital advertising and turned it off. Result = no change in business outcome.

Chase Bank was serving their ads on 400,000 sites and cut it 99% to just 5,000 and saw no negative impact.

Uber was spending $120 million and stopped and saw no change too.

The Forbes article lists other examples big and small of businesses that either stopped their paid digital ads completely or shrunk the budget significantly and actually improved their business. They mention Facebook ads and Google Adwords along with other digital marketing activity and I believe I know the reason for this.

There’s a phrase called the “Zero Moment of Truth”. It’s the time when a consumer decides to make the purchase. The digital world likes to say they deliver buyers at that Zero Moment. Maybe or maybe not.

What if you need to buy a new hot water heater? That’s a purchase most people don’t plan for but when you wake up and need one, you don’t wait for days or weeks to decide to buy. You are suddenly at the Zero Moment of Truth when you are in the ice cold shower.

Your brain is going to immediately start by telling you the names of companies that you already know that could be your problem solver. Then your heart will kick in and screen out the companies you know but don’t trust.

How does your heart and brain know these things? Ideally it’s because you have been exposed to advertising and marketing way before your hot water heater died. And this is where certain forms of traditional media shine.

I call it intrusive media. Over 90% of the American population still listen to the radio every week. For my wife and I, we listen to the radio every time we are in the car which is at least 5 to 7 days a week. The radio stations we listen to have ads. Our brains hear those ads thru our ears and that reputation of hearing about a local business builds trust so our hearts are also impacted.

My parents never picked up the phone book as part of their casual reading routine, it was the Zero Moment of Truth when they grabbed the phone book if they didn’t know who to call, they’d flip open the Yellow Pages to search by business classification and see the ads for water heaters. Or if they already knew who they wanted to call, they would open the White Pages which was the alphabetical listing of people and businesses and get the number that way.

The digital revolution has replaced the phone book in multiple ways, hasn’t it…

So why are the digital ads that I mentioned at the beginning of this article not needed anymore? It’s because the impact has diminished. The brands that are using digital to get the sale at the Zero Moment of Truth already have Top of Mind Awareness and consumers would buy from them anyway.

That Top of Mind Awareness came from traditional media over the years, and has continued as those brands keep showing up on TV and radio.

I’ve got one more quote from the Forbes piece:

Digital marketing works; but the vast majority of impressions and clicks are from bot activity currently.

I’ve worked in the digital world and I’ve done some deep dives into the Google Analytics and unfortunately, it’s true. I can make you a promise that when you are listening to my radio station, WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana and we share with you the number of weekly listeners, those are real live people, like you and me, not bots.

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