Can You Stop For A Moment?

Can You Stop For A Moment?

by | Nov 22, 2021 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

As the General Sales Manager of WOWO radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I lead a team of advertising sales people and marketing consultants and on Thursdays we gather for an hour for a Local Sales Team Meeting.

Naturally we will skip this week because Thursday is Thanksgiving and our company has added Black Friday as an additional paid holiday, giving everyone a nice long 4 day weekend.

However last week’s WOWO Sales Team Meeting had a focus on the Final 40 days of the year and what we needed to do.

40 days on the calendar in reality is more like around 20 business days this time of year.

Now if you work in retail, every day counts because it’s that traditional make-it or break-it time of the year. The origin of the term Black Friday was that was the day of the year that retailers finally stopped operating in the red financially and started making real money or being in the black.

Regarding the title of this piece, Can You Stop For A Moment?, for some of us that moment is now, for others it will be in a few weeks after Christmas, others may need to wait until the beginning of 2022.

What and why do I even ask that question?

Because we seem to be running at an incredible pace these days.  Even if things do slow down in business right now, your lives will be filled with other events like family gatherings and parties, and well, somehow we manage to fill all 24 hours of every day, don’t we?

How long is a moment?

Depends, of course.

I know that there are some parents who would long to have an hour each week that is entirely theirs with no expectations.  Some even long for 15 minutes a day.

Same is true with so many people.

As you and I wind down this year and prepare for the new year, I urge you to add something else to your schedule.

Call it what you want, but it’s basically time for YOU.  It’s a time that you give the very highest priority and spend it on YOU.

It could be daily, it could be weekly, it needs to be something that you can negotiate with your family, partners, whomever you need to, to set up for you and you alone.

Here’s a couple of examples of how I’ve seen this work.

I have a friend that is very busy trying to get things done at work and at home with a new baby coming and both parents working and, well you get the picture.  They are struggling a bit at work and what I see is a lack of focus.  I encouraged them to take a step back and stop for a moment.  Last week instead of the running around we had planned for the day, we took a few hours and started the process of planning for the new year.   A story about Abe Lincoln came to mind, that if you have say 5 hours to chop down a tree, it’s better to spend the first 4 sharpening the axe than to wack away for 5 hours with a dull blade.

My wife takes time daily for prayer in the morning and evening, and she also taught me the value of taking breaks.

I have found that by spending some time in the morning observing nature a few times every week, it keeps me centered.

The answer to the question, Can You Stop For A Moment really is Yes.  How you implement this is up to you.

$5000

$5000

by | Nov 16, 2021 | ScLoHo's Media, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, wowo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

As we approach the end of 2021, I’m looking to add to my advertising sales team at WOWO Radio.  I just started running a radio ad that mentions a $5000 sign-on bonus going to the next person who qualifies that I hire.

Here’s the text of the ad or if you would like to hear it, listen to the audio clip in the podcast:

It’s true. Everyone is hiring. But you’re not just anyone. You’re a self-motivated, over-achiever who’s looking for a new career home. Have you considered that home might be right here, working for your favorite radio station? The legendary WOWO radio has been making an impact on our community nearly a century, and I’m looking for our next radio sales account executive to join our growing team.

This is Scott Howard, General Sales Manager for WOWO radio. We invest in you before day one on the job: it starts when you take our free sales talent assessment.  Text sales to 46862. That’s sales to 46862 to receive your free talent assessment. With only one sales opening, do it right now! If you wait, you’ll also miss out on the five thousand dollar, $5000, $5000 sign on bonus. That’s right – a five thousand dollar sign on bonus for the next WOWO account executive. Text sales to 46862 so we can start investing in you at Federated Media; or send me an email: scott@wowo.com.

Federated Media  an equal opportunity employer.

ReOrganizing The WorkPlace

ReOrganizing The WorkPlace

by | Nov 2, 2021 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

In less than 2 months it will be 2022, nearly two years since the American Lifestyle was disrupted due to a mysterious virus we call Covid-19.

The pandemic and our response to it created a acceleration of certain changes that were happening but at a slower pace.  For example working from home created a boom for video conferencing and tele-meetings. Did you realize that Zoom was founded over a decade ago? It was one of those software companies that was just chugging along, took over 6 years to become profitable, and then it seemed like everyone discovered it in 2020 out of necessity.

I had been using it for a couple of years before that with a friend and client of mine for our weekly meetings with her team that were all across the country.

On-line shopping was something we had been doing with national companies like Amazon, E-bay and Zappos to name a few, but out of necessity, in 2020 if you were a small mom and pop or a local chain, you needed to create a way to sell your stuff besides coming into your brick and mortar store.

My wife and I did most of our grocery shopping online and still do some of it especially as the weather gets uglier.

That’s some of the consumer side, how about the business side of life?

It was announced that McDonald’s is going to take a Chicago experiment and make it a national innovation.  McDonald’s is partnering with IBM to automate the drive-thru experience.  We’ve already seen many fast food joints install kiosks to place and pay for your order when you go inside, and the popularity of mobile apps has surged in the past couple of years too.

This move of McDonald’s to eliminate the humans from the customer drive-thru experience is expected to actually create a better customer experience and help ease the worker shortages.

That’s the other side of this coin, a lack of people willing and able to fill the jobs has created the necessity for companies to find alternatives to the way things have always been done in the past.  I wonder what innovations are going on in your business or industry?  Drop me a line or comment and tell me.

The company I work for is making some adjustments. Federated Media is a privately owned company with a dozen radio stations in Northern Indiana along with a digital division.  I worked for one of our Fort Wayne Indiana radio stations on the air in my 20’s and then came back 30 years later to join the Local Advertising Sales Team for WOWO radio.  In 2020, I took over as the General Sales Manager of WOWO.

Before I returned to Federated Media, they did some restructuring of their Fort Wayne radio division which created some efficiencies in their operations and also set us up for success for the 2020 pandemic a dozen years later.  One of those changes was the elimination of an office or assigned workspace for the local advertising sales people.  We were doing work from home long before it was the thing to do in 2020.  When people asked me about my job, I would tell them about the flexibility of my work schedule and say, “I only go to the office 2 hours a week”.  One hour for our weekly sales team meetings and the other hour was for a one-on one meeting with my boss.

When I moved into management, I did have an office, but for about 3 months in the spring of 2020, I was also working from my home office again.

Sometime in the next few weeks, Federated Media is going to begin moving into a new larger office space that we recently purchased.  The past 3 years, Federated Media Fort Wayne has been operating from two buildings and this new place will bring us back together under one roof.  However, I noticed in the planning for the new floor plan, we are not creating offices or cubicles for the local sales people because we simple don’t need them.  Currently there are 15, and in the year ahead we will expand to 20 local advertising sales people in Fort Wayne, and they will continue to have the same freedom to come to the office for about two hours a week most weeks.

By the way, I am hiring for a couple of qualified people to join my team.  Email Scott@WOWO.com for details.

What about your workplace?  What kind of reorganization are you doing?

What’s Your Edge?

What’s Your Edge?

by | Oct 19, 2021 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you would like help in creating your unique difference, click here to receive our Ten Tiebreaking Strategies as thought-starters for this important exercise. If you would like additional help, contact me and we will help you conduct a creative brainstorming or storyboarding session.

Feelin’ Good

Feelin’ Good

by | Oct 13, 2021 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

How are the feeling right now?

Are you:

Happy?

Sad?

Excited?

Scared?

Hopeful?

Hurting?

Melancholy?

Enthused?

No matter what you said you are feeling right now, it’s okay.

I just randomly came up with 8 possible emotions that you could be feeling at this moment and if you were in a room filled with 25 other people, I’m sure you could find someone else who is experiencing the same emotion you identified with.

Some of us have days when we go thru all 8 of those emotions in just a few hours.  Others can experience the same emotion for not just hours, but days, weeks, or even longer.

Emotions are part of our human experience and even if you think you are a facts and logic person, your emotions are actually in the drivers seat of your life.  If you are a facts and logic person and you got a little miffed by what I just said, it simply proves the point.

But I’m not here to play with your emotions today.

No, instead I want to help you understand the importance of our emotional side.

Because I write and talk about media and marketing and offer tips for businesses, I’m going to focus on how our emotions work in that context.

The emotional state of the people you deal with are going to have an influencing factor on how that conversation or interaction occurs, just as your emotional state at the moment will too.

Quite frankly there is a lot of negative news out there, and some peoples emotions are rubbed raw.  I’m not even talking about the political stuff, I’m referring to the challenges we are facing as we wrap up 2021.  Prices are going up.  We have shortages of everything from computer chips to staffing shortages.  A year ago we saw empty shelves instead of toilet paper and sanitizing supplies, and in my visit to the store recently, we seem to have plenty now.

There are other reasons people are having a tough time.  In my circle of friends and acquaintances, I’ve witnessed marital discord and divorce, loss of loved ones, either permanently by death, or because of disagreements that are hopefully temporary.

If you own or run a business, realize that your team wants to be the best versions of themselves, but there are other things going on that could be preventing that, at least temporarily.

If you work for someone, what I just said also applies to your boss.

Customers and clients, they are going through the wide range of emotions too, and we just don’t know the full story of what is going on in their lives do we?

I titled this piece, Feelin’ Good, because ultimately that is what we all want.

We want to feel good about our lives, our jobs, our family and friends.

We want to feel good when we spend our money.  

My wife recently spent money on two very different experiences, one was a gift box that included some fun things she picked out to send to out of town family members.  The other was spending money on getting her car repaired.

Two very vastly different reasons to spend, and yet both times she wanted to feel good when she punched in her pin number as she paid for her purchases.

It might be easy to make someone feel good when they are buying gifts, and more challenging to make them feel good when they are spending it on a repair.  But no matter what your business, please do your best to help your customers and staff feel good.

That’s the best kind of marketing you can create, an experience for all that leaves them Feelin’ Good because of what you did for them.

One more tip and this may not be earth shattering but after living in a world where we couldn’t see peoples smiles because of being masked up, please smile purposefully.  Even behind a mask, we can see a smiling face.

 

Are You Missing?

Are You Missing?

by | 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.