One Size Does NOT Fit All

Sometimes business people want a proposal from me before we even talk about what they need or want.

That’s like going to a doctor and sayin, “Just give me some pills, the kind that everyone else is buying”.

That is more than ridiculous, it is stupid and dangerous.

But I don’t blame the business people who ask, I blame the advertising sales people who walk around selling packages.

Before I get to far ahead of myself, this is part of my continuing series I am doing this summer based on Roy H. Williams Advertising Oversimplified.

Today I am examining his 6th point:

Two ways to use mass media:(A.) Used consistently, mass media will cause your company to be the one customers think of immediately – and feel the best about – when they finally need what you sell.(B.) Used short-term, mass media will give urgency and importance to a special event when you purchase high repetition for a period of time, usually between 1 and 14 days.

I actually prefer to do the A Option because it is really what most businesses need.

However I can do Option B when it makes sense.

What’s the reasoning between the two?

Mass Media, or at least the mass media that I work with, WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne, has a larger mass of listeners than your business can handle.

But that’s okay because we as a group of people don’t really do most things at the same time.  We buy a car only when we want to buy a car or have to buy a car.  We buy gas for our cars only when we need to, not everyday, and not at the same place.  Advertising can not change this… usually.

So the purpose for advertising with the A Option is to create Top Of Mind Awareness for you and your business.  In nearly any buying opportunity, I have a choice of what to buy and where to buy.  

The last time we were selling our house, I had a problem because I knew 26 realtors, none of them were favorites of mine, so instead of listing our house with any of them, I invited all of them to find a buyer for my house.  The one who brought us a buyer, earned his commission.

That’s not the way it should work.

Go back to the car buying situation and I have had a favorite used car dealer that I have bought a half dozen cars from.  He usually gets the first opportunity to sell me my next car.  Dale is Top Of Mind with us.  However the last two cars I purchased from someone else because Dale, my favorite used car dealer did not have what I wanted.  The last two cars I bought from other dealers that I also trusted, but it was a combination of the right car from a reputable dealer that got me into those last two cars.

Top Of Mind Awareness and Preference is what you build with a regular advertising schedule on mass media like WOWO Radio.  It’s up to you to be able to convert the people we send you into paying customers.

Option B that Roy talks about I also use when appropriate.  A great example is a concert.   Right now I have a concert promoter from Canada that is bringing in a group next month and once the concert is over, there in no need for them to advertise.  So we have a more focused short term game plan in place.

A problem I see with many of the advertising sales people out there is that they don’t understand what I just shared with you regarding when to use Option A and when to use Option B.

In many cases, the best is a combination of the two options, and that takes strategic thinking, research and planning.  Very few of the ad sales people that try and get you to buy their “packages” go through this planning and thinking process.

I do.

And I can help you.

Just contact me:  Scott@WOWO.com