Consider the Entire Marketing Funnel

Since the proliferation of digital analytics, many marketers have become obsessed with last click attribution and bottom of funnel activity. And one can easily see why this has become the new marketing addiction.

The downside of a sole obsession at the bottom of the funnel, however, is that many marketers can become myopic and singular in their approach and marketing budget, at the expense of creating brand preference and brand awareness (Top of Mind Awareness--TOMA) funnel growth and lead generation at the top of the funnel. I have witnessed too many brands spiral downward as a result.

The only sustainable model is a growth strategy that requires a full funnel and integrated marketing approach manifested in a comprehensive and balanced strategy that includes top of funnel content to educate, differentiate, and create brand preference through value and thought leadership. Followed by generating opt-in leads as a result of offering great information for those who are very early in the research phase of the problem they seek to solve, or the benefit they seek to gain. 

If we only focus on those who are ready to make a purchase at the bottom of the funnel, we have given-up the vast majority of potential sales by default of not having captured their hearts and minds much earlier in their awareness and research process. And this is where brands lose their growth potential, and two major issues arise:

1. They become too fixated on their existing email database to grow the business, so they tend to abuse the list with an oversaturation of email blasts. As more people in the list opt-out, or ignore the emails, revenue from an over-used list diminish, and the marketer resorts to even more emails and steeper discounts to stimulate sales, which diminishes the value of the brand, and net profits. As topline revenue and net profits decline, the marketer is left with fewer resources to get back to a growth strategy, and the downward spiral continues.

2. If new prospects are not aggressively pursued at the top of the funnel, the prospect pool never expands, and growth becomes nearly impossible. Top of funnel strategies includes PR, quality content creation and promotion, brand building campaigns, experiential marketing, events, sponsorships, speaking, publishing, community relations, etc. And though these marketing and awareness activities are not always directly attributable to a sale, they are responsible for generating the brand awareness and preference from the beginning, which creates the branded online search and activity at the bottom of the funnel.

As marketers, we owe it to ourselves and our brands to fully understand and execute a comprehensive strategy designed to build brand awareness, brand preference, sales, and repeat sales if we are to grow the brand.

It has been my experience both academically and professionally that the number one reason that brands lose focus on the entire funnel, is that they become siloed, and overly obsessed with the last click vs. full-funnel attribution, and therefore a true appreciation for the value of creating positive brand awareness and engagement, and opt-in email lists way ahead of a purchase decision. And as a final note, we cannot forget the art, science, and value of lead nurturing if we want to convert those early email opt-ins to customers or brand advocates. 

Is Your Advertising Naked?

When it comes to local retail advertising and promotion, sometimes referred to as “price and product advertising” or "call to action" vs. branding campaigns, you need to consider the following ad components to be effective and persuasive.

"Naked" advertising is stripped of the critical elements that cause prospects to notice, engage, respond, and buy.


1. Does your ad have a compelling headline that does one or more of the following:
 States a problem and provides a solution?
 Introduces news of a breakthrough, an exciting new product, a new solution, or new use or application for an existing product?
 Offers a major benefit?
 Offers an incredible price, savings or discount?
 Asks a compelling question?
 Provides “how to” information?
 Addresses a specific audience i.e. “heartburn sufferers”
 Announces a major event?

2. Is your headline supported with a sub-head or a short opening sentence that supports the headline?

3. Does your ad start with the biggest and most exciting benefit you can possibly offer?

4. Does your ad clearly and simply state your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

5. Is your USP so compelling and powerful that it clearly makes you the obvious choice?

6. Do you support your USP, headline or offer with quantifiable and verifiable facts and logical, believable reasons why you can make such a claim or offer?

7. Does your ad copy contain specifics, examples, test results, testimonials, awards, endorsements?

8. Does your copy contain action verbs and proven “power words” of effective advertising?

9. Are you speaking directly to your audience in a direct, personal and friendly tone? Does it sound like you’re speaking directly to a friend?

10. Does your ad have an emotional appeal? Does it stir one or more of the following emotions:
 Love?
 Fear of loss?
 Ego?
 Status?
 Fear of embarrassment?
 Vanity?
 Power?
 Respect?

11. Does your ad provide specific prices or payments?

12. Does your ad offer a savings of time and hassle? Does it offer a major convenience factor? If not, does it offer huge savings of money?

13. Does your 30-second TV spot or 60-second radio spot contain no more than two offers or products?

14. Does your ad offer something free to responders, such as a free booklet, free trial, free report, free sample, or a free gift?

15. Does your TV or radio ad have a catchy jingle that supports your USP, includes your company or product name and is clear, simple to understand, easy to remember and sing along with, and memorable?

16. Does your ad provide a very specific solution or benefit to a specified and targeted niche segment of the population? (“The largest selection of ground cover plants and bulbs in the county”). Or does your ad provide a very specific solution or benefit to a fairly large group (“The largest Ford truck dealer in Atlanta, with 247 new models in 27 colors, and 196 used Ford trucks to choose from in every price range from $3,500 to $43,000. We guarantee that if we don’t have exactly what you’re looking for, we’ll buy you a fabulous lunch for 2 at Mills Rib House).

17. Is your ad part of an on-going, long-term campaign with a central theme and message?

18. Does your campaign maintain continuity in look and feel, sound, voice or camera talent, music bed, graphics, colors, and fonts?

19. Are your compelling sales message, USP, and core benefit integrated into all of your advertising, printed collateral, Internet site, signage, merchandising, point of purchase and sales presentations? Is every customer contact point with your business delivering a consistent and predictable message that is “on-strategy” with your campaign?

20. Is your TV or radio schedule providing greater frequency than your nearest competitor who is also advertising on the same station, dayparts or programs?

21. Does your advertising schedule provide a 3 frequency against at least 70% of the station audience per week, every week of the year?

22. Does your ad give a specific and compelling call to action?

23. Do you offer a guarantee, warranty, or a risk reversal? Is your guarantee the best in the business? Do you make it easy for the consumer? Do you stand behind your guarantee? Is your guarantee full of loopholes, exceptions, hurdles, roadblocks and fine print?

24. Do you have a built-in mechanism to track, log and document the responses to your ads?

25. Do you build a database of customers, prospects and responders for future follow-up, referrals, re-selling, cross-selling and up-selling opportunities?

26. Do you mine your database with personalized, timely, specific and compelling offers?

27. Are your ad budget and schedule sufficient to reach your sales goals? Is it realistic? Is it based on a percentage of current sales, or last year’s budget, or what is average for your industry? Or is your budget and media schedule proactive, and therefore based on where you want to be, and what you want to accomplish?

28. Do you have a long-term focus on growth and a commitment to your campaign and advertising schedule?

29. If you were not you, and instead an ordinary citizen and a prospect for your company, what would you think of your ad? Would you believe it? Would you be motivated by it? Would you remember it? Would it push any of your emotional hot buttons? Would it give you specific and compelling reasons to shop or buy?

Would it make you feel totally and completely confident that you will not be disappointed, cheated, taken advantage of or unhappy if you bought the product? Would the guarantee of satisfaction totally remove your hesitation to buy? Would the offer remove all risk from you, the customer?

30. Are your print ads arranged with a photograph at the top, a headline below the photograph, and a sub-head or support copy below that?

31. Is your print ad copy long enough to tell your story, and sell your product? Long copy sells better than short copy.

32. Do your print ads have black or solid colored copy on a white background?

33. Do your print ads make the mistake of having the copy on top of the photograph, or printed on a colored background?

34. Do your print ads use a serif font like Times Roman or Century?

35. Do your print ads have a response mechanism built into them?

36. If you have additional photographs in the body of your print ad, do they have captions below them to explain the benefit or the sales message?

37. Is the photograph in your print ad showing your product in use, or the result of using your product, preferably with people that the targeted audience can relate to?

38. Do your print ads have enough white space surrounding your headline to make it a clean and obvious central focus point?

39. Is your overall print ad layout simple and clean to look at, and easy and inviting to read?

Do you have to struggle to figure out what the main selling message and benefit is, and what the copy says, what the offer is, how to respond, and what the photograph means?

The more of these questions you can sincerely, honestly and objectively answer in the positive, and with strong conviction, the more effective your advertising will be.

Emotional Advertising to the Universal Human Desires

Today more than ever, we need to maximize the impact of our advertising dollar. So keep your message focused on solving one or more of the three universal human desires:

1. To be wealthy and powerful
2. To be attractive and desirable
3. To be youthful and healthy

Which two basic desires does this Brylcreem ad hope to provide?

Always be thinking of the basic human desires, needs and problems of your prospects or your buyer personas, and how your company can solve them.

Once you have an emotionally charged ad, think of ways you can make it super easy and convenient to do business with you. Think of Zappos Shoes, and their no hassle returns, with free shipping both ways. Remove as many barriers to the decision process as possible.

And finally, never underestimate the impact of frequency and repetition of your value proposition to drive brand recall and preference. 

No Emotion, No Sale

My friend and creative partner Daryl Stevenette and I were recently talking about advertising, and what makes some ads effective and others flops.

We naturally came back to the topic of music. Songs are usually written to tell a story, a story filled with hopes, dreams, love, romance or adventure. And this is why songs and music are such a large part of our culture.

People love messages contained in songs, accentuated by the music and the beat, as they elicit feeling, emotion or memory. They can make us feel sad, happy, reflective, hopeful or energized, and they can bring us to another place or time.

And why do we turn off those “yell-sell” screamer ads? To begin with, they are insulting, abrasive, and intrusive. But they also lack everything we like about a good ad. They lack creativity, class, cleverness, wit, and the element of surprise. And they lack the rhythmic melody of a good music bed or jingle.

Good advertising sticks in the mind in a positive way. And good advertising includes those mechanisms that allow it to stick:

• Emotional appeal or connection
• An element of surprise, cleverness or a unique twist
• A catchy and memorable tagline or slogan
• Enough frequency, longevity and continuity to break through the clutter
• Usually a good jingle, music bed or stinger to help carry the message into the subconscious mind like a power line carries electricity

Think about bringing back creativity and jingles to make good advertising and branding work again. Because I believe that good music works on the senses and creates permanent brand recall.

I was at a concert recently, and after watching the crowd being emotionally moved, motivated to dance, sway, clap, scream and sing, all charged by song, video screens and lights alone. Going to a concert is actually a lesson in the power of music to persuade.

The theme of the tour, the set and the video screens were Caribbean beaches and tropical destinations. In fact I have coined a new term for Chesney’s music style; I call it “Caribbean Country.” And people seem to love it. Which is yet another testament to my theory that people seek and appreciate mental escapism and good music as an easy ticket for a cheap mental trip.

Pent up Demand--and Where the Economy is Working

If ever there was a time in the past 4 years to advertise those things that the average consumer has been putting off buying, this is it. And that includes automobiles, RVs, vacation travel, homes, appliances, remodeling services, and furniture.

Most people have put off these big-ticket purchases until they felt the economy was more stable and predicable, and their job was mostly secure. With unemployment rates down, home prices coming back up, interest rates at an all-time low, and the stock market very solid, people are finally replacing those worn-out products and cars, and selling the home they have been stuck in for 4-5 years.

As spending increases, and the stock market creates more wealth, more products will be purchased, and more jobs created. But the recovery is not, and will not be equally felt across every state, in either the speed of recovery, or the depth of the recovery.

If the current trends hold, we will see Texas, Utah, North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Virginia lead the pack, based on lower tax rates and more pro-business climates. In addition, Texas and Utah both enjoy robust growth in the high-tech sector. There are other pockets of high tech growth that will certainly help support the host state, such as San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Seattle, and the Research Triangle in North Carolina. Florida and Nevada are also beginning to see significant improvements in development, home values and job growth.

Why Do My Ads Under Perform In A Recession?

Lately I hear business owners tell me that their ad campaigns under perform based on their expectations, or based on the results they received a year or two ago. I would like to discuss some of the reasons why this may be so, some of the reasons I have found to cause the problem, and how to fix the problem.

1. To begin with, if you are comparing today's expectations against results from two years ago (2008) using the same gross rating points or target rating points, and you are using the same basic offer or call to action, you probably are getting fewer responses.

Why? because in a deep recession there are fewer people in the market for most goods and services. In other words there are fewer fish in the same sized pond. So what to do? Get yourself a bigger net and cast it further into the pond. This will allow you to reach more buyers by purchasing more audience share or rating points. And why not, the rates are lower now so you can afford to buy more rating points, more reach and more frequency for the same budget you spent in 2008. It will take more fire power but there always people in the market if you can simply reach more people.

2. Check your offer lately? What you offered before may not be the same bait the fish want today. In other words, when the market is slow, consumers are looking for greater value, savings, service, warranty and guarantee protection, and overall more inducement to part with their money. Recession advertising requires that you give them more bang for their buck.

3. Get creative, and look for ways to solve problems that people are facing today. It may be creative financing, bundling of services or products to provide greater value, or creating a new service that people need to stretch their budget, create income, find a job, feel better, learn a new skill, etc.

4. Make sure you are selling what the market wants to buy. If you have a new car dealership your new car sales are down by 30-50% over 2008 based on the triple blow of the recession, tightened credit and manufacturer bankruptcies. So what to do? Focus on selling and leasing used car models at price points that people are buying and can afford to pay. Look at a buy-here-pay-here and a rent to own business model on older used cars that does not require bank financing, which fewer people can qualify for today.

Here is an example of one companies experience. In 2006 they had tremendous response to a radio campaign. So much so that they literally stopped advertising due to the residual sales and income. In 2009 the bottom fell out of the market and their sales revenue was cut in half. In January 2010 they brought me in to start advertising again, hoping to repeat the success of the campaign in 2006, of which I was not involved.

They did not get even close. Why? I asked them what was different if anything about their offer and message in 2006 vs. 2010? They could not think of anything that was different. After conducting some research into their only competitor I discovered that the competition was busy, very busy. Why? Because the competition started offering what the client company used to offer, but abandoned because of their own success.

It turns out that the client used to offer a guarantee and Saturday hours. Both of which they dropped in 2007, but because the market was so hot they did not feel the impact.

It also turns out that the competition continued to advertise in good times and bad, creating confidence, top of mind awareness, and brand preference, which consistent advertising does, while the client was in and out of the market with no consistency or continuity.

To make it more interesting, I also built a new website for them with analytics to measure traffic volume, sources and visitor patterns. What I discovered was that the radio campaign was in fact a great success. Why? Because we had nearly 1,000 unique visitors to the site in 6 weeks, 70% of whom came as a result of direct type-in or searching for the keywords we used in the radio ads. They also viewed over 3 pages and spent nearly 4 minutes each on the site, which is a long time. But fewer than 100 requested more information. This tells me they were looking for something they did not find, which is what lead me to investigate, where I found what they were looking for was no longer offered except by the competition.

So there you have it: cast a wider net, check your offer, get creative, solve problems, and give them what they want to buy.

Proven Principles Work

Effective advertising today requires adhering to proven principles:

• Always build from a well produced and researched Creative Brief. This will keep your message and creative on strategy and consistent
  
• Your ad creative and offer/copy must grab the attention of the target audience
  
• The ad must be fresh and new, unless it is part of an ongoing branding campaign. Even then, you need to freshen it up while sticking to the brand and creative standards
  
• Your offer, unique benefit and call to action must be easily understood
  
• The copy and benefit must be relevant to your audience in today's market conditions
  
• Your creative and branding must stand out from the competition and be original
• Always sell the benefits that your target audience wants, not products and features

Advertising Can Work In A Recession

I hear advertisers these days say pretty much the same thing; "My advertising just isn't generating nearly the same number of leads as it was a couple years ago."

Then they begin to doubt the viability of the mediums they are using, or the advertising message they are promoting.

And it may just be that the mediums are not right for the target audience, or that the message is off key for the market. It is my guess however that more often than not, it is simply the fact that in a down market, there are fewer people willing or able to take advantage of their offer, so the same message and media schedule is simply going to yield fewer leads.

Its just a numbers game. In good times for example, about 14% of the population will replace their vehicle with a brand new one, or a newer used one in a given year. And this is often times followed by additional spending on insurance, aftermarket upgrades, and road trips. All which stimulate the economy further.

In good times 20% of the population will move their residence. Which also statistically means that within 6 months of a move they will make major purchases on home furnishings, appliances, remodeling and home improvements. All which stimulate the economy further. And believe it or not, within the first year of a move 20-25% will also purchase a new vehicle or RV!

Without these major purchases occurring in a slower economy, it's no wonder the market is down for everything else, as the residual spin off effect is not trickling down.

Lansing Michigan for example was home to Oldsmobile, and back in the mid 1970's 25% of every working adult was directly or indirectly tied to the prosperity of and the ability to employ people at Oldsmobile. When Oldsmobile began losing market share, and jobs, the local market really suffered, because those 25% no longer had the income to buy discretionary goods and services from local merchants, which meant that their marketing efforts became less effective, causing them to buy less media, and further exasperating the local economy.

But there is hope, a lot of of it, and proof that doing the right advertising in a slow economy is not only effective, but very much the right thing to do. Explore for yourself some of the proven methods and messages that other successful advertisers have discovered.

Make Your Advertising Work

I was driving around doing errands the other day and heard a radio commercial that was so right, and yet so wrong I felt it worthy of mention.

The spot was for cosmetic dentistry, and it was well produced and written, full of unique benefits that promised the fastest and most pain-free results of any process available. It sounded like a real cutting-edge process that was affordable and would generate a lot of calls.

Great voice talent and read, compelling copy, everything you would want in an ad of this type. Except one deal killing component. The phone number was read only ONE TIME, and there was not any name or brand associated with this wonderful service, and no web address provided.

All that great copy and production and air time wasted on an ad that will not generate any business because nobody knows who the advertiser is, or how to contact them, other than a phone number given one time which nobody will remember becasue it's not even a vanity number. People can remember company names, brands and web addresses ten-times easier than a phone number, especially when that number is given only once.

How to Evaluate an Ad

When evaluating your ads for potential impact and effectiveness, consider this brief check list of effective advertising components:

• Is there an initial attention grabbing element or First Mental Image (FMI)?

• Is the copy supported by appropriate, meaningful and relevant visuals, graphics or computer graphics?
• If copy is supported by computer graphics (CG), does the CG duplicate the key copy points and words exactly?
• Is the message concise and simple to understand quickly?
• Is the product or benefit appealing?
• Is it unique?
• Does it have a unique competitive advantage?
• Does it appeal to the ego?
• Does it appeal to the wallet?
• What need does it fill?
• Is there a specific, clear and obvious call to action?
• Is there a reason, incentive or reward to act now?
• Is the production quality and personality appropriate for the target audience?
• What is the Last Mental Image (LMI)? Does it encapsulate the message, the call to action, the brand name? Does it leave the desired lasting impression?
  
• Does the ad contain a jingle?
• Is it catchy?
• Does it contain the brand name?
• Is it appropriate for the target audience?
• Does it contain the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or unique value proposition, or a key benefit?
• Does the ad or brand contain a slogan?
• Does the slogan contain the USP or a key benefit?
• Does it make you recall the brand name?
• Is it memorable?
• Create a positive feeling for the brand?
• Reflect the brands personality?
• Is it believable?
• Is it simple?

FOCUS

"Deep penetration on a narrow front" is military mantra for tactical success. Concentration of force and strength equals power. Diversification of force is weakness.

Business success begins with focus. As does advertising and marketing success.

One of my favorite marketing books of all time is "FOCUS" by Al Ries, followed by "Good to Great" by Jim Collins, an "Positioning" by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

I have found over two decades of working with large Fortune 100 companies and small organizations across the nation, that focus and concentration is one of the key ingredients missing in their strategy for success.

Most companies lack focus, concentration and continuity in everything they do, including training, customer service, product or service quality, product offerings, pricing strategy, branding, marketing, advertising and media planning.

It's no wonder so many companies fail to reach their potential, or even survive. They don't know who they really are, who they serve or why. And they can't stay focused or on task long enough to build a brand image with meaning, depth and definition. A brand that the market can believe in and trust. A brand that stands for something of substance and reliability.

Look at In & Out Burger as a case study. They don't advertise at all in the traditional sense. They simply focus their strategy on a few key strategies that as it turns out people like, a lot:
Great locations
Great tasting, fresh quality food
Low prices
Simple menu
Excellent service
Clean and upbeat environment

With all these positive attributes going for it, the only advertising they need is word of mouth and loyal repeat customers, which is exactly what they have. Who needs to advertise when you have all the business you need by simply doing all the right things really well consistently.

To my knowledge In & Out has never had a sale, a coupon, a special or a discount of any kind. They don't need to. They provide a great value backed by quality and great service every day.

People like a good value for their money. They like quality, convenience, and they like consistency and continuity. Pretty simple concepts, but difficult to deliver.

Why? Because most companies and their revolving door of CEOs, CFOs, CMOs and the like want to try and tweak things, to put their own fingerprint on it, to squeeze out another 4% profit margin, to change the direction, the brand,the offereings, or the value proposition.

Most companies are not driven by a focused and rock solid mission statement, set of guiding principles, business plan or values.

And the market sees it and picks up on it. What the market prefers is brands run by integris people, with a clear, simple and conistent objective of delivering honest quality, value, service and convenience, all the time.

The market likes to know what a brand stands for, and what it will not stand for. They like to know they can depend on the brand to deliver on their advertised value proposition on a consistent basis. Regardless of who is in what executive seat at the time.

How to Afford TV Advertising

Anyone can afford to buy an effective schedule on TV.

Let me explain. TV is most effective when you narrow your buy to dominate a single station. And if you can't afford to buy the station, own a daypart, say Monday through Friday 6AM to 9AM.

Or you can own a single day on a single station, like Wednesday from 6AM to 3PM.

And at the very least, you can own a single program on a single station. But whatever you do, carve our a piece of TV real estate and make it your own. This will give you the frequency you need to cut through the clutter and move your audience to action.

As I have always said, frequency is far more important than reach, and it's better to be an inch wide and a mile deep in your buy, vs. a mile wide and an inch deep.

Another way of saying it is you are better off moving 10% of the market 100% of the way to a sale, than 100% of the market only 10% of the way.

I have also had very good success with dominating and concentrating my buy on smaller and independent stations using the same rule of frequency vs. reach. It's not so much the size of the station reach as it is how you schedule the buy.

When to Advertise, and What Good Advertising Feels Like

Q. When do you need advertising the most?
A. When the market is down and things are slow.

Q. When do you need light?
A. When it's dark.

Good advertising creates leads, and leads create sales. And if you need sales now advertise and promote now.

There is a market today for your products, it just may be a little smaller so you will not realize the same ROI in a boom economy, but if you can still generate sales.

What's the alternative? Turn off the lights and wait for it to blow over. The problem is, every day you go without top-line sales revenue, you eat further into your reserves, and get closer to scraping bottom.

Take control, look for opportunities, trends, new ideas, new markets, new uses for an existing product, new ways to bundle or package your product that works better in a slow economy. Stay focused on the future and ways to get closer to your customers and solve their problems.

There are always opportunities, you just need to find them. Conduct a S.W.O.T. analysis, a focus group, a brainstorming session. Find the unmet need, that new or developing niche, and recreate yourself if you have to.

Good advertising connects with people, and offers hope, a bargain, a value, an escape, or a solution. Good advertising makes people feel good about themselves, or about you.

Good advertising makes people feel something about your brand, or about doing business with you. Good advertising fills a mental or physical void. It may make them feel smart, or happy, clever, cool, sexy, attractive, successful, satiated, above the crowd or in the know. But the more it makes people feel, the more it makes them spend.

Why do people do all the crazy and interesting things they do? Because they want to feel, they want to connect, they want to belong, and they want to be accepted, recognized, rewarded, or acknowledged.

A good brand experience, product or service fills these inate human needs. And a good ad tells them where and how. And maybe without even saying it. The implied message can be much more powerful than the stated.

Duane's Advertising and Market Research Slides

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Why We Don't Buy

The prevailing barriers to entry (why we don't buy):
1. Fear of the unknown
2. Resistance to change
3. Insufficient proof of performance
4. Risk

And here is how you overcome them:
1. Become known. Advertise, promote, get known and involved
2. Position your option as easy to use, greater benefits and rewards
3. Provide evidence of testimonials, endorsements, awards, user reviews, case studies, certifications, 3rd party reviews
4. Offer a solid guarantee, warranty, free trial

People will buy more if you remove the natural barriers they have.

How to Use Radio Effectively

Radio is a very effective advertising medium when used properly. And based on 16 years of buying and creating very successful radio campaigns all over the country, here is my theory on how to use radio effectively:

1. Use a jingle, stinger or music bed. The power of music in radio advertising is a key factor to understand and harness. Please read my blog post on this site on “The Power of Sound in Advertising” July 20th, or click the title to this post.
2. Buy as much frequency against a targeted audience as you can afford.
3. If you are building a brand and want long-term growth, stay consistent on the air and make radio a long-term strategy. The longer you use it, the better it works.
4. Leverage the unique assets of radio when possible and appropriate: live remotes, live reads, contesting, sponsorships, sampling, promotions, giveaways, and online ads.
5. Find a good rep and help them help you by explaining your objectives, and how you will be measuring your success. Get the station sales, production, web and promotional managers involved. They have a lot of insights and ideas. Think long-term and build win-win relationships.
6. Don’t buy stations you like, buy stations your customers and prospects like.
7. To gain frequency, buy :15s and :30s instead of just :60s. Frequency is king. Buy more spots on fewer stations. Buy enough spots to get a 3 frequency per week.

The benefits of radio:

• Radio can be used very effectively to create or strengthen a brand name and image.
• Radio can be used for targeting a particular demographic or lifestyle group
• To build campaign frequency
• As a promotional tool using live remote broadcasts, program or segment sponsorships, and live-read announcements using the station on-air personalities, and contesting and give-a-ways.
• An excellent medium for building frequency and momentum fast for sale events, grand openings, concerts, shows and other special events or limited time announcements.
• Radio is a logical and effective choice to add to your media mix to support a campaign when you are using direct mail, print, outdoor, transit, cable or broadcast TV. And radio can also support an online campaign to increase pay per click advertising effectiveness, banner ads, and drive traffic directly to your URL.

As an advertising professional, I personally love the power and flexibility of radio advertising for many reasons, and I have used it very successfully for my clients. Unfortunately, I see too many people using radio ineffectively, and wasting their money.

If you are considering radio, or already using radio, think about the points and case studies discussed in this post to maximize its impact for you.

Radio is a targeted medium because each radio station attracts a specific demographic group based on the station format, which means that every station has a “best demo”. For example, an Album Oriented Rock station is dominated by males 18-34 years of age. A Big Band/Nostalgia station is dominated by adults 65+. A Classical station reaches upscale adults 35-54, and a News/Talk format is dominated by males 45+.

Because everyone has a favorite radio format, they also have a favorite station. And because “birds of a feather flock together,” any given format will attract a certain and predictable audience who share a similar demographic profile. A typical person has one favorite station, and two others they listen to less frequently. By knowing the demographic cell in which your target audience falls, and if your target demo is narrowly defined, you can hit many of them with a one or two radio station buy in many instances. However, it is best to hit both your primary and secondary demo for maximum reach and effectiveness in any given media buy.


Each station also has a best time slot or day part where rating points and audience listenership are the highest, making your spot more effective. Some stations have more listeners in morning drive (Monday-Friday 6am-10am in major metros, and 7am-9am in smaller metros), and others have more listeners during mid-day (Monday-Friday 10am-3pm) as they are the listen at work format or talk radio.

As a general rule, you want to buy only the radio stations that deliver the highest number of your primary and secondary demos. And of those stations, you only want to buy the best day parts that deliver the highest number of these target listeners. But don’t forget, that people are creatures of habit, and they have listening patters that are nearly set in stone. Which means that in order to reach the entire target audience of any one station, you will want to run your spots Monday - Friday in the morning drive, mid day, evening drive, and Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 3 pm. With the majority of your spots running in the morning and evening drive times, unless the station programming and audience listening curve tell you otherwise.

When looking at the Arbitron data, be aware, that you must compare the audience share (the % of people listening to that station in that day part out of all people listening to all radio stations in the market in that day part) AND the total number of people listening in that day part (given in quarter hour averages). A station may have a very high audience share in a particular day part, but only 1,200 people are listening.

Next time we will discuss case studies of successful radio campaigns.

Avoid Drive-Thru Advertising

In advertising and marketing, there are few "quick fixes" that have long-term benefits or growth potential.

Sale events and promotions can drive immediate business, but watch your net profits, and make sure you are doing everything possible to turn that one-time sampling or purchase into long-term repeat business.

Build a database of your customers, or at least an email list. Profile them as best you can to better understand their needs and wants, as well as demographic, geographic and psychographic profile so you can better target them in the future using appropriate copy, offers and communication channels.

Provide excellent quality and service with a smile and stand out every way you can, so they remember you in a positive light.

There are no real quick fixes; it still comes down to the basics:
• Great service
• Product or brand differentiation
• Value
• Consistent advertising to create awareness, credibility, comfort and confidence in your brand

Remember the old rule in advertising that says "anything that works quickly will work less and less in the long-term." This rule is speaking to the never ending continuous stream of sale events. The more you do them, the less they work over time, and the less successful you will become.

As a general rule, you should spend 20% of your ad budget on sales and promotions, and 80% on building a solid and attractive brand image that has meaning and differentiation with emotional impact. Think of Victoria’s Secret and Harley-Davidson, or Disney and Apple.

However, in a difficult economy you will certainly need to emphasize more value, service, quality, benefits and savings than ever before. People simply want more for less right now, and they also expect better service, and they want to do business with a company that will be around. They can't afford to take chances, so they want a better guarantee and they want confidence in you and your product.

Bottom line: today you are selling peace of mind. Peace of mind that they are getting the best deal, quality and service for the dollar, and peace of mind that you will be there to service them if they need it.

Blast Your Way In

In order to win in today’s over-crowded and ultra competitive marketplace, you must blast your way into the minds of your target audience.

You must blast your way in to create the desired perception of who you are and the benefits that you and only you can offer. You must create familiarity and top of mind awareness with your company name and brand. Which in-turn creates comfort and confidence in the consumers mind. Nobody feels confident buying from an unknown stranger.

Some blasting tips:
• Seize a single compelling attribute about your product or service and dramatize its value, over and over and over again.
• Develop a powerful statement of purpose.
• Be bold and different.
• Eliminate from your message the noise and clutter of ambiguity, vagueness and industry jargon.
• Own a single word or a concept in the consumer mind.
• Remember that name familiarity beats product performance. People usually associate the biggest or most familiar name with the best performance.
• Electronic media (TV and radio) are the best blasting tools because they are the only intrusive media (you subconsciously hear the message whether you want to or not).
• Keep your marketing, your people and your organization moving at all times. Motion begets motion.

Design a better message:
• Keep your message simple, visual and different.
• Simplify everything. Pricing, processes, options, ordering, message.

Make them feel comfortable once they are aware of who you are and why they should buy from you:
• Show humility to appear real and credible. Admit to a negative (like you may not be the cheapest in town) and they will automatically give you a positive (like you must be better, and more honest).
• Become more warm, real and personal in your advertising, approach and interactions.
• Customers buy from people, not from companies. Sell them on you and your people.
• Focus on people skills and building relationships. If they like the service provider they will like the company.
• Manage your selling and retail environment. Clean, comfortable, professional and always a bit nicer than her own home. Make them feel a little special. People also buy the experience and ambiance.

Great people attract more and better customers:
• Create a dynamic environment to attract dynamic people. The best people are drawn to the best companies.
• Offer the best training, the best support and the best opportunity for income and growth.

Destroy your competition:
• Hone in on one of your competitors known weaknesses that your customers will quickly acknowledge.
• Attack with a single bold stroke that is focused and consistent.
• Attack where your competitor is most vulnerable and concentrate your entire force at their weakest point.

Understand people:
• Think like your prospects and walk in their shoes.
• Offer what people love. The products, the service and the experience.

If you cannot be the first in the market, try to be first in the media. If you cannot be the first in the media be the best in the media with the most focused and compelling message. If the market is over-crowded already, create a new category and be the first in the market, first in the media and first in the mind.

The Emotional Drivers of Advertising Effectiveness

You’ve heard it before, but here it is again…All buying decisions are made based on the desire to satisfy one or more emotional needs, real or perceived. And those emotional purchasing decisions are then justified based on logical reasons for the purchase, either verbally and consciously, or subconsciously.
Here is a simple breakdown and example.

Situation: A fashionable designer article of clothing is on sale.

Possible Emotional Need Fulfillment: If I wear this I will feel:
• Younger
• More attractive
• More successful
• Smarter
• Worthy of respect
• Special and above average

Possible Logical Justifications:
• It’s on sale and I will save money (the logical side of the “greed” emotion)
• It’s limited in quantity and/or sizes so I better get it while I can (the logical side of the “fear of loss” emotion)
• I deserve this after all the extra time I have put in (the logical side of the “status,” “vanity,” or “ego” emotion)
• Everybody has one in my department, trade, profession, group, school, etc. (the logical side of the “status”, “need for approval”, or “fear of embarrassment” emotion)

And the best advertisers, retailers, merchandisers, brand managers and sales people will tap into these emotions and support them with these quasi logical justifications at every opportunity.

Just listen to the top sales people at cosmetic counters, jewelry stores, wedding dress boutiques and men’s’ suit stores. They are well trained to balance every presentation, feature-benefit analysis and close with emotional appeal and logical justifications. It’s what makes the retail world go round and the cash register ring.

So what are the emotional drivers? There have been three primary lists tested and published by various credible sources, including behavioral psychologists, sociologists, cultural anthropologists, advertising experts and the like. Here are the three primary groupings:

1.
• Love
• Fear of loss
• Ego
• Status
• Fear of embarrassment
• Vanity
• Power
• Respect

2.
• To be wealthy and powerful
• To be attractive and desirable
• To be youthful and healthy

3.
• Fear
• Exclusivity
• Guilt
• Greed
• Need for approval

As you study these different lists, you will see that many of the emotions are the same, just worded differently, so you can make a single list of five groupings that encompasses all of the identified and recognized emotional drivers. You will also notice that many of the emotional drivers are shared among groups or strings of emotions as they may share common feelings.

In other words the human subconscious mind may not clearly distinguish between the feeling of a “fear of loss” vs. “fear of embarrassment” they simply feel “fear”. And do we seek “wealth” in terms of piles of cash for its own sake, or do we really seek “power”, “respect” and “status”?

The human emotions have a lot of gray area, and they share components and attributes one with another. There is much overlap and cross fertilization in the human mind when it comes to emotions, which is why we often can’t explain why we feel a certain way, or even what exactly we are feeling. Hence the often confused state of mind.

I have grouped the primary needs emotions into these “five emotional strings” to allow the advertising creative and copy the flexibility to hit on the emotions, while allowing the individual to define and feel the emotion as it pertains to them and their needs:

• Wealth, power, greed, respect, status
• Exclusivity, ego, vanity, need for approval, respect, status
• Attractive, desirable, need for approval, love, fear of embarrassment
• Fear, fear of embarrassment, fear of loss
• Youthful, healthy, attractive, desirable, need for approval, love, fear of embarrassment, fear of loss

I believe that "greed" is not really a stand-alone emotion at all, but rather a mix of emotions, including "fear of loss" and the desire to be "attractive" or "desirable" through "wealth", "status" and "power". Greed and the accumulation of stuff and/or wealth may also be a primary driver to be worthy of "love" in a rather round-about way.

Also note, that the emotion of "fear of the unknown" is one of the top reasons to create a powerful name and brand recognition in the mind of the market. People are almost always fearful of the unknown product or brand, and therefore buy what they are familiar with. So use consistent and regular advertising and branding to make yours a familiar name, and a comfortable choice. That is what it all boils down to.

Have fun with this, and if you need any help or have question, contact Duane Sprague at duanesprague@gmail.com

Is Your Advertising Deep?

Is your advertising a mile-wide and an inch-deep?

Does your advertising reach a lot of people with very little repetition or frequency?

The idea behind effective advertising is to create a fjord in the mind of the target market, not a shallow lake. In other words:

• Focus your attack on a narrow market that is big enough to make you wealthy, but small enough to dominate.

• Reach that smaller and narrowly defined market with at least three impressions each and every week.

• Create an ad campaign that is totally unique and different from your competitors. Never allow your message to be confused with your competition.

• Create a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that offers a strong benefit or advantage over your competition. Give them a real reason to buy from you. A reason that allows them to justify and rationalize the decision.

• Create a slogan or tagline that builds and explains your USP. And one that people can remember easily. A slogan with rhyme and rhythm works well, and even better if it’s written to music.

• Emotion always outsells logic. What emotional strings can you pull? If your advertising message consists of price alone, you’ll always have to be the lowest. If you’re selling the solution to a problem, price is not the issue.

• If you want results from your ads, you need a response mechanism, a free offer and a reason to respond now built into every ad.

• Effective advertising is recognized for its consistency, continuity, focus and repetition. Don’t change it from one medium to another or from one week or month to another. Stay the course and etch an indelible impression on the minds of your target market. Maintain a look, theme and message that become uniquely yours.