The not-so-secret writings of ScLoHo

The New ScLoHo Website

2011-10-03T06:05:00.001-04:00

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

On Sunday October 2, 2011, I launched a new website, Scott Howard aka ScLoHo at http://www.scotthoward.me/ .

While I set up domain redirects for the 4 separate blog sites, like this one, you will most likely need to resubscribe to the RSS and newsletter feeds on the new site.

Why the move? Here's the answer = http://www.scotthoward.me/2011/10/03/welcome-to-the-new-scloho/

:)

Creating Something New?

2011-09-27T07:00:00.002-04:00

I work with such a variety of businesses.

I have businesses that are in their third generation and those that are looking for guidance as they are just starting out.

The past few months I have been working on my own "Something New".

Since 2003 I have been writing and sharing online via a few ScLoHo blogs.

ScLoHo actually began as an email address in the 1990's and became my online identity as there are many, many Scott Howards and ScLoHo is a mashup of my first, middle and last names.

As ScLoHo, I have posted over 9000 blog posts and was recently challenged to recreate my brand.

This new brand is a stronger merger of Scott Howard and ScLoHo, although I really didn't have a split personality, it only seemed like it at times when some people only knew me from my online presence or from my face to face relationships and not the other side.

So, I have been creating a new website which you will be redirected to in October, It has taken a number of hours to organize and prepare for this debut and I have a lot of respect for those that I work with who create websites 40 hours a week.

The new site already has over 100 articles published and will be featuring updates 5 days a week plus a weekend update. It will be a merging of the 4 blogs that are currently being updated 40+ times a week.

I'll have links to the archives, and this feature, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo will move to Wednesday updates instead of Tuesday.

For a preview, go to ScottHoward.me and save in your bookmarks.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

Every Day a Decision is Made

2011-09-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

No one cares how many hours you work.

No one cares if you are working 2 hours or 16 hours a day.

What they care about is if you are available (working) when the decision is being made.

Do you have the answers?

Do you have the solution?

Do you have it when they need it?

This is part of the beauty of the Internet.

It is why Google beat Microsoft, Yahoo and all the others as a search engine.

Google connects people to answers.

Do you have a website that provides answers?

Does Google connect people who are looking for answers to your website?

Is your website designed to move people from the visitor stage to the customer stage?

Are you sure?

Every day someone is looking for what you have to offer.

They are spending money, every day.

Once they buy from someone other than you, they are no longer going to buy from you.

You lost that one.

You can win more than you are right now.

This year I joined Cirrus ABS, the regions largest website development company that impressed me with their focus on net-centered marketing.

I can help, we can help.

Contact me at 260-255-4357 or SHoward@CirrusABS.com

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

Old Fashioned & New Tech

2011-09-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

When I first entered the media world I was a 16 year old high school student who was paid to babysit a radio transmitter and take meter readings every two hours.

The Federal Communications Commission required a properly licensed individual to be on site at all times when a radio station was on the air.

This was 1976.

35 years later, due to a combination of rule changes working hand in hand with tech changes, this type of job no longer exists.

Radio stations still exist, however.

The best ones still use human beings talking and sharing local events and information, just like they have for decades.

Now, think about your business.

What are the old fashioned elements that will be required to keep you successful for decades into the future, even with new tech popping up every few years?

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

The Truth?

2011-09-06T07:00:00.001-04:00

Recently I was doing some exploratory work at a car dealership and was amazed at how they manage inventory, and their internet presence.

They can tell how many people have visited their website, which vehicles they looked at, what links they clicked on, etc.

I mean, this is one slick technology rich business.

But there was one part that stuck out as a fatal flaw.

The final tracking device.

They hand the customer a piece of paper with several options of how they heard about the dealership and ask them to circle one.

At first I thought using pictures and drawing a circle was clever. It is.

But.

It's not accurate.

It relies on a customer to recall something that they really don't care about.

And this type of tracking is highly unreliable.

If you have the technology to track but then end up with a flawed link, then you better find a better way, or at least realize that you're dealing with bad data.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

Checklists

2011-08-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

Short & Sweet today.

What was on your to-do list for 2011?

What list?

Uh, Oh.

It's not too late. Take some time as we enter the final 4 months to plan for the rest of 2011 and 2012.

And do some dreaming too!

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

Offense or Defense?

2011-08-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

As a former employee of a group of radio stations, a few years ago I was asked to sign a non-compete agreement.

This was the second time I had to sign one of these and this time it was incredibly one sided, all in favor of my employer.

I was prohibited from working in my chosen profession for 365 days after leaving, no matter who terminated my employment.

I was not allowed to work for any broadcast or print medium within about 100 miles.

Why?

They were scared.

Scared that I would take my clients and get them to cancel their advertising and follow me to my new employer.

They were paranoid.

Paranoid that they would train salespeople only to have them take their new found knowledge and go to work for a competitor.

Scared and Paranoid are not good ways to run a business.

If these are part of your primary business culture, I suggest you stop playing defense and flip it around.

Start playing offense.

Instead of worrying about employees leaving, create an environment that they'll never want to walk away from.

Or partner with those that have good ideas and you may find your next new big "thing".

And if they really want to go, give them your blessing, you never know how building bridges instead of burning them may be beneficial.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

Another Way to Downsize

2011-08-16T07:00:00.003-04:00

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Ignore the above little code and keep reading:

Face it. We have a stubborn cold that we can't seem to shake.

The economic conditions we are in have people around the world wondering not only about the future of the United States, but the ripple effect that is felt globally.

In the meantime, you and your business may have to make some tough choices.

This chapter is not about sales or marketing, or advertising.

It is about dealing with the people who work for you.

The ones who are worried about their jobs.

A common practice is to keep people on staff too long because you don't want to hurt them by laying them off.

As a result, you lose money, capital, and cripple the business.

It's time to take stock of what is going on now.

And have a conversation with your staff.

There are alternatives to an outright layoff.

Maybe there are ways to reduce hours for someone who would like to have more free time.

At the radio stations I worked for the past 8 years, our business manager worked 4 days a week, which left her with a day away from the office to take care of family stuff. And with 4 kids, including a 2 year old and 1 year old twins, she needed that time!

Another office that I'm familiar with changed their full time receptionist position into two part time positions.

The key is to ask your staff for ideas on how to weather the storm as we ride this one out.

Your employees are more likely to say good things about your company if you do this.

Let me know if you need some help.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

No, Please No..

2011-08-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

Almost 3 years ago I started subscribing to job alerts from Monster.com, even though I was not actively looking, 2008 was a year anything could happen.

Working in the sales world however, as long as I brought in more than it cost to keep me, I was fine.

Anyway, I still get regular job alerts from Monster since I:

Haven't figured out how to make them stop...
I have friends who are looking for jobs

This was from a recent email:

Please...please...please...please...Please...PLEASE

Don't hire Hot Shot's.

They give a bad name to all sales people, even the good ones who put their clients needs first.

The term Hot Shot makes me think of this guy: Click here.

Hire professionals, but beware of Hot Shots.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

Not Clear on The Concept...

2011-08-02T07:00:00.001-04:00

Before I tear into the marketing folks at Ruby Tuesday, I'll show you what I received in my email yesterday:

You can click on the pic to make it bigger, if you need to.

1st off: Thumbs up to Ruby Tuesday for the clickable links that surround the coupon. They all worked seamlessly.

Next: Read the legal mumbo jumbo.

Why is this offer not available in Hawaii, Manhattan or Airports?
and Why is a Credit Card Payment required to redeem?

But what really got me going was the whole Screen Shot This Coupon On Your Mobile Device And Use All Month Long concept.

Do they mean take a picture with my phone and then show it to my server?

Because there is a much better way to incorporate mobile couponing.

You can use QR codes that I scan and then you can track my visits and the details.

You can use LBS, (Location Based Services) to check in and see if I take advantage of the 15% offer.

You can do so much more, Ruby Tuesday.

(In the name of research, I'm going to have to try this and see what happens when I visit.)

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

What The Digital Shift Means to Your Business

2011-07-26T07:00:00.002-04:00

A few years ago I was doing speaking engagements on the subject of Social Media and inviting people to "Join the Conversation".

Despite the insistence of some of my current co-workers that Social Media is not new, and that they were using electronic bulletin boards back in the 1990's, we are now in a new age of Social Media.

The difference is it has moved from the tech-geek to mainstream.

Just a couple of days ago I read a tweet about 3 generations in one family are all on Twitter, Facebook and now Google+.

The shift from traditional, old school sources of information, entertainment and communication to digital is having an effect on businesses because your customers are shifting to digital.

What is Traditional & Old School? Here's a few examples:

The Daily Hometown Newspaper. This was the way to get all the in-depth information on everything current from the previous 24 hours. The Sunday Classified section was where they made lots and lots of money do to the help wanted sections and full page automotive ads.

The Phone Book. Now we Google it.

The Evening TV News. CNN and the other 24 hour networks made the ABC, NBC & CBS nightly broadcast unnecessary.

Music Radio Stations. I hate to say this but unless a radio station is providing local content that you cannot get elsewhere, there is no need for many of them to exist. And I worked in that business since I was 16.

Some of these Traditional, Old School sources will adapt, reorganize and survive, if they get their business model organized to stay profitable.

And some will stay strong for years to come do to external factors which include:

Generational habits: Face it, some folks prefer not to change. My Mom (who passed away in 2001); preferred to give her credit card number to a stranger over the phone to place an order, than trust the "internet-web-thing". I wonder if she were alive now, if she would have changed.

Technology changes: I wonder if there is some secret pact between car makers and radio broadcasters to always include a radio in every vehicle that is sold. I believe that is a primary reason for the survival of radio broadcasting. However, with the inclusion of web access in newer vehicles, this could signal the end. It will take years however due to the number of older cars that dominate our roads.

How is your business involved in this shift?

By the way, click here for a study with more info.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

You are in the People Business

2011-07-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

I started writing this in March:

No matter what you produce, provide, sell....

No matter how automated and sleek your systems are...

No matter if you wear jeans or a three piece suit...

You are in the people business.

There's a couple of coffee shops on the same street in my town that have very different personalities.

My favorite has been in business for over 10 years and has switched coffee providers once or twice, changed some of the details and each year they seem to do a little remodeling.

They used to have live music on Friday and Saturday nights. They don't anymore. They used to be open late on weekends. Now they close at 8pm every night. They have a couple of the original staff, and the others that work there fit in to the culture.

Most of the furniture is old, some is getting a little threadbare, but it is a comfortable place to go and get a bite to eat, a white mocha, a smile and a little conversation.

Down the street is another coffee shop that roasts their own beans and is also family owned. They moved from across the street to the same side as the first shop and expanded their offerings.

Along with having coffee, they also have a full service bar and on Friday and Saturday evenings they would have a special theme menu that would include ingredients from their garden and recipes crafted from their own chef. Coffee shop #2 really had it going for them as a place that my wife and I would often visit for dinner on Saturdays.

Not anymore.

Recently on a Saturday night at 6pm we walk in the door and notice the weekend menu's were not out. They were on the door, but not on the tables or at the bar. The owner and his wife are usually there when we show up, but not this time.

Instead of feeling comfortable, it felt like sort of weird. The guy at the register was busy counting change, the young woman who took my wife's drink order not only had to pull out the recipe card but had to ask what kind of liquor to use and she seemed very unsure of herself.

When I asked for a menu, they said they aren't doing the weekend dinner menu on Saturdays, only Fridays. Which was very disappointing since the read the menu as we walked in and was trying to decide which delicious items we would enjoy. Instead we had a drink and left.

It's now 4 months later. Neither one of us have been back. As a matter of fact, a couple of days ago, she asked me if coffee shop #2 was still in business, as we drove by on Saturday afternoon. That's not the lasting impression you want to leave with your customers is it?

And yes, they are still in business.

1st Things 1st

2011-07-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

In my previous life as a radio advertising sales person, it was common for my co-workers to sell advertising schedules.

An advertising schedule is simply a certain number of ads in a specific time frame and a specific medium for a specific price.

Businesses owners would negotiate on these items and contracts would be signed and that is the way most advertising is bought and sold.

This is stupid, wrong and a waste of money.

But it is common practice.

Let's make sure you do things in the right order.

You want to make money by selling your product or service. Your Stuff.

You need to get the word out about your stuff you want to sell.

Instead of blindly buying advertising, or creating a website, a Facebook page, or even attending a networking event, you need a strategy and a map.

If you were sitting where I am right now in Fort Wayne Indiana, and decided to go to Nebraska, where my step-daughter lives, you would probably prepare for the trip.

If I was driving, I would need to look at a map or ask my step-daughter for directions on how to get there.

I would also make sure I had my car checked out so I could make the trip safely, and have enough money to pay for it.

Most business owners put more thought and planning into their vacation than they do their marketing.

Before you spend money on advertising, marketing, or your vacation, do some planning and research.

Talk to an expert, a professional, someone who has the knowledge to get you where you want to go.

That's what I do with my team at Cirrus ABS. Drop me a note: SHoward@CirrusABS.com for help.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

Where Did They Go?

2011-07-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder about the customers you don't have anymore?

Where did they go?

Some have moved out of town.

Some have died.

Some simply don't need what you are selling.

Some have found an alternative.

It's the last one that should concern you the most.

You need to find out what that alternative is and why it became an alternative for your customers.

You also need to find out why you are losing customers.

No matter how many new customers you have coming in your front door, if you can keep them from going out the back door, you should see your profits increase.

Now go do your homework.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

Losing It

2011-06-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

Do you know how many times your business has lost potential business because they had the wrong person dealing with the public?

A couple weeks ago, my friend Amber made the following comment on Twitter:

If your receptionist isn't friendly when I call or visit, I won't call or visit again.

What Amber stated is not profound, or new.

She simply stated what most everyone feels.

If you are going to skimp on employees, you are probably losing more business than any advertising and marketing program can ever generate, because now with the power of Social Media, those bad experiences have an audience.

Fix it today.

Fix it now.

The 80/20 Rule

2011-06-21T06:00:00.002-04:00

If you are not familiar with the 80/20 rule, it goes like this:

80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers.

or

80% of your business comes from 20% of your sales staff.

Go ahead and examine those figures in your business and see if it holds true.

Let's say you have 10 sales people and 2 of them are doing all the heavy lifting, 2 are paying their own way, but the other 6 are not.

How long are you going to keep those bottom 6?

Do they truly have the potential to pay their own way and become one of your top dogs?

Are you hanging on to them because you feel you need the "feet on the street" even though they aren't cutting it?

And why aren't they cutting it?

Is it a lack of training? A lack of ____________ that can be fixed?

Or is it time to trim the fat and become leaner?

Before you get rid of those that are struggling due to your lack of ____________, make sure you do an honest evaluation.

Then if you need to cut them loose, do it.

It will help you in the long run.

The group of radio stations I worked for recently did this a few years ago. We went from 25 to 6 on our sales staff.

The result was we reversed the 80/20 rule and then slowly added 1 new salesperson at a time.

Do you have the courage to make the hard choices?

Too Easy or Too Lazy?

2011-06-14T07:00:00.003-04:00

Or just afraid?

This is about sales.

On May 12th I received the following email:

Hello Mr. Howard,

My name is Name ReMoved, and I’m with the Name Removed Ham Company of Ft. Wayne. I was writing because I realize that there are times during the year, where you may need to order lunches. If that’s the case, would it be okay for us to email over some information regarding our program?

We have a wonderful catering program with boxed lunches, buffets, platters and more. Our ham is our classic sandwich option, but we also have a variety of other great sandwiches, including turkey, roast beef, chicken salad, vegetarian options as well as some amazing specialty sandwiches. Chips or Deli-Sides come with every meal, and we also have amazing dessert choices as well.

We can deliver it right to your door, and always provide complimentary set up. We’d love the opportunity to work with you, if we can.

Have a great weekend, and please let me know if I can be of any assistance. Oh, and please keep us in mind for those end of year Gift ideas.

A month has passed.

I have not contacted him, he did leave me his email, phone number, cell number and fax number.

I have never met him and I doubt that I will.

If his only method of reaching out to me to get me to do business with him is one long email, we both loose.

Because as I re-read his email, the food sounds good, but the only reason I read it more than once is because I knew that this would make a good lesson for all of us.

And that Lesson?

Follow up.

Make a phone call.

Send another email.

Contact them on Social Media.

Do what it takes to get a yes or no.

It's too easy to hide behind an email campaign, if you were to call this one, which it really isn't, since it is just one email and nothing else.

Or is it just being lazy?

Don't let fear hold you back, and don't be lazy and only do the easy stuff.

The Power of Hype

2011-06-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

Last month the rapture was to have occurred according to Harold Camping.

It generated enough attention that it was the top trending topic a few times that week and weekend on Twitter.

CNN, CBS, and the other networks all spoke of it both before and after.

Most people did not believe the hype, but had fun making fun of the hype.

When the Hype for an event, product, service, or person is bigger than than the event, product, service, or person; credibility is lost.

You don't have to do something on the scale of a rapture prediction to create Hype.

You can create an incredible offer, promise or guarantee.

Just make sure you can back it up.

Embrace Change, Beware of Change (Part 2)

2011-05-31T07:00:00.000-04:00

Last week I encouraged you to Embrace Change.

This week a few words of caution.

Change for the sake of change without consideration of the past and an eye on the future is full of risk, sometimes too much risk.

I have had clients who wanted to move their radio ads from one station to another every 3 months because they felt it only took three months to become established and they moved on to the next group of radio listeners. It doesn't work that way.

Instead of simply changing by stopping something and starting something else, perhaps you need to add something to your business marketing.

In the 8+ years I have worked for a group of radio stations, whenever we changed the format of a station, we threw away the thousands of listeners of the old format in the hopes of finding a new and better audience for our advertisers.

The most recent change we did in the past year was more transitional, more cautious. We added a 3 hour talk show to an all music station, then 9 months later added another 3 hour talk show. Now, instead of 24 hours of music, we have 18 (to preserve the old audience) and 6 hours of talk to attract a new audience. Depending on the results we may add more talk programming in the future.

My recommendations to you:

Keep tabs on trends, investigate where they are going.
A short-term fad is now a couple of weeks.
Anything lasting a month or longer may be a trend to consider.

Know your strengths, weaknesses, core values, and reasons for your past and current success.
With this knowledge, you will begin to see what NOT to change, and what you can adapt to meet your marketplace.

Your comments are always welcome.

Embrace Change, Beware of Change (Part 1)

2011-05-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

97% of all paying employment will change in the next 50 years.

I just made that statistic up.

But it doesn't matter what the numbers are, we live in an era of change where the technology will make some peoples lives better, others lives will become worse.

What determines if your life becomes better or worse?

The way you handle change.

The changes will occur outside of your control.

So you cannot stop the changes, only learn how to adapt.

Let's take the coffee shop I'm sitting in right now.

The Firefly has been around since 1999. Some of the original employees still work here. Others have come and gone but are part of the Firefly family.

A few years ago they added a second location in the downtown library but it didn't feel right so they shut it down.

They still grind their own coffee and use the non-automated equipment to "pull shots" of espresso. Starbucks is a different story. Starbucks automates as much as possible to create consistency in all of their worldwide locations.

So the Firefly has developed consistency by training their employees to do things the "Firefly way".

The Firefly has also embraced change by adding an arts & crafts section so people can browse and purchase some unique gifts while they are waiting for their beverage.

The Firefly also has free wi-fi, one of the first public venues to do so. They encourage loitering as long as you buy something. Ever been in a restaurant for 2 hours without getting some hostile looks from the staff?

One of the owners is a talented carpenter and he has built and designed furniture and also their latest addition, a three compartment recycling center for plastics, paper, and regular trash.

There are regulars who come in every day or every week. They have a winning formula.

Contrast this with a former coworker of mine who worked in the plastics industry for years and was resistant to change. He liked his job at one time, but as the plant evolved, he resisted, and as a result, he was replaced since the job he use to do did not exist and he never trained for a new one.

I'll take this one step further today.

Your clients and customers (The Marketplace) have embraced the internet in multiple forms as part of the new normal.

No, not everyone has a smart phone, and everyone is not on Facebook. But the world continues to move the web and related communication tools into the mainstream.

Which means if you don't have a website, you are out of business to many of your customers.

If your website has not been updated in the past 3 years, you are out of business to many of your customers.

If you are not participating in social media, you are out of business to many of your customers.
Next week, a few warnings about change.

Your comments are always welcome.

Say No before you Say Yes

2011-05-17T07:00:00.000-04:00

Over eight years ago I joined the company now known as Summit City Radio. This was my second venture into radio advertising sales, and I knew what needed to be done as I had been the the radio business since my teen years.

I started out with high standards as far as what I would accept as an ideal client and my first two were exactly what I was looking for.

Then I started to expand and try a few other ways to work with advertisers and my business grew and grew and I was very busy.

Problem was, some of my clients were not fitting my ideal client profile and they either required more work or they failed to get the results they were looking for. Sometimes both.

Over the years, I've become pickier.

Every month I tell people that my radio stations are not the best choice for what they are trying to accomplish.

Actually, what I usually do is advice them on what they need to do with their business in order to be prepared to handle what will come from the radio advertising.

Usually that means they need to get their "house in order" so they can handle new customers properly.

Advertising and Marketing will only amplify all that is wrong with your business.

Say No to promoting your business until you are really ready, but don't delay either.

Every day that passes is a day that your potential customers are spending their money with your competitors.

ScLoHo Moving Day

2011-05-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note that it is moving day for the 4 ScLoHo Blog sites.

I will continue to use the Google Blogger hosting platform, but each now has their own domain name:

ScLoHo's Really is moving from ScLoHo1.blogspot.com to ScLoHoReally.com

ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom is moving from ScLoHoNet.blogspot.com to ScLoHoCollectiveWisdom.com

ScLoHo's Social Media Adventure is moving from ScLoHoSocial.blogspot.com to ScLoHoSocialMediaAdventure.com

The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo is moving from ScLoHonet-TheBook.blogspot.com to ScLoHo.info

I am doing this on a Saturday which typically is the slowest traffic day for the ScLoHo sites because there may be some downtime as the transition occurs. They say it could take 24 to 48 hours for a transfer to complete, but so far, it has been less than an hour.

All of the sites should automatically redirect, however for future reference, I would urge you to save the new domains in your bookmarks.

Thanks for your support.

The Name Game

2011-05-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

Last month I was reading on a subject that I've thought about off and on for years:

The significance of your business name.

Our parents are responsible for our given names, we are responsible of the name of our company, product or service.

Look at a few big names:

Ford. The company founded by Henry Ford was the only major automaker that did not take bailout money from the government a couple years ago. They remain strong. Their name is good. We all think of cars and trucks when we here the name Ford.

I.B.M. Do you know what those letters stood for when the company was founded over 100 years ago? Click here for the answer.

Let's look at food. McDonald's was pretty much a 1 location hamburger joint in California until Ray Kroc took over from the two brothers and spread the McDonalds name across the globe.

My grandparents started some businesses in New England include a restaurant, Howard's Restaurant that went thru three generations before it was sold to a long time employee who kept the name due to the value of the name.

Remember that phrase, the value of the name.

Locally, we have a place called Calhoun Street Soup, Salads and Spirits. Nice place, good food, but they are stuck... on Calhoun Street. They could go the IBM route, and start using their nickname CS3, and open additional locations in the future.

Some business names are self centered and tell you nothing about who, what, or why a business exists. Brian Smith Corp. Sally's. JP Enterprises. I'm sure you can find a few in your town like this too.

You need to pick a name that creates a brand and allows for future growth.

Are you creating a business that you will want to sell off one day? It might not be wise to use your name. Very few Howard's Restaurants survive when the family is out of the picture.

One more thought on the subject of business names.

Make one up.

Throw some letters together.

Make sure it is pronounceable.

Have a reason for the name too.

Google did that.

So did Yahoo!

ScLoHo was just an email address based on my first, middle and last names. Take the first two letters of each and you get a ScLoHo.

Use it enough and it becomes a personal brand. Add a couple of descriptive words and file the paperwork and you have a business. ScLoHo Marketing Solutions.

Do enough marketing and you grow.

What are your thoughts on this whole business name subject?

picture of my grandparents Mr. & Mrs Vern Howard who passed away in the 1950's

Lost Your Mojo?

2011-05-03T07:00:00.001-04:00

Last week I received a very important announcement from Yahoo!

Dear Scott Howard,

Thank you for being a Yahoo! Mail user for the past 7 year(s). We look forward to bringing you an even faster, safer, easier-to-use Yahoo! Mail very soon.

In the coming months, we will ask you to upgrade to the newest version of Yahoo! Mail for your account ABC@yahoo.com. All Yahoo! Mail customers will be asked to upgrade. But in the meantime, you don't have to wait, you can have the newest Yahoo! Mail today.

When I clicked on the link in the email, it went to a page that featured this video:

After watching the video, which told me nothing except using Yahoo Mail would be messier, I clicked on the links that would actually tell me what was new and improved.

I was disappointed.

Yahoo Mail was trying to be like Gmail. But they already lost their mojo with me.

About 5 years ago, I stopped using my Yahoo Mail account and switched over to Gmail from Google. The primary reason for my dumping Yahoo was the spam filtering that Gmail offered was so much further advanced from what Yahoo was doing.

I had given up on Yahoo Mail and only kept that email account alive by forwarding Yahoo emails to my Gmail account.

Now it appears that it has taken 5 years for Yahoo to catch up with where Google and Gmail was 5 years ago.

In the meantime, Gmail continues to offer improvements so Yahoo will always be behind.

What about your business?

Are you constantly playing catch-up or are you leap-frogging your competitors.

It isn't enough to say, "You know that service or product that they (insert competitors name) offer, we have it now too."

By the time you have caught up, you've lost your Mojo.

According to the Urban Dictionary:

Mojo:

The word originally means a charm or a spell. But now its more commonly said meaning sex appeal or talent.

and...

1. Self-confidence, Self-assuredness. As in basis for belief in ones self in a situation. Esp. I context of contest or display of skill such as sexual advances or going into battle.
2. Good luck fetish / charm to bolster confidence.
3. ability to bounce back from a debilitating trauma and negative attitude

In this ever changing world, you always risk being left behind. Especially if you wait 5 years.

Overcoming Commercial Backlash

2011-04-26T07:00:00.001-04:00

Advertising is an accepted form of marketing in our country.

But for the past 30 years or so, we have been conditioning the public to think of advertising as a bad thing.

I worked on the air at a radio station in the early 1980's and we would promote "commercial free music sweeps". These were usually 20 or 30 minutes long and at the time it was to promote longer listening, less tune out, and ultimately higher ratings.

What did higher ratings do?

It was one way to promote the value of the station to advertisers, to sell more commercials at higher prices! Sounds contradictory doesn't it?!

Like the overweight doctor who smokes telling you that you should lose weight and stop smoking!

Before this commercial free craze hit the airwaves, radio stations would stop the music 4 to 6 times an hour and play 1 to 3 commercials, and get back to the music. The idea was to keep it moving.

So what happened to when radio stations cut down the number of commercial breaks?

They increased the length of those commercial breaks.

Radio ads are usually 60 seconds long, sometimes 30 seconds. Television ads range from 10 to 30 seconds long. Most people don't have an accurate perception of how long each commercial is. If asked, they usually say "a minute".

A couple of years ago, a music based radio station in my city cut down the commercial breaks to 1 per hour. That meant they would play 8 to 12 minutes of commercials back to back, followed by 50 minutes of "commercial free music".

What happened?

They trained their listeners to tune out, either mentally or literally, (as in tune to another station) for the next 10 minutes while they paid the bills.

The advertisers were paying for listeners that weren't listening to the advertisements, because the radio station told them commercials were bad. If your commercial was the first or second to play or the last one, you had a chance, but all those in the middle... forget it.

Broadcast Television is just as bad and cable is even worse.

AdAge.com recently featured a story on this. (Click here)

And it's not just broadcasting that is overloading us with advertisements, this occurs in print, outdoor signage, online, even in the selling of naming rights of sports venues.

How do you overcome this if you are a business owner?

1. Demand non-commercial commercials.

Several years ago Target reinvented themselves by running a series of ads that didn't prominently mention their name. Instead they were fast paced ads that featured items they sold in a lifestyle setting and at the end displayed the Target logo and a web address.

They ran a branding campaign which set them apart from their competitors and it worked.

2. Don't buy spots, flights, packages, or other short term advertising programs.

Think long term. 13 weeks isn't long term. My most successful advertisers buy annual advertising contracts.

As a business owner, I would toss out anyone who didn't offer me an annual option. Then I'd go one step further. Ask for a two year option. These 1 and 2 year options are for advertising campaigns and require strategic thinking and planning. They also require flexibility because you will need to adjust as circumstances change in your business and the marketplace.

3. Realize that advertising has it's role, and is not a cure all for other things that need fixing and improving.

Wash the windows, dust, sweep, hire the right people, retrain or fire those that are a negative influence on your business.

Make a list of 25 things you can do to improve your business. Jot down any idea. Now write down 25 more ideas. Make that your bucket list for 2011.

Then take action on these items I mentioned today.

image from http://www.tobaccocampaign.com/american-medical-association-promoted-tobacco

Early Adopters & Late Bloomers

2011-04-19T07:00:00.002-04:00

Changes are occurring faster and faster.

I'm sure my parents and even grandparents felt the same way in their lifetimes.

With the speed of technology improvements, it seems that what was last months new thing, is already outdated.

And there is no sign that any of this shows any sign of slowing down.

So how do you ride the wave of the next new thing?

Understand that the Early Adopters are always going to be looking for the next new thing. These people will not make you rich, but if they have influence, they can help push your new thing to Mainstream.

Once the new thing becomes Mainstream, the Early Adopters may or may not stick around, since they are always on the look out for the next new thing.

But Mainstream is where the money is at. If there is money to be made by your thing, this will be the time. If your thing becomes really popular, you will face competitors, more than you can imagine.

What about the Late Bloomers? Typically these are the hardest to convince. Usually no amount of advertising will ever move them to spend their money with you. Word of mouth and peer pressure along with a low price is what gets them to become your customer.

Once you understand this business cycle, you can create a focus, a strategy, and the tactics to make it work, and worry less about trying to please everyone, all the time.

How Much Money...

2011-04-12T07:00:00.003-04:00

Does it cost to create advertising for a successful business or organization?

All to often I see a lack of understanding of the marketing and advertising that it requires for a company to be successful.

A few months ago a new seafood restaurant at a busy intersection opened their doors and now there is a For Sale sign in front.

A co-worker of mine called on him with a strategic plan to build his business that involved no money, only a small trade. The owner said no. Instead he spent a bunch of money on "generic newspaper ads".

I say they were generic because you could have pulled the name of the restaurant and replaced it with another local restaurant and it would have made sense. What doesn't make sense is that the newspaper sales person took all of their money and didn't bring them enough customers.

To be fair, I don't know all the details, but over the years I've seen it too many times:

1. Business owner knows how to run his/her business.
2. Business owner knows next to nothing about advertising and marketing to be successful.
3. Business owner gets talked into something that sounds good, signs the contract and waits for all the customers to come rushing in to spend their money.
4. Business owner runs out of money because their advertising didn't work, and it would have been a miracle if it did!
5. Business owner shuts down, closes shop, and ends up bitter, frustrated and broke.

So is there a real answer?

Yes. Whatever amount of money you were planning on spending on advertising, double it.
Heck, triple it. Or if you are a real cheap skate, quadruple it.

Start thinking like the big boys when it comes to investing in attracting and retaining customers.

They get professional advice and they pay big bucks. How much?

Office Depot spent $60,000,000 in 2010.

The U.S. Army? $200,000,000.

Now unless you are the size of the Army or Office Depot, you don't need to spend that much, but odds are you are underspending.

Below the Surface

2011-04-05T07:00:00.004-04:00

All of us have had some pretty exceptional, positive experiences in our lives when dealing with a business.

You may not remember them as much as you do the negative experiences, but the positive ones go just as deep into your subconscious and you subconsciously change your behavior.

Here's an example from my life that I'm sure you can relate to.

I eat.

2 or 3 times daily.

Breakfast and Lunch during the week are all up to me. I can grab a bowl of cereal and something from the fridge to brown bag it, or I can eat out.

Let's focus on Breakfast. At least 3 days a week, I eat something on my way to the office.

Without getting out of my car and without going out of my way, I can get food from 3 McDonalds, 3 Arby's, or 3 Subways. There are also 2 Starbucks and 1 Burger King that I pass.

I don't really go through a long pro/con debate of each of the 12 places, most of it is subconscious.

Except the Starbucks and Burger King options are off my list due to price or quality of breakfast food.

It is a matter of mere seconds that I have to decide between the first McDonalds/Arbys/Subway. Out of 20 visits, 15 are going to be Arbys, 4 McDonalds and 1 Subway, according to my receipts.

At first I thought it was due to Arby's has my favorite drink, Diet Mt. Dew, but I almost always grab an ice cold can from home and have it with me when I'm deciding which drive-thru to visit.

In preparing this story, I have had to ask myself why Arby's gets more of my breakfast money than the others combined. And the answer is the people.

It's just a brief transaction, but in those few seconds, the Arby's crew makes me feel better than the breakfast crew at McDonalds or Subway.

Most people don't know the subconscious answers to these questions, they just decide where to spend their money.

So my challenge to you is what can you do to improve the experience for your customers so that when all the obvious choices are equal, they will go below the surface to the subconscious and do business with you?

(In the interest of full disclosure, both McDonalds and Subway are advertising clients of mine, and they get more of my lunch money than Arbys.)

Questions that need Answers & Ideas

2011-03-29T07:00:00.001-04:00

If your best customer was also your best friend, what would you be doing differently in your interactions with them?

If your best friend was also your best customer, what would you be doing differently in your interaction with them?

If you treated all of your new customers the way you treat your best customers, what would you need to do differently?

If you treated all of your current customers the way you treat new customers, what would you do differently?

Take a moment and answer those 4 questions.

Write those answers and ideas down.

Only you know the real answers.

Now I have one more question.

If you implemented the changes and ideas you just wrote down, would your business be more successful and your future more secure?

6 Marketing Essentials for Your Business in 2011

2011-03-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

25 years ago I began my adventure into the world of advertising and marketing. I took a job in Detroit creating campaigns for radio advertising clients.

I've spoken to 100's of business owners, managers,and entrepreneurs. I've interviewed the customers, clients, frontline workers and support staff. And I'm still learning.

My definition of marketing is everything that presents you and your business to your "marketplace". Your "marketplace" includes your current, past and future customers and clients. It also includes influencers who may not buy from you, but they have the power to influence those that will.

Number 1: You have to get your entire business moving in the same direction to create harmony and forward momentum. Think Big Picture. Really BIG PICTURE. All of your employees need to know what the mission is and that each one of them is responsible for contributing.

Number 2: You need to create a long term identity that will define who you are in all economic climates. This identity, also called your Brand, will not change over time, it will only be adapted.

Number 3: Your brand and your mission will be known by your customers and clients. If you are unsure what your brand is, perhaps you need to ask your customers and see if you are both on the same page.

Number 4: You need your own website. Not a Facebook page, not a Twitter account, you need something that you control. In 2011 if you don't have your own website, you don't exist as a legitimate business.

Number 5: You need a presence on Facebook and Twitter. This is not a contradiction of number 4. Social Media is a communication tool. Your website is to show that you are real. Odds are Social Media will be just as important as your website, but for a different reason. Think of it this way. A retail store is like a website. Social Media is like a phone number. See the link?

And Number 6: You will need to optimize your website for mobile. Predictions are pointing to 2012 as the year that more people will access the web via smartphones than laptops. This means smaller screens and if you have not created a mobile version of your online presence you will eventually be behind your competitors.

Which reminds me, I need to do number 6 myself!

Do you agree with my list of 6? Are there others you would add?

7 Secrets

2011-03-15T07:00:00.003-04:00

(This is an updated repost from about 15 months ago.)

For nearly 8 years, I have worked for a group of radio stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana known collectively as Summit City Radio. (Click on the logos to go to each stations website.)

This was not my first experience in Sales or in Radio.

My radio career began in 1976 at the age of 16, and ten years later I began a career in radio advertising sales and marketing.

The 7 Secrets are neither original, nor secret.

However, I have seen so many people in the sales world either fail, burn out, or never establish their full potential because they either didn't know or didn't follow these 7 Sales Secrets.

So, let's get started:

1. People don't want to buy what you are trying to sell them. They want to buy a solution to their problem/need/want. The classic example is people don't buy a drill because of the shiny black handle. They buy a drill because they need to create a hole.

2. Price is not important. Value is all that matters. While there are limits to what someone is willing or able to spend, if your customer sees no value in what you are offering, there is no price cheap enough to overcome a lack of value.

3. Objections can lead to a yes. An easy "yes" means you either know your client very well, or you're just being an order taker. I know it sounds harsh, but objections are conversation starters, and these conversations can lead to customizing a solution to their problem/need/want. Which leads us to...

4. You have to listen and learn, more than smile and sell. I do my homework and am prepared with research about my customers and their business. I also look at their competition and we talk about them. We talk about their goals for the future, their past history, what they have done that was successful and what didn't work too. Too often salespeople are only focused on what they have to sell instead of seeing how they can help their customers.

5. Your customer knows more than you give them credit for. We live in an information age with easy access via the internet. Your customer has done their research. However...

6. Your customer knows less than they think they do. Just because the information is available, doesn't mean they know how to use interpret it and use it to their advantage. That's where you come in as the expert. Which means that you better know your stuff inside and out. You are personally responsible for your own education, not your boss. Be your very best.

7. Relationships are forever. Apply the Golden Rule. Treat others with the same honesty and respect that you would like to be treated with. Keep relationships alive with your customers, potential customers and even those that may never become your customers. After a few years at my current group of radio stations, I had developed relationships that began paying off in ways I would have never imagined.

That's it. A half dozen plus one Sales Secrets, that shouldn't be secret. Your comments are always welcome.

The Big Give

2011-03-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

Last month I was invited to lunch for some marketing brainstorming.

I find brainstorming fun. It is one of the favorite parts of my day, because I get to play detective.

I ask, observe, listen, watch, suggest, and repeat.

This particular brainstorming session was with a hotel manager who is looking grow. His property is not the most expensive, nor is it at the bottom of the heap.

It is mid-market, without anything special or unique. He has spent the past 22 months cleaning the place up, making improvements, and "setting the stage" for more customers. He has improved the appearance and improved customer service.

Several ideas were discussed but the one that I remember the most is an idea that I use in my business. It is a question I like to ask, and in a moment I'll tell you the 5 magic words.

I discovered that he can devote 15 to 18 hours a week getting out in the community. My advice was for him to go door to door to door to door to every single business within a 3 mile radius of his hotel and offer to help each of these businesses.

See, he estimates that in a year he will have between 10 and 20 thousand guests staying at his hotel. Most of these guests will be from out of town.

These out of town guests will have various needs while they are visiting. Sure there is the obvious like a place to eat, or a drug store. But what about a car wash? A cell phone store? A Chiropractor? A ____________?

As he goes door to door and starts a relationship with his business neighbors, he is offering to give recommendations to his thousands of guests to these businesses. He will collect names, literature, business cards from these businesses and give them his information too.

But he will also use the 5 magic words:

"How Can I Help You?"

These words are the beginning of the Big Give. When you ask that question, you are not asking for yourself, you are asking to help others. You are opening the door to starting a relationship.

"How Can I Help You?" is not used in the same way the guy at Burger Barn speaks when he wants to take your order. It is used sincerely without expectation of immediate financial reward in return.

Most business people won't have an immediate answer, and not every business will be a good fit, but he is doing something none of the other hotel operators are doing.

Can you apply the Big Give to your business?

Big Dog or Little Dog?

2011-03-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Mr & Ms Business person,

Would you like to buy 1 30 second commercial that will air in the Superbowl and be seen by 111 million people (give or take a few million) and that is all the advertising and marketing you can do for the next 12 months?

Why? Well the cost of airing an ad was $3 million in 2011.

The cost of producing a Superbowl worthy ad? Between $400,000 and $4 million.

But let's just work with the cost of airing the ad. $3,000,000.

There were over 40 minutes of ads that ran during the game. That would add up to 80 30 second commercials. Plus pregame, plus post game, plus local ads, and the network promotional ads.

30 seconds in a 3 hour telecast means you are 1 of 360 half minutes. And it cost $3 Mil.

Were you a Big Dog or Little Dog?

If you just aired one time, you were a Little Dog.

The Game itself was the Big Dog.

Chrysler, VW, Doritos, Pepsi, they also were Big Dogs, because they dominated the advertising during the game and in the weeks since.

But they spent more than 3 million... so.. so.. much, Much, MUCH more.

And face it. You can't afford to spend what they spend to be the Big Dogs in the Superbowl.

So, do you look for other Big Dogs to advertise with?

Or do you become a Big Dog yourself?

Let's take this down a level to the arena I work in. The city is Fort Wayne, Indiana. We are market number 110 in the United States, maybe a little higher.

We have about 20 radio stations, the 4 major TV networks, a couple of newspapers, and the usual advertising options.

In the radio business that I work in, there are 5 radio stations that have over 100,000 listeners every week according to the ratings service.

The next 5 have between 56,000 and 96,000 weekly listeners. And the remaining 11 range between 37,000 and 5,000 listeners per week.

If you advertise on one of the top 5 stations, it could cost you $100 per commercial. If you advertise on one of the stations in the bottom half, you could spend $20 or less per commercial.

If you have $3,000 a month to work with, you could get 1 commercial a day on those Big Dog stations that reach a lot of people, but you would be a Little Dog because 1 commercial a day is nearly worthless.

(There are some exceptions to what I just said about 1 per day, ask me and I'll tell you.)

What happens if you spend your $3000 a month on a Little Dog Station? You become a Big Dog with those stations listeners, because they are hearing about you more, 5 times more per day, and your brand and reputation grows and in turn your business grows.

This concept of Big Dog vs. Little Dog is one that advertising sales people often get backwards, and if you buy into their thinking that you have to advertise only on the Big Dog Stations, you both lose. Sure they may get your money once. They may get it twice if they are convincing enough.

But your goal as a business person is to find a group of people that you can afford to reach repeatedly and consistently with your advertising and marketing messages, and become dominate in their mind and hearts. That's how you become a Big Dog.

One last thought for this week.

It's not mine, I read it somewhere a long time ago.

Would you rather convince 100 people 10% of the way to do business with you?

or
Would you rather convince 10 people 100% of the way to do business with you?

The initial cost is the same, the results are vastly different.

Don't Ignore the Elephant

2011-02-22T07:00:00.002-05:00

There's an expression about "Ignoring the Elephant in the Room", that refers to ignoring the obvious.

Borders filled Chapter 11 last week.

Less than 24 hours later, they used the power of their email data base to address the issue with this email:

Nice job of addressing the elephant.

Don't hide from bad news, address it front and center, Be A Leader in bad times as well as good.

There is just one other element they could have done and let us know which stores are closing.

The Wall Street Journal did provide a search-able list online. Borders let you find out if you found the right link and clicked, a pdf file would appear which you could search to see if your favorite store was going away.

Another Chance to Learn

2011-02-15T07:00:00.003-05:00

Another Update... The original 50 tickets are gone. Currently (as of 4pm today) you can sign uo for the Wait List. In talking with Kevin Mullett, the host of the event, there will be an additional 20 or 25 tickets released soon.

So, click on the link, and sign up on the wait list.....

One week from today, I will be one of the panelist for the Social Media Breakfast Fort Wayne event: Managing Social Media Message Delivery & Interactions

I admit, it's not a flashy title.

But it is accurate.

Here are the details from the eventbrite registration page:

This months event:

This months Social Media Breakfast Fort Wayne event will consist of a panel of those charged with social media management and active social media professionals. They will be answering questions, discussing, and displaying methods for managing message delivery and interactions via social media channels.

Host Kevin Mullett, himself an online marketing practitioner, will ask the panel a series of questions geared specifically to have you leave with an enhanced understanding of how to use social media to engage their audience.

Come with pen, paper, laptop or other mobile notation and recording device to take note of how each of the four panel members will answer practical questions like:

Setting up an editorial calendar
When is it appropriate to preload or schedule content
Why is being transparent or real important and how to do it while being efficient
How to use alerts and notifications when a response or action is required
Tips on maintaining quality, legal, and ethical methods for posting
What tools might make social efforts easier and more efficient
much, much more, including open follow up questions.

Our panel will consist of:

Heather Schoegler - @HSchoegler: Communications Director for health care non-profit. Her blog.

Lee Hershberger - @LeePings: Marketing Director for Harlan Cabinets

Scott Howard - @ScLoHo: Media and Marketing, multiple ScLoHo blog author

Randy Clark - @randyclarktko: Member of the TKO Graphix marketing team

The Plan:

7:30 a.m. Breakfast & Networking
8:00 a.m. Take your seat, pens & devices ready?
8:45 a.m. Open question time
9:00 a.m. You can't hide from work any longer.

There seems to be an explosion of events in our area that are offering to teach you how to use social media and people are signing up in droves.

Social Media has been around for a long time.

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, I was an early adopter.
2011 is the year social media is becoming main stream.

The opportunities are far and wide. I urge you to take the time and start learning, make the time to seek out events such as the one I'll be at on February 22nd.

Even though I am on the panel, I will be learning too and taking notes.

The past 3 or 4 years, I have both attended these events, and been the teacher, host, mentor, instructor, panelist, etc.

Registration is limited, the cost is free, and all the details are here: http://smbfw001.eventbrite.com/

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking

2011-02-08T07:00:00.002-05:00

Friday, I was asked which will be better, the Superbowl, or the commercials.

Here it is 30+ hours later, and I have some answers.

The Superbowl was an event. For the folks in Texas, it will be a long time before it is ever repeated at their stadium.

For football fans it is an annual event.

In less than a year, it will have been played in my home state of Indiana.

But all the Superbowl hype and festivities have a deadline, and once the time has passed, it is over, until the next year.

The season is over, the time has passed, we have to wait a few months until the start of the next season.

And to throw another monkey wrench into the equation, the players union are renegotiating for the next season, which means there is always a possibility of a strike....

But I want to talk about the difference between the game and the commercials from a marketing viewpoint.

Like I said, the game was an event. It's over. There was a timeline and it has passed.

The businesses that ran commercials during the television broadcast however, needed a different mindset. A long term, long range, branding mindset.

Grab a pen and paper and jot down the commercials that you saw.

I'll wait...

(Tick, Tock)

How many companies did you write down?

That is the power of the Superbowl and the megabucks it cost to run a 30 second ad.

What will really determine the success of the ad however is what all those companies do next.

If they had the event mindset, you won't see their ad again on tv. Which is a BIG waste.

If they are smart and have the long range, long term, branding mindset, then you'll see those ads again and again and again and again and again.

Those companies used the Superbowl to launch an advertising campaign.

For the others, the Superbowl was their advertising campaign.

What about you? Are you a one and done advertiser?

I won't sell one radio commercial.

I could, it would cost you $50, and be a complete waste of my time and your money.

Go Long instead.

Rigid vs. Flexible

2011-02-01T07:00:00.001-05:00

In the "good old days" of advertising and marketing, a company would often develop a plan for the year and stick with it. That plan would include a budget for this, for that, and have expectations of growth base on doing better than last year, etc.

I still have companies that plan for things annually, which is smarter than not planning at all.

But if you don't allow for some wiggle room, you could be missing out.

Missing out on an opportunity that you were not aware of when you had your planning meeting 6 months ago.

And what happens when you say, "No, it's not in the budget"?

Someone else says, "Yes, I'll do it."

How does that add up when it is your competitor?

Here's the math:

Let's assign a value of $1000/per year to a new customer. Your numbers could be much, much higher. Let's also assume that the opportunity could have brought you 50 new customers.

You say no. That means you are saying no to inviting potential customers to spend money with you. Using the numbers above, you said no to $1000, 50 times or $50,000.

Well, you still have your original plan, so everything should be fine and dandy.

Try and ignore the fact you turned down an additional $50,000.

But that $50,000 has also been taken out of the marketplace that perhaps you were counting on in your original marketing plan.

Now instead of losing out on increasing by $50,000; you've lost $50,000 in business that you were counting on coming your way.

How rigid do you want to be?

Business Cycles?

2011-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

In my radio station life, we have ups and downs that are predictable, as far as advertising revenue is concerned.

Most businesses have cycles that are predictable but what it the reason for those ups and downs?

Is the pattern breakable?

Is it worth trying?

Granted, some businesses like the slow months, that's when they take 3 day weekends, or vacations, but what if you could increase the revenue during those slow times?

Restaurants are typically slower on Monday and Tuesday and pick up as they get closer to the weekends and paydays. Is there something different you can create that your customers and clients will pay you for during the slow times?

By the way, I believe the reason that advertising sales is slower in the 1st quarter is due to the activities of the advertising sales people, not the businesses we serve. We are often so busy in October and November taking care of the December rush, that our prospecting falls off and we start the new year from scratch.

This year for me is different than 2010. Yes there was a drop in January, but it only took 3 weeks instead of 9 to be back up to speed.

Your thoughts are always welcome..

Systems for Success

2011-01-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

Each of us has a system for doing the things we do. These systems include your morning wake up routine and the various systems we have in place for our work activities.

If the systems and routines we are using in our personal life need tweaking, we often do so without much thought. Setting the alarm 5 minutes earlier, driving a different way to work, all pretty simple.

But what I see a lot of resistance to is changing work related systems.

The bigger the company, the more resistance is pretty common. Too many people involved including the "nay-sayers" who say no to everything; the "Don't fix it until it's broken" group who still use AOL; and the other extremes... the ones who want to throw everything out that we are doing and start from scratch, and those that always want to "wing it".

Each of us are responsible for our own systems, if you work for a big company, and you find a way that conforms to their standards, but also helps you to do your job better, Go For It!

The past few years I have set up a few systems and am in the process of setting up even more in the social media world that I live part of my life in.

When I was the V-P of Communication for the Fort Wayne Advertising Federation, I would create an email that was sent to members and interested parties. I had a couple of templates that I would customize for each month, and then modify slightly as we got closer to the event we were inviting people to attend. The email service provider allowed us to both personalize the invites and schedule when the invites were being delivered.

I post between 35 and 50 blog posts a week. This blog you are reading is updated at least once a week on Tuesdays. Three other blogs get a total of 6 to 7 updates a day! And there is only one way to accomplish this, and that is with a system.

My System is a form of automation. But it requires a personal, hands on touch too.

I can write posts and schedule them to appear online in the future. Currently I have some scheduled for February 2012, which would be really freaky if something tragic were to happen and I met an early demise before they all post!

I usually have between 20 and 120 blog posts scheduled and they will automatically appear online when I have scheduled them.

I could set up an auto-Tweet or auto-post-to-Facebook, or auto-post-to-LinkedIn.

But I don't want those automated. Instead I want those to be personalized for each of those services, to promote the blog postings in a more conversational manner. And do to the fact that I'm not online when every new post appears on my blog, I may promote it a few hours after it is published.

I urge you to automate when you can, but beware of being too impersonal.

I also urge you to review what works, and what doesn't. You may be too close to your own situation and need someone without an insiders knowledge to challenge your thinking and challenge the status quo.

Are you ready for that?

If you are in the Fort Wayne Indiana area, contact me. If you are outside the area, I have contacts that I recommend. My email is Scott @ ScLoHo.net

Everybody knows about my business...

2011-01-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

and other lies you are telling yourself.

And your advertising rep.

Two stories about what happened last week.

Monday afternoon, the first day back from the New Year's Holiday, I get a phone call from the advertising agency that handles the Hoosier Lottery.

She wants to know if we can place one commercial per hour on my radio station that afternoon and Tuesday afternoon.

Any other traditional media would have been powerless to respond and get it done. Newspaper, TV, Billboards. Too late . It was even past our deadline at the radio station.

But... I was able to do it. Between 3pm and 7pm and then Tuesday between 6am and 7pm, we aired 1 commercial per hour.

What was so urgent? $355,000,000 MegaMillions jackpot, that's what.

Now some people think that a $355 Million dollar jackpot wouldn't need extra advertising, after all, doesn't everyone know about it?

Nope. The drawing was 11pm Tuesday night, and the Lottery folks and their advertising agencies were smart enough to know that they had a limited time to sell as many tickets as possible before the 10:45pm cut off and so they increased their advertising.

Tell more people, tell them over and over until the deadline and you sell more and more and make more and more $$$$$$$$$$$.

It was a real deadline, not an artificial deadline like some stores like to set "Sales ends soooon"!

That was Monday.

Tuesday night two people won the jackpot, so it starts over at a measly $12 million.

Something else happened on Tuesday. I met with the owner of a Tax Preparation business with 4 locations. She is neck and neck with anyone in town for the number of offices in our city. But there are at least 50 places in town that do tax prep, plus the online services.

She is not sure if she wants to advertise this year. After all, "..we're established, we have a good name, blah, blah, blah..."

Yes, but....

Everybody doesn't know about your business, or there wouldn't be 46 other competitors.

She, like the lottery, have a deadline in April. Nearly everyone has to file their taxes between now and then. And if they don't visit one of her 4 offices, then she lost their business until next year... or forever.

I'll be seeing her today and telling her this story and we'll see how smart of a business owner she really is.

Stay tuned....

How I Define Marketing

2011-01-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to 2011!

From my desk in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on a cold snowy morning in December about 3 weeks ago, (unlike the warm, inviting picture I took on vacation last summer), I was reflecting on some recent conversations I had about the subjects of sales, advertising, social media, and coupons.

That's a lot of stuff, but there is a common thread and it is they all fall under the topic of Marketing when you use my definition:

"Marketing includes anything and everything that exposes you, your business, your service, your product to the marketplace of buyers, clients, customers, prospects, and influencers of all of the above."

Now, I realize that this is a much bigger box, than most people like to put "Marketing" into.

But, in this time we are living, we are exposed to more and more marketing messages than our parents, grandparents, or any previous generation.

"If there is a flat surface, we can slap an advertisement on it", is so old school these days.

20 years ago my Pepsi can had advertising on it for events like the State Fair. These days we have football players wearing pink in October to promote Breast Cancer Awareness.

But besides the advertising side, there are also your employees who create impressions on customers and potential customers by their behavior, by their appearance, and by their personality.

Think for a moment about the person who answers your phone. Is She/He pleasant, understandable, helpful? Or is answering the phone a job they hate and it was passed on to them on top of their other duties? (This example comes from the radio stations I work for that put the wrong person in charge of the phone for a couple weeks.)

In the weeks ahead in 2011, we'll touch on all of these areas of Marketing as I defined them.

And I have a few other resources for you to explore.

In 2005 I created the Collective Wisdom blog. It is updated 3 to 4 times daily with wisdom from lots of others on the subjects of Marketing, Media, Advertising and Sales. Click here to go there.

And over the weekend, I launched another blog with the focus on Social Media. It is updated weekdays at noon and we are just getting started with ScLoHo's Social Media Adventure. Click here to go there.

This blog that you are reading is updated every Tuesday.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Why Your Name Matters

2010-12-28T09:01:00.001-05:00

Most of us don't get to chose our name.

We are stuck with the name our parents gave us.

But your business, that's something you decide.

The Rules have changed over the past 100 years.

My Dad's parents had a restaurant that was named after the family: Howard's Restaurant.

And the business went has had four owners, my grandfather, my uncle, my cousin, and for the past 10 years, a lady named Crystal Ball, who worked for the family for 20 years and bought it when it was for sale.

Crystal could have changed the name, but she saw the value in the name that had spanned generations and kept it intact.

(Apparently her parents had a sense of humor too).

In today's world however, there are several factors to consider when naming your business:

Is it Unique?
Is it Descriptive?
Is it Limiting?
Is it Confusing?
Is it too long?
Is it too short?
Is it Memorable?
Is it Social Media & Web friendly?

These are all considerations I had when I registered my company name: ScLoHo Marketing Solutions a few years ago.

The ScLoHo identity has been around for years. It began as an email address on Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail. Then I registered the ScLoHo.com and ScLoHo.net domains and also claimed ScLoHo on about 50 social media sites.

ScLoHo is just abbreviation of the name my parents gave me with the first two letters of my first, middle and last name. It is unique, and it is pronounceable.

Google ScLoHo and you'll come up with a few thousand links to me.

I don't really care if I am found via keywords. I am not looking to build world wide fame and fortune. Many of my coworkers are unaware of my social media presence. Which is fine with me.

One last story about how my social media life and in-person life converge:

This past summer, my wife and I attended a baseball game at Parkview Field, home of the minor league Fort Wayne Tincaps. About the 5th inning, we took a walk around the stadium and a friend of mine that I met via Twitter, yelled out "ScLoHo!"

I stopped and turned around and went over and talked to my friend Andy and noticed that he was with a group of folks that I know and work with from the Asher Advertising Agency who mostly know me as Scott Howard, although a couple of them know me by both identities.

Instead of me explaining to those who didn't know what ScLoHo was all about, I let my friends explain it, which added credibility.

So, to sum it up, you want your name to stand for something.

To stand for something good.

Something good that others will want to know about.

Chose your name wisely.

Guard and protect your name.

And if you want find more about ScLoHo, just go here: http://www.scloho.net/

Is Anyone Honestly Honest?

2010-12-21T09:28:00.001-05:00

Is it possible to grow from zero to 500,000,000 customers in 6 years?

The answer is yes.

The answer is Facebook.

Based on the sheer number of registered accounts, it is the most successful social networking company ever.

Let's look at another one: Starbucks.

Most of their customers are unaware that Starbucks is nearly 40 years old. Founded in 1971.

Today Starbucks has over 17,000 locations worldwide.

Step back in time to 1962. That's when Sam Walton opened the first Walmart. Last count was 8500 stores in 15 countries.

One more blast to the past: 1940, the year the McDonald Brothers started selling burgers. Now they have over 31,000 stores around the world.

These are just three companies that came to mind as I was thinking of Mega-Success Stories.

Each one of these grew because they had the money to grow.

A couple years ago I read the book, McDonald's - Behind the Golden Arches by John Love and learned the struggles and near bankruptcy that McDonald's went through in the early years. (The book was published 25 years ago and McDonald's is one of my clients.)

Each of these companies have had to fight the temptation to rip off their customers. And each have had their share of controversy in their lifetimes.

Many people misquote the Bible, "Money is the root of all evil", and then proclaim a gospel of poverty as a more honest way of life.

Let's clear up the quote.

From Wikipedia: The phrase derives from a saying attributed to Jesus in the Apostle Paul's First Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament: "The love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10, KJV). The expression is commonly misquoted as simply "Money is the root of all evil". A more accurate rendering from the original Greek may be: "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil," (New American Standard Bible).

Ah, ha... It's not money, it is greed and what how people act out their greed that causes the evil.

So, back to the question, Is Anyone Honestly Honest?

Look at the motives, look at the heart. Everyone is tempted. The small business owner is tempted to pay someone under the table. The millionaire is tempted to sock away assets in an offshore account.

The man in poverty is tempted to rob, steal, even kill for money.

Temptation does not always result in bad behavior. It 99% of the temptations we face we overcome. The same is true in the business world.

So what does this have to do with marketing, and advertising?

Advertising is the paid form of marketing that you buy for your business.

Marketing includes advertising and everything else related to your business and that includes you and your staff.

Are you honest? Look at your motives.

Is it okay to want to earn lots of money? Look at the motives behind it.

If you let greed take over as you primary motivation for making money it will fail eventually.

If your primary focus is on helping people by selling them a product or service, and set your prices and fees accordingly, everyone wins.

Enjoy the Holidays.

My Prediction for 2011

2010-12-14T06:46:00.002-05:00

I was invited (again) to make a prediction for next year for Joe Pulizzi and Junta 42.

Here's what I submitted:

Value will be the true measuring stick in 2011.

Questions consumers are asking themselves, "Is there a value to me if I follow you on Twitter or Like you on Facebook?"

Business owners are asking themselves, "Is mass discounting via Groupon (and similar sites) providing me with customers that I value, or am I just offering loss leaders without any true long term value to my business?"

Social Media skeptics will place little value on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, etc because they haven't grasped the social interaction value of the media.

Social Media users and believers will continue to grow and increase their value to their friends and followers because they understand that despite the trackability of the web, relationships are not as easily measured in simple R.O.I. terms.

Every decision made in 2011 will be based on the value each of us as individuals assign to the choices.

It's the Money, Honey...

2010-12-07T09:16:00.002-05:00

30 years ago, I was a rock and roll radio disc-jockey.

I worked on the air on the top music station in town playing everything from the Doors to John Fogerty, Black Sabbath, and even some Cat Stevens and the Jacksons. WMEE was the #1 Top 40 music station in Fort Wayne.

After a few more stops, I moved over to the advertising side of radio in Detroit. I had learned the business side of the entertainment industry and the truth about radio, tv, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Today, I am back in the radio advertising business and social media, and a few other projects too.

The vast majority are supported by advertising. And advertising money is spent to get and keep customers and clients by the businesses that run the ads.

If the advertising doesn't produce a Return On the Investment (dollars spent on advertising), then a couple things happen.

First off, the business may stop advertising. The business may close if they cannot afford to stay open due to lack of customers.

Then the advertising medium, (radio, tv, newspapers, magazines, etc.) loses money because they have lost that particular advertiser. And they advertising to fund their operation and pay the people they have on staff. Including those rock and roll disc-jockeys.

If a radio station cannot generate enough money through advertising, it is in danger of changing its format. If a TV program doesn't generate enough money through advertising, it is canceled.

If a newspaper of magazine doesn't generate enough money through advertising, it slows down or stops printing.

US News & World Report was a magazine that I used to subscribe to in my 20's and 30's. Not anymore. And they are one of a multitude of print publications that are no longer going to be available.

Is the web the answer? Is social media the answer?
I say maybe and no.

Maybe if the internet can generate money. The same for the social media platforms.
No, if you are looking for a quick fix. Despite the tremendous growth in technology via smartphones and the like, despite the growth of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, (and the list goes on and on)...

Unless there is money being made it won't work.

Someone has to be willing to buy something and someone has to be willing to sell something of value.

And the marketers job is never done because of the continuing changes.

So, got an idea? Great! Now figure out how to sell it. Need some help? Contact me @ScLoHo on Twitter or with an email to Scott@ScLoHo.net

Rock on....

What If?

2010-11-30T10:00:00.001-05:00

What is holding you back?

What is keeping you from going forward?

Every once in awhile we need to ask ourselves a few questions like a 2 year old.

When I think of 2 year old toddlers, I think of their persistence in asking, "Why?"

They ask it to the point of driving parents and grandparents nuts.

But most are eventually told, "That's the way it is, now go away".

And as we age, we begin to stop asking.

Not everyone stops, but the majority just stop and instead of asking they start complaining.

It's why satisfaction with our government is at an all time low.

Even with the historic election in 2008 of President Obama, two years later the level of discontent with our government is back to before he was elected.

But instead of talking about what is not right, let's start talking about what we can do.

And not what someone else can do.

Start talking about what you can do.

Start asking why.

Question everything.

It started a revolution 50 years ago.

It is occurring in our lives all around us in small and not-so-insignificant matters too.

For example, video tape.

In April 2009 we borrowed a video camera to record an event that my wife wanted recorded. It had a mini video cassette and we were disappointed with the quality. 18 months later, we borrowed a digital video camera and the result was 1000% better.

These tiny revolutions are going on all around us and changing the way people communicate, do business, and it doesn't matter if you accept these changes, because they are happening with out you.

There is a slow down coming.

If you are in business to business sales like me, the month of December and the beginning of January are slow. If you are in retail, then your slow down starts at the end of this holiday madness.

Start by asking yourself some of these why questions regarding what you do and the way you do it. Ask some what if questions too.

The answers are there.

TOMA

2010-11-23T08:53:00.001-05:00

What is TOMA?

Top
Of
Mind
Awareness

I don't care if you believe that Branding is important, or Price is important or Location, or any number of contributing factors you and I could name, what you really want from all of your marketing and advertising efforts is TOMA.

Last month I met with the real estate agent that I used to sell my last house about 4 years ago.

I'm not planning on buying another house for at least 10, maybe 20 years. But each month I get a piece of mail from her, and it's one of the ways she retains TOMA with me.

You cannot advertise only to the people who need you now.

Why?

Because despite all the targeting that the internet allows us to do using keywords and location and other Search Optimization techniques, if I have a favorite ___________, then I will use _________, and recommend ___________ to others.

We spend our money with those that we trust will provide us with the right value.

My daughter sent me a Groupon offer for carpet cleaning at 70% off.
We won't use it because we like the carpet cleaner we use.
He provides the right value and we trust him.

I used to spend $75 to get my hair cut. But then I discovered a chain shop that will cut it for $15 including a generous tip and they never screw it up. Which happened a couple times with the $75 cut.

Back to the real estate agent. She asked me who I would recommend to my friends, and I told her, "You, and only you". I know other agents but she is the one that I trust.

Top Of Mind Awareness coupled with a good reputation wins every time.

If you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, I can help you build TOMA. Email Scott at ScLoHo.net

Who and Where are your Customers?

2010-11-16T07:35:00.000-05:00

Who are you customers?

While researchers like to group people into demographic profiles, you need to realize that today more than ever, there is so much diversity that you need to be careful with the assumptions you make.

I'm going to share with you the individual profiles of some of my friends and co-workers:

1. Female mid-20's, no kids, no steady boyfriend, works full time, income $24,000.
2. Female mid-20's no kids, getting married next year, combined income $80,000.
3. Female mid-40's step-mom to kids in their 20's, combined income $75,000.
4. Female mid-30's married, 1 12 year old, 1 2 year old, 2 twin new borns, combined income $70,000.
5. Male early 50's, engaged. 1 daughter age 12, one soon to be step-son age 19, combined income $250,000.
6. Male early 50's married, 5 kids and stepkids all in their 20's, combined income $70,000.
7. Male late 60's divorced, 1 son in his 40's, semi-retired, income $30,000.
8. Male late 30's single, income $35,000.

These 8 people have one thing in common. They know me. I am an influence in their lives.

What stuck me was how all but number 7 are lumped into the advertisers sweet spot of Adults age 25-54, yet look at the wide range of differences. And I know that #'s 6 & 7 have more in common than #5 & #6!

Who is in the market for a new car? Well, in the past 2 years #2, #4 & #7 have purchased at least one new vehicle.

Who is living in a house vs an apartment?

House: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Apartment: 1, 7, 8.

Who eats out the most? 6 & 7.

Who is using social media such as Facebook? 1, 2, 4, 5, 6

Who has the newest computer? 7

Who has the newest smartphone? 6

There is a tendency to lump people together by generation and the problem is that you lose out on inviting certain people to do business with you. Or you use the methods of advertising that worked 20 years ago and assume that method will work today.

I urge you to get as much information as possible about your customers and the people you want as customers and then you can begin to find out how to invite them to do business with you.

Commercialization of Patriotism

2010-11-11T09:17:00.004-05:00

First off, Happy Veterans Day.

My Dad served in the Navy, all my Uncles served in the military, I have friends and co-workers who have served and we owe them our gratitude daily.

I was listening to a news story on my way to the office about how today's school children are being taught the reason for Veterans Day. Somehow I have my doubts that they are being taught the true history.

Most of the schools have a two hour school delay due to fog.

The largest school system in my area, Fort Wayne Community Schools, are closed today.

My father instilled in me a respect for the military and those who served locally such as police and fire personal. We would attend the parades, stand up, remove our hats, and do the right thing.

Today, like many other holidays, merchants have commercialized the day, the week, the weekend with "Red, White & Blue Blowout Sales."

This is simply wrong.

You do this, and I will remember to avoid doing business with you.

"But my competitors are doing it, and they'll get all my customers unless I jump in the fray".

Is that the best marketing plan you can come up with?

Copycatting?

Here's a better and more honorable way to handle your marketing on days like today.

Don't offer a one day sale.

Don't offer a free meal.

Take away all the gimmicks and make a genuine offer.

For example, make it company policy to give free beverages to all service personal.

Everyday, every night, year round.

Come up with a way to thank our vets that they will appreciate, something that you can honor year-round to honor those that serve our country and our people.

If you want to kick it off on Veterans Day, that's fine. If you want to remind us of this offer on Memorial Day and the 4th of July you can do that too. But make it standard policy, not a sales gimmick.

The Importance of your Employees

2010-11-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

On a recent weekend, I had a conversation with a friend over coffee about a couple of the employees at the coffee shop we were sitting in.

He told me about how two of the employees are hurting this coffee shops business.

Let's see if you can relate to these stories and if they are going on in your business, I hope you take appropriate action.

First off, the late employee.

Her job is to be there so they can open the doors and start serving customers at 6am. In order to do that, she should be there 30 minutes early to set up 3 or 4 coffee airpots where customers self-serve.

But she has a habit of showing up late. Sometimes as late as 6:30am. Morning customers usually have a time sensitive routine and an easy way to lose customers is to not have what they want when they want it.

So customers who used to stop by at 6:15 for a quick cup of Joe to go, are now going elsewhere, since this coffee shop is unreliable due to one employee. How much is this costing the coffee shop? More than that employee is paid per hour, that's for sure.

Next, we have the inconsiderate employee.

She has an attitude. She shows favoritism to some customers and others notice. Not only do others notice, but others talk about it too. Like my friend did over the weekend.

It all began with a comment about where this employee parks her car. She sometimes picks one of the prime spots directly in front of the coffee shop, which should be reserved for customers, not an employee whose car will be sitting there for 6 to 8 hours.

The owners of this coffee shop are aware of these two problems but choose to ignore them.

After all, the employees are friendly to them.

It's time for perspective that business owners often lack.

What matters most is how your employees are representing your company.

This is part of your marketing that not enough owners and managers consider.

And no amount of advertising can overcome crappy customer service.

Email Oops

2010-11-03T11:02:00.000-04:00

It's Monday night, 8pm November 1st and I get home from a meeting and check my email.

There is an invitation from the local Volkswagen Dealer.

I don't own a VW, but I trust their service department for my 15 year old Mercedes, about 1 or 2 thousand $ a year.

There are several things that they could have done better.

First let's look at the email:

You are invited to Vorderman Volkswagen's 2011 Jetta Unveiling Gala! Saturday, Nov. 6th from 6-8pm. Must RSVP by Nov. 3 either online or in person. RSVP today!

Scott Howard,
You are invited to our Jetta Unveiling Gala!

This email was sent by:Vorderman Volkswagen
5811 Cross Creek Blvd. Fort Wayne, IN,46818,USA

Now let's look at the TV commercial that VW has been airing the past few weeks...

Notice the big disconnect?

VW has been pushing the 2011 Jetta for only $15,995.

That is what I have been conditioned to seeing.

So why does the email talk about a 2.9% APR with no mention of the $15,995 price point?

I don't know, but this is a classic example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

But let's dig a little deeper.

One email that I was not expecting is not going to get my attention if I was the typical consumer. (I almost just deleted this, but decided to turn this into a marketing lesson).

Since I was not expecting this email, they should have sent more than one email over a period of a couple of weeks, leading up to the event.

But they didn't.

This was the one and only email I was sent.

Let's examine what they want from me.

They are asking me to decide whether or not I want to visit their showroom to see a new car with a 2.9 APR.

And I have to RSVP in the next 36 hours, or never mind.

So far there is no reason for me to attend.

Look at the date and time for this "event".

Saturday night 6p--8pm.

This has to be one of the absolute worst times of the week to ask me to come out for Appetizers & Beverages.

I mean come on now. In the middle of my weekend, at a time when I'm planning on having dinner with my wife, you want me to visit you for this?!?

Okay, there has to be more to this than the email is telling me.

So I click on the RSVP in the email and go to their website and here's what I get:

That was the last straw. The RSVP Link was a link to their regular, standard website contact form.

Absolutely nothing related to the email, the "event", or the 2011 Jetta. Triple Fail.

So, I am planning on visiting the folks at my local VW Dealership and talk to them about this before their event Saturday, and then again next week.

We'll see if they are successful despite themselves or if they want some help and guidance.

I'm glad their service department works better than their marketing department.

The Obama Brand

2010-11-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

It's Tuesday evening, October 5th. I have no idea what the election results will be in 4 weeks but the Obama Brand is on my mind, so I sit and write what you are about to read:

The Obama Brand today is about line-extensions.

It is election day in the United States of America.

This is what we call a mid-term election because it is in the middle of the Presidents four year term. Every member of the House of Representatives could lose their job tonight, because their terms are two years long.

1/3 of the Senators could lose their job tonight. They are elected to 6 year terms of office.

The past two or three years have just flown by, due to the Obama Brand which gained national recognition in 2007.

The Obama Brand was the vision of Hope and Change that the Senator from Illinois, Barrack Obama used to carry him to the White House in 2008.

It was one of the most turbulent elections I've witnessed. Nearly everyone had a strong opinion and that opinion drove people to vote.

So what has happened to the Obama Brand?

We'll find out when the votes are counted.

Do we want more of the Hope and Change that the Obama Brand gave us the first two years of the Obama Presidency?

Did the Obama Brand work as a line-extension?

Odds are it didn't. Democrats are expecting losses in Congress. It's because in nearly every mid-term election the party that is not in power in the White House, gains ground.

So, the failure of the Obama Brand to break this cycle isn't the fault of the Obama Brand. It is the fault of those political strategists that followed the same pattern thinking that the Obama Brand is strong enough to break the cycle without using a different strategy.

The President has been lending his voice and support to candidates, just like previous Presidents did in the past with mostly discouraging results.

It's too late now, but I have the answer to break this "losing the mid-term" cycle.

The political parties need to stop latching onto the President as their brand. See, my Senator is being branded as a line extension of the Obama Brand, instead of as a member of the Democrat Brand.

There is a difference.

Would you buy an Obama Brand Dishwasher? Would you buy an Obama Brand lunch meat? I know it sounds silly, because I'm taking the fallacy of line-extensions to the extreme.

Just because a brand is popular doesn't mean it can apply to everything. Too bad the political strategists haven't learned this lesson.

What Does it Cost to Advertise on the Radio?

2010-10-26T07:49:00.001-04:00

It's a question that people want to know.

And I have an answer.

The cost is not important.

It's just the final number in a mathematical equation.

And it is the mathematical equation that matters more the what it equals.

Lets look at it the way a lot of folks look at it, first. They say, I want to spend $2000.

(In reality, they would like to spend $5, but that won't work.)

What are the different equations that they could use to = $2000?

1 x 2000
2 x 1000
4 x 500
8 x 250
16 x 125
20 x 100
40 x 50
50 x 40
100 x 20

Just to name a few of the options that a business could use to advertise in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

What do those numbers mean?

1 print ad in the newspaper (1/2 page black and white) will cost 2 grand.

I have some radio ads I will sell you for $100 each (Morning Drive, live, testimonal by a 20 year well known talk show host), 1 per day, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month = 2 grand.

I also have some radio ads I will sell you for $20 each, 6am-7pm, Monday through Sunday, 25 per week, 4 weeks a month, again = $2000.

Not all of these options are interchangeable. Each will produce different results, and it takes someone with the knowledge of who you are, who your customers are, and a few other important factors to help you decide which option will work for you.

I have one client that used to spend $450 a week advertising with me, then they stopped.

No, they didn't stop spending money with me, they stopped spending only $450 a week.

Right now they are spending between $1500 and $2025 a week advertising on one of my radio stations.

And they are meticulous about tracking the response. That's why they increased.

Make sure you ask all the right questions when it comes to spending money on advertising.

And if you are in Fort Wayne, Indiana; contact me and I'll show you more. Scott at ScLoHo.net

The Wrong Way

2010-10-19T13:59:00.001-04:00

to do email marketing.

It's called spray & pray.

It's why the "Direct Mail" piece that arrives in my mailbox delivered by the U.S.P.S. is commonly called "Junk Mail" by consumers.

Last month I received the following email in my inbox:

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Holly DeSouza, and I am the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Behave Media, Inc.

We are a digital media company specializing in behavioral advertising, search marketing and consumer panel research. We help develop, plan and execute profitable campaigns for Fortune 500 companies by utilizing real-time consumer data with our innovative targeting capabilities. Our clients have seen an increase of 7%-35% in their ROI by utilizing our knowledge and expertise online.

If you would like to discuss how our services can benefit your organization, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Best Regards,

Holly DeSouza
VP, Sales & Marketing
Behave Media, Inc
73 Lexington St.
Boston, MA 02464
P: 800.270.0442

Usually, I would simply delete this. But I thought I would use this as a lesson instead.

The first question that popped in to my mind is, "why didn't my spam filter catch this?" I get an average of 11 spam emails an hour 24/7 that are caught automatically. (Thanks Gmail!)

Then I remembered that Holly got my email from their mailing list since I actually registered at one time to receive emails from her company.

In case you're still wondering what is wrong with this email, think for a moment. She also has access to my name, and it's not Sir/Madam. It's Scott Howard.

Any decent email marketing program can insert a persons name automatically.

She losses credibility and diminishes her company reputation from this one glaring mistake.

Then the rest is just a bunch of crap. Sorry if this is the way you were told to sell yourself, but you've already proved that you are just fishing for a bite or two, or Spraying the in-boxes with your half-hearted attempt and Praying someone will respond to what you wrote.

Better to send out 10 personalized and targeted emails each day or each week, then to send out a few hundred like this one and lose your chance to ever work with the people who received this poorly written email.

But the problem is not entirely Holly's.

I decided to call the number.

I got an automated attendant that told me, among other things, that if I knew the extension of the person I was calling I could enter it and get connected.

Holly didn't include an extension in her email, so I had to wait a full 40 seconds to be told to press zero for the operator.

I pressed zero. Sappy on hold music came on the line followed by the automated attendant telling me that they were too busy to take my call, please leave my name and number and someone will get back to me.

Total time wasted on the phone: 90 seconds.

This company needs help. If you can reach them. If you see yourself or your company making any of these same mistakes, stop it or go out of business.

As always, your comments are welcome.

Fix the Mistakes

2010-10-12T13:13:00.002-04:00

If the front door to your business had a broken window so anyone could walk in an help themselves 24/7, how long would you ignore the problem?

If you had an employee who is supposed to open your store at 10am every morning, but they don't show up until 10:20 on a regular basis, how long would you ignore the problem?

If you set up an email marketing campaign and it sends an email two or three times a day to the same people, over and over again, how long would you ignore the problem?

If you give a phone number in an advertisement and the number is wrong or disconnected, how long would you ignore the problem?

All of these have occurred in the past 20 days to businesses and organizations that I've contacted.

Every encounter is an impression either good or bad.

The email problem was one where the organization put someone in charge of scheduling emails and he thought the more the merrier.

Wrong. Complaints started coming in. Usually people just start labeling it as junk or spam.

I work with the organization and have access to their email service provider and was able to stop the craziness. I also changed the sending email address in case the old was now labeled as spam.

Put out the Fires, Fix the Mistakes, Stop the Bleeding, etc.

Ignorance isn't bliss. It can be deadly.

The Simple Side of Selling

2010-10-05T13:33:00.002-04:00

This week, I'll share a couple of excerpts from two conversations I had last month.

The first was an impromptu meeting with a gentleman I met last year when I did a presentation on Social Media & Marketing called Join the Conversation.

Besides a few blogs that I update, I am most active on Twitter, followed by LinkedIn and Facebook.

I also use FourSquare, at times, which allows you to check in at various locations and see where your friends have checked in too.

Anyway, I checked in on FourSquare and sent it out on Twitter that I was going to be at one of my local coffee shops for the next couple of hours. After awhile, I hear a voice and it's someone that I haven't seen in nearly a year and he left his office to find me and ask for advice.

He wanted to convince his bosses and co-workers that they need to be on social media sites in order to be ahead of their competitors. He works in the B-2-B world.

To summarize, I showed him what I had done and shared some of his frustrations with trying to get some of my radio station colleagues to jump on the social media train with lack luster results.

The problem with trying to convince someone who doesn't want to do something, to do something is it's just too hard.

And that's okay.

Which brings me to the other conversation I had a few days later on Twitter where someone had been having the same struggle of trying to convince co-workers on the value of social media.

And it hit me, don't worry about it. here's what I wrote:

@allen_ts Some people will get it now, others later, some never. Focus on helping those that want help & show the others your successes.

This really applies to all sales situations.
You can't get everyone to agree with you.
You can't get everyone to buy from you.

Focus on those that want you & that you can help.

It's that simple.

The Most Neglected Part of Your Advertising Campaign

2010-09-28T10:32:00.001-04:00

So far, we've covered two of the three elements of the Formula for Advertising Success.

Here's the Formula: http://sclohonet-thebook.blogspot.com/2010/09/formula-for-advertising-success.html

Here's the first element, Reach: http://sclohonet-thebook.blogspot.com/2010/09/are-you-reaching-your-potential.html

And the second element, Frequency: http://sclohonet-thebook.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-one-big-ad-is-waste-of-money.html

Today, I'll dig into the third element, your Message.

First a bit of background. Growing up I enjoyed listening to the radio, not just the music, but the personalities too. When I was 15, my high school started a radio station and about 30 of us volunteered to spend our summer studying for a test required by the Federal Communications Commission in order to work on the air at a radio station. 20 of the 30 passed.

Those 20 were given the opportunity to volunteer at our new high school radio station. That launched my career as a radio disc-jockey and air personality. At my 5 year class reunion, I was the only one that continue that career path.

One of my least favorite parts of the job was recording commercials. The scripts were usually pretty bad, and the reason is in radio, often the person who wrote the ads, was the salesperson and he/she had no training in advertising, only sales training.

One day, when I was 25 years old, I decided to re-write a pizza commercial with two voices, a bit of sly humor and then I produced it along with the boring commercial the sales guy gave me. They used my creative ad and within 6 months, I found a job writing and producing radio commercials in Detroit.

It was hard work, but I loved it. I was fascinated by the techniques that I could use to persuade people to action through advertising. This became a passion of mine is why I do what I do today, 25 years later.

Unfortunately, not much has changed in the advertising world in the past 30 years as far as message creation. (That's your ad.)

I now work with advertising agencies that are responsible for creating ads for their clients, and even some of those are pretty bad.

The adage that any news is good news, even bad news, as long as they spell my name right, doesn't apply to advertising.

Your advertising message must be targeted to the people you want to reach.
Your advertising message must be created with a goal in mind.
Your advertising message needs to break through the clutter of all the other advertising messages that you and I are exposed to daily.
Your advertising message needs to be uniquely yours, not interchangeable with your competitor.
Your advertising message needs to touch emotions first, logic second.
Your advertising message needs to be appropriate for the advertising venue/advertising medium you are using.

Regarding that last item, there is a huge difference between the content of an ad on a Billboard, a newspaper, and radio/TV.

Oh, and just because, you are paying someone to create your ad, that doesn't mean it is worth what you are paying them to create it.

Make the person who is creating your advertising message justify why they are saying and doing what they are creating. This is not a job for amateurs, or interns.

This is your business that you are paying to promote with your advertising dollars. It is your investment in your future. Don't neglect it.

If you are in the Northeast Indiana Area, (Fort Wayne), contact me if you would like help. Scott@ScLoHo.net

Why One Big Ad is a Waste of Money

2010-09-21T13:54:00.000-04:00

Continuing my focus on the Formula for Advertising Success...

Click here to read the Formula.

Click here to read the first part (Reach).

Now that you're caught up, let's talk about Frequency.

I sometimes get the question, "how much does it cost to advertise?" and I usually answer that question with a question, "What are you trying to accomplish with your advertising?"

I'm not in business to try and get the most money out of someone, I'm in the business to help them develop a plan that works.

By that I mean, reach the goals they have both long range and short term.

Rarely have I ever had someone do too much advertising, yet I've seen a lot of money wasted becasue it wasn't allocated properly.

Last week, I talked about Reach, the number of people that will potentially see or hear your ad.

Frequency is just as important, if not more important than Reach.

Frequency is how many times a person is going to hear or see your message. And to illustrate this principle, let's talk about dating.

I met my wife of nearly ten years about a year before we wed. We dated for 6 months before getting engaged.

What do you suppose would have happened if I asked her to marry me the first time we met and if she said no, then I didn't have any contact with her.

Yep, I'd still be single.

It takes more than one advertisement to bring in loyal customers, no matter how much money you spend on that one ad.

It may take 3 to 4 times (or more) for the target customer to even become aware of your ad, another 3 or 4 times for them to understand who or what the ad is for, and unless they are in the market for what you are advertising, it will take consistent exposure over time (like dating) for that particular person to buy from you.

Here's a simple math question:

You have $12,000 you can spend for advertising. You can get one full size color ad in the Sunday newspaper which reaches 100,000 people with the frequency of 1.

Or you can budget that $12,000 on a radio campaign to last you 12 full months. With one of my radio stations, I can craft a steady advertising plan that reaches 41,000 people over 80 times over the year. That's a frequency of 80.

One last question to drive home the point of Frequency.

The following bought one $3,000,000 (or more) ad in the 2010 Superbowl.

Do you remember them:

Dockers
HomeAway
kgb
U.S. Census Bureau

Are You Reaching Your Potential?

2010-09-14T12:00:00.002-04:00

And I'm referring to potential customers?

If you use traditional media like newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, Billboards, and some internet options, they will try and tell you how many people they reach with numbers such as circulation, listeners, viewers and traffic counts.

In reality, this has very little to do with the success of your advertising campaign.

Newspapers often use a formula that multiplies the number of papers printed by a number between 2 and 4 stating that each paper is read by 2 or more people. This math also happens in the magazine business.

Radio and TV stations get their audience info from independent companies such as Arbitron (Radio) and Nielsen (TV). They do surveys of a small sample of people and then use that data to make assumptions about the rest of us. Sort of like political polls.

Billboard companies use info from whatever government department is responsible for traffic counts.

Internet sites can track how many people visit a web page, but there are other issues that I'll share with you about the web.

But first, let me toss in another advertising option: Cable TV.

Cable TV reaches between 80 and 85% of the people in the city I live in. I get 100+ channels.

Cable TV advertising sales people use this type of info to explain why they are the best option for advertising.

All of these are only part of the equation. What ever number you are given is an estimate of the potential number of potential customers that you might be able to REACH with your advertising.

Which is a good number to know.

But the REACH number is only part of the Formula for Advertising Success.

And there are some flaws to using this as the main reason to pick one advertising option over another.

When you last read the newspaper, did you read every section? Did you read all the ads?
When you listened to the radio or watched television, did you listen and pay attention to every commercial?
When you drove to work, did you read all the billboards and signs you passed?

You and I are exposed to 1000's of advertisements and commercial messages every day. Can you write down 50 that you recall from the past 24 hours?

Next time I'll tell you about Frequency, which is one of the reasons you can recall those dozen ads you just wrote down.

And I'll also tell you in the weeks to come the numbers that you really should know first.

Or write to me at Scott@ScLoHo.net if you can't wait.

The Formula for Advertising Success

2010-09-07T11:04:00.002-04:00

Last month I was consulting with a gentleman who had a couple of marketing/advertising ideas.

He said marketing, I saw them as advertising.

Advertising is a paid form of marketing usually involving ads or commercials.

After hearing his ideas I realized that he was unaware of a basic formula that I've known and preached for years.

There really is a formula for Success in Advertising. Unfortunately a minority of people know it, and even less follow it.

Some do it be accident, but imagine how much more successful you could be if you consciously followed a formula.

Here it is:

Reach + Frequency + Message.

Put the word Right in front of each of those three words.

Reach is the number of different people that you ad will be exposed to.
Frequency is the number of times one person will be exposed to your ad.
Message is, well it IS your ad.

Every single form of advertising, from Billboards, to website banner ads, to radio ads, every form of advertising relies on this formula for success.

Before you agree to spend another nickle on advertising, consider these three elements.

Contact me if you need help. Scott @ ScLoHo.net

I'll dig deeper into each of these in the future.

Procrastination and the Crock Pot

2010-08-31T08:53:00.000-04:00

Most of us are told that Procrastination is bad.

And for good reason. Waiting until something is due to start often results in a half-assed, rushed job that is likely to have errors that would have been avoided if you hadn't done it at the last minute in a rushed, half-assed manner!

However, I've been giving this word some thought and want to challenge you to do the same.

It all began on a Friday morning. I was attending an introductory sales presentation by Paul Lushin when he mentioned that procrastination is good. Due to the time limits of his presentation and all of the other items he was covering, he didn't same much more about the subject.

But I thought about it the rest of the day, and decided to write about it.

However before I began writing about it, I checked my email and low and behold, there were not 1 but 2 newsletters in my inbox talking about the evils of procrastination.

More fuel to my fire.

First a posting on the Dumb Little Man blog entitled Four Crucial Steps to Avoid Procrastination.

Ali Hale gives some good advice on how to overcome Procrastination if it is a problem in your life and business.

Next, Seth Godin touches on the subject as he talks about Finding Inspiration Instead Of It Finding You.

Again, good advice about a more disciplined life, but there is another side of procrastination that I know is good.

I call it Crock Pot Procrastination.

Crock Pots and Slow Cookers became popular in the 1970's, as more Moms entered the work force fulltime and were still expected to feed the family at dinnertime.

A crock pot allowed you put raw food into a slow cooker, add some water and spices and let it simmer all day so when you came the house was filled with the aroma of a delicious dinner and our plates were filled tasty morsels of goodness.

Contrast this with the Microwave. What used to take an hour can now take 5 minutes. And that is how a lot of us operate with multi-tasking, doing everything now, etc.

In order for procrastination to work for you instead of against you, you need to follow the Crock Pot rules:

Prepare the ingredients. Start thinking about the project way ahead of the deadline.
Let it simmer. Go do something else. Some of my best creative ideas come when I'm mowing the yard, or playing a game. Staring at a computer screen and trying to be creative can be counter-productive.
Capture some of those ideas. Like the aroma that fills the kitchen as the food is cooking, those random ideas can add flavor or direction to what you are going to create. Write them down, save them in your voice mail, just have a system to capture those ideas.
Have a deadline. Dinnertime is 5:30 tonight. Not 9:30 tomorrow morning. Set a time to take the ideas that have been cooking in your crock pot, set the table and eat.
Save your leftovers. Not all of your ideas will fit into the project you are working on. Perhaps they are ideas you can use in the future.

By the way, the Friday that all of this happened was 11 days ago, August 20th. And I wrote this after about 24 hours of "Crock Potting" the idea of Good Procrastination.

But due to an abundance of ideas, I scheduled it to appear publicly today on the 31st, which takes the pressure off of having to Microwave an idea for a blog post that I've committed myself to update every week.

So how it all works?

Privacy & Personalized Marketing

2010-08-24T12:00:00.002-04:00

Facebook just launched a location service where people can update where they are on their Facebook page.

This is not a new service in social media, there are a couple of others including the one I use on occasion, FourSquare.

But Facebook is a giant. If you watched the video I posted last week, (Click here to see it again), did you catch that if Facebook were a country, it would rank 3rd largest in the world?

Facebook has privacy issues because it is so big.

Let me explain.

Because Facebook is so popular, unscrupulous people have found ways to gather information that most people would want kept private.

To Facebooks credit, they have created increased privacy options, but the general public hasn't locked down their Facebook pages and taken advantage of the privacy options Facebook offers.

I prefer location services like Foursquare, because I can use it when I want and only include people that I trust as my friends. Tonight I'm going to a baseball game and I'll use it to see who else is there.

Some businesses have used Foursquare as a marketing tool by offering specials to people who "Check in" on Foursquare when they are at that particular business. At lunch today, I was checking in on FourSquare and noticed that the Radio Shack in the same shopping center was offering a FourSquare special of 10% off just for showing them your phone with the FourSquare offer. It's a form of Word of Mouth endorsements via social media.

Most people however I not aware of all of the ways they give up their private information.

10 years ago, my mom was afraid of ordering anything online, yet for years she would freely give her credit card number to a stranger over the phone when placing an order at Sears.

Take a look at your key ring.

Do you have one of those loyalty cards with a bar code from your grocery store that they swipe in order to save money?

They have a record of everything you buy. Sometimes that is helpful like when they had the egg recall last week, some of the grocery stores were able to call customers who purchased the recalled eggs and leave them a warning and recall message.

And unless you are buying stuff that would be embarrassing, then you probably have nothing to worry about.

Personalized Marketing at the grocery store also occurs when they hand you coupons for your next visit that are based on the items you just bought.

Websites, and search engines do personalized marketing too, with ads that are relevant for what you are searching for and/or your location.

In the radio business, I've done a form of personalized advertising too.

No, I don't call your name in a commercial, but I'll target a very specific person in the content of the ad and keep it as time relevant as possible too.

A few other thoughts on this subject, when I turned 50 a few months ago, the direct mail and some of the email (Spam) I started receiving was geared to the 50+ generation. More like the 65+ generation.

And if you are going to send a direct mail piece to me addresses to RESIDENT or OCCUPANT, I'll probably be calling on you to teach you how to do a better job with your advertising and marketing.

The New Normal of Advertising & Marketing Options

2010-08-17T08:53:00.000-04:00

40 years ago, when I was ten years old, Walter Cronkite was the most trusted newsman in America. Uncle Walter delivered the news to millions of people 5 nights a week and his network, CBS, was one of three television channels that most households relied on. ABC was the youngest and was a spin-off of NBC.

1970 was also the year that PBS was launched although it took years for it to become a national network.

We had 5 local AM Radio Stations and 3 or 4 FM Radio Stations to listen to. And a morning and afternoon newspaper.

That's what was normal for media in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Advertising options included all of the above along with Billboards, Phone Books and Direct Mail.

A friend of mine worked for the dominant radio station in the 1970's and the morning show was listened to by 60% of all radio listeners. Now we have around 20 radio stations, 16 of them are FM, and the most popular morning show is listened to by less than 15% of all radio listeners.

We have Cable TV reaching 8 out of 10 homes, and then there's the internet.

Advertising options have exploded. If you are running your advertising and marketing the way your parents or grandparents did 40 years ago without recognizing these changes, you are destined to fail. Sorry about that, but it's true.

The changes are also happening faster than ever before. So if you added a website to your marketing plan 5 years ago, it looks dated, and less trustworthy.

I know, I know... it's hard enough to keep up with the changes going on in your industry, let alone the changes in marketing and advertising.

So how do know what to change? What to drop? What to add?

Those questions are premature.

First you need to know about the heart and soul of your business. Your business has a personality that is unique. You need to know and understand this part of your business so that which ever advertising options you use, you are being true to your business and your customers.

Very few businesses are able to transform themselves from one niche to another. We'll explore that in the future. And we'll also look at the New Normal from a consumers viewpoint.

This is one of the latest in a series of video's that demonstrate some of these changes:

People and Technology

2010-08-10T13:33:00.001-04:00

Technology can help your business communication, but you have to have the right people managing it.

Last month I used a trip to the dentist to illustrate how no matter what business you are in, you can use the technology tools of today to connect with your customers.

Click here to read it.

Today, I've got an update.

Last week I got an email from my dentist as part of their new email initiative:

(I replaced his name with "My Dentist" and am protecting his street address too)

My Dentist, DDS
XXXX East State Blvd
Fort Wayne, IN 46815

Dear Kathleen Howard,

Every day more exciting and important information is being communicated electronically via the Internet. In the future, My Dentist, DDS would like to communicate with you via email, which will enable you to receive teeth cleaning reminders, schedule your next appointment online, confirm your scheduled appointments online and receive money saving specials. My Dentist, DDS would like your permission for the privilege to serve you more efficiently and conveniently via email.

If you would like to be part of this convenient online program, you do not need to take any additional action. If you prefer not to have My Dentist, DDS contact you via email, please see instructions at the bottom of this message, and your name will then be deleted from our emailing lists immediately.

We appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely,

Your friends at My Dentist, DDS

The first problem is they used my wife's name, not mine. They sent it to my email account, not my wife's.

Very few families have "Family Email Accounts".

We have individual email addresses. Email is not like regular mail. If you address something to my home address, whoever gets the mail sorts it and gives it to the appropriate person.

The next problem is the content of this email along with the subject line which read, "My Dentist requests your permission."

I already gave permission last month at the dentist office when I gave you my email address.

And the content is written in a non-friendly, almost legalese style that does not reflect the nature of my dentist and his staff, whom I characterize as fun and competent. Yeah, my dentist is fun!

So what went wrong?

They need to make sure the people using the technology understand how to use it instead of just filling in the blanks in the email template without considering the recipient.

At the radio stations where I work, we recently fired someone who did her job pretty good.

Not perfect, but it seemed okay.

Turns out pretty good wasn't good enough.

Problems started cropping up because she was in charge of inputting data into computers and following specific guidelines.

She had the "Google approach". Google is forgiving, it helps you with spelling errors, makes suggestions, etc.

Our computer systems require perfection.

I discovered 6 mistakes that were made in one day, and I'm not even trained to work in that area, I just know how to check for errors.

So, use technology, but make sure the folks you put in charge know how to use it, and care enough to do it right.

By the way, that is NOT a picture of my dentist!

Losing or Winning Customers?

2010-08-03T13:00:00.002-04:00

Friday and Saturday I had two very different customer service experiences.

Friday evening my wife and I took my step-daughter out for her birthday, and she wanted to go to Applebees. I happen to know the Human Resources Director and Marketing Director for Applebees and because of this, I have some inside info on what's supposed to happen when you visit.

Our waitress and the rest of the staff did everything perfectly. This was the first time I've visited Applebees for dinner, I usually stop by for lunch. Now they get my recommendation for dinner too. Despite showing up at 6:15 to a full house, they found a spacious booth for the three of us and we were done by 7pm including desert!

Saturday, I visited Arby's for a diet Mt. Dew and I decided to try one of the Junior Deluxe Sandwiches. I went to an Arby's that I've never been to and it was terrible. I visit an Arby's 4 times a week, mostly for breakfast or lunch and they usually have good, speedy service. Not this time though.

I walked in and there were no other customers inside and just one car at the drive thru. I heard voices but didn't seen any employees for about 45 seconds. When they saw me, they seemed surprised and I asked if they had diet Mt. Dew because I didn't see it on their menu board.

Her answer, with a big sigh, "No".

Then she just stared at me.

I stared back.

Finally I told her my order, a Junior Deluxe and a small diet Pepsi to go. She pushed some buttons on her register and then said, "Fer here or ta go?"

I repeated, "To go please."

"$3.75", were her next words.

I gave her a 5.

She gave me my change and walked away.

It seemed to be talking an awful long time, so I glanced at the screen that counts down how long it takes for an order to be completed and when the timer hit 4:23, she reappeared and set my order on the counter, on a tray.

Since I don't take tray's when my order is to go, I took my food off the tray and walked out.

Oh, three more things,

The manager was laughing about the drive-up customer that changed their order and calling him a dumb-XXit. And the young lady who took my order, answered the phone while I was waiting for my food and was talking to someone on the other end about what they were going to do that night. Maybe that's why she couldn't remember my order was to go.

And the restroom, let's just say it needed a LOT of attention.

My wife and I both commented to each other Friday night about how nice our Applebees experience and I bet we'll be back for dinner on a regular basis. That means more money going to Applebees because of the way they handled themselves. That's how you Win Customers.

When I got in my car with my Arby's sandwich and drink, the first thing I did was post on 4 square, twitter and facebook or terrible the service was at this particular Arbys. This is how you Lose Customers. Not just me, but anyone of the 1500 plus people who are friends or follow me on the social networks.

What lessons can we learn from this?

Have a customer service plan.
Make sure your employees know it, and do it and you'll all benefit.
Bad news spreads even faster with the social media tools customers have and unless you are on top of this, you could lose more customers than you can recruit.

Media Numbers vs Your Numbers

2010-07-28T13:21:00.000-04:00

Last week it was announced that Facebook now has 500 million members.

That's a helluva lot of people.

The radio stations I work for have over 142,000 listeners every week according to the last report we received from Arbiton.

That's a helluva lot of people.

Every week there are over 400 visits to one of my blogs.

That's a helluva lot of people.

But these numbers don't really matter.

I have a choice of watching between 50 and 150 different TV Channels in my home.

I have over 500 Linked-In connections.

I have 550 Facebook Friends and 1017 Followers on Twitter.

That's a helluva lot of people.

But these numbers don't really matter.

What does matter?

Your numbers.

If you are running a business, and you need to, or want to grow, do you know how many more customers you can handle before you have to make some changes, like hire staff, extend hours, etc?

Do you know how to grow by 10% without gaining a single new customer? (Upsell).

Do you know what it takes to retain more customers and recruit them as your ambassadors who will tell others about you which in turn creates more business and growth?

Please don't be hoodwinked by the marketing gurus, advertising salespeople, or social media pundits into spending your money based on their numbers.

Invest in your business marketing based on your numbers.

Need help? Contact me. Click here.

Self Centered vs Customer Centered

2010-07-21T11:44:00.001-04:00

Last week I visited my dentist for a cleaning and check-up. Everything was fine, as usual. Last year I had my first cavity in 20 years, which is pretty good.

As a kid, we had our cleanings every 6 months and at the conclusion of each appointment, they'd schedule my next visit and give me a reminder card to stick on the refrigerator along with a new toothbrush.

But as schedules have become busier, and working moms are the norm, my dentist has stepped up the reminder process.

A week before my appointment I got a post card, which jogged my memory to keep Tuesday afternoon open at 3:30. I don't recall getting a post card in the past. Usually the day before my appointment, I would get a phone call as a reminder, and sure enough, I got a message Monday in my voice mail about my cleaning the next day.

Now my dentist was doing something different. His office asked if I preferred Text Message or E-mail reminders too. They assured me that they were going to continue with the phone calls, because that works best for some folks, but they were expanding to these other reminder services too "as a service to our patients".

I know that it's also a service for themselves, because if someone forgets an appointment, it's money lost forever, since for a doctor, time is money.

So, are you asking the right questions about communication with your customers? Are you offering either enough choices or at least the choices that your customers want?

Three Choices

2010-07-14T12:00:00.003-04:00

There is a bit of magic in the power of three. But today I'm going to refer to three that every business owner has to make everyday.

1. Improve.

2. Stay the same.

3. Go out of business.

Let's look at #2 first.

Stay the same. Coast for awhile. A lot of folks decided to do this when times were tough. When the recession hit their business, when the phone stopped ringing off the hook with new customers, when the easy money stopped being so easy... Many decided to hang tight, "I don't want to do anything different right now"

Problem is that by doing nothing, or cutting back, or staying the same, the world continued to change. Every corner of it.

Even yours.

The internet has changed the way we get information, make choices, and how we play. And now you don't need a computer to access the web.

I recall being amazed that even homeless people still had cellphones. And last month when I moved up to a Smartphone, another light bulb lit up above my head.

With the mobile web technology, even the most remote locations now are connected. And that connection means, they are not waiting for you.

I only use the homeless example to help you realize that if they are moving forward, you should be too.

There is only one way to coast.

You can't coast uphill.

You can only go so far by coasting on a flat surface.

The only way to coast is downhill. And once you start going down, you pick up speed until you crash at the bottom.

I don't think that's what most people were planning when they told me they were going to "ride it out". But unfortunately, it happened anyway.

Gravity is a law.

Of course, there are those that decided to choose #3 and close the doors and retire. Good for them if that's what they want.

But what about you?

For most of us the best choice is #1.

It's not the easiest, I can promise you that! But it is your only chance to survive. And if you can survive, you can also thrive.

In a couple of weeks I'll list a number of ways you can improve, survive and thrive.

I like that list of three, "improve, survive and thrive", don't you?

Sales Basics: Attitude

2010-07-06T19:22:00.004-04:00

The easy ones sometimes aren't.

Unless you are prepared and know what you are doing.

Around the group of radio stations I work with, I am the fix-it person. About four years ago when I moved into management, I took over our Hip-Hop Station and increased sales to hit our budget within 4 months.

Then I took over the sales management of a different station with the same result... 4 months later, it was on budget.

April of this year, we launched a new station and by June, it was on budget. Now I've been assigned a different station and by September or October it will be exceeding its budget too.

The station I'm focused on improving now just launched a morning talk show 3 weeks ago. A well known afternoon talk show host from another station in town became available and after doing research, we brought him on board.

He had a list of about 40 local businesses that he used to do testimonial commercials for and they were our first target for increasing revenues. Yesterday I met with another one on the list and it was fun. Not easy, but fun.

For the past eight years, this local business owner would never agree to meet. The door opener was the talk show host we hired.

When I was ushered into his office, he introduced me to his marketing team, one of whom I've known for about 3 years. It was clear that the final decision was going to be the owners, but he wanted input from his team.

I brought with me, a few papers, one with the price for advertising, and a blank contract along with a credit application. I've renamed it a terms agreement because it sounds friendlier.

The conversation was back and forth, like a real conversation. I involved everyone in the room, and they basically sold themselves on what I was offering them.

But I've seen others who were put in similar situations, who would have blown it. They talk too much about themselves, or why they are better than others. They give unnecessary price discounts, they appear nervous, pushy, and they project zero confidence.

I did the opposite. I even gave them an idea on how to get better results with the radio station they were still on.

Sales shouldn't be a battle, or a game of trickery. Successful sales people know that their mission is to help solve their customers problems. And when you do it with the right attitude it can pay pretty well too.

Stop Selling and Life will be Better

2010-06-30T21:08:00.006-04:00

It's easy to sell stuff to people who want to buy it.

But it's nearly impossible to sell stuff to people who don't want to buy it.

I've been considering upgrading my phone to a smart phone for awhile. But the price had to be right.

This month my step-daughter told me her fiance was buying her an iPhone for her birthday and he was adding her to his cellphone plan. Her birthday is at the end of July, but the new iPhone was coming out this week.

So Tuesday I visited my usual cellphone store, an authorized Verizon retailer, to check out my options for a new phone for me and what the cost savings where going to be with one less phone on our plan.

It wasn't a good experience. The store was understaffed, and the guy had to call Verizon customer service to get answers. The answers were vague and I decided it was time for me to shop around.

7am Wednesday my phone rings and it's my step-daughter asking for account info because she is in the process of transferring her number to AT &T at that moment. By 8am, the deal was done and I was now in the market for my own smartphone.

Later in the day, I went to an official Verizon Wireless store and found out how to save money, get a Droid and start learning how to use the apps.

The guy that I talked to Tuesday night was incompetent in my eyes. He could have sold me a $200 phone this week, but due to his inability to help me buy, he lost the sale.

The folks that I bought the phone from really didn't have to sell me, they just had to help me buy.

How much better could your life become if you helped buyers buy instead of always trying to sell?

Saving your Way to Big Bucks?

2010-06-22T08:02:00.003-04:00

One of my radio stations picked up a talk show host that has been on the top talk station for over a dozen years. We have been calling on the clients he did testimonial spots for and offering them a chance to stay with him, but on our station.

That's why I was meeting with a potential advertising client yesterday. It's a family run insurance business and they've been doing little piddly stuff for years along with some consistent advertising in other areas.

I noticed that they sponsored a Little League Baseball team. I learned they actually sponsored two teams. Cost them about $1000 a year. Could be good P.R. if they followed through and contacted each and every family that was involved with the teams and offered to do an insurance review for them. It could easily recover the costs and be a good investment instead of just good P.R.

In my meeting, they expressed caution. They have been losing some of their business clients because they have gone under in this economy.

Well, guess what. Nearly EVERYONE has had that happen to them. But the way to combat that is to invite more people to do business with you, not hide until the "bad times blow over".

You can not save your way to earning big bucks. Instead of cutting your advertising and marketing efforts, dig deeper.

Follow up, Follow through.

Stop wasting the leads you have and soon you'll discover the real path to big bucks is to pursue it with an honest passion to help your potential customers.

Which Form of Advertising should I Use?

2010-06-15T08:22:00.004-04:00

As a business owner, this is one of the most critical decision you need to make.

The number of options continue to grow, but not all options are created equal.

Let's come up with a measuring stick to determine what you should do.

The first question is, "How Long will I be in business?"

Some businesses are seasonal, like a Christmas Tree lot, or a Snow Cone stand.

For them, it would not make sense to advertise when they are closed.

But most businesses are open year round, and so if you are open 12 months a year, you need to advertise 12 months a year.

Your advertising needs to have both reach and frequency to the right people with the right message.

Let's use radio as an example, but you can apply this to billboards, television, paper, the web, anything really.

Reach refers to the number of different people who will see/hear your message. A radio station might have 50,000 listeners per week, but all of them will not hear your commercial.

Perhaps the average number of listeners at any one time is 1000. Only a percentage of those listeners will be in the market to spend month with you if they hear your commercial one time.

This is where Frequency factors in. Because our brains filter out most of the information we see and hear, I have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do of getting a new customer with just one commercial. And I have never even bought a lottery ticket!

Frequency is repetition. Think about the toddler that asks for a cookie, repeatedly until Mom or Dad give the kid a cookie just to stop the noise! If the kid asked just once, he would be ignored.

But repetition doesn't have to be annoying. That's where the right message comes into play.

So, what form of advertising should I use? One that you can afford to stick with with enough frequency to consistently reach and invite people to do business with you. Perhaps it's not the biggest radio station, maybe a more targeted station with a lower cost per commercial will allow you the right combination of reach and frequency for your budget will work better.

One last thought on this subject, take a look at the motivation of the person who is sitting across the table from you, trying to sell you advertising. Do they care more about their success or yours?

Ideally, they should care about both.

Advertising: The Missing Piece

2010-06-10T08:07:00.002-04:00

You can be the best plumber in your town and be broke.

You can be the best baker in your town and be broke.

You can be the best ___________ in your town and be broke.

If...

you do not invite people to spend money with you.

That's the single purpose behind advertising.

You have something of value that you will sell and you need to let your potential customers know about it, so they can give you money in exchange for the goods or service.

Yet, this piece of your business success is often missing, or not planned out.

The options are numerous for where to spend your advertising money. Next week, I'll give you the criteria most businesses should use to determine which will provide the most success and profit.

When are you Open?

2010-06-03T07:05:00.001-04:00

One of the things that a lot of businesses get backwards is focusing on themselves, instead of their customers.

What if restaurants were only open from 8 to 5, five days a week. Would they survive? Probably not unless you were only running a lunch counter.

Taco Bell was one of the first fast food chains to stay open late, they even invented the 4th meal concept. Now, I'm not likely to grab a taco at 4am, but lots of others do, and now several other fast food places are open until midnight or later.

What if you changed your hours to accommodate your customers? Would noon to 9pm work better for your customers? How about your employees, would they be in a better mood if they had mornings free?

Think about it, and rethink your hours of operation.

A Business without a Plan

2010-05-27T08:19:00.000-04:00

Sure, it would be nice to just "wing it", and be successful. But life doesn't work that way.

Earlier this month I got a phone call from a barber who was calling to get a quote for advertising for the salon that he works at. So I set up an appointment and visited them a couple days later and discovered that they were "Winging it".

9 months ago they moved from one side of town to downtown. I've driven by their shop 50 times, yet never noticed them. Even the day of my meeting I went around the block twice before I found them.

At this particular small business, they have about 6 or 7 employees including the two owners and they must be doing a decent job in order to stay in business for the past several months. They are planning a "Grand Opening" next month and reached out to a couple radio stations that they listen to for ideas.

I was honest with them. I told them what it would take to build their business and they really didn't want to hear it.

A 52 week advertising plan with a minimum of 15 ads per week at $400 per week is not what they wanted to hear.

I predict that their store front will have a For Rent sign in the window within the next 52 weeks instead.

Now, some other radio salesperson will sell them what they want, but it's not what they need.

The reason so many businesses close within 2 years, and even fewer last 5 years, is they don't have a plan to get customers who will pay them money, which in turn keeps them in business.

I understand that many of these people have the best of intentions, they have a great idea, they are above average in their area of expertise, but they are often missing that one ingredient, the advertising and marketing side of success.

And it hurts to see these fine people invest their hearts, dreams, time, passion and funds into something that won't last.

I've said this before and it bears repeating over and over and over again:

"If you are planning a party but never send out invitations, NO ONE WILL SHOW UP."

In the weeks ahead, I'll review some of the ways you can invite people to do business with you, pay you money, and keep you alive and thriving.

The Power of 3 Updated

2010-05-19T08:57:00.000-04:00

Monday, I had Subway for lunch.

As soon as I sat down at my desk, I realized that the reason I was about to eat my cold cut combo was the power of 3.

There is a rule that many advertising professionals follow that says it takes 3 impressions to motivate a person to action.

It started on my way to work. I usually have a hot breakfast. McDonalds was too busy so I kept driving. A few weeks ago I had an egg white melt from Subway and it was pretty good, so when I got downtown, that's where I went and what I got.

That was #1.

Then around 11:30 a couple of the women I work with mentioned that they were going to Subway for lunch.

That was #2.

About an hour later, as I was leaving to get my lunch, I stopped by one of the offices of the women who had Subway and she was finishing off the last bite.

That was #3.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, I was considering either chicken or Chinese. But I passed both of those options and continued a few more blocks to Subway where I ordered a custom made sandwich, chips and a drink.

With the increase in the number of advertising impressions we are exposed to daily, (somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000), is the rule of 3 still relevant? Yes, given certain conditions.

I have also been exposed to at least 5 lottery ads each day, but have never played. I'm not in the market for a lottery ticket. But when I was driving I was in the market for lunch.

Still, if I didn't like Subway, or never had been previously exposed to Subway, the 3 impressions I had that day wouldn't have been enough.

When you are planning an advertising/marketing campaign, realize that everyone will not become your customer (Lottery tickets).

Also each single person needs 3 positive impressions within a short time period to motivate them to action.

And finally, most people are not even aware of these 3 impressions that motivated them to action, so tracking the advertising effectiveness can be difficult.

Still.....

How to Get Better Results from Your Advertising (Part 2)

2010-05-11T08:26:00.000-04:00

Last week, the answer was Focus.

This week the answer is Emotion.

Too often advertising fails to tap into peoples emotions.

But its not "Peoples Emotions".

Make it singular.

Your advertising message should be targeted to One Person.

If your commercial is using a language style that is not the style you use in a one-on-one conversation, you are probably not tapping into anyone's emotions.

People are individuals.
Talk to them as individuals.
No, make that, talk to them as an individual.

And use real language. Not commercial-ease.

Paint a picture with your words. Focus on the needs and desires of your customer, not yours as a business owner.

For example, they don't care that you've been in business 13 years. They do care that you have helped hundreds of people over the years that have the same problem that needs fixing.

It's the W.I.I.F.M. theory.

What's In It For Me.

And it's more than a theory, it's how we relate emotionally, and it's how to get better results from your advertising messages.

How to Get Better Results from Your Advertising (Part 1)

2010-05-04T09:10:00.001-04:00

In a word:

Focus.

Too often advertising is designed to reach a broad spectrum of people. This may work for a grocery store newspaper ad, but is totally wrong when using something more personal like radio or television.

Our brains have a super power to filter out much of the information we are exposed to each day, except for what truly interests us. The rest of what we see and hear may go into our subconscious, or be blocked completely.

Let's take McDonalds as an example of an advertiser that successfully follows this Focus principle.

They have over 20 items on their menu. But each of their ads features only one item. If they are promoting two items, they will use two separate ads. Angus Burgers and Chocolate/Banana Milkshakes are what they are promoting right now. But not in the same advertisement.

Also McDonalds uses shorter commercials since they are so focused. In radio, 60 seconds is the norm. Television ads are usually 30 seconds long.

In the past 5 years I've worked with McDonalds on our radio stations, their ads are 10 seconds, 15 seconds, and sometimes 30 seconds long.

Short and to the point.

Focus.

If your advertising sales rep wants to throw in as much as possible into your ad, (or if you do); stop and try this Focus approach.

Contact me if you need help.

How Radio & TV Ratings Work (Part Two)

2010-04-27T12:22:00.000-04:00

First, read what I wrote last week by clicking here, if you have not yet read Part One.

Welcome back.

We're jumping into this with both feet which is why you needed the background info I wrote last week.

Every week, I receive phone calls and emails from advertising agencies around the country wanting information on the radio stations I represent. Usually it is the Media Buyer who is looking for the best way to spend their clients money.

What they are usually looking for is something called Reach & Frequency. That's good. However how they measure the effectiveness is what I question.

(Reach refers to how many individual people the commercial will reach and is based on the size of the radio stations audience and the number of ads that air for the business.

Frequency refers to how often each individual listener will hear the commercial.)

Terms like Cost Per Point and Gross Rating Points are on their list of items to work with.

Arbitron defines these terms:

Gross Rating Points (GRPs)

The sum of all rating points achieved for a particular spot schedule.

[AQH Rating] x [the number of spots in an advertising schedule] = GRPs

Cost Per Rating Point

The cost of reaching an Average Quarter-Hour Persons audience that's equivalent to one percent of the population in a given demographic group.

[Cost of Schedule] / [GRP] = Cost Per Rating Point
…or…
[Spot Cost] / [AQH Rating] = Cost Per Rating Point

These mathematical calculations can result in some pretty weird advertising schedules.

But my biggest complaint is that it is often short term thinking based on flawed numbers to begin with.

So, when I work with clients who are not represented by an advertising agency media buyer, I use what I call common sense. And usually that common sense tells me that it is best for my client to "dominate a daypart".

Radio Dayparts are 6am to 10am (morning drivetime) 10am-3pm (mid-days) 3pm-7pm (afternoon drivetime) 7pm-12midnight (evenings) and 12midnight to 6am (overnights).

To dominate a daypart, my client should air at least 3 out of 4 hours in mornings or afternoons, or 3 out of 5 hours in mid-days and evenings. This creates a stronger impression on listeners than what some of the crazy schedules I see coming from media buyers, where I will see 5 ads in mid-days for an entire 5 days versus my formula which says you should air 15 times, minimum during that same 5 hour a day, 5 day a week time period.

Please understand that I'm not insulting media buyers. Most have been trained to buy by the numbers and formulas. As a matter of fact, I will often propose an advertising schedule to the media buyers I work with based on the daypart domination that I explained.

I think next week, we'll talk about how to increase the effectiveness of your advertisement, that has nothing to do with ratings. Your comments are always welcome.

How Radio & TV Ratings Work (Part One)

2010-04-20T10:13:00.003-04:00

And why it is a flawed system....

This week I thought I'd go further into explaining a system that people think they understand, but most don't.

Radio ratings. Arbitron is the major provider of this information. Television ratings are similar and the company that provides that information is Nielson.

Eight years ago, when I was taking a sabbatical from the advertising world, our family participated in a Nielson survey. People who work in these industries are prohibited from taking part in these surveys.

We received the form to fill out, which asked us to write what we watched each day for a week. The first day, I filled the form out correctly. The next 6 days, I forgot about it. But I watched TV each day, so on the 7th day, I filled out what I probably watched the previous week and mailed the form back.

I'm sure this is typical for both radio and tv rating surveys. Which means the data is flawed. It is not a true, hour by hour diary of your listening/viewing habits, it is a guesstimate of what you probably did on most days.

But in our market, Fort Wayne is currently market # 105 or #106, this is how radio ratings are gathered twice a year, for 3 months in the spring and then 3 months each fall. The radio stations that pay for the results, (Thousands of $$$$$) get the use of the results when they are complied and released.

Our current rating period runs April thru June and we won't get the results until the end of August. Originally these ratings services were used by program directors to measure the effectiveness of their jobs and for bragging rights. But then they became a tool for advertising agencies to place commercials and negotiate price.

This is where things have become really crazy, when we think about it. Remember the inaccuracies of each survey, multiplied by the thousand or so people who fill out a survey, which is then multiplied to reflect the listening/viewing habits of an entire city, or in our case, 6 county Metropolitan Area of nearly 1/2 a million people.

Still with me? Good, here's how Arbitron counts radio listeners using the diary/survey system:

Arbitron counts individual people, called Cume for Cumulative persons. Arbitron also counts when and how long a person listens to each radio station and tallies this number up and calls it Average Quarter Hour.

If you listen to radio station WWWW from 6:10 to 6:35 am each morning, then turned the radio off until after 7am, you and I know that you listened for 25 minutes. However, using the Quarter Hour system that Arbitron uses, you listened in 3 Quarter Hours. 3 Quarter hours sounds like 45 minutes right? Not according to Arbitron.

If you listened for a least 5 minutes, you get credit for listening to that radio station for an entire 15 minute quarter hour. So, from 6:10-6:15 is one, 6:15-6:30 is two, and 6:30 to 6:35 is three Quarter Hours that radio station WWWW gets credit for you as a listener.

And if you listened to WAAA from 6:00 to 6:05 and then WBBB from 6:05 to 6:10 before you listened to WWWW for the next 25 minutes, they get credit for having you as a listener too for that same 6:00-6:15am Quarter Hour. Only if you wrote all of this down on your survey form.

Sound a little crazy? Let's add this up. WAAA get's 1 Quarter Hour, WBBB gets 1 Quarter Hour, WWW gets 3 Quarter Hours, for a total of 5 quarter hours in less than 60 minutes. In our example, you actually listened to the radio for 35 minutes, yet Arbitron counts 75 minutes (5 quarter hours).

Next week, I'll explain how Ad Agencies use this information.

Ignorance is not bliss...

2010-04-13T11:24:00.002-04:00

First, let me explain my entire marketing philosophy:

Marketing encompasses everything that you do and don't do that creates an impression upon your "market".
Your "market" is your current, future, and past customers along with those that will influence those people who may not be directly your customers.
Successful Marketing understands and follows human relationship principles.

That's the basis for ScLoHo Marketing Solutions.

Now let's look at the real world.

For about 10 years, I took a break from the advertising, sales, and marketing world and worked a few "real jobs" and rediscovered what a consumer goes through in real life. So I have a unique background of working in the communications and entertainment world, working in the advertising and marketing world, stepping away for about a decade and then returning with a keen understanding of all sides of the picture.

And now I get to work with business owners who are being sold advertising schedules that sound good by advertising sales people who earn a commission on what they sell.

Often, due to an emphasis on selling, these advertising schedules are either a failure or cannot be justified because the advertising sales person has limited knowledge of the three marketing points I listed, or is more interested in their own paycheck.

And sometimes it's simply a matter of ignorance, no one knows any better, so the business owner buys what sounds good and the advertising sales person sells what they've been told to sell.

Some business owners decide to hire an advertising agency to take care of all of these things, so they can focus on what they do best, running their business.

Problem is that advertising agencies are similar to advertising sales people a lot of the time. I know because I work with several of them. I've even considered joining one or two if I could find a good philosophical fit.

In the ad agency world, they create marketing pieces and advertising copy and commercials, print ads, billboard signs, etc, etc, etc...

A couple years ago I attended our local Addy Awards, the competition that the creative types in ad agencies want to win, because, well, it's like getting an Oscar, Emmy, Pulitzer, except it is for advertisements.

I was impressed with the talent we have in my city, when I saw the work that was presented.

And I am also impressed with most of the agency owners that I know. Their hearts are usually in the right place.

I usually work with the media buyers at the ad agencies however, and this is where the cookie starts to crumble.

In Radio (and also Television), most media buyers place advertising based on a rating system called Arbitron or Nielson. These companies are paid thousands of dollars to conduct surveys of individual listeners and viewers habits and then come up with numbers representing the strength of each station based on this data.

Without going to deep into the details, of why this is usually a flawed system, it is also the wrong system to use to buy advertising because it ignores principle #3 above. I look at it as more of a justification for the media buyers to explain why they spend their clients money here and not there.

While I am not about to change this practice singlehandedly, and I do enjoy working with media buyers, I disagree that an advertising agency is always the best way to handle your marketing.

Because there is a big difference between advertising and marketing. Look at principles 1 & 2 above and consider all the items that don't include paid advertising that are still part of your marketing.

Is there an answer to all of this?

Yes.

When it comes to the success of your business, look at the big picture from an outsiders view.

Look at the small details of what influences people to do or not do business with you and fix what you can.

Make sure your advertising efforts follow human relationship principles.

Beware of slick talking salespeople who either care more about their dollars than yours, or are just too ignorant to truly help.

Your comments are always welcome.

A Quick Start to Using Social Media to Draw People to Your Website

2010-04-06T13:57:00.001-04:00

I've been meaning to write this for awhile.

This is the advice I give to my radio clients.

It's the advice I give to nearly anyone that wants to get found online.

It's not a quick process.

It takes discipline.

It requires your time.

Start a blog. Update it at least once a week.
Set up a twitter account. Use it to promote, interact and share with others.
Set up a Facebook page. But be selective with what you do with it.

Let's start with your blog.

Once a week, tell a story about your business. Change the names to protect privacy of the people you are talking about if you want, but be real. Talk about the customer that was looking for something and you were able to help. Share tips on your area of expertise.

But most of all, keep updating it. Weekly is a minimum. Daily if you have the time.

I recommend using Blogger.com It is an easy to use platform and is owned by Google. Google is always looking for fresh content and after awhile you will probably start showing up in Google search results.

One other Blog hint: include a picture with each post.

Twitter is my favorite online method of promoting my blog postings. Most of my new blog postings, I promote with a link on Twitter. Many people don't understand Twitter, don't use Twitter, but they use Facebook, which I'll get to in a moment. Over the weekend, I posted my 10,000th Tweet since I signed up in October 2008.

I use Tweetdeck as a way to manage my Twitter account on a daily basis and unless you are compulsive about it, Twitter can be a useful communication tool. Somehow, I've gained over 900 followers and made friends with others in my home town and also around the world in areas that we are both interested in.

Now, Facebook.

Facebook to me is the social media platform that I really don't like but it is too big to ignore. The number of people with Facebook accounts, if they were a country would be one of the top 3 or 4 countries in the world!

What don't I like about Facebook? The games like Mafia Wars and Farmville that friends play and it shows up in my updates. The various other applications that are in my opinion silly. But the biggest problem I have with Facebook is they keep changing the layout and privacy settings.

What I like about Facebook is that because so many people are on it, odds are if you want to connect with old friends, new friends, or family, they are probably on Facebook.

But having a blog, a Twitter and Facebook account will not draw people to your website.

You need to provide links, not copy and paste style, but clickable links that go to your website.

And on your website, you need to provide links to your social media sites.

Click here and you'll go to my website where you'll find clickable links to my blogs, my radio stations, and even links to the most recent blog posts.

It has taken time, work and discipline but it works.

Playing Favorites?

2010-03-30T13:48:00.002-04:00

Or making excuses.

First, a true story. Followed by a Challenge.

In my real life, I spend my 40+ hours working for a group of radio stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

I've been here nearly 7 years, and have been in the radio business for over half my life. And I've worked outside of the radio and advertising business too for about 10 years.

Last week I had what I call a "come to Jesus" meeting with one of the advertising agency media buyers that handles one of the two major hospitals in our region.

For the past several weeks, I've been hearing radio ads for a "Don't Text & Drive" campaign on a number of radio stations, but none of mine. I was told in the meeting that with limited funds, they only bought the radio stations that had the highest ratings.

I pulled out the numbers which demonstrated our station was top dog for their target.

Then I got the truth.

She was prohibited from buying "certain stations due to the music they play".

These 3 stations represent over 219,500 listeners out of 792,000 people. Just over 25% of the population that they are not inviting to do business with them. These stations target the 18 to 35 year olds. The people starting families, establishing doctor relationships, etc.

I represent one of the stations. Fortunately I have 3 other stations to offer to this hospital and health care organization. And I will also go to their competitor and see if they are as limited in their vision and stereotypes.

Now, here's my Challenge to you:

What is holding you back from making smart, forward thinking marketing decisions?

What assumptions are you making that is crippling your growth?

You can't blame the economy. Even if we had 20% unemployment, that means 80% of the population is making money and spending money.

If you need help figuring all this out and want to plan for the future, and live/work in Fort Wayne, Indiana; contact me.

Scott @ ScLoHo.net is my email.

Mention this blog as I get a couple hundred emails a day and want to make sure I get yours.

Go Out on a Limb

2010-03-24T07:54:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I met with a gentleman that oversees 30+ restaurants.

It's a national chain, but locally owned.

We talked about what makes them different than other, similar chains.

His answer was basically, "we do a better job of doing what everyone is supposed to do."

In other words, "we are better at being average than the other guys".

Or perhaps, "we don't piss off and annoy as many customers as our competitors do".

I challenged him to make a customer promise.

A customer promise that they would stand behind, no matter what.

And to empower their front line employees to stand behind the customer promise without having to get permission from "the manager."

I could see he was getting nervous about this idea.

He came up with a half dozen excuses as to why they couldn't do that.

We'll meet next week again and see if I can push him out of his safe box, which is really a very dangerous place to be.

In the meantime, I'll share with you a few places that I know first hand will exceed the average.

Last week I was wrapping up a short vacation in Michigan and nearly every place we went to and spent money met our expectations.

Most of them exceeded them, one way or another. The restaurants, bed & breakfasts, the hotel.

The fast food joint was average. So were the gas stations and the movie theater.

But the other places that did a great job, they deserve credit.

We started at the BaySide Inn. Spent two nights there. http://www.baysideinn.net/ Really enjoyed the outdoor hot tub along with the usual B & B experience.

We also spent 1 night at Heritage Manor Inn. Very nice hosts and the breakfast was excellent. http://www.heritagemanorinn.com/

We ate here twice! http://www.saugatuckdouglas.com/phils.htm

Also here for lunch 1 day: http://www.thewilddoggrille.com/ Check out the Guinness & white cheddar soup.

Burgers: http://www.thebutlerrestaurant.com/ Got 'em twice!

We only had desert here, but would have had dinner too if we hadn't already ate: http://www.restauranttoulouse.com/

A local coffee shop that is also a coffee roaster: http://www.uncommongroundscafe.com/v1/index

These guys got our money twice (That's a good thing!) http://www.wickspark.com/home.html

We also had lunch one day at: http://www.8thstreetgrille.com/

And one of most unusual surprises was the last night of our trip where we ate, drank & spent the night: http://www.cityflatshotel.com/

Why Advertise?

2010-03-16T09:02:00.000-04:00

One more this week from the archives:

Monday, June 23, 2008

I Don't Need To Advertise

It's one of the objections I will run into every once in awhile. And it may be true.

But....

Do not fool yourself into thinking that you don't need to be actively marketing.

I'll take a second here and explain the difference.

When most people think of advertising, they think of paid advertisements. This includes direct mail, newspaper ads, magazine ads, billboard ads, television ads, radio ads, etc.

(Notice the word ad, fits nicely behind each of those options.)

Advertising is a part of your marketing.

Marketing is how you and your company presents itself to your market.

This includes everything from your business cards, how clean your windows are, how your phone is answered, the way you treat problems, the way you thank your customers, etc.

If you have a waiting list of customers and clients then maybe you don't need a paid ad campaign.

But you better be sure everything else is as remarkable as possible.

The Foundation

2010-03-09T08:57:00.000-05:00

I'm bringing back a few chapters of this book. This was from two years ago:

The Common Thread to Successful Marketing

This week, I have:

been to a reception with Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream fame
talked with a second generation business owner that is planning a consolidation/expansion this spring
met with a young budding entrepreneurial photographer who signed up to be in our radio station bridal show
met with a husband and wife that took over a furniture and flooring store and are expanding in the face of a "down economy"
took part in a board meeting of our local Advertising Federation, where we picked each others brains about how to improve our organization, to serve others and honor those that have done a good job.
met with a long term client that 18 months ago wanted to cancel their advertising because it wasn't working, and today they doubled their advertising because it is working.

I also added internet advertising to two clients advertising plans for 2008. And tomorrow I am guest hosting a radio show on real estate.

No, I am not in the real estate business, but I am in the marketing business and I have been involved in a few real estate transactions over the past 7 years.

So, what has been the common thread running though all of this?

Honesty.

Jerry Greenfield was honest in both the casual conversation we had, and in the presentation he made to a few hundred folks later that evening.

Honesty was spoken when I talked about expectations with the business owners and advertising agencies this week.

And I'll talk honestly about real estate on the radio Saturday morning.

There is no other way to really succeed.

There are no tricks or schemes to marketing, because marketing is about building relationships.

Dishonesty rots your soul, robs you of the joy of a clean conscious, and prevents you from living to your full potential.

So, I urge you too, to be honest, to speak up for yourself and others too. Stand for what you believe in, or sit down.

Follow the Golden Rule and you will have a basis for all your marketing efforts.

Marketing Ignorance

2010-03-02T08:52:00.000-05:00

Time to repeat something I wrote last year:

Beware of Advertising & Marketing Ignorance

When I began in the Advertising side of the Radio Business 20 years ago, I went above and beyond the usual training and became a life long student of the entire marketing process and what actually motivates people to give you their money to buy your stuff.

Time and time again, I have been told by clients, that I handled things differently than what they expected.

Sometimes I have clients that are pretty smart when it comes to advertising and marketing and they don't need an education, or insight into the process.

However 80% of the time, the person that a business puts in charge of making the advertising and marketing decisions, is ignorant.

And it is not that persons fault, they simply were not trained in all the dynamics, or perhaps it is not one of their talents, or maybe it was dumped on them.

I recall a few years ago talking to the new marketing director of a local bank that had no idea who they were targeting, who their current clients were and what their plans were for the future. But she had a degree and she aced the interview which landed her the job.

On the other side of the coin, you have media and advertising salespeople that do not understand the dynamics of their business, all they care about is their own sales goals and budgets. Last year they sold office supplies, next year they could be selling pre-planned funerals. They are professional sales people, and the product they are selling really doesn't matter, as long as they can earn a living.

Now when you combine these two, you can either get lucky and it will work, or waste your time and precious money and grumble about how such and such media, doesn't work.

Nearly any media can work, IF you do it right. Unfortunately, that's not the way most advertising is handled.

Please, do not blindly buy something just on price. Buy from the person that you trust will work his or her rear end off to get it right.

And if you are a professional salesperson that just happens to be in the advertising business right now, either start educating yourself so you can be a true advertising and marketing resource, or get another job selling something else.

If you want help, you can contact me directly by writing to Scott@ScLoHo.net.

You can also go to my other site, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom which is updated 3 or 4 times daily/ 7 days a week. The first article each day is a sales training piece.

Finally, read more. On the Collective Wisdom site on the right side of the page are some free e-books you can download, along with a Collective Wisdom Recommended Book Store that features 5 books that I highly recommend. You can click and buy, you will be buying from Amazon.com.

Your comments are always welcome.

Pleasing Everybody

2010-02-23T08:07:00.000-05:00

Every once in awhile, I come across a business owner and the conversation begins with this:

Me, "So, who are your customers?"

Them, "Everyone."

To which I mutter under my breath, "Uh, Oh".

Please, Please, Please understand that you can't get everyone to your store, shop, or website.

And don't fool yourself into thinking that you need to reach everyone with your marketing efforts either.

A couple of the biggest companies, Walmart & McDonalds do not do business with everyone.

When Walmart comes to a new town, the natives used to tremble in their boots, thinking they would soon be out of business because Walmart would beat them up on price.

Yes, you can get a giant jar of pickles for a couple of bucks, but not everyone cares about price over value.

And just as there are some people who never set foot in a Walmart, there are some people who have never tasted a McDonalds french fry.

Focus on what you do best.

Focus on what you can offer that others can't or won't.

It's not the lowest price.

And the lowest price won't please everybody anyway.

How to Measure your Online Marketing Efforts

2010-02-15T07:20:00.002-05:00

Recently I was reading about click-thru rates of webpage ads and it hit me.

The web people are wrong.

The way to measure has not changed in the past 100+ years. (Even though the Internet is only 40 years old.)

The web people say that measuring your online marketing efforts is easy. All the data is available. Real Numbers, not estimates.

Traditional Media can give you estimates of who is seeing your ad with traffic counts for Billboard exposure, Nielsen ratings for Television shows, Arbitron ratings for Radio stations, Circulation numbers for Print, etc.

But all of these measurements are designed to measure who is watching, hearing, seeing, or reading the advertising medium, not the results that each business receives.

The real measure of the effectiveness of your advertising and marketing is results. Is your company doing better than it was last year? Or perhaps the question might be is your company gaining market share compared to your competitors?

Unless there is only ONE way for people to hear about your business, then all advertising analysis are flawed. And when you consider word of mouth along with advertising, you'll see that there is always more than ONE way for people to hear about you.

So, when I first talk to a client, I want to know all of the methods and medias they are using to spread the word about what they are doing. This includes paid advertising, and free efforts.

Next I want to make sure we are presenting a consistent message in all areas.

Can you measure the results of any marketing efforts accurately? Not really. At least not in the manner that the medias are trying to sell to you.

Face To Face in Fort Wayne

2010-02-14T20:41:00.003-05:00

I'm going to do a little self-promotion on this site.

The opportunities to share with others in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, keeps coming more frequently these days.

Last month I spoke at nearby Huntington University. This week, I'll be attending a couple of evening events.

And next week, if you are in the area, I would like to welcome you to this event:

OurSpace, LLC, located at 825 S. Barr Street, will host

“Social Media Explained” on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

The brown bag seminar, featuring Eric Hall (EH Design), Chad Pollitt (Digital Hill Media), Scott Howard (ScLoHo Marketing Soultions), Jean Bransemer and Jason Matthews (Matthews Painting), will assist small business owners, artists, technologists and others develop their online brand via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

There is no cost to attend and, door prizes will be given away! To RVSP send an e-mail to ourspacefortwayne@gmail.com.

It's Not All About the Fans

2010-02-08T07:08:00.005-05:00

Over the past few months, I've had a few people ask me how to set up a Fan page on Facebook.

I've told them to figure it out themselves.

And I ask them why they want a Fan page on Facebook.

I also ask them what are they doing to generate money, to create new customers, to retain current customers, to set themselves apart from their competitors.

Why don't I tell them how to do it? Because if they are going to use Facebook as part of their marketing, they need to learn the basics of Facebook. It's not that hard.

But there is another reason.

A Fan page on Facebook means nothing to the survival of your business. It's too easy to be a fan. I get an invitation and I click yes. I never have to spend any money to be a fan. I, as a consumer have no investment in your Fan page.

If you want to create a Fan page on Facebook, go ahead and do it. But don't fool yourself into thinking that because you have 500 fans, that equals $5000 dollars, or whatever the dollar amount you think you can assign to a fan.

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday and for the 2nd time the Indianapolis Colts were in the big game.

Living in Indiana, everywhere you went, you saw Colts Football Fever. Royal Blue with horseshoes was the official color and logo worn by MILLIONS of Fans. I'm sure the same was true for fans of the New Orleans Saints.

But, no matter how enthused, how passionate, how crazy the fans are, it's up to the players to win or lose. It's how you react to surprises, how quickly you respond to things going wrong, and taking advantage of opportunities when they open up.

That's why both the Colts and Saints made it to the Superbowl in 2010. It wasn't the fans, it was the team. And in the final game between the two, the same was true.

Make sure your team is the best they can be, and then you'll generate fans, the real kind that keep you in business.

And if you want a Facebook Fan page, Click here for a few tips.

Calculating The True Value of Your Customers

2010-02-01T14:29:00.000-05:00

We want to spend money on things we want, not things we need.

Do you really want to pay a mortgage, car payment, doctor bill, income taxes, or anything that you "have to" pay?

Probably not.

So these types of businesses need to make it as painless as possible for their customers to take care of business and move on with their life. Maybe they can do something nice for their customers every once in awhile too.

Let's look at the "want" based businesses.

Nearly every Friday night, I take my wife out to one of her favorite restaurants. Usually just the two of us. And it is usually a place about a mile from our home that has a spectacular view overlooking a pond with plenty of wildlife. And it is right in the city.

I've had better food. I've had less expensive food. But this is a "want" in our lives.

We've introduced hundreds of people over the years to this favorite spot of ours. And many of them have come back time and time again.

I did some math on how much my wife and I spend at our Friday night spot per year and it adds up to around $2000 or more. We've been doing this for about 10 years. Before we met, my wife was coming here and bringing friends. I bet we have spent $25,000 or more so far at this one restaurant, just by visiting 4 times a month. And there is no end in sight.

We are not the only ones who make this restaurant apart of their regular routine. What if we are one of 100 couples, or one of 1000 couples with a similar routine? See how the dollars add up?

And not only do you need to count the dollars we spend when I sign for the check, there's also the new dollars that will be coming in as we are spreading the word about this restaurant and bringing in new customers to share this experience with us.

This is one more reason why marketing is so much more than just your advertising and why every customer is worth more than you can imagine.

How to Manage your Time & Increase Sales

2010-01-26T13:45:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm sharing with you a formula I've given the sales staff at the radio stations I work with.

If you are not in sales, you may stop reading and go play on Facebook.

(Yeah, I'm being sarcastic, because no matter what your title is in your company, you are a representative of your company and thus you are part of the marketing and as such are an influence in the companies reputation and ultimately sales.)

In the radio business, nearly any business could benefit from a radio advertising campaign that is handled properly. Radio advertising is an inexpensive way to reach lots of people and you can pick and choose both the message of the ad, and the audience. The formula for success is easy to determine.

In my 7 years with this group of stations, we have never had a problem with the radio programming side of the business. The area that we have difficulty is in generating revenue which is done by the sales department.

Some say sales is a numbers game. Which is true. The numbers I use are: 50, 30, 15, 10.

The first step is to have a list of prospective clients.

I have a list of 50 with me at all times. This is called filling the funnel. The purpose is to either kick them out of the funnel, or convert them into a paying, advertising partner= a client.

Once I have someone on that list, I have 30 days to start the process of moving them thru the funnel. If they don't have the money, can't find the money, or are not willing to sit down and discuss how I can help them grow; they get kicked off the list and I add someone else.

If they don't become a client in 30 days, but I see potential, then I may keep them on the list for another 30 days. But during the second 30 days, we have to be moving forward in the process.

At the end of the second 30 days, they are off my list because they are either a paying client, or the process has stopped and I need to move on. There are a few exceptions, between 10 and 15 that I will keep on my list for another 30 days, because we are moving forward, but I will not allow a business to stay on my list for more than a total of 90 days (3 x 30).

The next two numbers are face to face appointments. I want to schedule 15 face to face meetings per week with businesses on my list of 50. I expect 10 of those meetings to come to fruition each week.

By having this simple set of numbers as a way to organize my time, I am never at a loss for something to do that will result in increased sales.

As you look at your workload and the requirements of your work, what numbers will work for you?

Advertising Options

2010-01-21T13:02:00.001-05:00

In 2008 I wrote the following, do you agree?

Predictions for Future Advertising Options

As I write this on the eve of April Fools Day 2008, this is no joke. And you'd be foolish to ignore what is going on now and in the near future.

Daily Newspapers have seen a steep decline over the past 10 years and staffing cuts will continue in the newsrooms as they adjust financially to a loss of subscribers to their print editions. Communities that had two papers will be lucky to have one. The smart ones are looking for alternative sources of revenue.
Specialty Newspapers, such as the free shoppers guides, or weekly news alternatives won't be hit as hard as their big brothers, since they already have smaller staffs and their readers are looking for information that the advertisements provide.
Magazines. Depends on their overhead and structure of their publication. The strong specialty magazines can survive, but look for the news magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and the like to be propped up by their parent companies, and then reduced or eliminated within 20 years. Specialty Mags have a chance to survive, if they are loyal to their readers.
Radio stations that offer unique programming that includes local content will survive even though the competition for listeners will continue to heat up when internet accessibility is available in the vehicles we drive. This is why it is so important that stations have what is known as "on-line streaming" via their websites NOW, to train listeners to listen over the internet. Those that don't offer local content and internet listenability, will fail.
Television. The broadcast outlets are in the midst of a government imposed transformation as the deadline to switch to digital broadcasting is less than a year away. The writers strike lead to innovative programming from the networks and viewers also looked to other forms of entertainment from other sources.
Yellow Pages. I'd be surprised if they are around in 5 years in this country. Most of the businesses I've talked to over the years complain that they "have to" be in the book. Now, the Yellow Pages are being replaced by Google and other local search engines. I would never recommend a new business advertise in the Yellow Pages, and those that still do, start reducing and phasing out your YP advertising and move the money to where the people are looking for you.

And that is the key to all of this. You need to re-think:

Where are my customers?
What advertising mediums reach my customers and potential customers now?
What can I do to be there when they are looking for me?

What about the future? There is one Advertising Option that I did not mention in the list above:

Outdoor Billboards. Yep. This is one form of advertising that is not being replaced by the internet. But you have to understand what the pro's and con's of a Billboard campaign are.

And then there is the one form of advertising that it seems everyone is talking about, The Internet. We are still learning how to use the Internet to effectively reach customers, and it will be a trial and error process as technology improves.

Spam email is not the way to use the internet for advertising. But just because you have a website, that's not enough. You also need to direct people to your place on the web. And that's where all the traditional media can help.

I mentioned smart newspaper publishers are looking for alternatives to generate revenue. So are smart broadcast outlets, smart magazines, etc. They have websites that you can advertise on to drive your potential customers to you and your website.

Despite these predictions many of the traditional advertising options can still work for you today and some may work for the rest of your life, but the next 10 years will be nothing like the previous 50 years. Keep your eyes and ears open!

Time to put away my crystal ball. Your comments are always welcome.

Big Picture, Little Details

2010-01-19T12:23:00.000-05:00

Last week, I met with a client and shared with her my area of expertise.

It sounds simple: Big Picture, Little Details.

I've discovered over the years that there are lot's of guru's and experts who are totally sold on what they are good at and they will try and sell you on their expertise.

On one hand, I'm glad they are passionate about what they are good at, it should help them in their quest to be the best.

But I've been told that my approach is more insightful, less sales oriented and more customer oriented. That's on purpose.

I like to examine two parts of your marketing:

1. You
2. Your customer

And the key is to find or create the bridge between #1 & #2.

That Bridge is a relationship. A Human Relationship, which leads to a Business Relationship.

You need to be honest about You. You need to know your limitations and also the areas in which you shine.

You also need to know what drives your customers, and potential customers to spend money with you.

Too often I've seen a lack of understanding of this second part, which is what keeps a business from flourishing. And yes, sometimes a business has difficulty with the first part and they don't know who they are yet.

But these are all considerations that you need to factor in before decide what advertising option you should spend money on. It's the Big Picture.

One day, I'll go into some of the Little Details. In the meantime, if you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, and need help, contact me at Scott@ScLoHo.net

Media Merge

2010-01-11T09:29:00.001-05:00

Recently I made a prediction for Smart Marketers in 2010.

Let's start with...

The Question
What is your prediction for how brand marketers will create and distribute their own content in 2010?

It was asked by Joe Pulizzi and my answer appears on page 34 of the resulting publication which you can view here:

ScLoHo (Scott Howard)
Smart Marketers will be the ones who understand and use Twitter and Facebook with hyperlinks to pull potential clients to their websites and blogs.

Smart Marketers will understand the power of real conversations via Twitter and Facebook and use these as communication tools, not just P. R. machines.

Smart Marketers will insist that their Marketing Messages are using Social Media, Traditional websites, and Traditional Media in a cross-platform culture that includes everything from SmartPhones to HDTV screens.

Social vs.Traditional Media

2010-01-05T09:04:00.000-05:00

Last week I was at a Social Media Influencers lunch in Indianapolis.

I was nominated for one of the awards and thought it would be fun to go, which it was.

However, I see a disconnect between those who are in the internet/social media business and those that are in the traditional media business.

See, I also serve on the Board of Directors for the American Advertising Federation/Fort Wayne; and in that role have gained a reputation as the social media guy.

Which I find a bit interesting since, I am in the radio business and my fellow board members are mostly in the advertising agency business, which should be leading the way into social media for their clients. But it's not that simple.

My interest in social media is because of my personality, my curiosity, and my passion, and that has led me to learn, explore, examine, teach and help others with this social media thing. I also like to look at the big picture from a consumers view point which helps me to provide a unique viewpoint for my clients.

My hope and desire is that the social media folks and the traditional media folks will stop competing or ignoring each other and start working together. And this is happening more and more.

Here's how and why we need both:

Television, Radio, Billboards and even Print are still being watched, listened to, and read more than most social media sites.

The leaders on the web are Facebook and Google. But instead of dumping advertising dollars into these two websites AND abandoning traditional media, you need to do both and fine tune it for the future.

If you are using traditional media, start including social media contacts within the ads. Use social media as a communication tool and customer service tool. If you need guidance or help, contact me at Scott at ScLoHo.net.

Looking Forward by Looking Back-2

2009-12-29T08:51:00.001-05:00

Last week, we went thru an exercise to help you identify what changes you want to make in 2010, based on what you have learned in 2009.

Today, we're going to take that information and apply it to your future.

Get out the papers you wrote on last week and read thru them one more time. Are there any answers you want to change? Do it now. Then come back. I'll wait.

Now, let's dig into the marketing of your business that you are designing for 2010 and beyond.

Remember, what matters most is relationships.

Now that you have some concrete ideas on who you and your business are and who you want to be, the next step is to communicate in a consistent manner to your customers and clients your message.

Your message is your brand, your identity, it is what people think about you and if you examine and design your marketing to convey your message with the purpose of forming relationships, then you are on the right track.

There are multiple ways to convey your message, but you need to keep it consistent, even in the indirect messages your business conveys.

You also get to chose which media's you want to use, but remember that you should commit to that media for a long time.

Why? Because you are building relationships and those relationships are built on trust which comes with familiarity. If you try something for a week, or a month and give up because you haven't seen results, you are aborting your plan and wasting your time and money.

Cellphone contracts of two years in length are now the standard. Retail leases of 5 to 10 years are common. When you hire an employee, you expect them to last a few years, right ? So think of your advertising and marketing with the same time commitment.

And instead of relying on what form of media YOU listen/watch/read; determine which form of media your potential customers listen/watch/read. There is enough research out there to answer that question and if you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, I can help.

Email me at Scott at ScLoHo.net

Looking Forward by Looking Back-1

2009-12-22T11:55:00.001-05:00

I turned 50 years old this month. For awhile, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about being 50, until last month, when my son turned 25.

Then I thought back to what my life was like when I was his age, and all that has occurred since then. And I started getting excited about the next 25 years I'll live.

Let's apply that to your business.

If you knew a year ago, what you know now, would you have done the same things you have done in the past 350+ days?

That's not a yes or no question.

Dig Deeper.

What are the best parts of 2009?
What were the worst parts?

What did you learn?
What don't you understand?

What do you not want to do anymore?
What do you want to do more of?

Let's go even deeper to make things even better, but first write down your answers. Put the paper down and pick it up again a couple times before next Tuesday, when we finish this exercise.

Oh, and a couple more rules. Don't erase anything, or black it out. If you want to change something or use a different word, just cross out with a single line and continue.

Enjoy Christmas and I'll have part 2 on December 29th.

The Complete Package

2009-12-15T09:13:00.000-05:00

I think I'll repeat this post once a year...

You may have noticed the phrase on the right side of this page, "Marketing is so much more than advertising..."

But why?

Advertising is a part of your marketing.

Advertising is a paid form of marketing that you can control.

It's the invitation for people to do business with you.

I sometimes use the invitation comparison like this:

What if you decided to have a party. It was going to be one BIG Extravaganza! You hired a band, a caterer, rented a reception hall, spent tons of money on getting everything all set for 500 people but you left out one key element: You never sent any invitations with the details.

No matter how much planning you put into your party, if you don't invite anyone, no one will show up.

Same thing with your business. That's the purpose of advertising. To get peoples attention to what you have to offer.

Marketing is the whole customer experience. It includes the way your phone is answered, the way your staff treat customers and potential customers. The professional appearance of you, your staff, the vehicles you drive, the way you handle complaints, the way you thank people for doing business with you.

There's the way your building looks, the way your website looks, and the image they project. Your business card, your follow up and follow through. The way you and your staff conduct yourselves in your off hours, that "personal time".

Each of these items build on each other. It can be a delicate balance like the stack of stones in the picture.

If any of these marketing issues are lacking, no amount of paid advertising can fix them. Sure, you can try and compensate for a bad location with excellent service, but advertising... that's another animal.

As you prepare for the new year and deal with a new economy, you have an opportunity, and a necessity to work on all of these areas that I've tossed into the marketing arena, including advertising.

Need help?

Contact me at Scott@ScLoHo.net