Month: February 2011

Would you rather not see…or not hear?

/ Duane Christensen

I’m going to ask you one “would you rather” question.  Would you rather not see…or not hear?  That’s a tough one.  My first instinct is to say not hear.  But how could we really know which would be worse without actually experiencing blindness or deafness?

Hellen Keller noted that it was much more difficult to be without hearing than without sight.  And that helps me segue into my radio advertising message to you today.

Radio advertisers know that radio gives life to their message to the public.  Those businesses that rely solely on print ads or online advertising (sight only), don’t understand yet what good radio can do for them.  And I’m going to leave TV advertising out of this comparison because most small businesses don’t have a big enough budget to implement a truly effective TV campaign.  Of course you can with Cable TV, but cable TV stations hit such a small number of people, you usually need to be on 10 or 20 different cable stations to make an impact.  Usually.  Of course there are exceptions.

Whoa…I got off track.  Let’s get back to sight versus sound and how it affects your advertising.  I think a print ad makes a business owner feel good because it’s something they can hold in their hand.  They can hold it up and say, “This is my advertisement!”  That’s not so easy to do with the sound waves of a radio ad.

A good radio ad is not a print ad read into a microphone.  A good radio ad will talk to your potential customers about them.  It’s a voice talking directly to them and it connects the benefits of what you offer to their own lives.  It paints them a picture with voiced words about how you can help them improve their life or eliminate a problem they have.  A radio ad is a print ad brought to life.  A GOOD radio ad is nothing like a print ad. You could call it a print ad on steroids if you want.  But the spoken word is so much more powerful than the word in print.

A good radio ad should make people feel good about your business.  And when that happens…you’re buying “mental real estate”.  And owning some mental real estate is the start of branding.  And branding is important because you can’t predict when your prospect will need what you offer.

Here’s a quick explanation of what branding is: If advertising is “getting your name out there”…then branding is simply “attaching something to your name”.  And attaching something that matters to your prospect…to your business name…is a potent element in truly effective advertising.  We can get more into branding some other time.  I’ll share with you a few deeper things that will help shed light on why “Branding” kicks “Advertising’s” butt.

A good radio campaign will get your prospect to remember you when they need you…and then you’re 2 or 3 steps ahead of your competition that’s just trying to “get their name out there”.

So…Hellen Keller wished she could have had the gift of hearing back before the gift of sight.  That tells us something about how our minds work…and the kind of advertising that is superior to others.

Have a great day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

My work website: http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/

If you have questions about the cost of radio advertising, which radio stations would be a good fit, or how to get started attracting more customers, don’t be afraid to ask. I like to help good businesses take a bigger slice of the Sioux Falls market.

“Making it Work” (Watch them Squirm – the sequel)

/ Duane Christensen

To answer the question, “How do you plan on making my advertising work for me?”…

I plan on squeezing every drip of juicy detail out of you that I can.  That starts with asking questions you’ve never been asked by a typical advertising rep.  These are NOT questions like, “How long have you been in business?” and “Do you have a website?”

Deep, deep “digging” is crucial.

Then, I plan on using words, phrases, and stories in your advertisements that will snap a listener out of their trance.  If you say the same boring yada-yadas and blah blah blahs…you’ll get the same un-excitable results.

I also plan on building your ads around a strategy that always gives people a reason to do business with YOU instead of your competition.

All of this should be done in ANY advertising medium, website copy, sales letter, online ad, etc.  But I rarely see this kind of effort put into ad campaigns.  That’s why so much ad money is thrown to the wind and results are scarce.  Nobody wants to learn about what makes advertising really work…and nobody wants to take the time to dig deeper.

Give me a call. Let’s make it work for you!

Have a great day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

My work website: http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/

If you have questions about the cost of radio advertising, which radio stations would be a good fit, any marketing in general, or how to get started attracting more customers, don’t be afraid to ask. I like to help good businesses take a bigger slice of the Sioux Falls market.

Watch them Squirm

/ Duane Christensen

Here is one question that can help you decide if you should buy advertising from someone –

“Mr. or Miss Advertising Rep, how do you plan on making this work for me?”

Then watch them squirm.  Or if they’re a “seasoned” salesperson, I assume they’ll have a smoooooth answer that doesn’t really answer your question at all.  You may get an answer that includes words like “reach” and “frequency”.  And probably a bunch of other numbers, and advertising clichés because that’s all they’ve got.  If you’re really lucky, you’ll get to see some nice graphs or pie charts.  A PowerPoint presentation would be a treat also.

Reach and frequency is about how many people your ad has the potential to hit…and how many times you run your ad.  But those factors are minuscule in comparison to what it truly takes to make your advertising plan work.

If you believe you know how to make advertising give you consistent, long-term results…let’s talk some day.

If you have no idea what it takes (you’re in the majority)…let’s talk some day.

I suppose I should tell you how I would answer that question I told you to ask.  Ok.  Next time.  Stay tuned.  My answer would probably be a little different each time someone asked me…but the CORE of my answer would be exactly the same.  And I wouldn’t whip out any demographic figures or bar graphs.

Have a great day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

My work website: http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/

If you have questions about the cost of radio advertising, which radio stations would be a good fit, any marketing in general, or how to get started attracting more customers, don’t be afraid to ask. I like to help good businesses take a bigger slice of the Sioux Falls market.

Who hears your ads?

/ Duane Christensen

My wife teaches at Lincoln High School.  Her students recently asked her what I do.  She explained and mentioned some of the businesses I write for.  She said she was shocked at how many students had heard them and remembered specific ads.

So, here’s the cool part.  Those businesses she mentioned, don’t advertise on the “younger” station, Hot 104.7.  And that helps me prove a point.  Radio reaches a lot of people you don’t even think are listening.

But those ads don’t get heard if they are just typical radio ads.  The radio ads that get heard and that impact people are the ones that break the rules.  And it doesn’t matter if you’re airing :15, :30, or 60-second ads.  You can still put a message out there that gets more attention than the average.

Our brains listen to ads that are UNpredictable.  They ignore the ads that are anticipated.

How did those high school students hear ads that only air on adult stations?  I’m not exactly sure.  Radio listenership is also unpredictable.  The scientific types would like to think that radio station demographics are absolute and predictable.  But they’re not.  The massive power of radio lies in finding the right message to communicate to the public.  Once you find the right thing to say, you’ll be surprised at who becomes your customer.

Over-targeting has hurt a lot of business owners in their quest for the perfect advertising formula.  What they should be focusing on is what they can SAY to radio listeners that will move them closer to doing business with them.

Have a great day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

My work website: http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/

If you have questions about the cost of radio advertising, which radio stations would be a good fit, or how to get started attracting more customers, don’t be afraid to ask. I like to help good businesses take a bigger slice of the Sioux Falls market.

Why Radio?

/ Duane Christensen

What IS a radio advertisement?

I’d say that it’s kind of like a print ad or a billboard…brought to LIFE…and on steroids.

Radio is entertainment for listeners.  Some are actively listening…others have it on in the background.  It’s company.  People use radio as a companion.

How else can you effectively reach a large number of people over and over and over in such a way?  I can’t think of any.  TV isn’t like radio because people watch TV programs, not TV stations.  My TV habits are all over the place.  One show here, another there.  Different stations.  And they’re all on my DVR to watch whenever I want.

The key to effective advertising is getting your message to people repetitively.  And you can’t predict when they’ll need you or when they’ll be ready to buy.  That’s why it’s important to brand your business.  Branding isn’t just tattooing your business name on their brain.  It’s giving people a feeling or set of words to remember whenever they hear your name.

Branding can’t be done with print (it’s tough to do without sound).  And it’s pretty darn expensive to do it on TV (I’m not talking about small cable stations).  Sooooo, I’ll bring you back to radio.  Radio allows you to communicate with your prospect multiple times within a one-week period.  When you do that, you’re starting the branding process.

When radio is done right, I can’t think of a more cost-effective way to guide people towards your business instead of your competitor’s.  If you can…I’d consider working for that ad medium instead of radio.  But I don’t see anything out there yet that works better.  So, for now, I’ll be right here at Results Radio.

Have a great day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

My work website: http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/

If you have questions about the cost of radio advertising, which radio stations would be a good fit, or how to get started attracting more customers, don’t be afraid to ask. I like to help good businesses take a bigger slice of the Sioux Falls market.

Camouflage Advertising

/ Duane Christensen

You’ve got competition.  And you’d like to steer people towards YOU instead of THEM.  Want your ad to get noticed?  Don’t camouflage it.  Do something different.  The goal is to make your listening prospect feel good about you and feel comfortable enough to call, go to your website,  or walk in your door.  But that won’t ever happen if your ad never gets heard.  Just because you have a radio ad airing…doesn’t mean that it’s being heard.  If it sounds like the typical radio ad (who you are, what you do, where you’re located, and your phone number 5 times)…it’s probably not getting heard.  It’s going in one ear and out the other.  Blah, blah, blah.

So what can you do?  What should you do?

Camouflage Advertising

Photo courtesy of “SweetCrisis” / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

DO NOT BLEND IN.  Ads get ignored that look, sound, or smell like every other ad.

Your message is YOUR message.  Make it personal.  Get me interested.  How can you interest your prospect?  There are infinite ways, but here are a few ideas…

People love stories. It’s how human beings naturally communicate most impactfully.  (spell-checker says that “impactfully” is not a word – oh well).  Sharing a completely unique and entertaining story can keep your prospect engaged.

People appreciate new information. Teach me something.  We love to learn new things.  Just don’t get too “smarty pants” and talk over my head.

People love to answer questions. If you’re standing in the middle of a group of 10 people and ask a question out loud…every person will want to answer that question.  Either out loud or in their head.  It’s how we’re wired.  So a good headline to an ad is sometimes a well-thought out question that will get the direct attention of your very specific prospect/potential buyer.

People “perk up” or “snap out of trances” when you use words they don’t expect. Don’t bore our highly complex brains with the predictable.  Don’t use words that you think you should use.

Break the rules.  There are no rules. Comedians are a good example.  There is a kind of science and psychology to making people laugh…but if comics all used the same words, how funny would that be?  Comedians follow no rules.  They have a specific goal in mind – to make your stomach and face muscles hurt from laughing so much.  They can’t do that by being like everyone else.

I could keep going…but there’s a limit to our attention spans, right?

Let’s not partake in “camouflage advertising”.  Get noticed.  Say no to camouflage advertising.  You’ll get a much better return on your investment.

Duane Christensen

Sioux Falls Radio Advertising blog

Results Radio / Townsquare Media-Sioux Falls

And to learn more about standing out and getting noticed with your advertising you can get the Kindle edition of my book here, Take A Bigger Slice.

…

Some dude named Tim Miles

/ Duane Christensen

Tim Miles visited Results Radio the other day from Missouri.

Who the heck is Tim Miles and why would you care?

Tim Miles is another example of the ongoing training we receive here.  Training to learn more about helping local businesses attract great new customers.  Tim shed some new light on many topics.  His presentation style was unpredictable and filled with dramatic pauses…just like a good radio ad.  He was surprised at how ADVANCED we are at Results (his words, not mine).

But how does that help a good local business owner like you?  I would sum it up like this –

Advanced radio and copywriting skills…produces advanced advertising results.

Helping you grow and reach your goals with cost-effective radio advertising is my passion.  It makes you feel good when that is accomplished, and it makes me feel pretty freakin’ groovy as well!

Tim Miles is a Wizard of Ads partner.  He shared with us an “equation” that I was also exposed to years ago in Austin, Texas, at the Wizard of Ads Academy.  I know.  Funny name for a school.  But the name says it all (they’re not kidding about being wizards of ads).  Some might call this equation a formula…except it’s not a formula.  Roy Williams calls it a “statement of relationship”.  Here’s Roy Williams’ “Advertising Performance Equation”

Share of Voice x IQ = Share of Mind

Share of Mind x PEF = Share of Market

Share of Market x MPo = Sales Volume

So…   SoV x IQ x PEF x MPo = Sales Volume

where

SoV = Share of Voice

IQ = Impact Quotient

PEF = Personal Experience Factor

MPo = Market Potential

Phew!  That’s a mouthful. I know what all of this means and how it can help you in your business journeys.  Let’s have coffee some day.  🙂

Duane Christensen

Results Radio

Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

Thank you Tim Miles.  You rocked the house and I would highly recommend that any radio group around the country should hire you and then buckle up and listen closely.  And thank you Roy Williams (the Wizard of Ads).  Both Tim and Roy are partially responsible for lighting my brain on fire and helping me realize my passion.

Polished Radio

/ Duane Christensen

There are a lot of good radio voices that can make a bad script “sound” like a good ad.  They buff it and polish it.  But what’s the saying… “You can’t polish a……”

The polished ad sounds good.  It sounds like a great radio spot.  But if it doesn’t move the meter for your business, what good is a polished ad?  So what does a non-effective, polished ad consist of?  It’s usually filled with:

Clichés

Lots and lots of clichés.  Like

“Your ____ headquarters”

“For all your _____ needs”

“Quality is job one”

Predictability

Predictability gives our brains permission to ignore things.  Don’t you want your ads to get attention…and keep it?

No new information

People love to learn new things.  They’d also love to know WHY they should do business with you instead of your competition.  So share some good reasons to visit you.  Something they didn’t know.

Empty words

Empty words are words that don’t mean anything anymore (in the advertising world).  Like BEST, SERVICE, and QUALITY.

Yes, I know you ARE some of those words, but they don’t mean anything to a listener.  Internally, you have to PROVE that you are what you say you are.  And in your advertising, you have to SHOW them how you are those things.  If you believe you have better customer service than your competition, then tell listeners a specific true story about how you delivered excellent customer service.  Paint them a picture that they can believe.

Listen a little closer to your polished advertising.  Make sure you’re not saying the same un-meaningful things that your competition is saying.

Have a great day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

My work website: http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/

If you have questions about the cost of radio advertising, which radio stations would be a good fit, or how to get started attracting more customers, don’t be afraid to ask. I like to help good businesses take a bigger slice of the Sioux Falls market.