Slow Down And Do It Right

May 23, 2017December 28, 2017 / Duane Christensen

radio advertising sioux falls

When you decide to advertise… you want to see something happen FAST!

But I’m here to tell you to “Calm down, bro.” When you “do advertising” the right way, your results will come slower than you want them to. And then in 12 months, you’ll be thinking, “Holy crap! This is pretty dang awesome!”

Since, I’m an amateur farmer who helps his old man out with the crops every Spring and Fall… let me put it to you in terms of farming. When you start advertising on the radio, your ad message is a seed.

You can have low-grade seeds that will yield very little, skip the fertilizer, ignore the weeds, and you won’t make any money. Especially, if you’re in a hurry and want to harvest after only having your seed in the ground for 3 weeks. This is representative of not putting the right effort into your advertising messages and not giving your advertising plan enough time to mature in the minds of consumers.

The alternative is to have a high-yield potential seed, prepare your soil with the right nutrients, make sure the weeds stay away, and then harvest after the seed has grown and matured. This is representative of a radio campaign that is developed properly. One that cares about the message that is created and one that allows enough time for those ad messages to really sink in to consumers’ minds.

The best things in life come with time. Just like a good harvest.

Each radio ad is a seed that’s getting planted in a mind. Will someone drop what they’re doing and buy from you the first time they hear your ad? Of course not. But what if you keep saying really great things that they care about? Consistently. Again and again. What if you start getting people to trust you because of the stories, helpful information, and entertainment you keep sharing in your radio ads? Over and over. Consistently. Over time. Hmmmm?

Those seeds begin to take root and grow. Those ads start to do their job. They’re sinking in. They’re sticking in brains. Then what?

Then, over time… as radio listeners live their lives… they’ll eventually need what you sell. And who do you think they’ll think of when they need the product or service you sell? Who do you think that they’ll feel best about? Who do you feel they will have the most confidence in ? ? ? ? ?

YOU. Your business. Your people. They’ve come to trust you before they’ve even met you because you were being patient with them. You were educating them slowly and effectively about why they should do business with you instead of someone else. But you didn’t ever “hard sell” them. You went through the process of making friends with them through your radio ads that did NOT sound like typical radio ads.

Your seeds were the good ones. And you watered and fertilized. And nurtured those seeds. You had patience. You slowed down, gave your advertising campaign some real thought before you started it, then you let it go to work. Nature ran its course and gave you a harvest that you never thought possible.

Slow down… and do advertising right. It takes a lot of thought and planning at the beginning. When you set a marketing budget… and focus that budget on a big group of people (a couple radio stations is a great start!), then that big group of people will start to be won over by your sincere advertising messages.

Warning: Don’t scatter your seeds to the wind. Don’t glitter-blast them into the atmosphere and hope that the marketing gods catch them and turn them into Thousand-Dollar Bills. That’s the “spray and pray” method. It doesn’t work. If you want the full-blown explanation of WHY that doesn’t work, give me a call.

RADIO is one of the most fertile soils you can find to plant your seeds. The power of sound is amazing when it comes to branding. We can recite the lyrics to songs we never intended to remember. We can remember tons of details when those details are wrapped into a good story.

Sound. Radio. Good soil.

Are you ready to plant some seeds for one heck of a nice harvest, year after year?

Let’s talk about that.

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

duane.christensen@results-radio.com

Radio Sales

Learning the Hard Way

September 14, 2015September 14, 2015 / Duane Christensen

We’ve all learned lessons the hard way, right? But we’re better people for it. It makes that lesson sink in just a little bit farther. Let me share a quick story about how it seemed like “back to school” for me recently.

It was “back to school” for me recently. Image by “digitalart” / freedigitalphotos.net

I had a client who I began a “radio relationship” with late last year. Everything seemed to be going fine… and out of left field I get a call from them saying that they are canceling their radio advertising… and going with some “other” radio people just to try it out.

They weren’t firing me… it was just a temporary thing they said. They were curious. They also had multiple people trying to make marketing decisions, which didn’t help. But that’s not my point here.

My point is that I screwed up somewhere. Me. I didn’t blame anyone. I didn’t get upset. (please don’t get all mad and whiny if someone decides to not do business with you – if you do, you just guarantee that they’ll never ever come back to you – be the bigger person)

It had to be something that I could have avoided, right?

I dug a bit deeper. I waited a couple days and then called and asked, “So, what really was the reason you’re taking a detour from what you were doing?”

They told me that the “other radio people” presented them with a really creative and funny ad that they couldn’t pass up.

Oh, shit. The other guys. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.

How did this happen?!

My lesson here is that I forgot to tell them that they were going to be called on by every advertising platform in town when they started advertising aggressively on the radio with me.

I forgot to tell them that they’re going to be swooned over and given the world because people will heavily desire their business.

No, let me re-phrase that, I should have told them that their phones would ring off the hook with desperate advertising people begging for their business, showering them with empty promises.

My lesson is that I didn’t get face-to-face with them enough. Why? Because they were busy. They are mile-a-minute type of people. So, I didn’t want to bug them too much. But I could have got around that. I could have tried harder. Heck, everyone has to eat, right? I should have bought them a few lunches here and there.

My other lesson is that I should have continued to educate them on what a good radio ad really consists of. I was just assuming that they loved me enough to stick with me no matter what. I assumed. Whoops. Dumbass.

But these lessons help me. They make me better all around. Hard lessons teach everyone (sometimes painfully) how to avoid similar situations in the future. So, don’t get down or feel beat up. Get back on your horse and do it better.

Now, I’m working harder to get the business back. I’m making it a challenge to get the business back. And when I do… I’ll make sure I don’t take it for granted.

Maybe you’ve neglected your own customers here and there without realizing it. It’s not that you want to. Sometimes we’re just so busy. Sometimes we have things going on in our lives in which the word “monkey wrench” isn’t even close to describing the chaos we’ve been through. It’s ok. Sometimes you just have to steer the ship back on course! : )

Have a groovy day!

-Duane

Results Radio Townsquare Media

Sioux Falls, SD

605-940-7984

Sioux Falls Marketing

November 13, 2014May 20, 2015 / Duane Christensen

You have tons of Sioux Falls marketing options.

Image courtesy of “Stuart Miles” / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Marketing options in Sioux Falls can make your head spin. It’s daunting. But let’s define marketing in regards to trying to attract more customers or increase sales. Marketing… is anything you do inside or outside your business in an attempt to make a buck. That could mean flyers on windshields, sandwich boards, signage in your store, improving your online presence, advertising on the radio, joining a networking group, etc.

Advertising is something you pay for where you’re “renting” an audience. Radio has an audience. TV has an audience. Billboards have an audience (kind of – people don’t “choose” to use billboards – they’re just kind of in the way). The Internet has an audience. Advertising is a part of your marketing.

Back to marketing in Sioux Falls. Consider your competition in town. Are you one among many? Or are you light on competitors? That will be a big factor in how intensely you need to market or how much you need to invest in your marketing.

The biggest problem I see is that there are “marketing people” and “marketing firms” who don’t have a lot of experience in helping people improve their overall marketing efforts. They just have their own toolbox to sell which may or may not be a bit of good for anyone. They’ve just been told by their bosses to go sell their services. Then, the creative people will create some fancy graphics. Or the production department will put together some ads.

Do you see the problem? There is a huge gap in there that needs to be filled with thinking, communication, research, and then finally a smart marketing STRATEGY for the business. Because without that…you’re not doing the most you can with your marketing budget. You might be throwing a lot of dollars in the dumpster, so to speak.

Marketing in Sioux Falls can be fun!

I’m serious! Once we put a great plan together for you…and hammer out a good strategy for you and a first set of ads for the first few months…then, all we have to do is keep our ear to the ground. You’ll start seeing new faces, consistently. You’ll talk to more people. Then, I just keep writing more ads and tweaking the overall strategy. After a year, you could be truly amazed at how your business has changed.

Part of the fun will be that you will NOT have to constantly worry about where your next customer will come from. I’ll be on the side working for you. I’ll be doing my own research for you. You’ll have a new radio ad at least once a month. And that’s important because if you run the same ad more than that…the effectiveness of that ad drops off sharply. You have a lot to tell the public. So, we’ll keep your ads fresh, persuasive, and entertaining.

I like to help businesses see the bigger picture. Marketing in Sioux Falls is not about trying this and trying that. It’s about figuring out the best way to position yourself among your competitors. Marketing is a process. It’s not an inconsistent series of events that may or may not work. Sioux Falls is still a nice size where word can travel pretty fast. We can help you become a household name in town. If you’re interested in talking, just give me a shout.

Not only Sioux Falls – you’ll also be marketing to the surrounding rural area.

This isn’t like a direct mail campaign to a few Sioux Falls zip codes. You’ll be reaching an entire area. Not just portions. You won’t have to hope and pray that your direct marketing is getting to the exact people who need your service at this precise moment. You’ll be getting your business name and what you stand for into the brains of the public, and we’ll make sure the ads are sticky enough so they remember you. This is mass media. You’ll be reaching a ton of people. And here’s why that’s GOOD and why you do NOT have to “target” so narrowly with your advertising…

Everyone is an “influencer” in some way. Even if your exact perfect potential customer doesn’t hear your ad… how many people are in that person’s “circle”? People talk. People chat about anything and everything. And if we feel we can help a friend or family member out by mentioning a business we heard about…we will. Decisions aren’t made in a vacuum. If a husband doesn’t hear the plumbing ad…the wife still could have. And the wife is sleeping with the husband. They talk. So, when there’s a plumbing issue, guess what happens? They talk about who to contact.

When I said you don’t have to target so narrowly…that’s not entirely true. We’ll target the right people (profitable potential new customers) with the message we communicate in your ads. We target through the message…not exclusively through the avenue in which you advertise. Which is much more effective.

Advertising isn’t like a vending machine. You can’t just put in money and automatically get something in return. We need to actually sit down and think about this for a moment before you pull the trigger with your checkbook. I won’t let you advertise with me until we know we’ve created something with the potential to do great things.

I’ll produce a campaign for you that will make a difference. And if I don’t think that’s possible…I’ll tell you.

When we start working together, I’ll make your Sioux Falls marketing not seem so confusing and help you wade through your endless marketing and advertising options. I’m not saying radio is the best of the best when it comes to local advertising. But I am saying that I’ve learned quite a lot in the past many years I’ve been doing this, and I’ve seen my clients grow consistently year after year. I know that radio advertising can make great things happen. I know businesses who are “famous” in Sioux Falls and they put 85 to 90% of their marketing budget into radio at Results Radio. We do it different here. I do it different. I care about your results. I care that what we’re doing with your investment is giving you a return that will cause you to LOVE your radio advertising.

I’ll stop now. I get a little passionate about this stuff. : )

Have a great day!

Duane Christensen

(Chief paper clip organizer at Results Radio Townsquare Media)

Sioux Falls Radio Advertising blog

P.S. Let me know if you’d like to sit down and discuss your options. I’m not the “salesy” type. Just the “nice, helpful guy” type. Marketing in Sioux Falls doesn’t have to be so scary, confusing, frustrating, etc.