print advertising

Five Results To Expect From Great Radio Ads…That You Didn’t Expect

/ Duane Christensen

Which ads are the ones that really work great?

Which ads are the ones that bring in the cash?

Here are 5 results you can expect (that you didn’t expect) from great ads…

  1. They offend a few people.
  2. They make people go, “Did he just say that?”
  3. They snap people out of their trance.
  4. They cause people to re-think what they thought was true.
  5. They challenge tradition.

Words can fire people up. Words can make people think differently. So, let’s use words and combinations of words in your advertising that make people stop and take notice of you. It’s better than them NOT noticing you, right? Because that’s what most advertising is. It goes unnoticed. Or if by chance it IS noticed…it’s forgettable.

Bad advertising = Blah, boring, and safe.

Good advertising = NOT blah, not boring, and not 100% safe.

Great advertising = Connecting with the people you’re looking for in a way that makes them feel awesome about your company.

Every ad medium has ads that are good, bad, and totally idiotic. Radio, TV, Billboards, Yellow Pages, Internet, etc. It’s not the ad medium that’s at fault. It’s the person that’s crafting the ad messages. Of course, I like radio because I get to hear from my happy clients consistently about the positive effects it has on their business.  And when radio is done right, it can do things for your business more efficiently and effectively than anything else I’ve seen.

Be honest with yourself. If your advertising is BAD (blah, boring, and safe), then it’s like putting hundred-dollar bills through the shredder. Good advertising has very little to do with the “production” of it. But everything to do with what you’re saying to the people you’re trying to talk to.

Have a GROOVY day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

My work website: http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/ (And if you’d like a business website like this, or nothing like this, give me a shout. I’ll point you in the right direction)

And if you have questions about the cost of radio advertising, which radio stations would be a good fit, 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 market.

Traditional Media for Small Business (brick and mortar)

/ Duane Christensen

Radio, TV, Print, and Billboard. These are the main local advertising options you have. (we’re not talking digital or anything internet – I’ll tackle that beast later. Ok, quickly, digital ads are just print ads on steroids)

If I’m in charge of an advertising budget for a small business, I have to be sensitive to the size of the budget. I’m not going to be able to advertise everywhere. So, where do I put the money?

First, you have to understand the difference between “intrusive” advertising and “passive”.

Intrusive is radio and TV. It means that if we’re listening to a radio station or watching a TV program, the ads just “happen”. We don’t have to DO anything to be exposed to them. It’s not work…we just listen. Unlike passive media (print), where you have to choose to read an entire ad. Example: Just because there’s an ad on the magazine page you’re glancing at, doesn’t mean you’ll read it.

So, my first choice for advertising a small business is intrusive media if the budget allows for it. I also choose Radio over TV for 2 main reasons.

1) It’s more affordable to run the frequency of ads needed to start the branding process.

2) I can change the ads at no charge EVERY MONTH…easily. Whereas, TV production is spendy and labor intensive. And any time a TV ad airs for more than 6, 8, to 12 weeks…the effectiveness of that ad drops sharply down close to ZERO.

It’s because once we’re exposed to one particular ad more than a dozen times, we tend to “tune out” after only a couple of seconds. We say to ourselves, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me something I haven’t heard before.” Tell us something new. An overplayed ad bores us to tears. Or worse, it annoys us. And that’s not good for business, eh?

What’s the short version of HOW a small, brick and mortar should advertise locally? Radio. 48 to 52 weeks a year. Of course there are always some exceptions, i.e. a seasonal business. Or I may suggest direct mail when your target prospects are few…and easily located.

I write radio for many small businesses. When we take our time and find the right things to say in the ads…growth is not far behind. Return on investment from radio done right, far exceeds what can be accomplished with print and outdoor (passive) advertising.

Something that I’ll always remember that Roy H. Williams said, “We can close our eyes, but we can’t close our ears.”

Have an awesome day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

My work website: http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/ (And if you’d like a business website like this, or nothing like this, give me a shout. I’ll point you in the right direction)

And 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 market.

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.