results radio sioux falls

My GIFs and Why I Use Them #4

/ Duane Christensen

Here is Round #4 of the GIFs I use in emails once in a while to get my point across a little more effectively or just to give someone a laugh. 🙂

Just use this GIF instead of typing, “Wow, that’s awesome!” And who doesn’t love Tommy Boy? ✔

Who gags better than Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber?! And you’ll come across at least one reason to send a “gag GIF” over the next few days. Like the addition of 5 new Zoom meetings this week, or a new technology we have to learn because it will make our work lives “easier”. Ha.

And this is when someone requests some task or project from me… and I’m going to get it done PRONTO… and happy to do it!

Nick Cage. Long hair. 5 o’clock shadow. White tank. And a WINK. This is usually a “You’re Welcome” GIF to guys that are cool enough for it. 😎

Have a fresh Spring day! 🌷

Duane Christensen

Marketing Dude in Sioux Falls, SD

9 Yards Marketing

My GIFs and Why I Use Them #3

/ Duane Christensen

Here is Round #3 of the GIFs I use in emails once in a while to get my point across a little more effectively or just to give someone a laugh. 🙂

Spongebob happy pants is maybe for someone who might not be “on the same page” as me in the “what’s funny” department. Keepin’ it simple and fun.

But then… let’s just follow it up with a little Spongebob snarky pants for those who will appreciate it. A sense of humor is a must for your recipient. Thick skin. I usually send this in reply to a mass email from a coworker (with a sense of humor) who lets people know they’ll be out of the office the next few days. 😂 OR maybe include it in a reply to your boss after she sends you another email of no value whatsoever.

Alright… enough with the cartoons. This one just gets a laugh every time. When you’ve had it with dumbasses. Harsh, right? Or not harsh enough? 😉 I just can’t. Nope. Not doing it. See you on the dark side. I’m done.

This is when I need to let some dude know that I’m not playing around. Or am I? I’d really just like them to ponder on that for a bit. And you can’t ever go wrong with an Inigo Montoya quote from The Princess Bride.

Have a groovy day! ☮

Duane Christensen

Marketing Dude in Sioux Falls, SD

www.9yards-marketing.com

My GIFs and Why I Use Them #2

/ Duane Christensen

Here is Round #2 of the GIFs I use in emails once in a while to get my point across a little more effectively or just to give someone a laugh. 🙂

This here can be taken 2 ways. I sincerely applaud you… or I’m being a smartass and you’ll know it when I’m using it in this manner. 🙂

The next two are essential. They are “Giddyup” GIFs. The Kramer giddyup is for when a more aggressive giddyup is needed. You’ll see what I mean here…

This particular giddyup almost has a feminine feel to it. Subtle. More of a congratulatory giddyup. Like… yeah… we’re awesome…

Whoops… I was almost going to slip a “Ken Jeong from the Hangover when they’re in the desert” GIF in here. We’ll skip that one and keep this post PG-13. But that one is perfect for old buddies / good friends who have a sense of humor.

I like the old Star Wars. And the characters. Especially Han Solo. Cuz he’s cool as shit. And hilarious. Or am I talking about Indiana Jones? Doesn’t matter. This Han Solo slide is for when I amaze the crap out of someone and do something that most people can’t do. It happens a lot. Or at least it does in my brain. 😉

That’s all for today. Kisses. ❤

Duane Christensen

Marketing Dude in Sioux Falls, SD

We Need Some Normalcy

/ Duane Christensen

All I’m sharing with you today are some of my GIFs that I put into select emails to friends, coworkers, and clients when I want to emphasize a particular emotion. These are just some of my faves that I’ve collected over the years. 🙂 This is an attempt to lighten the mood and give you something normal / not normal.

For when I’m a little frustrated, or want to call BS on something…

And I like Arnold.

When I know I’m about to make something really big or exciting happen. When I’m jumping in to take care of business…

I appreciate Blake’s “getrdone” attitude and humor.

There are times I email a client telling them I have an idea, but it’s not quite fully baked yet. So, I tell them I’m still researching, writing, and thinking, but to stay tuned…

Zach G!

Ah, crazy eyes. This is for when a group of you just witnessed or were emailed something that is verging on “off the rocker” or maybe some nervous tension…

Good for a few other applications as well.

That’s all for today. This is the first installment of a 4 or 5-part series. MORE TOMORROW. I have a slug of useful GIFs to share that can be included in some of your future emails.

Of course, you need to know when it’s appropriate and when it’s not. But we’re all professionals and can figure that out. Yes. That’s right. I trust you. Isn’t it nice to be trusted? Whole other issue. Sorry. Have a great day!!! 🙂

Duane Christensen

9 Yards Marketing

Radio Advertising Questions and Answers

/ Duane Christensen

I was emailed these questions about radio advertising the other day the other day…

  • Do you write the promotions?
  • Do you research the reach? Or, have suggestions on where we could push our product?
  • How many ads is good to have in rotation?
  • How many people can we reach?
  • What time of the day is best to run our ads?
  • Cost/per ad during the week?
  • How many times will this run throughout the week and/or on weekends?

All great questions. And usually the answers to those questions are the core materials in any media rep’s presentation. Which is why their ad campaigns will probably fail. At Results Radio, our “presentations” are a bit different. We focus on figuring out how we’re going to make your advertising actually work.

So, let’s add a couple questions to that list above that are more important…

  1. How will we make it work? (what’s our strategy?)
  2. How will we measure success?

These are more important because the other questions above won’t matter, if we’re not going into this campaign with the expectations of making it work… and knowing that it’s working. Right?

Let’s answer those questions up top first though…

Do you write the promotions? Yes we do. At Results Radio, that’s what we train on most heavily. The words that are written and then spoken that go into people’s ears are what makes or breaks an ad campaign. And that is why we spend so much time figuring out what to say in your ads. Because that’s the core of making your ads work for you.

Do you research the reach or have suggestions on where to push our product? I’ll have to clarify this question with the business, but I think they’re asking something about demographics. Yes, I suggest the stations that will work best based on the people you’re looking for. But you need to understand that particular stations don’t own an audience. Meaning, most people listen to an average of 2.5 stations. For example, if you’re looking for “car parts type of people”, aka motorheads or “truck people”… can you imagine the different types of radio stations they could be listening to? Sports, Classic Rock, Modern Rock, Top 40, 80s, 90s, Modern Country, Classic Country, Talk Radio, etc., etc., etc.!

So, you pick a couple that seem like a good fit, and you start there. Or whatever works with your budget. And if you can’t afford to buy enough ads to run each month on the biggest of the stations, then you pick a station with a smaller audience that you can afford to talk to month-in and month-out. You’re trying to win a group of people over, one station at a time. Once you start seeing growth, then you can afford to add another radio station to your mix.

How many ads is good to have in rotation? You can air multiple ads that rotate at whatever percentage you wish. Most businesses don’t need to rotate different ads at the same time, but if you have a few different products to push… maybe you rotate 2 or 3 at once. But you also have to make sure you have enough ads airing each week in order for everyone to hear each of those ads enough times.

How many people can we reach? You can reach about 90% of the adults in the radio stations’ coverage areas if you’re advertising on enough stations. But that doesn’t mean you have to be on all of them. Remember when I said the average listener listens to 2.5 radio stations? Well, that means if you advertise on 2 radio stations, you’re theoretically advertising on about 5 stations. Cool, right? When it comes to actual numbers… there are some ratings out there on most stations. But the thing is… the number of people that are surveyed for radio station ratings is very low. Like, grossly low. So, the level of accuracy is low. So, one year a station can be listed as the #2 rock station, and the next it’s #8. How does that work when nothing else changed in the radio market in the last year? Radio rankings are hit or miss. There’s a disclaimer on those rankings that mentions something like, “use these ratings at your own risk”.

How many people are we reaching? It all depends on the popularity of the station. It could be anywhere between 5000 people to 40 or 50,000 people depending on the station… and the time frames in which you’re running those ads. If you’re only running ads during a morning “drive time”… you’re only reaching a fraction of that total audience.

What time of the day is best to run our ads? You want to reach the entire audience if you can afford it. And it costs less per ad to run ads all throughout the day. You can never predict when someone is listening. We all have different habits when it comes to radio listening. Some listen from 6 to 7:30 every morning. And then not again until 2pm or 5pm. Others listen periodically throughout the day, some all day long at work. Others only when in their cars. That’s why it’s a fool’s errand to only want to run ads during certain times of the day. You’ll pay more for the ads, and you’re hitting a smaller audience in the end.

Cost per ad during the week? This depends on the popularity of the radio station, the length of the ad, and the time frame they are airing. We’ll have a discussion about actual prices face-to-face.

But let me drop this little nugget on you… It doesn’t matter how much an ad costs if it doesn’t work. Even the cheapest ads are still expensive if you don’t see any results.

How many times will this run throughout the week and/or on weekends? My recommendation for “ad frequency” depends on your competition and your “share of marketing voice” within your industry. If you’re placing ads all throughout the day (let’s say 6am to 8pm), then you’ll need anywhere from 19 to 25 ads per week… at least 3 weeks per month if we’re trying to brand your business (make you the business people think of first in your category). But if your business category has a lot of competition advertising, then you need to adjust your ad load a bit higher to make sure your “share of voice” is high enough to make an impact on the radio listeners. You don’t want to be “drowned out” by your competitor’s ads.

So, those are my basic answers to those questions… but they aren’t comprehensive by any means. The questions asked in a face-to-face meeting and extra research on how much local marketing their competition is doing, gives much more insight into the radio scheduling tactics that would need to be implemented.

But you must know… the actual MESSAGE that we put into the ears of the radio listeners is what will ultimately determine the success of a radio advertising campaign. If the radio script that is written is just an afterthought… your radio marketing plan will fail. No doubt about it. But if enough time, research, and thought is put into the writing… “mountains” can be moved.

And… I’ll address those two questions I added to the list…… next time. 🙂

Thanks for reading. Have a groovy day!

Duane Christensen

9 Yards Marketing

605-940-7984

duane@9yards-marketing.com

Contact Me

The Amazing Cake Lady – SF Radio Advertising Archives

/ Duane Christensen

I’m not going to ramble… you just have to listen to these. These three radio spots were produced in 2010. The Cake Lady didn’t have a big budget… but they had “Gramma Nanna”.

She had passion. And we captured that. Enjoy…

The Cake Lady – Peanut Brittle
The Cake Lady – Christmas Candy
The Cake Lady – Pumpkin Tort

Radio Ads shouldn’t sound like Radio Ads.

Duane Christensen

9 Yards Marketing

duane@9yards-marketing.com

Radio page: https://www.9yards-marketing.com/radio-advertising.html

Is This The #1 Force Behind Business Success?

/ Duane Christensen

You can try to fool yourself into thinking that your success is all because of the products you sell or the services you offer. Yes, of course, what you sell is important. You need to offer something to consumers that is needed or desired. That’s a given.

business success

But in my humble opinion, the #1 reason for continued long-term success is your people. You need good people who know how to create, build, and service. And you, their leader, needs to instill in those people your passion and your mission. (Your passion stems from more than just making money, right?)

Now, let’s dig a little deeper. All employees need to be good… BUT… THE MOST INTEGRAL PARTS OF YOUR TEAM, THAT MOST DIRECTLY EFFECTS YOUR SUCCESS OR FAILURE, are the people who deal with your customers and your potential customers ONE-ON-ONE. They’re the ones who make the customer experience a great one. They provide a better customer experience than anyone could get from your competitors.

There are companies past and present who have great products and offer much needed services, but they’ve either gone away or are constantly struggling because the customer experience is… or was… horrible.

When a consumer is uncomfortable during an interaction, sales pitch, or service call – it will all fall apart. If not immediately, it will eventually.

Do not kid yourself. If you run a company that depends on multiple employees… one person does not make a successful company. You may be a great leader, but you also need to identify and mold good talent. And you need to know when someone does not fit the mold. Not everyone is trainable at this very moment in time or sometimes ever. And if you need help identifying “the right stuff” in people when you’re hiring them… then get some second and third opinions on your potential new hires. You have to uncover who people really are in your interviews. You have to get them talking. It’s more than just a sheet of questions asking about their skills and where they see themselves in 5 years. It’s about making them feel comfortable enough in an interview to open up and be honest with you.

But again… not everyone is trainable. You know what I’m talking about.

Think about a time you had a great customer experience when you purchased something. Usually, the big, fat, juicy main reason for that great experience was because of one person. Or a string of people who were on-point with how to interact with you.

It’s how they talked to you. They were pleasant, skilled, positive, and they were REAL.

But have you ever been in a buying situation where a person went into a canned sales pitch, and you just wanted to tell them to stop the bullshit and level with you? It’s like your lizard-brain is telling you to run away. Or have you ever got a grumpy service person, and you vowed right then and there never to hire that company again? Ever talk to a rude front office person who gave you a bad taste in your mouth? Yup. All of them. Me too.

Anyone within your company who deals with your customers (or prospective customers) one-on-one… in-person, on the phone, or even through email… are your main reasons for your success or your failure.

People have more choices than ever before to buy the goods and services they want or need. So, when that one employee gives a customer an easy interaction, and creates an environment of calmness and trust, that customer will stay with that person no matter what. Even if that person goes to work for a competitor of yours, that customer will most likely follow that person. Because we all like to do business with PEOPLE… not corporations.

This blog post was inspired by a buying experience I had recently with a salesperson. We’ve done a lot of business with this person, over many years. And this person always treats my wife and I like we’re human beings. They “get it”. This person is almost the complete opposite of what you usually find. They’re a gem that makes us feel COMFORTABLE. If this person ever changed companies, we’d follow.

The one-on-one human interactions are where your battles are won or lost.

It’s not your social media.  

It’s not whether you have great products or services.  

It’s not because you just “know” that you’re better.  

Make sure you have a team of diamonds dealing with your customers. If they need more training on how to deal with people… give it to them. And then, continue with that training weekly… forever. If you need to hire more diamonds, go find them. They may be hiding in a rough… but they are out there. And if you have trouble KEEPING those gems, then, figure out what you can fix.

marketing consultant

Duane Christensen

9 Yards Marketing

duane@9yards-marketing.com

Radio page: https://www.9yards-marketing.com/radio-advertising.html

Photo credit:
Image by sw_reg_03 on Pixabay

“Where Should I Advertise?” is the WRONG QUESTION

/ Duane Christensen

If you’re finally ready to shake up the world and make big things happen with your advertising… BUT… your first question is “Where should I advertise?”… then, you’re asking the wrong question. You’ve just skipped about 6 steps.

You should be asking yourself, “What can I SAY to people that will cause them to want to do business with me?” Only then… should you ask the question of where to advertise.

People don’t care about what you have to say in your ads until you’re saying something that’s relevant to THEM or something that entertains them. And what usually entertains people is Humor or a good Story. We all love a good story.

When you want to finally make your advertising work… let’s sit down and discuss your situation. I’ll help you understand the most important factors that make advertising work, plus all the little variables in the formula that can make or break an advertising campaign.

But beware… because I will talk to you about the mighty benefits of branding your business. If you only have the marketing mentality of “I need a fat and instant ROI with every ad investment I make” …then you will be disappointed and forever chasing something that really doesn’t exist. Not profitably anyway.

Of course, there are exceptions – but I’m writing to all those local businesses who have tried just about every kind of advertising and nothing has ever worked worth a crap. You’re frustrated, fed-up, and ready to flick the next Media Salesperson you talk to right in the brain.

Advertising that always brings instant results is the kind that only plucks the low-hanging fruit. Meaning, it’s just the tiny group of people who only need you at this very moment. And most of your competition is advertising TO THAT VERY SAME TINY GROUP…. giving you an even tinier slice of that low-hanging fruit.

But when you advertise consistently with a relationship-building message that engages emotions and causes people to like and trust you, then you’re advertising to that extremely LARGE group of people who may not need you now, but most of them will in the future. When you “brand” your business properly, those people will remember you when they need you. They’ll be more confident in doing business with YOU… even when your competitors try grabbing them as low-hanging fruit with their intermittent advertising.

When you BOND with people in your relationship-building ads, they’ll remember you because of how you made them feel. Because you spoke to them about THEIR NEEDS… not yours.

If you only “shoot from the hip” or “roll the dice” periodically with your “Act Now!” type of advertising, you’re just hoping and praying that people choose you based on luck… or price. Sounds like a bad bet to me.

So, I said that you need to figure out your message and your strategy FIRST. But you might not know how to do that. That’s ok. But neither do most other media and marketing people. Most of them know how to place a media buy and that’s it. And those salespeople hand off some client notes to a “creative” person, and they come up with a pile of garbage that doesn’t work.

I’ll help you with your advertising strategy. Your message. Your plan.

“Trying this… and trying that”… is getting a little old, isn’t it?

Duane Christensen

9 Yards Marketing

duane@9yards-marketing.com

Radio page: https://www.9yards-marketing.com/radio-advertising.html

Call or text: 605-940-7984

What Successful Radio Advertisers Have To Say About Digital Advertising…

/ Duane Christensen

Oh, it warms my heart! Sometimes when I bring up our Digital Advertising options to clients, they say something like… “why would we do that? we love what radio does for us.”

Some specific comments to me have been:

“Do you think we need it?”

Where I will say, “I just wanted to make you aware of our capabilities, just in case YOU thought you needed it. When it’s time to add to your budget and continue with your growth, I would add another radio station before I added digital. And they said, “We love our radio.”

“Every time we start a new ad, I know about it the first day it airs, because someone mentions it to me. I don’t think digital advertising is where it’s at.”

I asked if I could give them a hug after hearing that one.

“I don’t remember one digital ad I’ve seen recently. But I could name at least a dozen different businesses who I’ve heard on the radio in the past week.”

I said, “That’s interesting because it’s so much easier to brand a business with sound than with sight only. There’s a whole lot of neurological mumbo jumbo proving it. I’ll send you a short, but interesting article on the power of sound.”

“Online ads are just in the way when I’m trying to read an article. It’s annoying.”

I told them that I agreed that online ads can be annoying, but we could do digital ads that would complement their radio and they would allow us to “touch” people in another way, and also link to their website. Which they replied, “We want people to call us, we don’t even care if they go to our website.” And I said, “Exactly. I’ll shut up now. I just wanted to see how you felt about it.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m ok with digital advertising, as long as we have a solid enough radio campaign to go along with it. The best kind of advertising for a local business is the kind the brands you in the brains of the people. So, when they have a need for what you do or sell, they think of YOU first.

For example, if someone needs their carpets cleaned, but they don’t have a regular carpet cleaner they trust… do you want them to type “carpet cleaners in Sioux Falls” into Google to see all of your competition? Even if you are ranking #1 on the first page… or even buying Google Ads… you’re still right there with a whole list of competitors. OR… would you rather they immediately think of YOU when they need their carpets cleaned and they simply type YOUR BUSINESS NAME into Google and contact you directly?

The power of good branding is so much more beneficial than obsessing about ranking the highest on Google.

BUT… a good SEO plan and website is also beneficial. What if a person didn’t quite think of your business immediately, and they typed “carpet cleaning” into Google? Do you think they’ll choose someone they’ve never heard of? Or will they see your name, remember the radio ads, and call you because they have a good feeling about you and they feel like they know what you’re about? Right. They’ll call the business they’ve heard of and they’re familiar with long before they call anyone they don’t recognize or know nothing about.

Did I just get way off track? Yes. But that’s the nature of marketing today. You have so many choices, and it’s confusing. Do you know what I think you need? I think you need a good marketing person in your corner that you can trust. Someone who will honestly answer the questions you have… and who has the “stuff” to actually make your advertising work.

Someone like that could quite possibly be priceless. Am I that person? Maybe I’m a good fit for you, maybe I’m not. But my goal is actually to BECOME PRICELESS to my clients. I want to be your trusted marketing resource. Which comes from making your advertising work.

And it’s also why I have clients who say things like… “We love radio. I say we double-down on THAT.”

Duane Christensen

Marketing Services:

Creative > Strategy > Copywriting > Media Planning & Management

(image by: https://pixabay.com/)

I’m Seeing This Mistake – A Lot!

/ Duane Christensen
Digital Advertising

“You HAVE to advertise on the Internet.”

We spend a lot of time online.  We also ignore the crap out of 99.9% of ads we see on the internet.  Tell me I’m wrong. I’m assuming you might be told that “You have to TARGET TARGET TARGET the right person.  You need to figure out who your best customers are and then target those same demographics and behaviors with a laser-scoped rifle.” I’m talking about “Display Advertising” online.  The images with text on them.  How many do you ignore in a day?  How many do you EVER click on? How about Pay Per Click advertising?  Like Google Adwords? (which is changing to just “Google Ads” I guess).  I actually think there is some value with Google PPC ads for the right type of product or service.  It’s easy to test, too, without spending a fortune.  Then, when you find something that works, you can increase your budget a bit or your territory.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they bomb. But it’s all about the product or service you’re advertising and the wording you use in the ad.  If you have questions about using Google Ads… give me a shout and we can discuss. Ok, the same is probably true for display advertising… but there are local businesses spending thousands upon thousands each month on display advertising.  Personally, I bet their ROI doesn’t even pay for the ads.  Sure, they see that they’re getting ad impressions or clicks… but most aren’t measuring things correctly to know if it’s actually bringing them new business. Because that’s what matters, right? Bottom line… you’re spending too much on display advertising. Guess what?  I actually SELL display advertising once in a while.  Townsquare Media is really good at it.  Like REALLY good.  So, if I find the right client with the right product / service / offer… then I might recommend it… because I know that Townsquare will give them more bang for their buck than any other digital ad agency that I know about. BUT BUT BUT… if I have the choice of adding $1500 to $2500 per month onto either 1) more radio stations or 2) display ads………………….. I’m picking the extra radio station(s) every time.  EVERY. TIME. WHY, you say?  Because given the choice of playing an engaging and entertaining radio commercial to 100,000 people per week versus flashing an internet display ad to 100,000 people, which one do you think has more impact?  Which one do you think is more memorable?  And if you’re not thinking about the same kind of radio ads that I’m thinking about, then click HERE to play a few samples. The HUGE NET you cast with a great radio marketing campaign will target 3 groups of people: 
  1. The teeny-tiny group that needs your product or service now (which is what most online, print, and “sale” advertising ONLY targets)
  2. The considerably bigger group who doesn’t need you now, but will need your product or service within 1 to 12 months. And you can start telling them why you frickin’ rock, and how you’ll be the best damn choice for them when they DO need you (while most of your competitors are only advertising to the teeny-tiny group of low-hanging fruit).
  3. The much much bigger group of people who have no intention or inkling of using your product or service within the next year or two or three.  Your engaging and entertaining radio campaign will start forming a relationship with these people. They’ll feel like they know you before they even meet you! They’ll come to TRUST you before they even meet you (if the ads are done right)!  And what happens then? When they actually NEED the product or service you sell… who do you think they THINK OF FIRST?  Yup.  You.

Recent Radio Advertising Client Story

I have a radio client that’s been on the radio for 1 year and about 4 months with me.  The phase of RESULTS (or ROI) he’s knee-deep into right now from his Results Radio campaign… is impressive.  He went from doing NO RADIO, to radio ads on 2 big radio stations, 4 weeks each month… and his business is kind of exploding.  He went from ONE front desk / administrative professionals to THREE in this short time.  And I don’t know how many other service employees he has hired.  ANYWAY… here’s what happened… He recently asked me to put his radio ads on hold… so they can CATCH UP! He is also in a category that nobody had ever tried to lay claim as “the leader” in Sioux Falls.  Meaning, the competitors in his category didn’t advertise much…. or very effectively anyway.  That makes it prime pickins’ for snagging a huge share of market.  But that only comes when you snag a huge share of the minds within that market.  If you’re one of those categories where nobody is really “running away with it”… and you’d like to make your mark… give me a holler! If you’re wondering who the client or the category is, just shoot me an email, and I will happily share some of the details of the campaign, and why I feel it’s working so well. I did tell him, “I’ll pull the ads for a bit, but I don’t think you’ll slow down much because you’ve ‘duct-taped’ your brand onto the brains of a big chunk of the public.” Oh, and guess what.  He doesn’t do digital advertising. Or much social media at all. Or pay per click. Just a little bit of TV on ESPN I believe.  And he’s killing it – with his long-term, 4 weeks per month, radio advertising.  And that makes me really happy.  : )
Duane Christensen 9 Yards Marketing duane@9yards-marketing.com