Today, virtually every business is under increased competitive pressure from large national corporations and market fragmentation. In this environment, it is increasingly important for media sales executives to help their clients to establish realistic goals and to measure their advertising results by those carefully-chosen yardsticks.
          I recently met with a small-market furniture client who was disappointed with the results of our 2006 TOMA, Top of Mind Awareness, survey and was about to cancel his broadcast advertising schedules. The client had been to a TOMA presentation nearly three years ago and as a result had decided to increase his awareness and sales with a consistent high-frequency broadcast campaign.
          The 2003 TOMA survey for that market had revealed this particular furniture retailer had a 24% awareness level. In anticipation of increasing competition this entrepreneur committed to increase his advertising investment by more than $50,000 per year, scheduling 20 announcements per week every week on three stations.
        Nearly three years later, having increased his advertising investment substantially, the client met with me to discuss what went wrong when our most recent survey indicated his share of mind had slipped from 24% to 23%.
          Oops! What was his original goal? He had increased his advertising to combat new competitors coming to the market. In the last three years the number of furniture retailers in the market had doubled, and there was nearly 200,000 more square feet of retail furniture space vying for the attention of consumers in this market.
          For this advertiser to virtually maintain his share of mind amidst that kind of increased competition was, in my mind, a huge coup! Once we reviewed his original goals, his competitive situation and his advertising results he decided to hold the course with his campaign.
          Your clients often become disenchanted with their advertising by using the wrong objectives and tools to measure their success. It is up to you, the professional account executive, to help your clients establish the right goals and to measure their results with the proper tools rather than measuring by ego or emotion.

TOMA Surveys are just one of the proven monthly revenue tools an ENS Media  consultant will bring to your stations when you participate in our Sales Fitness training and consulting program. Looking to dramatically increase your sales every year?
Contact Wayne to discuss including our Sales Fitness program in your marketing plan next year.