The Story of Bob’s Tire Store

TOMA/Branding is still King!

Let’s pretend that you walked out to your vehicle this morning and noticed you had a flat tire!  *$#*@!#&!! … And, it’s not just flat, it’s ruined!

If you’re like most people, your next step would be to go to the internet and search one of two things; 1) Tire stores in (your city) or 2) a specific name of a tire store you are familiar with, like Bob’s Tire Store.

Our ENS Media TOMA surveys, conducted in over 260 markets, continue to prove a couple things;

  1. Approximately 64-75% of people will click on a business they are FAMILIAR WITH before clicking on a business at the top of the page they are NOT FAMILIAR WITH (only 3%).

  2. Approximately 72% of people are very likely to use those businesses which come to mind first.

Internet marketing guru Seth Godin says, “It’s better to be sought than found”.  In other words, if you’re Bob, you’re hoping that people search specifically for “Bob’s Tire Store”, but, if they search “tire stores in (your city)”, your hope is that people know you and have an emotional connection with you so you have a greater chance of getting their business.  If not, the business is up for grabs.  Kind of sounds like the old Yellow Pages, or as we refer to it, the “Directory of Ineffective Advertisers”.

The need to have a strong brand name, or TOMA, isn’t going away. In fact, as the internet, smart speakers, voice-activated searches and purchases become more popular, the need to have TOMA will become even more important.  “Alexa, connect me with a tire store”, or “Alexa, call Bob’s Tire Store”.

Do you think the businesses you work with need to continue to build TOMA?   Siri, Cortana, and Alexa think so!

If you would like to learn more about our TOMA Surveys and Seminars and how they can help grow your local direct revenue in 2019 and beyond, contact me or give me a call and let’s talk!

It’s FINALLY Over, Hallelujah!!

Lessons Learned from the Political Advertising Season

I think I can speak for the entire U.S. population when I say, “Thank goodness it’s FINALLY over!” Even our Canadian friends, I’m sure, are tired of hearing all the negativity, bickering and hogwash. The only good thing I can think of, besides the extra revenue, is that there is much we can learn from political advertising.

First, you need to understand that it’s a different beast. It’s not just Branding nor is it just Direct Response advertising…it’s really a combination of both. Long gone are the days of shaking hands and kissing babies. Today, it’s all about mudslinging, name calling, twisting the truth and “he said/she said” propaganda!

But, one lesson that can and should be learned from the GOOD political campaigns is that they have a STRATEGY! All GREAT advertising campaigns, whether they’re for products, services, or politics, start with GREAT strategy. They absolutely know what they want to be “known for” and what they want to “accomplish” with their advertising and marketing.

We may not like their strategy, but in the political advertising and marketing world it works. I refer to it as “Negative Repositioning”, and it plays on the FEAR emotion. To make it work, it takes two things; lots of money and a lack of moral conscience! And in the political advertising world, all normal rules and ethics seem to be tossed out the window.

So, what is Negative Repositioning?  It’s simply a way to get you to vote AGAINST someone rather than voting FOR their candidate. It’s not necessarily to get you to like Candidate A over Candidate B, but rather to DISLIKE one more than the other. Keep in mind, neither of the candidates are going to be put on a shelf in a store where you can go in and buy one or the other, it’s a vote.  In the political world, the vote is all that matters. WARNING: “Negative Repositioning” should never be used to market a product or service!

The lesson you can learn from the political advertising seasons is how important “Strategy” is in your marketing campaign.  Know what your clients want to be “known for”, then write ad campaigns that speak to that!

Thanks for reading, and know that we won’t be talking politics for another two years! Hallelujah!

If you would like to learn more on how to create effective strategies and write better ad campaigns, let me know and we’ll talk!

Rick Fink

ENS Media

605-310-2062

Remember When?

Remember the days when getting a first appointment with your new prospects was relatively easy, and more calls meant more appointments? You simply picked up the phone and said things like:

  • I have a great idea I would like to share with you.

  • I’d like to ask a few questions to learn more about your business.

  • I have a new station package or special offer I’d like to drop off.

Today, your prospects and clients are bombarded with many new media and traditional media sales amateurs claiming they want to learn more about their business. Business owners today don’t have time to teach you about their business. They want to work with salespeople who have put in the extra effort to learn about their business BEFORE they call.

The skeptical business owner is saying to themselves; “I don’t know you, I don’t know what you stand for, I don’t know your company, and what do you know about my business or any business for that matter?”

Effort breeds psychological reciprocity; that deep-rooted subconscious need to do something for someone who has done something for you. Provide your prospects with usable knowledge about their business over a period of time, and you might just peak their interest – IN YOU!

You can begin building your brand and demonstrating your knowledge and effort by sending a few helpful marketing tips like those in our SoundADvice e-marketing system BEFORE you ask for the appointment.

Once you have presold who you are, what company you’re with, and what you stand for, securing an appointment will become much easier. Better yet, they”ll just call you for that appointment!

The bottom line? The most important thing you have to sell is trust. And trust is built over time, not with just one phone call or one cold call.

Busy decision makers today don’t have time for typical salespeople or old school sales tactics. But they will make time to talk to professionals who have branded themselves as marketing experts who know something about their particular business category, and who appear willing and able to help them grow their business.

Want to learn more about how the SoundADvice e-marketing system can pre-sell your media reps’ qualifications? Click here to set up a time to talk with Rick.

CAPS, Bold, !!! … — !

Quick Easy Tips… How to Write BETTER Ads!

I learned a long time ago and have preached for many years that one of the most important elements in successful advertising is the “MESSAGE”! When teaching and preaching radio advertising, I start with these rules:

  • People don’t dislike ads, they dislike BAD ads! AND…..

  • NO ONE listens to your radio stations for the ads; we must make them “HEAR” the ads…

Why are most ads … BAD ads? The main reason is that the announcer is simply reading the scripts as they are written, Bland and BORING with a capital “B”!!!

Are your ads written in proper English, using perfect grammar and punctuation OR… do you write them (and produce them) like people really speak?  I could talk for hours on how to write and produce ads that work, (it’s one of my favorite subjects) but today I am speaking directly to the elements (CAPS, Bold, !!! … —) of the script!

Nine times out of ten, scripts are written in normal script style with proper sentence format and near perfect grammar. Unfortunately, that is exactly how the announcer reads it. Again — BORING! STOP Doing This!!!

If you want a healthy or … pregnant pause, use … or —. If you want emphasis on a certain word …. use all CAPS and/or BOLD type and certainly use !’s. If the word needs EXTRA emphasis, !!! is better than ! or !! And, never… NEVER write a full script in ALL CAPS – but a single word HERE and there is O.K. !

These little tips will help announcers voice and produce BETTER ads! Your announcers will appreciate it – your listeners will like it – and…your CLIENTS will LOVE IT!!

Better ads get better RESULTS! Great Ads – Get GREAT RESULTS!!! And, Great Results nearly always equal – Longer Term Business and BIGGER $$$’s!

If you would like help training your team on how to write GREAT ADS, we provide half day and full day workshops on this exact subject!!! To visit about this workshop – CONTACT ME…—!!!

Digital Fraud is Giving Me a Headache! How about You?

Let me first say, I am not opposed to Digital Media or Social Media! They both have a place in our “marketing world” and I encourage you to embrace them. I recommend digital for clients, but let’s speak freely, the hype about it may be bigger than anything we have seen since __________???

What are the facts? When it comes to the REAL numbers, how big is it? How many people use it? How do they use it? And, how often do they use it? Oh, and one more thing, how much of it is FRAUD?

If you read the publications that I read, you know that upwards of 25% (minimum) is fraud. If you are talking video, up to 75% can be fraud (this was taken from e Marketer, Aug 8th Edition, titled Ad Fraud Still Plagues Digital Media’s Supply Chain: “Of the video ad inventory purchased without validation, 72% was fraudulent).

Again, I am not opposed to digital, but the question I ask is this. As Broadcast Media Reps, how would your clients react if you sold them 200 ads, but you only delivered or aired 150 of them…or LESS? But, you still charged them for all 200 ads! It wouldn’t be pretty! This isn’t happening in Radio or TV, not even in Print or Billboards, but it’s happening every minute, every day in digital!

To learn more about digital fraud, and I encourage you do so, simply google “statistics on digital ad fraud”. You can read for days. If you would like me to send you a few articles, email me at [email protected].

We’re in the GREAT medium of Radio, so hold your heads high. People spend more time with us, radio (and TV) provide the best ROIs, and we have very little to NO fraud!

I recommend we all take some aspirin for the digital headache and keep telling the positive story of Radio!

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on digital media, whether you agree with me or not. Call or email me and let me know.

Rick Fink, ENS Media                                                                                                                                      Cell #:  605-310-2062