You’re fighting for your life, and you see two surgeons who each offer you totally different solutions. The first one shows up at your door unannounced, in a Hawaiian shirt and ill-fitting track pants. He hands you a generic brochure about your illness along with his biography as he leaves to see the next patient.

          The other surgeon makes an appointment, meets you dressed in a crisp white lab coat, and shows you computer scans of your problem on the latest high-tech equipment. He gives you a comprehensive written outline of the procedure he proposes to save your life and discusses any questions or concerns you might have.

          Which solution would you have the most confidence in?

          When you’re fighting for your life, the answer is clear, even though the guy in the Hawaiian shirt might have had a better solution.

          Many businesses today are fighting for their lives too. Their marketing decisions are crucial to their survival. They’ve cut all of the expenses they can cut, and now they are desperate to increase their sales.

          The image you project can make all the difference in whether the worried decision-maker chooses your solution or your competitor’s. It’s all about your brand.

          We know that you create a hard to change impression in the first three seconds a prospect sees you BEFORE you open your mouth or present your solutions. Does your brand create confidence in your solution?

          Do you make appointments like a professional, or drop in like a peddler?

          We sell our ability to make businesses successful. Does your packaging, from your car to your clothes, make you look successful and instill confidence with would-be investors?

          If your competitors show up in a golf shirt, you need to wear a sports jacket. If they show up in a sports jacket, you need to wear a suit. And if your competitors are wearing custom tailored three piece suits, buy a tux!!

          The image you portray can give a worried advertiser the confidence to buy your solution even though it may not be better than the competition’s.

          And last but not least, does your presentation talk about solving your client’s problems, or about how great your station is?

          You are expected to be a branding expert…the best way to start is by looking after your own brand.

P.S. A funny thing happens when you sculpt a better brand for yourself. You not only look more professional, you feel and act more professional!

I am a proud member of the RAB and a huge proponent of any effort to sell radio’s preeminent role in the new media landscape rather than selling one station or cluster against another.

In a recent RAB newsletter, the headline read, “One in Three Social Marketers Dissatisfied with Results.” It was a great read and I always enjoy keeping my finger on the pulse of the advertising industry with these articles.

But I do have a fear that some over-zealous new radio rep will take that article, or one like it, and hit the streets in an effort to engage in negative selling or bashing other media.

The truth is that ever since John Wannamaker quipped “I know half of my advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half”, a large number of advertisers in any media are “dissatisfied with results.”

Don’t shoot the messenger, but there is probably a survey out there somewhere that claims half of radio advertisers are “dissatisfied with results.” Poor copy, bad strategy, ineffective scheduling and a long list of other factors can contribute to that dissatisfaction.

There is no such thing as a media which does not work. There are only messages which don’t work or, expectations or measurements which are misguided.

Here is my point. Those who try to elevate themselves by putting down others are never as successful as those who elevate themselves through positive selling; that is, selling their positives rather than focusing on competitors’ negatives.

It is important to know that other media have dissatisfied advertisers, but taking the positive approach through the use of testimonials and validating radio’s R.O.I. will win more advertisers than opening the “dissatisfied with results” can of worms.

Click here to inquire how our Radio R.O.I. (Return on Investment) workshop can help account executives sell more by positioning radio’s positive R.O.I.

Soon you will begin planning for a successful 2014.

The radio station business model is unique because we have three distinctly different target markets. Most other businesses only target those who can spend money with them.

But in radio, we have three target groups that affect that “spend”. We need a strategic marketing plan for each of those target customers.

One target is our audience. Most stations do have promotional and marketing plans to attract and maintain audiences. Our success with this target affects our success with our second target.

Our second target group is our paying customers…our advertisers. Most stations are fairly effective at reaching and influencing this group as well.

It is important to calculate the per capita value of each of your target customers. If a station has annual revenue of $3 million with a listening audience of 100,000 people, then each listener is worth $30. Using that same revenue base and a total of 500 advertisers, each advertiser is worth an average of $6,000.

But it is our third target that is by far the most valuable per capita and yet we often have no marketing plan to attract, motivate and keep these customers. The third target is our internal customers, our staffs. If that same $3 million station has a staff of 30 who sell, create, administer and invoice the $3 million in revenue, then each staff member has an average value of $100,000.

When the lights go off, your most valuable assets go home!

Do you have a marketing plan to attract and create customer satisfaction for your most valuable target market…your internal customers?

Our new Canadian Radio Sales Certification program is a correspondence course designed to bolster the confidence and proficiency of the local account executives on your internal customer team. Contact [email protected] to inquire about investing in this valuable resource.

P.S. We know that extraordinary revenues require extraordinary effort and creativity. Click here to inquire about the extraordinary revenue generating initiatives we have available to help increase your local-direct sales in 2014 and beyond.

I Shipped My Pants

       Virtually every broadcast account executive has had a business owner ask, “How can I make my advertising stand out?”

The short answer is, “Quit playing it safe.” ‘Safe’ advertising is what causes most businesses to disappear into the never-ending landscape of competitors, versus becoming a landmark in that landscape.

You can click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL4lSavSepc to view one of the most popular ‘viral’ ads this Spring.          Kmart’s, ‘I Ship My Pants’ ad, is a daring example of an advertiser willing to take a little risk to clearly stand out, and more importantly, make their point memorable.

The ad has customers saying ‘I ship my pants’, or ‘I ship my bed’ and ‘I ship my nightie’ to make it clear that consumers can now have the convenience of going online to have Kmart purchases shipped to their door.

Account executives who help their clients create more effective ads invariably are your station’s highest producers.

Those same business owners who ask how to make their advertising stand out, also ask, “Which media works best?” The answer to this question is also short and simple….”There is no such thing as a media that does not work, there are only messages that don’t work.”

The ‘I ship my pants’ message would have been even more thought-provoking on radio without the video….try just listening to the soundtrack only and you’ll see what I mean.

If you can convince your advertisers to take a risk to make their ads stand out you will be able to prove the effectiveness of radio advertising once and for all.

Click here to inquire how ENS Media’s SoundADvice e-marketing system can help your salespeople and local advertisers understand how to use more radio more effectively and increase your sales.