Tag Archives: campaigns

I’m Pretty Proud of Them

This week I am going to take this time and space to say congratulations to a few very deserving people. At the same time, I hope to provide a small lesson on how to create great advertising for your clients.

First, as you may know, the Mercury Awards finalists were announced this past week. I am extremely proud to announce that two of my past sales reps and my first sales manager are all finalists. Jay Murphy (Haugo Broadcasting, Rapid City, SD) has a finalist entry in the Humor category. Mark Tollefson and Leigh Anglin (Results Radio – Townsquare Media, Sioux Falls, SD) are finalists in the Best Use of Music in an Ad category. All three of these individuals and I worked together for nearly 30 years at Results Radio, where I was the Sales Manager.

Here is the link to all the Mercury Award Finalists:

http://www.radiomercuryawards.com/2020finalists.cfm

Let me be clear, I am not taking credit for any of this. All three of these individuals are super talented and I learned every bit as much, and maybe even more, from them as they ever learned from me. But, as we did and they still do at Results Radio, they work as a TEAM where the #1 goal is to get results for their advertisers.

Mark has worked with Sorlien Electric and has been creating and producing effective ads for them for nearly 20 years.  Actually, he has created many more ads for Sorlien and others that are as good as or even better than the one nominated.

Leigh has been a creative “genius” since the beginning of time and has been the brains behind many extremely creative and effective campaigns.

Jay recently moved on from Results Radio to become the SM for a group in Rapid City. Since his arrival, Rapid City has never heard a higher level of quality radio ads. Rapid City radio is better because of Jay.

How did they get to this level? They all have common denominators:  1) They all have a burning desire to help their clients succeed 2) They’ve been trained by the very best (Don Jacobs, GM Results Radio, Sioux Falls, SD and Roy H. Williams, aka, Wizard of Ads) and 3) They never stop learning and trying to get better. If you were to ask Jay, Mark, or Leigh how they create these types of campaigns, they might say, “Ask a lot of deep questions”, “Don’t worry about what others think”, “Just write, be creative”, and “Do what’s right for the client”!

 Thank you for letting me brag on these great and talented people. They deserve the recognition.

 Congrats to Mark, Leigh, Jay… and Don!

I’m pretty proud of them!

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

A Merry Politically-incorrect Message

Those of you who have been receiving our ENS on Sales over the last fifteen years, know it’s time for my annual politically incorrect “Merry Christmas” message. (Although, I’m increasingly convinced that ‘politically correct’ is an oxymoron because I don’t know any politicians who are ‘correct’. They all seem to care more about getting elected than they do about doing what’s right.)

I used to agonize over whether I should say “Merry Christmas” because not everyone celebrates this Christian event.

But I believe in recognizing the role that history and heritage play in making people, nations, businesses and cultures what they are, and Christmas is a part of the North American heritage I’m not ready to deny.

I’m not offended when a friend wishes me Happy Hanukah, and I feel honored when another friend invites me to her faith’s New Year’s celebration in November. There is no denying that Christianity played a role in making North America what it is today…good or bad.

And I’ve never seen anyone from any faith object to getting a day off on December 25th, even though they know how the holiday originated, so Merry Christmas everyone!

‘Tis the season to rejoice and count our blessings.

As you take time over the holidays, I invite you to reflect upon how fortunate we are to be in this business.

We get paid for helping other people. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Whether we’re helping charitable organizations with a fund-raising campaign, or helping a business to grow and provide more employment with our advertising campaigns, we’re helping, informing and entertaining people every day!

Those people who punch a clock or work on an assembly line can only fantasize about having the opportunity to work with the diverse and creative group of peers we see every day. Some of us are wacky, some disciplined and some adventurous and others are focused… together we produce a product and service like no other!

And we have a purpose bigger than ourselves! We transform lives. We help needy children by promoting Christmas toy drives. We entertain people, adding laughter, music and insight to their otherwise boring lives. We keep people informed, make them think, and even let them know if they’ll need an overcoat on the way to work today.

We help them avoid traffic jams and to make enlightened decisions at election time.

For the most part our jobs are not hazardous.  We don’t brave the elements on a daily basis, and I don’t see a lot of calluses or sore backs in our business.

I heard an interview with country singer Kenny Rogers where he said, “Find a way to get paid for doing something you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” I think that’s where all of us in broadcasting are.

          So merry… happy… greetings… season’s… wishes… however you say it, we wish you all the best in 2017 and beyond. Merry Christmas!

Intel’s Loss Can Be Radio’s Gain

Last week the world’s largest computer chip manufacturer, Intel, announced the layoff of 12,000 employees. The company’s CEO said the layoffs were the result of the shift from personal computers to mobile devices.

At the same time, Google says smartphone searches now exceed laptop and desktop searches.

In a field over-crowded by digital-only salespeople, this shift presents a huge opportunity for radio account executives who know how to articulate a proactive radio and reactive digital strategy for their local advertisers.

In the old desktop world, consumers had more time to ‘research’ with key words like who, what, why, when and where. In the fast-paced mobile world, searches are shorter and the most popular search word is ‘where.’

The most effective marketers are adjusting to this change in consumer behavior, reaching out with proactive broadcast advertising to create a pre-need pre-search preference for their brand.

When consumers react to a need by consulting their mobile devices, a lumber store or donut shop, for example, can circumvent their prospects finding their competitors when they ask ‘where is the nearest lumber store’ or ‘where is the nearest donut shop.’

Instead, their proactive on-air campaigns, can persuade consumers to ask their smartphones for a business by name, like, “Where is the nearest Home Depot?” or “Where is the nearest Tim Horton’s?”

Our SoundADvice radio e-marketing system includes the tips and tools you need to help your account executives sell the pro-active radio and reactive digital strategy.

Click here to arrange a free demo of the SoundADvice system.