RodSpots: Rod Schwartz on Radio Advertising

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2011-02-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

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-Rod Schwartz

Serving Two Masters: the Radio Station and the Radio Advertising Client

2011-01-17T20:01:00.001-08:00

Radio advertising salespeople serve two masters: their radio stations and their advertising clients. A salesperson's paycheck is written on the radio station's bank account. But the station's account depends entirely on the dollars that come from its advertising clients.

Who, ultimately, is the salesperson's "boss?"

I’ve pondered this relationship for many, many years—the interlocking, occasionally conflicting relationship between “making goal” (putting the station’s needs first) and “serving the customer” (putting the client’s needs first).

It's too simplistic to say that these are (or should be) one-and-the-same. They’re not.

How should the salesperson serve his two masters, station and client? Each has his own priorities and objectives, his own self-interests.

We can bring the two objectives into closer alignment (though never perfectly) by investing in our salespeople, e.g., offering training in the arts of advertising, copywriting, and related marketing skills—and not just sales training, important as it may be—and then by empowering and encouraging them to evaluate, objectively, whether a particular schedule, campaign, or package is truly in the client’s best interest.

Short-term, budget-driven thinking tends in too many cases to see the client only as a means to an end. (There is the flip-side, of course, where a client sees the radio station as just another vendor, and his radio ads as a commodity, nothing more.)

Taking the longer view—and this has been my experience, especially in the second half of a career spanning nearly forty years—giving the client the benefit of the doubt and choosing his interests over the station’s when there’s a conflict, is a surer way to cultivate durable, longstanding relationships built on trust, respect, and honesty—a foundation far more likely in the long run to benefit the station as well.

Ted Williams, Take Two

2011-01-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

When Ted Williams first burst into the national conversation a couple of weeks ago, everybody-and-his-brother in media were trying to get a piece of him. Many viewed his discovery as his salvation, seemingly the end of his hard life.

But some of us saw him as jumping from the frying pan into the fire and said his biggest test was yet to come.

A guy used to drinking himself to sleep under a bridge isn't suddenly going to do a 180 simply because he's been discovered and come into some money.

Fame and fortune might enable him to buy a better brand of booze and sleep in a more comfortable place, for awhile anyway, but they're not going to make him a better person or prolong his life. Just ask Jimi, Janis, John Belushi, and myriad others who've faced and failed the prosperity test.

His media handlers can clean him up for the cameras, but that's just for show. Ted's daily testing begins when the cameras and microphones are turned off.

His recent meltdown in a Los Angeles hotel and subsequent arrest, his daughter's revelation that he's been downing a fifth of vodka nightly, and most recently his own admission on Dr. Phil's show that he hasn't been able to handle the pressure confirm it.

What Ted Williams truly, desperately needs is a good soul-scrubbing.

Dr. Phil put it this way:

"If Ted is ever going to get better, he's got to be honest with himself and admit he's addicted to drugs and alcohol. Everyone is pulling for Ted, but his 15 minutes are going to be over and then he'll be left to manage a life filled with temptation."

Ted Williams is facing a difficult, some would even say impossible situation. But there is One for whom nothing is impossible. Ted would do well to yield to Him, and I hope that God will intervene to provide the beneficial influences—both human and circumstantial—that will help Ted Williams change his thinking, change his behavior, and over time—years, not days, weeks, or months—eventually undergo the change in his character, that will give him the inner resources to resist the temptations he will continue to face and keep him from squandering the opportunity he's been handed.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:15-16)

VOTV: a Brand New Opportunity for Voiceover Talent

2011-01-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

Bob Souer, a voice actor held in high esteem by his peers in the business, calls it "either good news or bad news, depending on your point of view."

The news in question concerns plans by competing production companies to put not one but two new "reality" TV shows on the air, intended to give aspiring voice talents their shot at stardom.

VoiceOverXtra's John Florian writes:

Two television programs - Behind The Mic - The VoiceOver Talent Search, and America's Next Voice - are being developed by well-known voice over professionals, in which voice over talents will vie for a shot of fame on camera.
...
Behind the Mic co-producers are show creator and voice over talent agent Erik Sheppard - of Voice Talent Productions - and popular voice talent / trainer Marc Cashman.
...
America's Next Voice is being developed by Los Angeles voice over celebrities Joe Cipriano, known especially for TV promos and movie trailers, and Randy Thomas, the frequent voice of major award shows.

Reading between the lines of Mr. Florian's interviews with the producers, a nascent rivalry has already emerged between the two shows, although at least one voice actor has urged his colleagues not to take sides: "These (people) are huge in the VO world. I hope nobody has to take sides here. There could be room for both."

Many in the voiceover community are thrilled that their profession is about to be thrust into the national limelight. More than a few anticipate auditioning for their fifteen minutes of fame and, possibly, the opportunity to take their careers to a new level.

Others are concerned about what effect a slew of new and aspiring voice talents might have upon an already crowded and competitive field, not known for its job security except for those top-tier talents whose paychecks, perks, and popularity are not likely to be threatened by newcomers.

The most successful voiceover talents have learned how to market themselves, through a combination of advertising, networking, and personal sales. They've hired coaches to help them hone their talents, and agents to sniff out opportunities to advance their careers. Of necessity, they've had to develop their entrepreneurial skills in order to make a living.

I'm betting that more than a few forward-thinking folks in the business will soon attempt to leverage their experience and expertise, opening a brand new (to them) revenue stream as trainers, coaches, and mentors.

It makes perfect sense. Established voiceover educators already have plenty of students to occupy their time. Their capacity to handle a huge influx of additional business—while a nice problem to have—will prove a limiting factor when this thing catches on.

Unless...

There is the possibility that some of these trainers will follow the example of Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads, whose best-selling trilogy of advertising books catapulted him into fame and fortune. Recognizing early on that he and his marketing company were poised for explosive growth in a relatively short time, Roy offered Wizard of Ads franchise opportunities to advertising professionals worldwide, resulting in the addition of some thirty "branch offices," operated under his auspices.

I have no idea, of course, whether Pat Fraley, Nancy Wolfson, Susan Berkley, and other well-established voice acting trainers have an interest in taking their businesses in this direction.

But this much is certain: these two VO-TV shows are going to be game changers. As the Wizard might exhort those who see an opportunity for growth: get ready to pull the trigger and ride the bullet.

Stay tuned.

"Golden Voice" Ted Williams' Biggest Test Is Still to Come

2011-01-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

Unless you've been in a coma or completely insulated from media this week, you're familiar with the story of Ted Williams, the one-time radio announcer, gifted with a "bottomless" golden voice, whose submission to alcohol, cocaine, crack and the wrong crowd led him to abandon his family and career for a "life" on the streets of Columbus, Ohio.

On a Sunday a few weeks ago, a man and his family on their way to church stopped at the intersection where Williams was panhandling and pressed a $20 bill into his hand. That got Ted's attention in a big way, just as his astonishing "pipes" got theirs. The man who stopped happens to work for the Columbia Dispatch, and he was curious to learn more about the man with the big voice. So he asked for and received Ted's permission to record video and sound of him soliciting donations at the exit ramp.

The video went viral. When I saw it on Facebook, thanks to a couple of friends in voiceover and radio, it had had a few hundred views. A day or two later, over five million others had seen it.

Suddenly, Ted Williams is an international celebrity. Appearances on GMA, Today, Fallon, Leno. A station in Hawaii wants to fly him there, all expenses paid, to do a few drop-ins. The Cleveland Cavaliers want him to be their stadium announcer. Job offers are coming out of the woodwork.

And therein lies Ted Williams' biggest challenge, and it's a monster.

How will he handle the pressures of fame and fortune being thrust upon him after having spent years on the streets, not by chance but by choice.

Yes, it's a hard thing to say: "choice." But, like all of us, Ted Williams has volition. Free will. He was free to choose and made bad choices, destructive choices. His children and mother say they tried to help, but he refused it.

I'm not condemning him. Nor am I claiming to understand his situation. I've not walked in his shoes, nor have I slept where he's slept, nor have I shared a meal with him. Like you, I only know what I've seen and heard in the media.

But it's hardly a stretch to say that Ted Williams' downward spiral into substance abuse, family abandonment, and homelessness was largely of his own making.

The Bible informs us that a tendency toward sin and evil is a common characteristic of the human race (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:23, 6:23), no exceptions save One.

And yet, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are a functioning conscience and the personal freedom to respond to its dictates, no man is forced to act contrary to his own best interests.

I believe God has given Ted Williams another chance. By his own admission and the statements of others close to him, his redemption from life on the streets is the result of divine intervention and an answer to many prayers.

But as enviable as his new-found fortune may seem, it's fraught with dangers. Men inclined to self-destructive behavior find it so much easier to indulge themselves under prosperity than under adversity.

Williams himself has likened his good fortune to hitting the lottery. Ironically, in the same week, two people who live within 150 miles of me split a Mega Millions jackpot worth nearly $400 million. One hopes they have the capacity to handle the tsunami of green, having read the stories of lottery winners coming into tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, squandering their lives and fortune through dissipation.

In fact, our history is full of stories of millionaires, moguls and movie stars who've come to tragic ends and premature deaths, solely because they couldn't handle extreme prosperity, power, or popularity.

I believe that what Ted Williams is going to need most of all is prayer and the love of family and friends who aren't attracted to his money or fame, but who simply want to see him become the man God wants him to be.

I wish him well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The High Price of Saying Yes to Everything"

2011-01-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

That headline jumped off the page yesterday morning, as though it had been placed there just for me.

I have been learning that "Saying Yes to Everything" almost always creates as many difficulties as it tries to solve.

Reflecting on how this tendency had gained ascendancy my own life, last spring I wrote:

The fact is, I've lost a great deal of time in the pursuit of an illusory productivity. I've become a victim of the myth of multi-tasking.

For instance, I carry two cell phones -- one provided by the radio station and my own personal/business phone -- a tangible manifestation of the dilemma I face, having more professional interests than the time to pursue them, more irons in the fire than I can effectively handle, too many conflicting deadlines and obligations.

Yes, I have only myself to blame. I've always found it easier to say "Yes" to people, when I should be saying "No, I can't. Sorry." Whether it boils down to a lack of self-discipline or a fertile imagination, take your pick. Both apply.

The progress I've made in the intervening nine months can be measured only in baby steps, but I'm pretty sure that "Yes" does not come out of my mouth as freely or automatically these days as it once did.

So, when I read today's "Yoder & Sons"—a bi-weekly column written by the San Francisco Bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, Steve Yoder, and his two sons, Isaac (19) and Levi (15)—I was more than a little interested in how they deal with this same challenge in their own lives.

College sophomore Isaac writes about coming to grips with overextension and conflicting commitments:

"In the end, we inevitably have no choice but to practice triage with our obligations—breaking promises, producing work below our abilities and letting our personal health suffer. We skim the readings for class, put off studying for fast-approaching exams, forget to buy more toothpaste and neglect to return Mom's voicemail..."

He resolves to pare down his schedule, dropping extracurricular commitments in favor of devoting himself more fully to his academic work, and concludes:

"This may end up being one of the greatest lessons I've learned from college: Take on few enough things to finish what you start, be on time, keep promises and produce the highest-quality work you can."

Admitting that he has been a "role model...for overextension," Steve responds that he will take Isaac's lead and "resolve to cut back on overcommitment this year. Just like last year. And the year before that."

The parents worry about the downside of saying yes to everything, but at the same time don't want to pass up valuable opportunities. Steve specifically cites his decision in 2008 to write the new column with his sons. His plate was already full, and this was "the kind of additional commitment I'd vowed to avoid. But it's been one of the most gratifying commitments I've made."

In the end, it's really a balancing act, isn't it?

I'm again reminded of the words of Steve Massey, a Hayden, Idaho pastor: "...we can choose to say no. Most of the decisions we make that lead to busyness don’t involve a choice between right and wrong. They’re usually choices between good things... Let’s exercise the freedom to say 'no' to good things; save 'yes' for the best things."
__________________________________________

Read the full Yoder & Sons column ("The High Price of Saying Yes to Everything") here.

Read the full Steve Massey column ("Life Too Busy? Christ Offers a Cure for That") here.

Attention: Direct Response Radio Advertisers

2010-12-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Direct Response Radio Advertiser:

If your product or service truly serves a worthwhile purpose, and provides a valuable solution to a significant problem...

And if your commercial message immediately engages a prospective customer, speaks authentically to a felt need, and genuinely resonates with that person...

...you will find it unnecessary, even counterproductive, to bludgeon listeners with endless, mindless repetition of your toll-free telephone number.

Why?

Because - surprise! - the person who really wants what you're selling will remember you and will make the effort to find you and do business with you.

Now, if your product or service is akin to putting lipstick on a pig - e.g., credit repair scams, nutritional nostrums, wealth-building schemes and the like - would you please take your marketing elsewhere and just stop polluting the airwaves?

Radio is such a great medium, such a powerful marketing tool, one hates to see its potential squandered by fast-buck shysters.

Radio advertising sales professionals: let's make a concerted effort in 2011 to woo and serve the best products, services, and businesses we can attract.

Let's create great advertising for great clients, and not settle for less.

What Child Is This? (Merry Christmas from Rod)

2010-12-23T17:46:00.001-08:00

From the GBS archives...four :30-second audio features for Christmas:

WHAT CHILD, INDEED?

Listen!

Theophany: a pre-incarnate appearance of the manifest member of the triune God, frequently referred to in the Hebrew canon as "The Angel of the LORD;" also called "the annointed" (Messiah), the virgin-born "Immanuel" (Isa. 7:14), the Son (Ps. 2:12; Isa. 9:6), "My LORD" (Ps. 110:1), and "My servant" (Isa. 52:13 - 53:12).

He is the Child born...the Son given...the Prince of Peace.

"And you shall call His name JESUS; for He will save His people from their sins." - Matthew 1:21

GOD'S CHRISTMAS GIFT

Listen!

THE ORIGIN & MEANING OF "XMAS"

Listen!

THE DAILY REMINDER OF CHRISTMAS

Listen!

Merry Christmas to All!

My Last Dance with Darci (Radio Still Gets Results)

2010-12-15T23:43:00.001-08:00

Generally when a business owner decides to call it quits, his choices are either to sell the business or shutter it. The former is preferable but not always possible. Such was the case for a client of mine recently, who for years had operated a healthy, profitable independent video rental store in town.

Carmel began to recognize the handwriting on the wall several years ago. Netflix was already siphoning customers away from her store; video streaming and other emerging technologies would eventually, inevitably, take even more of her market share. So, it was not entirely unexpected when she called me at the end of November to say that she was closing her store and wanted my help with the advertising for it.

Their goal was to sell their entire inventory of DVD's and VHS videos, plus all store fixtures, in as short a time as possible. My conservative recommendation was a two-day advertising blitz on our two Pullman stations, with commercials running heavily all day Friday (30x/station) and Saturday (20x/station). The store would be closed to the public on Friday - windows papered, sign on the reader board announcing the store closing - to allow them to prepare for the sale, which would begin at 6 a.m. sharp on Saturday and continue on Sunday with further reductions on any remaining inventory.

Carmel wanted me to work one last time with Darci (you may recall an earlier post about her), who had done such a fine job as the store's spokesman during the first few years of its rebranding and growth under Carmel's leadership.

I wrote the draft copy, Darci made some notes, and at the appointed time we met at the radio station and collaborated in front of a live microphone in the production studio for some 90 minutes, just as we'd done on so many occasions years earlier. This session provided the raw material which I brought back to my home studio to edit and mix. The result was three commercials, two to rotate on Friday and one to run on Saturday:

Listen!

Listen!

Listen!

A prior commitment took me out of town Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, so I was unable to witness the results of the advertising first-hand, as I would like to have done. However, I was encouraged by a text message that I received at 7:48 a.m. Saturday from one of the owners of the radio station: "Holy Cow! The Video Quest parking lot is full."

On Monday and Tuesday of the following week nearly a dozen people I encountered during the workday made it a point to comment on how much they'd enjoyed the ads. Unsolicited responses like these are often a good indicator that a commercial or campaign has resonated with listeners. But "response" is not the same as "results." So, I was most appreciative when I received this message from the client:

Rod,

I am so impressed with the radio campaign you put together for my store's liquidation sale. You (and Darci) exceeded my expectations beyond anything I could have imagined! People lined up at the doors and at 6:00 a.m. they flooded the store like I have never seen before. After about 15 minutes, two lines began to form at the checkouts and, within 30 minutes, long lines were queued around the perimeter of the store. In the first two hours we sold half of our inventory. I know that our success was the direct result of advertising with you because we only advertised that we were opening at 6:00 a.m. the day before the sale with your radio ads and on our readerboard.

I want to especially thank you for reviving the old 'Rod and Darci' routine so that we could go out of business in the style we came into it. I think it gave our customers a reminiscent smile and reluctant farewell to the end of not just our video store, but to the end of an era where Friday nights were spent with our neighbors roaming the isles of Video Quest looking for a good movie and visiting about the kids.

Thank you!

Carmel

Response: people enjoyed listening to the commercials.

Result: "In the first two hours we sold half our inventory."

I've been selling and creating radio advertising for nearly all my working life, almost four decades now. In that time, I've written or produced thousands of radio commercials for hundreds of radio advertising clients. And to this day I still get a kick, as though for the very first time, every time I receive feedback like this, or hear about about a radio commercial or campaign that has worked for an advertiser, my client or anyone else's, anywhere in the world.

I love seeing radio get results.

Building Relationships on Fundamentals - Advice to a New General Manager

2010-12-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

The newly appointed radio station General Manager posted a request for advice at Radio Sales Café. She said, "My biggest problem is finding quality sales staff and keeping them."

Everyone has his own take on the responsibilities, priorities and pitfalls of middle management, and the perennial problem of how to find and retain good people. My response was limited to just a few points, but I consider each of them fundamental to the long-term success of both the salesperson and the manager:

1. CARE about your new hires. Treat them as you would want to be treated, even better. (Read Proverbs 3:27-28 and you'll see what I mean.)

2. PROVIDE the training and support they need in order to help their advertisers and the station grow their businesses.

You'll find a wealth of good information, resources, and people here at RSC; plenty of gold for a determined miner.

Be sure they get training in ADVERTISING as well as SALES. Invest in a library of time-tested marketing and advertising works by the masters: David Ogilvy, Claude Hopkins, John Caples, Al Ries and Jack Trout, Jay Conrad Levinson, etc. Chris Lytle's "The Accidental Salesperson" will be most helpful to you as well as your salespeople. Pick up Roy Williams' "Wizard of Ads" trilogy - on CD, preferably; hearing his stuff beats reading it. Michael Corbett's "33 Ruthless Rules of Advertising" will help your sales staff see the world through the eyes of their prospective clients.

3. BE TOLERANT of their mistakes. We all make them. The trick is to learn from them and grow, not to perpetuate them.

4. ENCOURAGE RISK-TAKING. Nothing significant in life is accomplished without calculated risk.

5. BE TRANSPARENT. Make sure they know what you expect of them and how you, in turn, will provide support for them.

6. BE CONSISTENT. They're out there in the field busting their butts for you. Don't confuse or undermine their efforts by, for instance, having double-standards with regard to rates (lower rates for people you like) or access to resources.

7. SEE #1 ABOVE. It's really that important.

Reviewing the list later, it occurred to me that with a little tweaking these same principles also apply to the relationship of a seller to his clients.

Caring, concern, communication, confidence, consistency...all contribute to the quality of our relationships with employers, employees, customers, and suppliers.

* * * * * * *

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
Do not say to your neighbor,
"Go, and come back,
And tomorrow I will give it,"
When you have it with you.
-Proverbs 3:27-28

The Attributes of a Great Radio Advertising Client

2010-12-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

The email arrived out of the blue on Thursday a week ago, from someone I'd never met. It contained two questions about radio advertising - more precisely, about radio advertisers - that I've never been asked nor consciously considered before now. I'll let you read them for yourself, exactly as I received them:

Dear Mr. Schwartz,

A thank you from a fledgling radio entrepreneur. I've gotten a lot out of your postings and enjoy your writing style. Your 'Darci' find is delightful-- what a great voice. Quirky but friendly. And she 'being her' has a great pull.

I'm assuming that you wrote the copy -- good work.

Can I ask a radio sales question? How do you target the best prospects for radio advertising? What are the characteristics or demographics of the businesses that become great radio advertising clients? [emphasis mine-RS]

I am working on a business plan to purchase a local AM radio station and need to develop some realistic numbers for our business consultant.

Thanks for all you've shared, Mr. Schwartz. I'm getting quite an education!

All the best from Delaware,

Steve

I didn't have a ready answer, and that bothered me. Usually I'm able to address radio advertising/sales questions quickly and confidently, off the top of my head, but this was not one of those times. Steve's questions demanded deeper delving into thirty-eight years' worth of accumulated experiences and education in the business, to try to identify the traits common to my best and most successful clients over the years.

After pondering these things for several days, I replied late Monday night as follows:

Steve,

Thanks for your kind words - much appreciated. Your questions, while beguilingly simple on the surface, have substantial depth, and I wish I had the time to answer them in as much detail as they deserve.

Setting aside such obvious considerations as the prospect having both the desire to grow his business and the financial capacity to fund that growth through effective advertising, one looks for a number of things. I'll give you 7, in no particular order:

1) someone who runs a good business well, and who has above-average growth potential in the market. (The Wizard would say, someone who's great at running his business but who stinks at advertising it.)

2) someone who is genuinely open to new ideas and willing to embrace a calculated risk, looking at the advertising campaign as a long-term investment in the future of his business;

3) someone who recognizes that results take time, and is willing to give a new campaign several months minimum to gain traction before judging its merits. (Roy Williams has written extensively on this; it's the approach of the farmer, as opposed to that of the hunter. Suggest you go to wizardacademypress.com, find the DVD called "The Most Common Mistakes in Advertising" and watch it at least several times. You'll thank me for the suggestion.)

4) someone who has a compelling story and is willing to entrust you with its uncovery and telling, one installment at a time;

5) someone who impresses YOU to such an extent that you are unwilling to pull your punches or cut corners; rather, you are committed to investing as much time and effort as it takes to get his message and schedule right, and who, in turn, respects your time and talent and is prepared to compensate you fairly for your investment of same in his behalf;

6) someone who isn't likely to be moved by petty criticisms, peer pressure, or the snipes of your competitors, but who will remain committed to the course come hell or high water;

7) someone who can accept occasional setbacks as part of the learning process, and who is willing to move past them. Great advertising is more of a process than an act. It involves testing messages (not your radio station!) and refining them as time goes on. Beware the prospect who is easily distracted by novelty or who will leave you for someone willing to give him a lower price.

Steve, may I invite you to join Radio Sales Cafe - our online network for radio advertising sales professionals? It's free to join, and I think you'd really enjoy the wealth of information, ideas, and experiences members share with one another on a regular basis. I'd be willing to use your questions as the basis of a Friday Poll (you can see what this is about at the site), and let other members weigh in with their thoughts. The information could be priceless - and it won't cost you a dime.

Thanks again for reaching out.

Cordially,

Rod

Steve's reply was waiting in my Inbox the following morning:

Wow, wow, WOW.
You know, having only been on the periphery of radio (Traffic Director, 3 yrs; Broadcast Engineer, 6 years -- never an owner, airstaff, salesman, PD, or GM) I am constantly amazed at the kindness being shown to me, by the generous amount of time that strangers, really, are willing to give in order to help someone come into their world. Thank you very much, Rod. I hope you can repurpose your extensive reply. Yes -- I think it's a great idea for Radio Sales Cafe. (Can't remember if I found your blog through Grace or Radio Sales Cafe first.) It is very scary to think that I am moving towards the radio world (as a business, away from what I do now http://www.illuminova.com) so I'm moving slowly. With guidance from sound business minds - the 'Peter Drucker of Delaware' - and professionals and friends like yourself. Thanks again. I'll see you at the Radio Sales Cafe. All the best from Delaware, Steve

Did you smile when you read his observations on the reception he's had from people in the radio industry: "I am constantly amazed at the kindness being shown to me, by the generous amount of time that strangers, really, are willing to give in order to help someone come into their world." This is something I observed very early in my radio advertising sales career, the open doors and open hearts of station owners and managers, willing to help a newbie succeed in the business. I'd often tell new hires that one of the best things about our industry was that there would always be a job available anywhere in the country for someone who enjoyed radio advertising sales and became good at it. I believed it then, and I believe it today.

Given his attitude, perspicacity, and focus, I predict that Steve will succeed in spades when he launches his station. I hope he is able quickly to find good employees and cultivate great client relationships.

And I hope that he, in turn, will pass along to others what he learns in the process.

The Difference

2010-11-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

Of all the lines made famous by Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" Callahan, perhaps my favorite comes from the second movie in the series:

"A man's got to know his limitations."

Indeed.

Those of us who are used to having many irons in the fire are continually confronted by our limitations. We wish to do it all, we think we can do it all...but we can't.

At our best, we are finite, fallible, dependent human beings.

Martin Luther is said to have cultivated the habit of spending two or three hours a day in prayer, rising early in the morning for this purpose. Now there was a man who recognized his limitations, and to compensate for them became a regular visitor at the throne of grace, where he knew he could obtain the help he so desperately needed.

Several years ago, I ran into a poem that impressed me deeply. In fact, a copy of it stands at arm's length on the shelf to my right, an ever-present reminder of one of the secrets to success in life. May I share it with you?

I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish,
I didn't have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me,
and heavier came each task.
Why doesn't God help me? I wondered,
He answered, "You didn't ask."

I wanted to see joy and beauty,
but the day toiled on, gray and bleak.
I wondered why God didn't show me,
He said, "But you didn't seek."

I tried to come into God's presence,
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
"My child, you didn't knock."

I woke up early this morning,
and paused before entering the day.
I had so much to accomplish
That I had to take time to pray.

(The Difference, by Grace L. Naessens)

It's worth noting that the author has seen fit to place this poem in the public domain (asking only that proper attribution be given), so that anyone is free to pass it along and share it with others.

That would make it a gift of Grace, wouldn't it?

Have a great week!

Politically Correct Advertising - Update

2010-11-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

"One year from now, you'll have a chance to evaluate my performance and either hire me for a full 4-year term or send me packing." - Susan Fagan, candidate for Washington State Representative, from a 11/2009 radio commercial.

November 1, 2010 - I caught a break this election season. State Representative Susan Fagan did such an outstanding job of serving her constituents during her first (one-year) term of office, that she is running unopposed for a full four-year term in tomorrow's election.

The fact that nobody from either party filed to run against Susan is a testimony to the effectiveness of her efforts as a state legislator, including her fine use of emails and social media to interact with her constituents on a frequent basis before, during, and after a difficult and frustrating (for a minority party representative) legislative session.

Though she was fighting a bad cold last week, Susan came to the studio last week to record a message encouraging citizens to vote. (Listen to the spot here .) She'd been given a campaign donation for this election cycle, and this is how she chose to use it.

During our brief visit, Susan shared with me her belief, shared by her campaign strategists, that it was her radio advertising, more than any other single factor, that helped clinch the election for her.

The result? Susan Fagan won a chance to prove herself.

And because she's kept her campaign promises, she continues to win the hearts and minds of her constituents.

Truth is better than creativity, David Ogilvy famously said. So, Susan's story may contain a valuable lesson for any advertiser, not only those aspiring to public office:

Effective advertising goes only so far. At best, it gives the advertiser (business, product, or service) an opportunity to win or lose a customer.

Whether you will seize or squander that opportunity ultimately depends on how you (your business, product, or service) come through for your customer!

Cabela's, Customer-focused and Classy to the Core

2010-11-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

I often advise my advertising clients to look for opportunities to "surprise and delight" their customers. This advice is as much the product of experience as it is of education and training.

Recently I received a letter and package from Cabela's. The letter read, in part: "Thank you! This is your 10-year anniversary as a Cabela's CLUB Visa member, and we feel fortunate to have you as a customer. ... As a token of our appreciation for your loyalty, we'd like to give you the enclosed Cabela's Folding Lockback Knife commemorating our partnership..."

Accompanying the letter was an attractively boxed wood-handled pocket knife.

This little gesture on their part is the most recent illustration of how Cabela's has consistently, unfailingly impressed me with their customer-focused approach to business.

It's an approach that has taken them from a couple of brothers tying flies at the kitchen table and selling them via classified ads in OUTDOOR LIFE to their current undisputed reign as "The World's Foremost Outfitter."

What are you doing to surprise and delight your customers?

When News and Advertising Collide

2010-11-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

The unfortunate juxtaposition of antithetical messages can and does happen in all media, of course.

Still, one wonders how this one got past the page editor.

More to the point, did the advertiser notice?

Why Wal-Mart Is Paying Me to Shop Their New Store - Update

2010-10-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Pullman's new Wal-Mart Supercenter seems to be doing SUPER business.

I took half an hour this afternoon to drop by the new store to try to gauge community response to our newest business neighbor on its opening day.

There was a steady stream of cars entering and leaving the parking lot. At the entrance I used, it was a bumper-to-bumper crawl, like an ant colony marching in columns to and from a feeding frenzy.

The gigantic parking lot was full.

Based on what I saw and heard during my short visit, Wal-Mart's Pullman store will likely exceed the $300K they'd projected for their first day in business. All nineteen front-end registers were at least 4-5 customers deep at 4:15 pm and showed no sign of slowing. I went to the Jewelry department to purchase a replacement for a watchband that broke yesterday; three or four co-eds were ahead of me at the register, checking out purchases from departments other than Jewelry, hoping to shave a few minutes off their visit.

Undoubtedly, it was "baptism of fire" day for more than a few Wal-Mart associates, but they were handling the pressure with grace and smiles on both sides of the cash registers.

When it comes to combining capitalism and consumerism, Wal-Mart is the world's 800-pound gorilla.

Welcome to our new zoo.

Why Wal-Mart Is Paying Me to Shop Their New Store

2010-10-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

The day after tomorrow, our long-awaited $14 million Wal-Mart Supercenter opens its doors.

Finally.

It's been six years since Wal-Mart announced their intention to build a new store here in Pullman, Washington.

Most folks in town - consumers, business owners, civic leaders, etc. - welcomed Wal-Mart's announcement, anticipating a much-needed boost to our local economy directly and indirectly, as new businesses open nearby, seeking to benefit from all the new traffic brought in by the behemoth.

Predictably, a vocal minority of Wal-Mart haters - university profs and poseurs proposing to tell me where I should and should not spend my own money - mustered their troops and managed to delay the inevitable by a few years. Their polarizing antics cost our fair city several years' worth of tax revenues from Wal-Mart, estimated by some to be as much as $500,000 per year.

But that's all behind us now. Today, local residents received in the mail a five-dollar Wal-Mart gift card. No strings attached. Just activate your card, then come in and spend it like cash.

Can you think of a surer way to get people to come in and sample the store?

In 1923, Claude Hopkins - considered by many to be the father of modern advertising - wrote that "(t)he product itself should be its own best salesman. Not the product alone, but the product plus a mental impression, and atmosphere, which you place around it. That being so, samples are of prime importance. However expensive, they usually form the cheapest selling method."

So, Wal-Mart is tapping a tried-and-true technique to introduce local shoppers to their new Supercenter. What will happen? Customers by the thousands will enter the new store for the first time and redeem their $5.00 gift cards. One suspects that more than a few members of the anti-Wal-Mart crowd, despite their posturing, will be among them (though undoubtedly they'll limit their purchases to five bucks, just to give 'em what-for.)

Wal-Mart will measure the effectiveness of their "sampling" program by the tens, more likely hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional purchases made by these same customers this week, and in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

Wal-Mart's associates have received extensive training to ensure that they make each customer feel welcome, even special. Wal-Mart's consumer researchers and merchandise buyers have seen to it that their shelves are stocked with stuff people want to buy, at prices they're willing to pay.

To the extent that their customers' expectations are met or exceeded, the new Wal-Mart Supercenter will thrive. Call it capitalism, free enterprise, or laissez faire with a dash of caveat emptor, I wouldn't trade ours for any other system on earth.

CLIENT-VOICED COMMERCIALS: WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?

2010-10-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

The Friday Poll Question for members of Radio Sales Café was a two-parter:

1) What percentage of your advertisers voice their own ads?

2) What are your thoughts on having clients doing their own voicework?

Some stations said "zero." Others reported that 15-20% or more of their clients did their own ads. My answer was decidedly, and perhaps remarkably, on the high end: two-thirds of my top local clients voice all or most of their own commercials!

Of these, most read from scripts. They have been doing this for so many years that they're for the most part quite comfortable at the microphone.

Admittedly, I'm a fairly driven coach; I've been called a "harsh taskmaster" by more than one client in this regard. I have no problem requiring repeated readings or "takes," until I have sufficient material to piece together an effective spot.

Former Los Angeles radio production whiz Blaine Parker, who now operates a boutique advertising agency/creative services company atop a mountain in Park City, UT, is adamant about the conditions under which he allows his clients to get near a mic. He says:

We're a general agency, and at the moment, we have two clients on radio. One of those clients is voicing his own commercials. The other client has testimonials. Both campaigns were produced exactly the same way: non-professional voice talent sitting behind a microphone, answering relevant questions about the business and what it means to be a customer. Then, those extemporaneous recordings are cherry picked and massaged to create glowing sound bites. When we know what the performer is saying via the magic of non-linear digital editing, we write announcer wraparounds.

That is just about the ONLY way we ever let clients voice their own commercials.

When you hand them a script and crack the mic, most clients' voiceover sound like exactly what it is: amateur product. Sometimes, that can be endearing and work in their favor. Too often, it just sounds bad. If it must be done that way, there are simple tricks to directing them that make them sound much better. But overall, I try to never make a client read a script or carry the entire weight of the voiceover on his shoulders. Whenever possible, I record him extemporaneously and pull out the nuggets. It's more real than anything we could ever write, and it presents the client in the best, most flattering light possible.

I would tend to agree with Blaine's approach: record conversations and extract the gold. It's a time-consuming and painstaking process, a labor of love that typically results in an exceptional and effective commercial. This is the only technique I employ when creating testimonial campaigns, and it's a great way for an advertiser to tell his story, one nugget at a time.

Do my clients have the training and polish of voice actors? Of course not. Nor is it important that they do.

In the context of a local market where they are known by many, what's important is that they come across as who-they-are, doing what-they-do, that they sound authentic and credible, and that the content of their communication meets their customers' needs. When all these factors line up, the results speak for themselves*.

Now, I don't disagree with Blaine's analysis for the most part, based on the fact that too many client-voiced commercials one hears seem to have been done hastily and without critical analysis. Whether due to a lack of education or training, a lack of time or effort, or a lack of concern, there's no good reason to settle for second-rate work. But the salesperson, producer and client must be of the same mind on this, each willing and able to invest the time and effort to persist until it's right.

Either do it well or don't do it at all.

It's interesting how attitudes toward client-voiced ads have changed over the past couple of decades. Today the practice is widely accepted. When I first started pushing for clients appearing in their own commercials back in the late 1970's, most radio programming and production people resented it as an incursion onto their sacred turf. Their attitude was not unlike what we encountered from the education establishment when the home-schooling movement began to gain some momentum in the late 1980's. These days, the accumulation of success stories has demonstrated the merit of both ideas.

*Here are three examples from campaigns currently on the air in our small market. One is relatively new, having started this past summer. Two have been on the air for over a decade. Are they "airworthy?" Listen, then decide.

IMPORTED CAR SERVICE

CHUD WENDLE - REAL ESTATE 101

ASK DR. DEVLEMING

Sales trainer Jim Williams used to say that the real proof a campaign is working is that the advertiser continues to pay his monthly bill, year after year. Folksy, perhaps, but true nonetheless.

Which clients are doing their own commercials successfully on your station? (Comments at RSC here.)

Even Though I'm Not a 2010 Radio-Mercury Awards Finalist...

2010-09-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

...I'm thrilled to see that the Radio Station-Produced category is back in the money this year, with seven local radio commercials competing for the $10,000 prize.

I entered several spots (posted below) into this year's RMA competition, just as I have done faithfully each year since 2004, when my sole submission ended up winning the category prize, whetting my appetite for more. (In 2005, one of my entries was chosen as a finalist, but not the winner. From 2006 to 2010, none of the spots I've entered has prevailed in the competition, though I'm not embarrassed to be associated with any of them; they served their advertisers' purposes well.)

We've invited members of Radio Sales Cafe to vote for their favorite of the radio-produced finalists - please feel free to weigh in, too. I'm eager to compare the outcome of our voting as radio advertising sales professionals, to that of the Mercury judges.

Naturally, I'm disappointed that none of my entries made it into the finals this year. But I'm already saving potential entries for next year's competition. I believe this competition, along with its counterparts in the UK and Australia, is good for our industry and for us as individual practitioners of the art of radio advertising.

---------

Here are my humble entries this year. The two spots for Howard Hughes were part of a five-spot campaign we created to run heavily on all stations in the market for just one day. It was very well received, and the client plans on expanding the effort next year. The spot for j&h Printing won a regional award in Seattle for "Best Radio Copywriting" this summer, providing encouragement for me to enter it into the national competition.

http://audioboo.fm/boos/179954-peep-jousting Listen!

http://audioboo.fm/boos/179945-pet-dryer Listen!

http://audioboo.fm/boos/179950-fred-s-hands Listen!

Audioboo - a powerful new tool for radio stations and advertisers

2010-08-23T19:42:00.001-07:00

Imagine your restaurant client talking into his iPhone or Android: "Hey, everybody. For the next two hours, buy any burger, fries and soft drink at regular price and get a second burger FREE! That's just for our Facebook friends and only until 2 pm today at Burger Barn."

Sixty seconds later, his audio "coupon" appears on his Facebook page. All his Facebook friends have to do is click PLAY and they get to hear his message, just as he recorded it.

Welcome to Audioboo, a new service from the U.K. that is about to explode all over the Internet.

Did I mention it's FREE?

You need to open an Audioboo account now. Trust me.

You need to introduce your advertisers to Audioboo. Show them how to integrate their on-air and online radio advertising with their social media. Show them how to make Audioboo coupons. They're going to learn this eventually anyway, might as well be now - and from you!

This is positively HUGE for radio stations, radio producers, anyone who uses audio, whether for business, socializing, or just for fun.

Audio content (in a variety of standard formats) can be uploaded via iPhone or Android, or from any Internet-connected personal computer with a microphone and sound card, and you can upload pre-recorded material as well.

Want to share your latest radio commercials with the world? Audioboo them.

Want to extend your clients' radio buys on social networks? Audioboo them.

Want to sing "Happy Birthday" to a Facebook friend. Yup.

Honestly, the implications are staggering - at least to this 38-year radio ad guy.

Man, Tony Schwartz should have lived to see this day!

Go get your Audioboo account now. You'll thank me for suggesting it. All I ask in return is that you come back and share how you're using it, OK?

Here's the link: http://audioboo.fm

Thanks to my friend Doug Zanger for turning me on to Audioboo. (And for bringing my Whispering Hills radio spots to life with his great interpretative skills and voice!)

Listen!

Who's Your Darci?

2010-08-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

Darci the bank teller caught me off guard.

"I want to do a radio commercial. I want to be on the radio," she said.

"Really." I replied.

"Yeah, I want to do a spot for our new CD. I'd be good at it!"

In the short time Darci had been working at the bank she'd become a favorite with her customers, myself included. Her quirky repartee was equally amusing and endearing; people rarely left her window without smiling or chuckling.

Why not? I thought. The bank manager was a good client, and I knew he wouldn't object to the experiment. If it worked, he'd be glad to put it on the air. If not...well, no harm done.

"OK, sure. Let's give it a try." Darci was genuinely excited and said she had some ideas for the commercial. We scheduled a recording session, allowing ourselves plenty of time for improvisation. The result was this:

Listen!

The bank manager liked it, authorized it for airplay, and for several weeks Darci became the new voice of the bank.

Fast forward a few years. Darci is now working full-time for the school district and I haven't seen her in ages. One day I get a call from my CPA, for whom I've done some advertising during tax season. She tells me that she's purchasing a local video store, a mom-and-pop operation that's been a steady advertising client of mine for years, under a couple of different owners, and she wants to relaunch the store with an advertising blitz featuring a new spokesman—Darci!

Turns out Darci is her neighbor and friend. And she thinks Darci's unique personality and voice are perfect for the new campaign.

So, once again Darci and I are collaborating together in the recording studio, playing with different ideas and angles. Before long, this spot has more or less written itself:

Listen!

From Day One it generates comments from listeners and customers who think Darci's a hoot. And we have the makings of a brand new schtick for the client. A few weeks later, a second spot follows. Then a third. And a fourth. Over the next several years, Darci records at least thirteen different commercials, including this one, a finalist in the 2005 Radio-Mercury Awards competition:

Listen!

Since then, Darci has done other work for me. I've hired her to voice some of our syndicated features for GBS, and I've had clients hire her to do their commercials. Although she's had no formal training as either an actress or producer, she's proven capable of doing terrific work.

So, I consider myself fortunate to have been standing in line at the bank the day Darci had the itch to "be on the radio." And I sometimes wonder, who else might be out there — waiting tables, running a cash register, answering phones or reading to kids at the public library — waiting to be discovered and recruited for radio advertising work.

Might there not be someone in your market, too - someone with whom you interact regularly, just waiting to become your Darci?

"Best of (YOUR Community)" Revisited - Updated August 23, 2010

2010-03-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

"The Best of the Palouse" is an online enterprise just now getting started and attempting to gain traction in our local marketplace. I know nothing about the fellow who's launching it, other than what I might infer from poking around the site, which as a template seems robust and well thought out. Whether the effort sizzles or fizzles will depend entirely on his ability to market the site effectively, and as a 37-year veteran in the advertising and marketing arena I can tell you this is easier said than done.

I understand that this individual has entered into some sort of partnership with the local newspaper, which is a good choice, but not the best choice. He first should have explored working with the local radio stations (or our esteemed competitors across the border), based solely on the pervasiveness and intrusiveness of radio, as opposed to the inherently passive nature of print. In my opinion, working in partnership with the radio stations would give this new site a better chance of making a big splash and sustaining it.

A year ago, I blogged about why radio stations should pick up the ball and spearhead a "Best of _____" promotion in their communities. The article was later picked up by Radio World. As I explained in that article, the idea has been around a long time and, in my experience, has most often been the province of a print medium. Up in Spokane, the hugely successful regional alternative newspaper, The Pacific Northwest INLANDER, just completed their annual readers' poll. You can bet they'll be picking up new advertising dollars and enjoying a great deal of free publicity themselves as a consequence.

I share this with you now in the hope that, if such an opportunity exists in your market and you are inclined to jump on it, you're able to seize the moment before a competitor does.

If you do, please come back and share your story.

UPDATE - AUGUST 2010

Since this was posted in late March, radio station reps had the opportunity to meet with Mr. BOTP. At first, he expressed an interest in partnering with the stations, though subsequent events made it appear that this meeting simply provided him with ammunition to go back to the newspaper and negotiate a more favorable deal with them.

In the intervening months, BOTP contests have included an ugliest BBQ grill, cutest pet, most attractive yard, biggest local university sports fan, etc. These have given the newspaper the opportunity to bring in new/incremental advertising dollars, while presumably Mr. BOTP gets paid to do some work for them.

From my perspective, the sublime irony in this teapot tempest is that our friends at the newspaper began using (surprise!) their traded radio airtime to promote these BOTP contests!

Lessons learned: 1) Know with whom you're dealing. 2) Get it in writing. 3) Be prepared for surprises. 4) Keep your options open.

Life goes on.

The Myth of Multi-tasking

2010-03-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

March 20, 2010

My last post here was at Christmas time. Today is the first day of Spring. Nearly three months have come and gone since I last sat down to write here.

A blog is simply one form of self-expression. I make my living as a writer of advertising and radio features -- a seller of ideas -- and even though writing well is a painstaking and time-consuming enterprise, I enjoy it immensely. This humble blog furnishes an opportunity to pursue writing for my own edification.

So why has it taken me three months to come back here? Surely, I could have carved out some time between commitments and projects, if only to scribble a few lines.

The fact is, I've lost a great deal of time in the pursuit of an illusory productivity. I've become a victim of the myth of multi-tasking.

For instance, I carry two cell phones -- one provided by the radio station and my own personal/business phone -- a tangible manifestation of the dilemma I face, having more professional interests than the time to pursue them, more irons in the fire than I can effectively handle, too many conflicting deadlines and obligations.

Yes, I have only myself to blame. I've always found it easier to say "Yes" to people, when I should be saying "No, I can't. Sorry." Whether it boils down to a lack of self-discipline or a fertile imagination, take your pick. Both apply.

I'm reminded of an article I read a couple years ago, written by a Hayden, Idaho pastor whose columns appear in the Spokane newspaper. He wrote, in part:

Christian friend, are you struggling with a lifestyle of busyness? Don’t despair. Christ points us to many off-ramps; we’ve just got to stop speeding past them.

In Luke’s Gospel, we’re given an account of Jesus having a meal at the home of two sisters. One sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet and listened. The other sister, Martha, worked herself frantic trying to get the meal ready for a crowd of people.

Given our own lifestyles, many of us empathize with Martha when she complains: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” (Luke 11:40 – NKJV)

But consider Jesus’ reply: “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42-43 – NLT)

I really believe we find a few cures for a lifestyle of busyness in Mary’s example:

First, we can choose to say no. Most of the decisions we make that lead to busyness don’t involve a choice between right and wrong. They’re usually choices between good things. Helping Martha would have been a good thing to do, but better still was sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Let’s exercise the freedom to say “no” to good things; save “yes” for the best things.

For years, I've viewed multi-tasking as a way of making the most of a given quantity of time. Fortunately, I've been blessed with an amazing wife who sees things differently; to her, multi-tasking is just a nice way of saying "unfocused."

And she's absolutely right. It's time to refocus.

"Make Up Your Mind to Be Happy"

2009-12-24T17:22:00.001-08:00

For too many people, especially in our prosperous society, the euphoria of a Christmas celebration centered not on Christ but on consumerism often gives way to gnawing discontent, disappointment, and depression.

These, in turn, lead some to resolve to change their thinking and its consequent behavior in the new year.

Jesus taught that "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also," and cautioned His disciples that they could not serve two masters, God and money. Inevitably one must take precedence over the other.

Reminding us of God's love, He exhorted: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you."

* * * * *

Robert Louis Stevenson died at 44 years of age. For most of those 44 years, Stevenson endured poor health and a great deal of physical suffering.

Yet he bequeathed to succeeding generations a literary legacy that has lifted our spirits and enriched our souls.

Many years ago I encountered a brief paragraph penned by Stevenson, summarizing his thoughts on happiness, and was moved to copy and frame his words.

As 2009 winds to a close, may I share them with you?

"Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things. Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears.

Don't take yourself too seriously. Don't think that somehow you should be protected from misfortune that befalls other people. You can't please everybody. Don't let criticism worry you. Don't let your neighbor set your standards. Be yourself.

Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt. Never borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than real ones.

Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish jealousy, enmity, grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.

Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about new places. Don't hold post-mortems. Don't spend your time brooding over sorrows or mistakes. Don't be one who never gets over things. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself."

I wish you a blessed, truly Merry Christmas.

And I wish you a Happy, truly prosperous New Year.

A Meaningful and Memorable Spiff for Meeting a Radio Advertising Sales Goal

2009-11-23T18:14:00.001-08:00

The Friday Poll question at Radio Sales Café last week was: "What is the most meaningful or memorable spiff you've ever received as a salesperson? What did you do to earn it?"

The question brought back vivid memories of a formative period in my professional life, and I felt compelled to take time to answer the question in some detail. Here is my reply:

Hands-down, the most meaningful and memorable spiff I ever received took place over three decades ago.

It was sometime during the autumn of 1976. Around the conference table where we held our weekly sales meetings sat all the salespeople, general manager Len, owner Jerry, and sales trainer Jim Williams, with whom we'd just completed an intensive day or two of training.

Jim turned to Jerry and said, "Did you bring it?" Jerry nodded, reached into a pocket, pulled out an envelope and extracted from it a $1000 bill. Jim asked him to pass it to the person next to him, and so forth, stressing that each individual at the table should spend a few moments handling (he may have said "fondling") the unusual bill. I'd never seen one before, and I'm sure there was a silly smile on my face as I examined the bill with President Grover Cleveland's image on it.

Amidst the ooohs and ahhhs, Jim said: "Sell one 'standard month' in the next 60 days and this is yours."

I no longer recall whether a standard month was $5000 or $10,000 run within a 30-day period by a single client. (Do any other RSC members familiar with Williams remember which it was?) But in either case, that kind of sale to a single client represented a ton of money for a station in a town of 26,000 back in 1976. It had never been done before at our stations.

At the time, I was calling on the local Pamida/Gibson discount store and had them on the air using primarily coop dollars. My practice was to call the coop manager at their headquarters in Omaha to find out if they had funds for, say, Black & Decker, Hamilton Beach, West Bend, Skil tools, and so forth. I had learned that many, perhaps most of the stores in the chain were not using the radio coop dollars they'd accrued, so if I went "overboard" on occasion, the funds were typically there to cover the local store's excesses.

Since the holiday season was approaching and most radio coop funds expired at the end of the calendar year, I seized upon what seemed a natural opportunity. I went to the local manager with an ambitious proposal for the months of November and December, easily equal to two of Williams' "standard months." He agreed to sign the proposal on the condition that I secure home office approval for the excessive coop funds. I called my contact at headquarters in Omaha, he said the funds were available. (He also asked me to "go easy." I failed to ask him what that meant.)

So, Gibson's became by far and away the dominant advertiser on the stations those two months, filling the airwaves with exciting reminders to buy electric drills and jigsaws, blenders and crock pots, and all manner of name-brand gifts for Christmas...and I earned two spiffs, one for each of the "standard months." The combination of those spiffs, my regular commission, and a nice tax refund the following spring, enabled me to make the down payment on my first house in April 1977. We moved in just a few days before the birth of our second child.

I wish I could say that the experience was 100% positive, but in truth it was not. My expectation, based on the words that came out of Jim Williams' mouth and seemingly confirmed by my employer, was that the bonus would be a $1000 bill, just like the one we passed around the room. When the time came though, I was paid by check...with the standard withholding and SS deductions taken from the amount of the bonus. As much as I hate to admit it, this was something of a letdown. (Yes, I realize this sounds like niggling.) I'd understood the bonus to be that $1000 bill we passed around; that's what I was expecting!

Now, under the circumstances I didn't complain, of course. In fact, until this moment, only my dear wife has been aware of my disappointment. But I mention it now only because it taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of fulfilling the implicit terms of an agreement, and striving to meet (if not exceed) the legitimate expectations of others grounded in a commitment I've made to them.

So, I am grateful both for the bonus and for the lessons that came with it. And there it is...meaningful and memorable, thirty-three years later!

Getting $$ (Cash, Trade, or Comps) For Social Media Posts? Read This.

2009-10-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Bloggers, Facebookers, Tweeters, and others who receive compensation (cash, trade, comps, etc.) in exchange for publishing product promotions or reviews must disclose this fact, or face the wrath of the Federal Trade Commission.

This is probably something all radio stations and their advertising clients will want to be aware of as they work on integrated promotions. Now, in addition to avoiding payola, lotteries, and the like, you'll need to make sure that any favorable publicity that can be tied to compensation - whether that publicity takes the form of a DJ plug, a comment on the station's website, a blog post, or something you put up on your Facebook fan page or Twitter broadcast - is properly disclosed.

Thanks to the folks at Spokane's The Purple Turtle for bringing this to my attention. You'll find their summary and a link to the 48-page FTC document HERE.

Please, Don't Pass It On.

2009-09-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

I am standing with my wife in the checkout line at a client's store this evening.

The checker, a guy in his late 40's to mid-50's, takes money from the customer ahead of us and places it into the till. Suddenly he lurches forward and catches an explosive, sloppy sneeze with his bare hands, wiping his nose with the back of one of them on his way up.

He mutters something about "this darn cold," and begins to check us out.

I am not making this up.

I stare as he picks up items we've placed on the conveyor, scans them, and places them back on the belt for bagging.

Evidently the shock and disbelief on my face fail to register.

I say to him, "Don't they provide you with hand sanitizer?"

"Oh, yeah." He points (taking no further action) toward a three-quarters-full bottle at the right of the cash register. "I've been using it all day."

Mr. Sneeze continues to handle item after item, passing them along with his germs down to the kid bagging groceries, who appears unfazed, oblivious to his fate.

Not wishing to cause a scene - in retrospect, probably a mistake - I say nothing more. My wife writes out a check and away we go.

On the way out, I grab a handful of complimentary disinfecting wipes to clean the cart handle and my hands. The gesture is largely symbolic, but there's not much else one can do at that moment.

On the drive home I recount a similar experience from a number of years ago, during a meeting with an advertiser. I was seated in front of the client's desk when her young grandson, a lad no older than five or six years, approached me from the left side. Just as I turned to acknowledge him, he sneezed right into my face, making no attempt to cover it and leaving me with no time to turn away or shield myself from the wet blast. The cold that little bugger shared with me was particularly nasty, and lasted several weeks. I don't think I'll ever forget that sneeze.

I am determined to protect my family and myself from whatever Mr. Sneeze is spreading around. As soon as we get home, I fill a little pump spray bottle with isopropyl alcohol and proceed to disinfect: 20 containers of yogurt, two packages of ground beef, two squashes, two packages of mushrooms, and a carton of cole slaw.

Meanwhile, the checker's words keep going around in my head.

"This darn cold," he said.

Indeed.

Social Networks and Business 101 for Radio Advertising Professionals

2009-09-24T00:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Eric Rhoads at Radio INK Magazine for sharing on Facebook this article by social media expert Soren Gordhamer posted recently at Mashable.com. It's an insightful and incisive piece on the new opportunities - and pitfalls - that sooner or later will confront all of our radio station clients and everyone else in business, thanks to the inexorable growth and influence of social networks.

Gordhamer touches on four broad shifts that will have a profound effect on the way we do business:

1. From "Trying to Sell" to "Making Connections" Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube have exploded into our daily lives with powerful repercussions. They're redefining how we establish and maintain successful customer relationships, without the limitations formerly imposed by time or geography.

2. From "Large Campaigns" to "Small Acts" Word-of-mouth used to take days, weeks, months, or years to have an impact. Today, thanks to instant communications via the social networks, a small flame can become a raging fire in a matter of minutes. No wonder CEOs, owners, and top-level officers are increasingly engaging their customers directly via Twitter, Facebook, or the company blog. (Most radio stations have integrated these channels into their own websites - or soon will - and AE's with an eye to the future are also helping their advertising clients navigate these waters.)

3. From "Controlling Our Image" to "Being Ourselves" Public scrutiny is a fact of life for a businessperson. The old model suggested a wall of separation between a company and its customers. Forget it. That wall is crumbling and is being replaced by the new paradigm: transparency. Might as well roll up your sleeves, let down your hair, get comfortable in your own skin and let people see you for who you are. This is not to suggest becoming artificially casual or sloppy, or to jettison the professionalism customers have come to expect. But you - and your clients - are also human beings, with a life beyond work. Don't be afraid to share that part of you, also.

4. From "Hard to Reach" to "Available Everywhere" Having a telephone number and an email address is fast becoming not-good-enough. Customers increasingly want to be able to reach you on their terms (read: favorite channel - Twitter, Facebook, et al) and they're spending their time - and money - with companies that get this.

Put on your customer hat for a moment. Think about the last time you researched a purchase online - at Amazon, say, or Cabelas, or some other big player - especially for a new and/or expensive item. Did you check out the customer reviews? Were you influenced by them? (Most consumers say "yes" and "yes.") User feedback on eBay falls into the same category. Do your advertisers make it easy for their customers to provide open feedback? This is no passing fad or light option; it's the wave of the future.

We really do care what others think, say, and do. Today, even a stranger's experience can have a significant effect upon our own decisions and behavior as consumers. And strangers can quickly become friends, fans, consultants or customers.

Success in business will become ever more dependent upon the quality of interactions with customers and prospects, experiences that are no longer confined to stores and offices.

Welcome to the future.

An Opportunity for Any Station in Any Market

2009-09-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

Take the total population of your market or listening area. Divide that number by 365.

The result equals the average number of birthdays taking place in your market every day. The actual number obviously will be lower on some days, higher on others. But the point is, every day represents an opportunity to wish some of your listeners a Happy Birthday.

It's easy enough to start a WXXX Birthday Club - have your listeners register via email or a form on your website - and give them some recognition on the air and online.

You might even draw one name each day to win a birthday prize: a cake, a birthday meal, a special gift, etc. - traded in whole or part with advertisers who help sponsor the promotion.

Fun, simple to execute, and it likely would mean a lot to each day's celebrants. What's not to like about that!

Just How Gullible Do They Think You Are?

2009-09-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

I've seen my share of pathetic ploys to create store traffic through the use of important-sounding esoteric headlines ("Emergency Inventory Abatement"), but the one I received in this afternoon's mail takes the prize:
REMERCHANDISING RELINQUISHMENT

Bad enough it's billed as a "Private Sale," seeing as how it's addressed "Resident" and coded ECRWSS (USPS abbreviation for "Enhanced Carrier Route Walking Sort Saturation") - in other words, everyone in town is on the mailing list. Reminds me of the furniture store that once advertised on its readerboard sign, "PRIVATE SALE - PUBLIC INVITED."

The second paragraph reads: "In the very near future we will be announcing the decision to conduct a REMERCHANDISING RELINQUISHMENT. In order to complete this enormous task, we must empty the building for new incoming merchandise."

The insult, of course, is that the advertiser is counting on the naivete or gullibility of x-number of recipients to lead them to believe that this is a rare opportunity to take advantage of the advertiser's vulnerable position.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Politically Correct Advertising

2009-09-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

As best I can recall, I've never put myself in a position to create a radio campaign for a candidate that I did not want to win the election. Just as I prefer to create advertising for clients whose businesses, products, and services I believe in, I prefer to limit my professional involvement in political campaigns to candidates I'd vote for myself. I am grateful to be in a position to indulge in this luxury.

This is not to say that every candidate whose radio I've handled has ultimately prevailed. The voters have the final say and the outcome is absolute, whether I agree or disagree with it. Fortunately, my track record has tallied more wins than losses; and none of my candidate-clients has ever complained about the quality of my work, regardless of the outcome of the election.

Five candidates were vying for an open seat on the Washington State Legislature in the recent primary election, held August 18th. Washington being a vote-by-mail state, ballots were sent out at the end of July, giving voters several weeks to make their choice. One of the quirky and somewhat controversial aspects of our primary is that the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election. This particular race was among four Republicans and one Democrat. I am pleased to report that the candidate whose radio advertising I was asked to handle, ended up cinching the top spot by a comfortable margin over the second-place finisher, another Republican, whose late husband had occupied this particular seat in the legislature until his (ultimately unsuccessful) battle with cancer forced him to vacate the position. The individual appointed to fill the remainder of his term, a former state legislator himself, chose not to run again.

My recommendation to my client was to start early and advertise consistently. Given the size of our sprawling district - larger than the state of Connecticut - we had several radio markets to cover. The plan was to introduce the candidate, her background and qualifications, and then build the campaign around the endorsements of people throughout the district who know and support her candidacy.

I did not want to use prepared scripts and risk having the individuals sound stilted and artificial, which is often the case when asking people to read from a printed page words that are not their own. Rather, I chose to interview - in person or over the phone - the people whose endorsements might be meaningful to voters. Most of these interviews lasted from ten or fifteen minutes; some took considerably longer. I had prepared a list of questions designed both to keep the conversation focused and to elicit meaningful answers. But we kept the conversation open enough so that each individual might have ample opportunity to share his or her insights.

As all experienced writers and producers well know, the greatest challenge (and the real work) is in the editing. I'm not referring simply to removing pauses, stumbles, "uhs" and all the little mouth noises - the saliva clicks, plosive pops, excessive sibilance and clipping - though this is certainly a part of the process, and can require scores of individual edits. Rather, I'm talking about the choice of which ideas, words and phrases to keep, which ones to leave out, and how best to combine them to convey the intended message clearly and effectively. It is painstaking and time-consuming; one might devote several hours of concentrated effort to the creation of a single one-minute spot. But this investment of time and effort often makes all the difference when it comes to the end result.

I created seven commercials for my candidate's primary election effort. Most of them went through several revisions and refinements, based on input from the client and her campaign staff. We ran them sequentially, each airing exclusively for a few days before being replaced by the next.

One of the ironies of the outcome of this primary race (to me, anyway) was that the candidate who theoretically should have conducted the most effective broadcast campaign, given his background in television journalism, his current position in marketing and communications, and his campaign promise to be, in his words, "your communications warrior" came in a distant fifth of the five candidates. He did his own radio spots, in which he sounded quite confident (some thought perhaps a bit cocky) that he was the man for the job. But his strategy, as embodied by his radio schedule, proved anemic. He ran ads (fairly heavily) for just two days during the entire campaign: the day the ballots were received in the mail, and again several weeks later, on the Monday before the election. By contrast, the top two contenders' radio campaigns were much more consistent.

Ultimately, my candidate's greater reliance on radio proved the best overall plan. Even her main competitor acknowledged this, specifically citing her radio campaign: According to a newspaper report:

Pat Hailey, republican candidate for the 9th District House position, said Fagan is likely in the lead because she spent more money and had an extensive radio advertising campaign.

Music to my ears.
Here are the seven spots from that campaign:

A Death in the Family

2009-09-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about death lately.

As a rule, we don't much care to think about death, let alone talk about it. As with politics and religion, death is a subject unsuitable for polite conversation - or so the conventional wisdom would have it.

Still, we're all headed there, aren't we? We may not have a clue as to how or when, but we all recognize that death is the inevitable terminus.

For the Christian death is not something to be feared. Absent from the body means face-to-face with Jesus Christ, forever. No more sorrow; no more tears; no more pain. These are the burden of the living.

Which brings me back to why I've been thinking a lot about death lately: a number of people close to me have been dealing with it personally.

A friend of ours traveled back to Minnesota this week to speak at her dad's memorial service. She'd gone back to see him a couple months earlier when he was in hospice care, knowing that it would be the last time they'd be together this side of heaven. In fact, their parting words to one another were, "See you in heaven." They meant it, and their heartfelt smiles were soul-deep.

My parents are in their 80's. Both have had major health problems in recent years; my mom in particular is in fragile condition. I hope to fly them out for a visit this fall. It could be the last time I see either of them on this earth. We know this and accept it as a part of life. Parents naturally expect their children to outlive them.

But it doesn't always fall out that way.

This past Sunday a good client and friend of ours lost his son, a successful physician just 47 years old, in a tragic accident on a lonely stretch of highway in east Texas. The young doctor and his family were on their way back from his wife's brother's wedding, traveling in two cars. One of the children had to use the bathroom, so they pulled off to the side of the road and father and son got out of the car.

The driver of a semitruck traveling in the opposite direction saw the cars and swerved to avoid them. The father barely had time to push his son out of harm's way, before being struck by the truck. He died instantly.

My family and I learned about this on Monday and since then have not ceased to pray for the loved ones left behind: his wife, their three children (ages 3-7), and our client and friend, the victim's father.

We all face adversity from time to time. We all have problems. Often we're preoccupied with them. Or we focus on them to the point of being nearly consumed by them.

Then we run into someone facing a real tragedy and suddenly our problems are put into perspective. A perspective we should have had all along.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all." Psalm 34:19. God has not promised us exemption from the trials and exigencies of life, but He has promised us deliverance.

According to I Corinthians 10:13, God promises to limit the testing we face to what we can bear. (Note: it's not what we think we can bear, but what He knows we can bear. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Furthermore, He already knows the outcome. So the testing is for our benefit, not His.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

What does this have to do with radio, advertising, or business?

Only everything.

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month

2009-09-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Just finished producing a couple spots for a local independent insurance agency, their contribution to a national effort to raise public awareness of the importance of having life insurance.

I have to admit, this month-long industry observance was not on my radar prior to last week. But, in the client's words, Life insurance awareness month is something I feel strongly about and I hope we can educate the public via these ads.

Face it, life insurance doesn't make for glamorous advertising. Neither do automobile tires. But both are high-priority items where one's family's safety and security are concerned.

Donny Wahlberg is one of this year's national spokesmen for Life Insurance Awareness Month. Here's a link to his video on You Tube.

For my radio friends with insurance agency clients who may wish to invest in a little advertising with you yet this month, to promote Life Insurance Awareness Month, here are a couple of produced spots you're welcome to use as idea starters, or even just download and tag with your client's information. (A favor? Just let me know if you find them helpful.)

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month #1

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month #2

Reaching Out to International Students via Radio

2009-08-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Living in a college town, we see quite a few international students here during the school year.

A few years back one of my clients, a medical clinic, challenged me to come up with a radio spot to reach out to these internationals, hoping to attract them (and their families) as new clients.

With a bit of probing, I was able to determine that the predominant cultures/languages among these foreign students were Hispanic, Chinese, and Arabic (not necessarily in that order). I thought it might be fun to record some of these students speaking in their native tongue, a "welcome" message to their peers. But where would I find them? And how would I be able to communicate with them?

I broached the situation with another client, who owns a popular coffee house on campus. He indicated that he'd have no trouble locating some suitable candidates - students who were bi-lingual and would enjoy helping. There was no budget for all this "talent," but the clinic's administrator did offer to buy fancy espresso drinks for the participants. So, we arranged a day and time to meet together at the coffee shop for a group recording session.

The day came, the group assembled, and everything clicked. As a bonus, a young professor originally from Poland, who happened to be in the coffee shop just then, appeared to be quite interested in our little production. She was quickly pressed into service as an "extra."

The kids were cooperative, patient, and seemed to enjoy "starring" in the project. Afterwards they all received a copy of the MP3 to send to the folks back home.

The resulting :30-second commercial pleased the client well enough that the clinic has trotted out this spot at the beginning of the school year every year since. Here's the spot:

Ode to a Luminous Legume

2009-08-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

Every year around this time, I enjoy working with Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson - a broadcast professor at the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications at Washington State University and longtime stadium voice of the WSU Cougars - as we collaborate on the new radio commercials for The National Lentil Festival, held here in Pullman the weekend before classes begin. I write the copy, Glenn provides his distinctive baritone pipes, and I mix down the final production. Over the years, our work has won awards from national and international festival organizations - but more importantly, has helped to draw thousands to enjoy the festivities.

As this year marks the festival's 21st anniversary, I thought it might be fun to play with the idea of what the typical 21-year-old does to celebrate the milestone birthday. This led to the use of the word squiffy, possibly for the first time on American radio.

A couple years ago I decided to give Tase T. Lentil a voice (mine, digitally manipulated), singing his own jingle, and we've trotted it out again for another run.

The Festival has long relied on local radio to get the word out. In recent years, radio stations in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana also have been invited to air spots in exchange for receiving "lentil loot" (t-shirts, posters, wine glasses, lentils, recipes, etc.) to give away to their listeners, extending the campaign into regions that would not otherwise be reached.

Here are a couple of this year's spots.

The Punk Marketing Manifesto

2009-07-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

Just discovered these punk marketing guys earlier in the week. Dove into Richard Laermer's substantial marketing/PR blog and poked around the website, where I came across their "Punk Marketing Manifesto" - Their subject is brands. As radio advertising sales professionals, we are brands to our clients. They, in turn, are brands to their customers. With this in mind, here are a few pearls from the Manifesto:

#1: "AVOID RISK AND DIE: In times of change the greatest risk is to take none at all." The greatest rewards go to the risk-takers who refuse to be intimidated by adversity and press on with their eyes on the objective. When confronted by enemy artillery firing at his advancing troops, Patton's typical response was not to retreat or take cover, but to advance rapidly toward the enemy. Experience had taught him that the enemy most often underestimated the distance to be closed, leading them to overshoot their mark. Patton's aggressiveness saved many American lives. He covered more ground, liberated more cities, killed or captured more of the enemy, and turned in fewer casualties than his peers. The greatest accomplishments in any field - including sales and business - usually involve calculated risk-taking.

Related to risk, #3: "TAKE A STRONG STAND: Trying to be all things to everyone...inevitably results in meaning little of interest to just about everybody." How often do advertisers ask us to throw everything but the kitchen sink into their advertising messages, diluting them to the point of ineffectiveness? "The commercial sounds great. But could you put my phone number in at the end? And my store hours? And that we have a combined 37 years of experience? And..." You have to say No. For the client's sake and that of the campaign. Remember Roy Williams' nine-word dictum: The Risk of Insult is the Price of Clarity.

Related to taking a stand, #7: "MAKE ENEMIES: All brands need to position themselves against an alternative." Roy's dictum again. Uncover and focus on your strengths; let the rest go. Your presentations and results will be the better for it.

I've ordered Laermer's books and am looking forward to delving into them. Stay tuned.

Patient Radio: Actual Illness or Acute Hypochondria?

2009-07-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

My old college friend Carl commented on this brief post I made on Facebook:

Just read: "To provide a significant boost to your happiness, force your face into a smile and hold the expression for 20 seconds." From "59 Seconds. Think a Little, Change a Lot."

The reference is to a book review I read in the London Telegraph's online edition. I tend to be wary of those who take "the power of positive thinking" to an extreme and read their advice with a healthy dose of skepticism. But what I read of the book in the reviewer's article seemed practical and sensible. For instance:

...you can ward off potential liars by closing your eyes and asking them to put their comments in email.

And

Next time you attend an important meeting, obtain a quick and easy psychological advantage by sitting in the middle of the group.

Practical advice.

Then my friend Carl posted his succinct comment: Surprising how easily we can change some things if we choose. Two things we can control- our attitude and our actions.

My immediate application was personal. I reflected on how easily one can fall into the trap of fretting over things he can't control, while neglecting the things he can control.
We attempt to look at life through the wrong end of the telescope and it warps our perspective.

Attitude and action. We can't control them in others, we may not be able to control our circumstances, but we most certainly can choose to control what we think, say, and do.

The radio industry hasn't been exempted from the economic slowdown but generally speaking, the mom-and-pop broadcasters on Main Street are faring much better than their mega-chain counterparts who hitched their wagons to Wall Street. Despite all the challenges that confront us as we attempt to ascertain our role in the emerging new media landscape of social networks, smartphones, Ipods, and Internet radio, it's silly to think that somehow there will be no place left for local radio.

Balderdash. Horsepucky.

The shape and capabilities of the receiver may change, but the listener's desire, need, or capacity for the unique companionship and sense of place provided by the people on the other side of that receiver remains as strong as ever.

It's bad enough to have to deal with real ills. Why add the burden of imaginary ones?

Attitude and action. Two things we can control.

It's time to get a grip.

Go out and serve someone. Help a client. Fill a need. Make yourself useful.

And if you need to, take 20 seconds to hold a smile.

It doesn't hurt a bit.

Harness the Power of a Five-second Commercial

2009-06-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

I sold my first five-second radio commercials back in 1975. (For the record, that's thirty years before Clear Channel would proclaim "Less Is More" and with great fanfare begin offering five-second "adlets" or two-second "blinks." Twitter founder Jack Dorsey had not yet been born. Heck, Al Gore hadn't even invented the Internet, though he may have been toying with the idea. But I digress.)

I started selling five-second ads because a legendary radio sales trainer taught me how effective they could be. He wasn't alone. The Radio Advertising Bureau also reported that some stations were having success with what they called "eight-word ads."

There are at least three advantages to shorter ads:

1) They force the ad writer to craft a clear, concise message. There's no room for "fat" in a five-second ad.

2) It's much easier for a listener to comprehend, retain, and recall a short message in its entirety. It's in-and-done before the listener can even react to it! (Stick around and I'll share with you a powerful technique for demonstrating this effectively to a prospect.)

3) Because five-second ads cost less than :30's or :60's, the advertiser's budget buys him greater frequency (more repetition of his message).

Short ads can be deployed to trip the recall switch, reminding the listener of something he's heard about in greater detail in a longer commercial. Think of this technique as "clutter busting" - referring not so much to the other ads on your station as to all of the messages that bombard us daily everywhere we turn, from computer monitors and cell phones to the chatter of our co-workers, from in-store POP to ads on public benches, buses, billboards, and buildings, television, newspaper, magazines. While there may be disagreement as to how many advertising messages we see or hear in each day, we can agree that there's plenty of competition for a listener's attention. We live in an age when distractions are plentiful.

So, let's say you've sold your client a schedule of :30's or :60's to get the word out about his big store-wide sale. His commercials include a number of price-and-item illustrations, maybe a special financing offer, prize drawings, and so forth. Let's imagine that he's running ten commercials a day for ten days, and these ads are scheduled to run between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Assuming even distribution, he's running one ad every 78 minutes.

By adding just ten five-second ads per day to his schedule, you've doubled his frequency, cutting the time between exposures in half. Add another ten and now your listeners are being reminded about his sale every 26 minutes. The marginal cost of the additional five-second ads has tripled his frequency!

All other factors being equal, this advertiser is going to enjoy better results from his buy on your station, which ought to bring him back for more.

Sometimes longer ads aren't even necessary. It's quite possible to build an entire campaign around five-second ads exclusively. I have a client who for many years has sponsored the weather update following network news at the top of the hour. His five-second message - usually a positioning statement, but occasionally a call-to-action - runs once an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For all intents and purposes, his advertising message reaches the station's entire audience.

Every listener, every day.

Think about that. How many of your advertisers can claim with reasonable certainty to reach every single listener on your station during the course of a day or a week, let alone all year long? It's terrific exposure, and much easier for an advertiser to achieve and afford with a five-second ad.

The proliferation of satellite-delivered syndicated programming has all but eliminated the flexibility most stations once enjoyed when it came to scheduling commercials. If your station does all its own programming, consider yourself fortunate, indeed. You still have the freedom, or at least the potential, to schedule ads of any length, in any combination, at any time. The world is your oyster. Go for it. Stations whose programming comes via a bird in the sky have little choice but to fill fixed-length breaks with fixed-length ads at fixed times, with few opportunities for deviation from the :30/:60 standard. It might be worth sitting down with your Program Director and asking him to identify any possibilities for running short ads (such as the :05 weather sponsorship mentioned earlier).

If you are able to identify and secure the appropriate inventory, and you're ready to put it to work for an advertiser, here's a technique you can use to demonstrate to your prospective client the power of a five-second ad:

First, write the copy. Create the actual message that you're going to propose the client run for this campaign. Take the time to make it a good one. (I recall this Jim Williams classic: "Don't Make a $500 Mistake. Bob's Used Cars.")

When you're sitting across from the prospect, tell him, "I'd like you to help me with a little experiment." Pause. Make sure you have his undivided attention. Then, read the five-second copy aloud, with appropriate feeling.

Read it a second time.

Read it a third time.

Then, ask him to repeat what you just read.

In most cases, he'll repeat it verbatim without hesitation.

"You've just demonstrated the power of a five-second ad. I read it to you only three times and already you have it memorized, the whole thing."

Rehearse the advantages of the five-second ad with him:
1) forces lean, concise copy;
2) more easily understood, retained, and recalled by the listener (as he just demonstrated)
3) allows more frequency within a given budget

Then, present your proposal. Make the sale. And enjoy the results.

More than three decades ago, I used to drive the 55 miles between Winona and Rochester, Minnesota, two or three times a week. One Sunday I tuned in to Chicago's WGN (720 AM) and kept it there to hear what was happening in my old hometown. I don't remember the name of the host (though as I recall he had the most wonderfully soothing rich bass voice), but to this day I do remember two ads that he read live, several times each, during the course of my commute:

"Seven-Up, the Uncola. Chicagoland's Number One Refresher."

"Chapped Lips Need Blistex. Buy Blistex."

I swear, I never intended to memorize them. It just happened.

Like magic.

Share Your Radio Station-Produced Entry to the Mercury Awards...

2009-06-15T12:05:00.001-07:00

Patrick Cleary is upset with the Radio Advertising Bureau. In an article in this morning's RBR, the president of Lost Coast Communications, Inc., parent of Ferndale, CA stations KHUM, KWPT and KSLG-FM isn't mincing words as he shared his displeasure over there being no Radio-Mercury Award for Radio Station-produced commercials this year.

As you've probably read or heard by now, the final round judges (all agency folks) determined that the quality of this year's station entries wasn't good enough to pass muster, so they invoked a Mercury rule that allows them to drop the category and award no station prize this year.

Ouch, that stings.

I share Mr. Cleary's disappointment. As an annual RMA entrant since 2004 (with two horses in this year's race), the judges' decision took the wind out of my sails, too. It took me a couple of days to adjust to it. I called Meghan Buonocore at the RMA headquarters in NYC shortly after receiving the finalists announcement on May 21st, to ask her what was going on. She said that the judges had "raised the bar" and none of the station entries measured up this year. End of story.

Disappointed as I was (and am) at the absence of radio station representation from this year's Mercury competition, I cannot bring myself to endorse Mr. Cleary's call to withdraw from the RAB.

Yes, the organization has its share of weaknesses and inconsistencies (who doesn't?) - as, for instance, its clarion call to stations to write and produce superior commercials, while at the same time providing its own members who come looking for ideas with cliché-ridden pap that ought to have been rejected upon receipt, let alone archived to spread around the industry like a bad cold.

Nevertheless, I believe the RAB's strengths outweigh its shortcomings. As I posted earlier, their offer of a personal membership is something I'd been wanting for a long time, and I jumped at the chance to acquire my own. Even if the RAB were to purge its archives of the stuff that doesn't measure up to its lofty aspirations, there would remain an extensive body of valuable research and creative inspiration, of significant benefit to radio advertising sales professionals and their clients.

That said, Mr. Cleary's message deserves a thoughtful response from RAB's leadership. Some of radio's best and brightest are unhappy with what they perceive as a cold shoulder from the very organization that should be their champion, their advocate, their friend.

Meanwhile, I suspect lots of radio folks would enjoy hearing the Radio Station-produced entries that were submitted to this year's Mercury awards. I know I would. So, over at Radio Sales Café we've created a special forum where station producers can upload their entries to share with others in the broadcast community.

Here's my introduction to that forum:

"The Risk of Insult is the Price of Clarity." - Roy Williams (The Wizard of Ads)

OK, so I'm going to take the plunge and post the two commercials I submitted for this year's Radio-Mercury Awards competition (links below).

They're not stunningly produced, but I believed the copy was sufficiently engaging (it certainly was from the clients' perspective) to be airworthy, if not competition-worthy.

Though, frankly, I'd hoped at least one of them would make it into the finals, even if I didn't expect either of them to win the prize.

I have been supporting the Radio-Mercury Awards since 2004, the year I first entered any of my work into competition. I was surprised and humbled when I learned that my submission had won the Radio Station-Produced award that year. But I was also encouraged by it and determined to improve the quality of all my work.

The following year I entered 5 or 6 spots; one of them was chosen as a finalist. Each year thereafter I've entered at least one or two spots, though I will admit that none has equaled my 2004 entry (which, by the way, is still running on the air as part of a multi-spot campaign for the client, and still producing measurable results for him). Nonetheless, I've thought it important to support radio's premier advertising competition, to continue to raise the bar for our industry and advertisers.

On May 21st I received the email from RAB announcing the finalists and immediately noticed, to my great dismay, the absence of any station-produced finalists. A telephone call to Meghan Buonocore at the RMA headquarters confirmed this, and I have to confess, it took me a day or two to come to grips with the judges' decision.

As one of the early round judges this year, I had an opportunity to hear what I considered some good examples of station-produced advertising. (Listening to the best of them cemented the realization that my own entries weren't likely to win, place, or possibly even show.) It surprised me to see none of them emerge as finalists.

After reflecting on the situation, my biggest personal takeaway was a resolve to do better work next time. But I can understand, and to a certain degree share the feeling expressed by other radio station folks that maybe the playing field for radio work wasn't completely level.

That's water under the bridge now.

I'd like to urge the RAB - Radio Creative Fund to consider balancing the final round panel of judges, by including representatives from the radio side, and not solely the agency side, to avoid the appearance of elitism.

To the extent that this year's RMA competition has been tainted by the wholesale exclusion of the Radio Station-produced category, the RAB would do well to reach out to its station members to answer any questions, address their concerns, and attempt to make next year's RMA a happier occasion for everyone in radio.

So now, let's hear what you did!

An Offer You Can't (or Shouldn't) Refuse...

2009-06-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

When I learned that the Radio Advertising Bureau has begun to offer personal memberships, I could hardly wait to sign up.

At $210 a year, it's a bargain.

$210 a year. $4.04 a week. About the price of a 20-ounce Espresso drink. Or a Happy Meal.

For a veritable treasure trove of research and resources quite likely unsurpassed by any other advertising organization.

The RAB's vast archives contain tools to make creating and selling radio advertising easier, more productive, and more likely to generate results for radio advertisers.

Now, I've not agreed with everything RAB has said or promoted over the years. Decades ago, they often seemed to reflect and reinforce Radio's inferiority complex, the idea that the highest and best use of our medium was in a supporting role to print or TV, as part of a media mix. (If the ad buy were a martini, Radio was the vermouth or the olive.)

But gradually the RAB reflected a growing confidence in our medium, i.e., that Radio as a primary medium was capable of carrying 100% of the weight of a campaign and make it work!

Beginning with radio sales trainer Jim Williams, his protegés Chris Lytle, Chuck Mefford, Darrell Solberg...along with folks like Sean Luce, Dave Gifford, Jim Taszarek, Paul Weyland, and Jerry Frentress...and more recently Norton Warner, Jeff Dostal, Michael Tate and Matt Hackett, radio advertising sales professionals have had unparalleled opportunities to understand and unleash the unlimited potential of our medium. Support from the ad creation side has come from folks like Roy Williams, Dan O'Day, Jeffrey Hedquist, and others (watch for a guy named Doug Zanger to be making big radio waves in coming years). I'm sure there are many more I've failed to name (Jason Jennings just came to mind).

The point is, for many years now the RAB has been leveraging the talents of these folks and others for the good of our radio team and every last player.

$4.04 a week ought to be impossibly attractive, like the sizzle and smell of a prime ribsteak on a bed of hot coals (sorry ... it's Friday dinnertime and I'm fantasizing).

Personally, I was thrilled to be able to secure a personal RAB membership, for my benefit and ultimately the benefit of my clients.

Eric Rhoads, publisher of RadioINK, wrote a thought-provoking piece in which he expressed his concern for the future of RAB, which is facing cutbacks in the support it typically has enjoyed from the largest broadcast groups. They recently (and undoubtedly painfully) announced layoffs that included veterans George Hyde and Mike Mahone, themselves champions of education and training for thousands of radio advertising salespeople.

Whatever the reality of their present circumstances, of this much I'm certain: every membership matters to RAB.

Please consider supporting them with yours.

Thank you!

$8000+ Advertising Workshop Sells for $1.29 on eBay

2009-06-11T00:20:00.000-07:00

I was a little surprised to see the folks at Aria offering their "How to Advertise in a Tough Economy" workshop on eBay to the highest bidder.

Billed as an "Economic Stimulus Package" for radio stations, the workshop is said to have a value of between $8000 and $25,000, depending on market size.

I was more than a little surprised to see the final bid: $1.29.

Perhaps business isn't as bad as some folks are saying it is.

Or...maybe it's worse?

$2500+ for Thirty Seconds: "Don't Tax That Dial!"

2009-06-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

The NAB has announced a contest, open to all over-the-air U.S. broadcast radio stations, to create a thirty-second political spot encouraging defeat of the so-called "performance tax" on radio stations. The (mainly foreign-owned) record industry, represented by the RIAA, is trying to compensate for a failing business model by levying a fee on radio stations that play music, utterly destroying the symbiotic relationship that has existed for many decades, to the mutual benefit of artists, stations, and listeners.

According to an article in RADIO magazine:

The winning entry will be awarded $2,500 and be recognized at The 2009 NAB Radio Show in Philadelphia. Additionally, airfare, hotel accommodations and complimentary NAB Radio Show registration for two will be provided to the winning entry. Entries for the competition, open to over-the-air U.S. broadcast radio stations, must be submitted to the NAB no later than 11 p.m. EDT on July 31, 2009. Stations must complete a Political Agreement Form and place it in the political portion of their public file for a period of two years. Complete rules, guidelines and supporting material can be found on the NAB website

OK, so here's an idea: invite several of the station's best clients to participate in the effort personally. Presumably these advertisers have a vested interest in the continued existence and health of the station, their valued marketing partner. So, they talk about the station's importance to them, both as listeners and as advertisers, and urge their fellow listeners to contact their legislators to reject the Performance Tax. Advertisers enjoy some additional exposure, reinforcing their ties with the station and its listeners, and the station gets the message out in a "bigger" way.

Everybody wins.

In fact, stations could even sell these opportunities to advertisers (rather than giving them away) - with an offer to share the cost of the schedule in view of the shared benefit. I can think of a few advertisers in our own market who would take advantage of such an offer.

After all, it's essentially cause-related advertising, right?

Only in this case, the cause is us.

Worth considering.

You Can't Recall the Bullet After You've Pulled the Trigger!

2009-06-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sent an email to 100 local clients earlier this week, announcing a new format and a chance to win $7200 worth of advertising. I spent over half an hour composing the message, getting it just right, and making sure the two attachments were correct.

As is my practice, I sent the email to my own address as well.

You can only imagine my chagrin when upon opening my confirmation email, I saw (in 18 point type, no less) the name and email address of one of the recipients pasted into the first sentence of my correspondence, breaking the sentence, the flow, and the appearance of the message.

I cringed. I winced. I said bad words.

It looked stupid. I looked stupid. In front of 100 people.

And there wasn't a thing I could do to change it.

However, I couldn't in good conscience let it pass without acknowledging and attempting to correct the mistake, so I sent a follow-up email with the following message and illustration:

"Caution: bullet cannot be summoned back
into gun once trigger has been pulled."
(Rod's lesson for Monday)

Does Not Advertising Mean You're Going Out of Business?

2009-05-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

From today's "Radio Sales Today" newsletter, research on how not advertising during a recession can hurt your brand.

The research study, "Advertising's Impact in a Soft Economy," which was undertaken to determine whether stopping advertising during the recession could harm a business, takes an in-depth look at specific consumer perceptions regarding firms that continue to advertise in the current economy, as well as those that do not.

Not advertising can harm brand

Advertising appears to play a key role in consumers' view of how a business is doing, the study found. By not advertising, businesses may be sending a warning signal to current and potential customers, Ad-ology said.

For example, when consumers no longer see/hear advertising from an auto dealership during a down economy, 50 percent say they view the dealership as "struggling." In addition, 19 percent feel these dealers are "less willing to deal," and only 7 percent believe they "must be doing well."

On the other hand, when a dealership advertises during tough times, 34 percent believe the dealership to be committed to doing business.

Consumer perception is similar for stores and banks.

Click on the link for the full article. (Source: Marketing Charts, 05/25/09)

Speaking of Better Radio Ads...

2009-05-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

Listening to the finalists in the 2009 Radio-Mercury Awards and reviewing the briefs for the integrated campaigns is as instructive as it is entertaining.

Don't miss the opportunity to gain valuable insights into the inner workings of these million-dollar campaigns. The education is priceless. The tuition, free.

Here's the link.

How to Make Better Radio Ads

2009-05-22T09:46:00.001-07:00

Eleven of the top creative directors in the country participated in a round-table discussion in New York recently. They were gathered to judge entries in this year's Radio Mercury Awards, but they took some time after the judging to discuss the disconnect between the growth of Radio's audience (up by 3 million pairs of ears in 2008) and the decline in Radio's ad revenue (down by 9% in 2008).

Andrew Hampp's article in Advertising Age (the online version includes an 8-minute video excerpt from the roundtable) is enlightening and instructive, a valuable read for any radio advertising sales or creative professional.

Toward the end of the video, RAB President Jeff Haley talks about a Houston study by Coleman Research in which researchers observed listener behavior during 92,000 commercial "pods." Haley noted that the "breakaway" (listeners going elsewhere) was just 8%, even in the middle of a lengthy 6-minute break. The majority of listeners stayed with their station.

NOTE: That's not perception; that's measured behavior!

But if you listen carefully to this segment of the video, right after Mr. Haley mentions people listening to 92,000 commercial pods, one of the panelists interjects, "Poor people!"

Why did he say that?

Obviously, because many (if not most) ads on radio are notoriously "bad."

"Radio needs to get better before radio ads can get better," said Crispin's Bill Wright. "When I read a magazine, all the ads don't annoy me. When I watch TV, all the ads don't annoy me. Even when you do a good radio spot, it's still the best-looking house in a bad neighborhood."

There's our problem. And our opportunity. To change, one ad at a time, one client at a time, on stations across America, the quality of the commercials we write and produce.

Radio, as a medium, is powerful, versatile, and personal. It's everything an advertiser could ask for.

But radio advertising needs to improve, to exploit the full potential of our medium, to achieve its highest and best uses in the marketplace.

This is our job, our challenge, and our responsibility as radio advertising professionals. We can't make the industry better apart from making our commercials better. And that, my friend, is an individual operation.

What Does It Take to Create Good Radio Advertising?

2009-05-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

"Creating great radio ads is hard work
and an acquired skill." - Bob McCurdy

Bob McCurdy is the president of Katz Marketing Solutions, the national marketing unit of the Katz Media Group, a division of Clear Channel Communications.

Right on, Bob!

That statement ought to be printed in 60-point boldface type, framed and posted at the desk of every radio advertising salesperson, sales manager, general manager, operations manager, production director, copywriter, producer, and board op at every radio station in America.

Right next to it should be posted a list of cliches* that from henceforth are banned and must never appear in a radio commercial without severe consequences to the perpetrator or perpetratrix.

Creating good radio commercials is painstaking, time-consuming work.

Anyone undertaking the responsibility of writing advertising for a client must understand the fundamentals of advertising. What works, what doesn't, and why. This information is readily available in books, on CD's, videos, online, in the library.

Writing good advertising involves an investment of time for research, to understand the advertiser's customers, as well as his product/service, market, competition.

It involves think-time, before and during the process of writing, editing, tweaking, refining and polishing, spinning words into gold.

It involves choosing an appropriate spokesman. Extensive casting opportunities may be out of reach for many stations, but thought should still be given as to who should deliver the message. Often the advertisers themselves make great spokespeople (I can hear the protests rumbling from the "professional" bench already. Don't bother. I've been writing for and coaching ordinary folks for years, decades really - with consistent, bankable results for the client! It CAN be done. Just takes a little more time, patience, and perseverance, that's all. Want to hear examples? I can provide you with plenty.)

Great production won't compensate for poor copy. If you can't have both, put your money into the copywriting. Great copy always trumps great production.

Invest in improving the quality of your advertising copy for clients and the inevitable improvement in their results will keep them on the air.

It's just that simple.

And because it is, there's no reason it can't be done.

*Cliches that should be forever banned from radio commercials include:

for all your ______ needs
conveniently located at ___________
the friendly folks at ___________
the professionals at ___________
your ________ headquarters
and much, much more
just in time for ________
like never before
the sale you’ve been waiting for
lowest prices of the year/season/ever
it’s that time of year again
we sell the best and service the rest
our service is second to none
our friendly, knowledgeable staff
you heard it right
it’s happening right now
(Season) is right around the corner

Bob McCurdy's article appeared in Media Post's Marketing Daily Commentary.

Google Radio Redux

2009-05-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal's Jessica E. Vascellaro does an excellent job of recapping the rise and fall of Google's moribund radio advertising initiative.

In a nutshell,

Google Inc.'s foray into selling radio ads was supposed to show how its online-advertising brainpower could revolutionize an old-fashioned people business.

The company teamed up with Chad and Ryan Steelberg, brothers who were sharp dressers and wore deep Southern California tans. They had a technology for transmitting, scheduling and tracking radio ads. "Google is going to conquer radio," boasted the exuberant Chad in 2006.

Instead, radio tripped up Google. The company is pulling the plug on its attempt to automate radio-ad sales on May 31, exposing how far Google is from its goal of grabbing a big chunk of the multibillion-dollar business of off-line ad sales.

A look at what went wrong shows that Google misjudged the capacity of its technology to work beyond the Web, and underestimated the human side of the business [emphasis mine]. Radio stations refused to turn over airtime to a computer algorithm that set prices far lower than their own rates. Big advertisers steered clear.

Good story. Good reminder that some things, like human relationships and interactions, are not reducible to automation.

Read the FULL STORY HERE (for as long as WSJ keeps it available to the public):

Radio Works for Constant Contact

2009-05-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Radio advertising works.

And not everyone is hurting these days.

Just ask the folks at Constant Comment, a provider of email marketing services.

Perhaps you've heard their ads running in radio network news broadcasts and syndicated programs.

How are the ads working? According to company President and CEO Gail F. Goodman:

Summarizing our results for the first quarter. Revenue was $28.1 million, an increase of 55% year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA came in at $1.7 million, which was up a 112% on a year-over-year basis.

During the quarter, all of our sales and marketing channels performed well. We believe our national radio advertising campaign helped drive much of the better than expected demand for our email marketing service. Equally important based on the statistical analysis we have recently completed national radio is delivering results within our cost expectations. We expect to continue national radio advertising in the fall following our usual seasonal marketing pullback across all of our acquisition channels during the summer months...

Read the transcript of Constant Contact's 5/7/09 conference call HERE.

DoorCountyDailyNews.com - A Model for Radio

2009-05-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

Wisconsin broadcaster Roger Utnehmer was recently named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Door County (WI) Economic Development Corp.

Utnehmer's online newspaper and website have become a model for broadcasters around the world.

Although he is a "radio guy" through and through (including stints as head of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and board member of the Radio Advertising Bureau), the owner of four local radio stations recognized the potential and power of the Internet early on and, unlike many of his peers, embraced it with open arms, an open mind, and sufficient investment of financial and human resources to make it work.

And work it does.

Nicolet Broadcasting, Inc. — owners of WBDK (96.7 FM), WRKU (102.1 FM), WRLU (104.1 FM) and WSBW (105.1 FM) — has made significant capital investment and has experienced above-industry growth and a 400-percent increase in sales since moving its main studios and corporate offices to Door County in 2002. In 2007, Nicolet Broadcasting expanded its coverage in Door County when they introduced WSBW and opened a studio and office in Fish Creek. A recent article in a national broadcast industry trade publication cited Nicolet Broadcasting as one of the 30 best broadcast companies to work for, based on employee training, compensation and future financial security.

And while he certainly knows how to make a buck, he's no miser. Roger's stations donate one :30-second ad PER HOUR, 24/7, to non-profit and charitable causes. And Roger himself is glad to share the things he's learned about success with other broadcasters.

Congratulations, Roger. Thanks for setting the bar high for Radio, and for your willingness to share your ideas and experiences with other broadcasters.

Learn more about Roger's award HERE.

The Real Reason Advertisers Are Abandoning Newspaper?

2009-04-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

Business columnist and author Geoffrey James returned from a recent Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) confab with a stinging indictment of the newspaper advertising industry.

According to James, the reason newspapers across the country are folding faster than a bad poker hand is not the national economy, but "...that advertisers have finally figured out that newspapers, in collusion with clueless marketers and unscrupulous ad execs, have been fleecing them for decades."

The writer asked a room full of newspaper writers how many of them actually read the ads that appear in their papers.

Fewer than five percent said they did.

This made me wonder, what if a similar question were asked of radio broadcasters? How much higher would our percentage be? (You do listen to the ads on your station, don't you?)

After all, radio advertising is intrusive. When the radio is turned on, the listener can't help but hear the ads. (As someone once said, God's gift to Radio is that He created human beings without earlids.)

Whereas newspaper advertising tends to be passive: ...if the reader happens to open that day's paper to the right section...and if she happens to turn to the right page...and if she happens to notice your ad...she might actually read it.

Or she might not.

James' real problem with newspaper advertising is its lack of measurability and/or accountability. Is it effective? Do you know for sure? How do you know?

The problem with newspaper advertising is that, in most cases, you have NO idea whether anyone is reading an ad, or whether that ad is driving buying behavior. And because nothing is being measured, newspapers and ad agencies have been able to artificially inflate the price of their space ads. Massively.

One way newspapers do this is to simply lie about circulation. For example, it’s not uncommon for a newspaper to claim that each distributed copy is read by 3 or 4 people. But that’s total BS. Many copies of most print publications don’t get cracked even once. And the ones that do, I’ll bet that only a fraction of the content ever actually wins the reader’s eye.

As for the ads themselves, only a tiny fraction of the circulation reads them, and the number of people who take action as result is probably in the single digits. (I’m talking the actual number here, not the percentage.)

Newspapers also cook the books is by setting the value of advertising based upon what other newspapers are asking. As if that made any difference. But it worked, in the past at least, because marketers (many of whom don’t want to be measured anyway) never asked the obvious question: how much revenue will this ad generate?

James is bullish on online advertising because click-throughs can be tracked and ad performance measured with greater accuracy. In this, he echoes Ken Dardis of Audiographics - a former terrestrial radio guy, now SVP of Spacial Audio Solutions, an authority on Internet radio, and an outspoken critic of "business-as-usual" where Radio is concerned. For Dardis, the Internet holds the key to Radio's future, which makes him either a gadfly or an augur - or both, depending on whose ox is being gored at the moment.

Ken Dardis is passionate about Radio, but critical of the status quo. His company recently gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of software and hosting to displaced terrestrial broadcasters willing to start their own Internet radio stations.

In other words, he's walking his talk.

The take-away from all of this, for those of us who make our living as radio advertising professionals, is our responsibility to exert every effort to create advertising that is as effective (and measurable) as we can make it.

We do this by investing as much time and energy as needed to understand our advertisers' objectives, their customers' needs/desires/motivation/buying behavior, and the realities of the marketplace that may affect how they interact. Only then can we begin to write and produce the advertising messages that have what it takes to move people and products.

I remain optimistic about Radio's future. Terrestrial stations and online stations both have a place in the new media landscape. They may differ in their delivery, degrees of accountability, and demographics, but they will still provide valuable information, entertainment, and advertising to their audiences.

Read Geoffrey James' full article here.

This from NPR: "Radio Ads Are a Good Thing!"

2009-04-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

It is SO enjoyable to hear Real Radio Ads (A Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" spot, no less!) airing on..."ad-free" National Public Radio.

All Things Considered, April 28, 2009 · Radio offers advertisers the last captive audience.

Radio ads are cheap to produce and buying airtime is inexpensive, too. You can blanket the airwaves with a slogan or jingle in a way you can't with TV.

Warren Berger's forthcoming book is Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World.

Listen to Warren Berger's >enthusiastic evaluation of radio advertising (2 minutes, 50 seconds).

All of us in the radio advertising business ought to appreciate (and emulate) Mr. Berger's enthusiasm!

Thanks to Eric Rhoades for the tip!

Sinking the Boat or Missing the Boat?

2009-04-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Much has been written - and is being written (by marketers and economists alike) - on the subject of marketing during a recession.

Today's Small Market Radio Newsletter carried a fascinating New Yorker piece by James Surowiecki on the subject.

Surowieki contrasts the Depression-era responses of two ready-to-eat cereal makers, Post and Kellogg:

Post did the predictable thing: it reined in expenses and cut back on advertising. But Kellogg doubled its ad budget, moved aggressively into radio advertising (emphasis mine), and heavily pushed its new cereal, Rice Krispies. (Snap, Crackle, and Pop first appeared in the thirties.) By 1933, even as the economy cratered, Kellogg’s profits had risen almost thirty per cent and it had become what it remains today: the industry’s dominant player.

Chrysler took the same approach during the Great Depression and in 1933 passed Ford to become the #2 automaker in America, thanks to its aggressive marketing of the Plymouth brand. This gain was not as long-lived as some, but it demonstrates what can be done when a company goes after market share while others are trying merely to preserve what they have.

I was visiting with a new client earlier in the week. He's in the retail furniture business, a category not exactly thriving these days, given the overall economic climate and contraction in the housing market. But he's not hunkering down. He's planning for expansion and growth. He said to me, "We're in a kind of Ice Age now. And you know what an Ice Age is good for? It kills off the dinosaurs!"

Indeed.

Commenting on why many companies are so quick to cut their advertising during an economic slowdown, Surowiecki cites economist Frank Knight's distinction between risk and uncertainty.

Risk describes a situation where you have a sense of the range and likelihood of possible outcomes. Uncertainty describes a situation where it’s not even clear what might happen, let alone how likely the possible outcomes are. Uncertainty is always a part of business, but in a recession it dominates everything...

For businesses that choose to place their bets on minimizing risks and preserving assets in the short-term, cutting back makes sense.

For others, deep pockets or not, the opportunity to chase a bigger slice of the smaller pie, believing that they'll keep the larger share of their market when the economy rebounds (as inevitably it must), is a worthy challenge and a calculated risk.

Surowiecki concludes:

It’s true that the uncertainty of recessions creates an opportunity for serious profits, and the historical record is full of companies that made successful gambles in hard times: Kraft introduced Miracle Whip in 1933 and saw it become America’s best-selling dressing in six months; Texas Instruments brought out the transistor radio in the 1954 recession; Apple launched the iPod in 2001. Then again, the record is also full of forgotten companies that gambled and failed. The academics Peter Dickson and Joseph Giglierano have argued that companies have to worry about two kinds of failure: “sinking the boat” (wrecking the company by making a bad bet) or “missing the boat” (letting a great opportunity pass). Today, most companies are far more worried about sinking the boat than about missing it. That’s why the opportunity to do what Kellogg did exists. That’s also why it’s so nerve-racking to try it.

I am privileged to work with a number of clients who have the ambition, foresight, and fortitude to pursue relentlessly their goal to be the best they can at what they do.

Counterintuitive though it may seem, this is a great time for smart advertising on Radio!

Read the full article here.

Women in Sales, Selling to Women

2009-04-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

This week's Small Market Radio Newsletter had a short piece by copywriting teacher David Garfinkel entitled, "Women, Business, and Advertising." In it he writes:

One problem is that the sales culture and sales training fields are dominated by men...and we often use war metaphors and battle strategies as the basis for success.

Women, generally speaking, don't think in these terms. (Those who do can be very scary.) The female approach tends to be more collaborative and nurturing.

Reading the piece reminded me of a funny and insightful video presentation by Wisconsin pastor and marriage counselor Mark Gungor on the differences between men's brains and women's brains. If you've not seen it before, enjoy it here.

Following the Wall Street Journal's Example

2009-04-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

As I type these words, three dozen major newspapers have filed for bankruptcy protection.

Barely four months into 2009 and already several venerable newspapers have gone out of business or moved exclusively to a web-based format.

To drive home Old Smudgy's predicament, a recent Pew Research piece revealed that less than half (43%) of all Americans believe that the loss of their daily paper would have significant repercussions on their communities. Fewer than one-third would personally miss their newspaper greatly if it ceased publication.

Most Americans would simply shrug off the demise of their local newspaper.

But even as much of the newspaper industry is faced with precipitous declines in circulation and advertising revenue, one newspaper has actually been experiencing growth.

If you guessed The Wall St. Journal, advance to Go and collect $200.

According to WSJ Managing Editor Robert Thomson, quoted in parent News Corporation's The Australian , "One of the reasons our core circulations are rising so strongly is because papers around America are diminishing. And whether it's in San Francisco or Los Angeles or Detroit, it creates a tremendous opportunity for us to gain readers who are increasingly internationally aware and also aware of their need to be well informed about the world."

It's worth noting the WSJ's aggressive marketing mindset. They're mindful of the supreme importance of content and are leveraging their leadership and expertise in this area across their various platforms, creating a powerful global brand.

As with other marketers that recognize and seize the opportunities that inhere during a recessionary period, to gain market share at the expense of weaker competitors, the WSJ is exploiting their advantage and moving full speed ahead.

If they can do it, so can you! Assess your competitive strengths, focus your marketing accordingly, muster your troops and take that next hill!

What's stopping you?

Substance vs. Style

2009-04-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here's an example of a radio commercial that from a distance sounds terrific. Positive, uplifting, even inspiring.

Until you listen to the actual words.

It might make you chuckle, but not without wincing a bit.

Disclaimer: this spot was part of a RAB Sales Meeting of the Month cassette from long ago. Can't remember who the original advertiser was. The last ten seconds of this commercial contained that real bank advertiser's pitch - if you want to do business with an institution that cares, switch to us.

Clever joke back then.

Perhaps not so much today.

Consumer Confidence Linked to Advertising

2009-04-03T09:17:00.001-07:00

"Financial Company Ads: Out of Sight ...Out of Business?"

That's the headline on a post at the Nielsen blog.

The article goes on to say, When asked about their own banks, insurance companies and investment firms, 55% of respondents who said they had seen more advertising for their financial institution reported having “complete confidence” in the financial health and soundness of their financial company and only 18% said they had “little or no confidence” in their company.

Companies that maintain or even increase their ad spend during times of economic slowdown often gain market share at the expense of competitors that cut back. When the economy rebounds (as inevitably it will), the aggressive marketer reaps the benefits of that additional market share. Some in the advertising community call this the (Procter and) Gamble strategy; it's sound thinking.

Now there's additional evidence to support the claim that positive PR and advertising go a long way toward preserving familiarity and boosting consumer confidence in an otherwise chaotic environment.

No medium is better suited to fostering this kind of familiarity and confidence than radio.

A competent and caring radio advertising professional can be worth his/her weight in gold to any client who's serious about weathering the present storm and navigating toward a prosperous future.

Radio (Still) Gets Results - an Audio Presentation

2009-03-31T00:19:00.000-07:00

The fact that I retrieved this presentation from a cassette tape tells you something about how long ago I put it together. (Hint: it was before we recorded onto flash memory cards, before we emailed MP3's, even before we burned CD's. Seinfeld was airing in prime time, yada-yada-yada.)

Nonetheless, it's worth sharing.

Thinking about the success of Steve and Theresa Myers prompted me to search for this presentation I put together years ago to share some of my clients' success stories with prospective advertisers. It was a local implementation of the RAB's original "Radio Gets Results" initiative.

Back then, I'd ask the prospect to listen to the cassette in the car, driving to or from work. It proved an effective means of establishing credibility with new prospects, and opened many opportunities to help them with their advertising.

Today, a presentation of this sort would likely be posted on a station's website, or maybe uploaded to You Tube.

Running time's about nine minutes, longer than I'd make it if I were doing it today. Folks' attention spans keep getting shorter.

That said, the clients and their stories were/are real.

Myers Auto Rebuild and Towing

2009-03-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

It was neat to see my client, Myers Auto Rebuild and Towing, profiled in the March 23, 2009 issue of Radio Ink magazine!

Here's the link to my original post about their successful use of their thirty-second full-sing jingle, "The Client Whose Copy Never Gets Changed."

We should all be so fortunate to have clients like Steve and Theresa Myers.

Another Opportunity for Radio to Shine

2009-03-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

May is Military Appreciation Month - providing an opportunity for radio stations and their advertisers to honor local men and women serving in America's armed forces. Five military celebrations take place in May: Loyalty Day (1st) ◊ VE Day (8th) ◊ Military Spouse Appreciation Day (8th) ◊ Armed Forces Day (16th) ◊ Memorial Day (25th)

To help radio stations and advertisers connect with listeners whose family members have served or are serving today to defend and preserve our liberty, Grace Broadcast Sales (GBS) is offering two FREE :60-second radio features for use by any commercial or non-commercial broadcast station in the United States. Each of these one-minute salutes provides approximately :10 seconds at the beginning and :20 seconds at the end for Station or Sponsor inserts.

Audition or download the free spots - and get more information on Military Appreciation Month.

Radio Gets Results - A "Radio Heard Here" Video

2009-03-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

Whether you sell radio advertising, use radio advertising, or are thinking about trying radio advertising for your business...here's a short, entertaining video that demonstrates Radio's pervasiveness.

Ironically, Radio's ubiquitous presence may explain why some in the advertising community don't get excited about it. It's not The Next Thing. It's just "there."

As in...

Everywhere.

For more detailed information on the effectiveness of Radio as an advertising medium, visit the Radio Ad Lab.

Raiders of the Radio Ad Budget

2009-03-20T14:19:00.001-07:00

Ever stopped to count all the different competitors in your market, trying to raid your clients' shrinking advertising budgets?

After posting on the supermarket video ad display yesterday, I thought it might be interesting to compile a list and see how long it gets.

Here's what I've come up with for starters. Please feel free to add to it using the Comments button below.

Newspaper display ads.
Classified ads.
Newspaper inserts and flyers.
Weekly "shoppers" and other print publications.
Cable TV.
Broadcast TV.
Magazines.
Billboards.
Sports programs.
Sports pocket schedules.
Sports schedule posters.
City maps.
Concert programs.
Yearbooks.
Backs of tickets.
Bumper stickers.
Direct mail.
Door hangers.
Yellow Pages ads.
White Pages ads.
Website banners.
Search ads.
Sponsored links.
Bus stop bench ads.
Airport panel ads.
Hotel window boxes.
Mall kiosks.
Supermarket video displays.
Movie theater ads.
Bowling alley score-sheet ads.
Restaurant menu ads.
Advertising specialties (pens, key chains, etc.)

How to Squander a Perfectly Good Ad Budget

2009-03-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Advertising dollars are scarce in the best of times. Competition is always fierce. But in today's economy, can any businessperson afford to squander his limited advertising budget?

You wouldn't think so.

The sheer number of competitors for local ad dollars is matched only by the mind-numbing stupidity of some of these new alternative forms of advertising.

For a couple years now, I've watched and winced as a local grocery store (a client of mine, no less) has made wall space available to an out-of-town company to mount two flat-screen monitors that carry Powerpoint-type video display ads. These monitors are mounted eight feet or so above the ground, spaced 20 or 30 feet apart at the end of the checkout lanes.

I've stood around paying close attention to see if anyone even glances at these things, let alone watches them long enough for an impression to register. Drives me crazy to see all the advertisers they've bamboozled, including a few regular Radio advertisers (and many that have never spent a dime on Radio. Isn't anybody calling on them?)

Here's a view from the vantage point of Suzy Shopper, the captive consumer, standing in line waiting to be checked out. Presumably, instead of watching her groceries being scanned and rung up by the checker, while engaging in a brief, pleasant verbal exchange, Suzy's head will turn 90 degrees and her eyes will be fastened upon the monitor, as she checks out all the wonderful ads. (Assuming it's turned on. It's been dark on more than one occasion.)

Think she'll head right home with all her groceries? Nah, she'll drive to the French restaurant instead. Maybe have a new furnace installed. Or else she'll drop by the real estate agency and shop for a new home.

Right.

It's painful to think about all the ad dollars that have been wasted on this garbage "medium." At the same time, it represents an opportunity for a conscientious Radio advertising professional to help a business in dire need of better advice.

What similar opportunities exist at this moment in your market?

Fish Mongers vs. Fear Mongers

2009-03-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

"The Pike Place Fish Market, founded in 1930, is an open air fish market located in Seattle, Washington's Pike Place Market, at the corner of Pike Street and Pike Place. It is known for their tradition of fishmongers throwing fish that customers have purchased, before they are wrapped. After nearing bankruptcy in 1986, the fish market owner and employees decided to become "world famous", changing their way of doing business by introducing their flying fish, games, and customer performances. Four years later, they were featured repeatedly in the national media and television shows. The store is now a popular tourist destination in Seattle, attracting up to 10,000 daily visitors, and is often billed as world-famous." - Wikipedia

Such is the power of a can-do attitude, backed by the work necessary to make things happen.

This weekend's 11th annual Palouse Empire Home & Garden EXPO was a breath of fresh air for me, as the show's producer, as it was for the eighty or so exhibitors that decided to show up and do some business instead of staying home and talking about how terrible things are. I expected good traffic on Saturday and was not disappointed.

One of my clients, a successful HVAC contractor, talked non-stop to prospects interested in his residential wind generators, for four-and-a-half hours straight, before his wife finally intervened and urged him to take a break and get a drink of water. (Later this week - if I can pin him down - I hope to post a short interview with him about his success at the EXPO and consumer response to his new radio commercial. Stay tuned.)

If you're not subscribing to Roy Williams' free Monday Morning Memo, you really ought to. This morning's edition contained this timely observation from the Wizard:

...a frightened person frightens other people. And these newly frightened people will frighten still more people until finally no one is spending any money. Fear is the fuel of recession. I understand perfectly what’s happening in the world. I simply choose not to be afraid.

You can choose, too...

Warren Buffett agrees with this outlook.

“Fear is very contagious. You can get fearful in 5 minutes, but you don’t get confident in 5 minutes.” - Warren Buffett on CNBC, Monday, March 9, 2009

CNBC: “We’ve been getting thousands and thousands of emails from our viewers. Warren, we’d like to start with one that echoes a theme we heard again and again. This one comes from Terry in San Antonio, Texas, who asks, ‘Will everything be all right?’”

BUFFETT: “Everything will be all right. We do have the greatest economic machine that man has ever created. We started with 4 million people back in 1790 and look where we’ve come. And it wasn’t because we were smarter than other people. It wasn’t because our land was more fertile or we had more minerals or our climate was more favorable. We had a system that worked. It unleashed the human potential. It didn’t work every year. We had 6 ‘panics’ in the 19th century. In the 20th century we had the Great Depression, World Wars, all kinds of things. But we have a system – largely free market, rule of law, equality of opportunity – all of those things that cause the potential of humans to get unleashed. And we’re far from done. Your kids will live better than mine. Your grandchildren will live better than your kids. There’s no question about that. But the machine gets gummed up from time to time. If you take the bulk of those centuries, probably 15 years were bad years. But we go forward.”

Did you notice the quote the twitchy news people of America lifted from Buffett’s very upbeat, 3-hour interview? They filtered out all kinds of affirming, positive statements (such as the one above) to create the headline, “Warren Buffett Says ‘The Economy Fell Off a Cliff.”

Slippery Wall-Streeters triggered this recession but the twitchy news media seems committed to making sure it progresses.

On February 5th I posted a link to a Paul McDonnold piece in the Christian Science Monitor, in which the writer asked, "Is the media reporting the recession - or worsening it?"

We can't stop the news media from being themselves (though Roy's suggestion to slap 'em and tell 'em to stop is tempting) - but we can choose how we'll respond to any adversity we face.

I prefer the approach of the fish monger to that of the fear monger.

How about you?

Enlist YOUR Listeners to Help Defeat the "Performance Tax" Now!

2009-03-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

I was working into the wee hours this morning when Tom Taylor's newsletter arrived in my inbox, carrying a story about Cleveland's classical colossus WCLV 104.9 FM taking the fight against the performance royalty bill (sponsored by Michigan congressman John Conyers) to their radio listeners.

As I've had the privilege and pleasure of doing business with WCLV over the years, I asked Robert Conrad, WCLV's founder and president, for permission to share the spot he's currently airing on the damaging effect this new tax bill, if passed, would have on the radio broadcast industry.

Because this issue affects every commercial radio station in America that plays music, you may wish to broadcast your own version of this message and urge your listeners to take action.

If you have a website, you may wish to view the letter of opposition to this measure, based on information provided by the Free Radio Alliance, along with a list of Congressional representatives and their contact information, posted on WCLV's website.

An Opportunity for Radio to Shine

2009-03-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

Every year local newspapers and magazines across America conduct their annual reader polls -- "best of" surveys in which their readers are asked to rate local businesses and other entities.

The results of these reader polls generally serve to promote good business throughout the community.

They also provide beaucoup opportunities for (surprise!) ...selling advertising.

Typical survey questions include:

Who's your favorite local TV news personality (sportscaster, weatherperson, etc.)?

Who in town makes the best pizza (hamburger, salad, sandwich, dessert, etc.)?

What's the best Chinese (Korean, Greek, Mexican, Italian, etc.) restaurant?

Favorite bakery (ice cream shop, watering hole, Espresso stand, wine bar, place to meet the opposite sex, etc.)

Favorite local doctor (optometrist, massage therapist, bank teller, college professor, insurance agent, city official, etc.)?

It's not uncommon for a poll to contain dozens of retail categories: clothing, furniture, appliances, lawn and garden, hardware, gifts, jewelry, hair salon, fitness club, book store, auto dealer, tire shop, service shop, drug store, supermarket, meat department...the list can go on and on....

They might also ask who has the friendliest staff? ...the cleanest facility? ...the funkiest decor? ...the best smell? ...the most attractive waitress? ...the best bartender?

Obviously this is just a representative sampling of the types of companies and individuals that can be included in a "Best of [Community]" poll.

But what a marvelous opportunity! It's loaded with benefits and no negatives that I can think of. (OK, so the losers don't get to say they're #1 this year. So what? They might be on top next year, if they work at it.)

At the end of the survey, results are tallied and the winners receive framed certificates to display proudly in their businesses, for all the world to see. It creates a lot of buzz, both for the business community and for the media outlet conducting the survey, whose logo appears on every award certificate.

So why is it that - in most of the markets I'm familiar with anyway - this promotion always seems to be the exclusive province of the print media? ("Ol' Smudgy," as my friend Jay Mitchell likes to call 'em.) Because it's easier for them to conduct a survey?

I'm sure there must be exceptions where the local radio station is running this show, thereby positioning itself as a community leader. I just don't know of any.

But it's a real opportunity for Radio to shine, my friend.

And so easy to put together!

•Let salespeople and air staff help create the survey form, identifying the obvious categories along with a few esoteric ones for fun.
•Write some promos inviting listeners to visit your website and fill out the survey form.
•Take printed copies to remotes.
•Pass them out at supermarkets, shopping malls, anywhere large numbers of people congregate. •Email them to listeners.
•Offer some nice prizes in a random drawing from among all completed surveys. (Great way to build a loyal listener database for future promotions.)

Make it fun, make it worthwhile for people to fill out the questionnaire, and you'll get lots of participation.

Then, make a big deal of announcing and saluting the winners. Use some trade and take 'em out to dinner to present the awards. Create "theater" by broadcasting the presentations. Or literally, take videos and upload them to You Tube and your own website. Share them on Facebook.

Make it as big a deal as you can imagine, and you'll ride on the goodwill for a long time to come.

Best of all, you'll get to do it again the next year.

And the next.

Once you've staked this promotion as YOURS, it'll stay yours for as long as you want to keep it going. And if one of your local print media is already doing a Readers' Poll...do your own anyway. (In the words of the late, great radio sales trainer, Jim Williams, "What the heck's wrong with two good things?")

A favor. If your station is doing this promotion, now or in the future, would you drop me a line and let me know about it? Thanks.

And good selling!

Paul Harvey Tribute Page

2009-03-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

ABC is providing this tribute page to the late superstar.

Remembering Paul Harvey

2009-03-01T13:16:00.001-08:00

I grew up in Chicago, listening to WLS. Dick Biondi, Art Roberts, Clark Weber, and Ron Riley played records and bantered. Lyle Dean read the news. Paul Harvey turned it into the stuff of life.

America could set its watch by Paul Harvey.

His noontime broadcasts were a given, a constant. Year after year, decade after decade, Paul Harvey showed up right on schedule to share his distinctive take on the news and not-so-news of the day.

When I left Chicago in 1972, his was the only voice that followed me from one market to the next. I couldn't conceive of an American radioscape without Paul Harvey.

He also was a consummate pitchman. When he spoke about a product, you just knew he was telling the truth. To this day, I can still remember the words he used to launch the Teledyne Water Pik as a national brand: "Over, around, and in-between...Water-Pik'd teeth are hydraulically clean!" I admired his ability to communicate product benefits so naturally and authoritatively many years before I backed into my own career in advertising.

Paul Harvey set an impossible standard for elocution on radio, and achieved it daily. His demeanor was ever that of a gentleman, gracious, considerate, and kind. He remained a rock, unmoved by the vicissitudes of a shifting social and cultural landscape.

As I came to learn, his values were grounded in his Christian faith. Decades before there was such a thing as the "Christian Right", it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that he actually took his Bible seriously. The scriptures informed and shaped his worldview.

He didn't wear his religion on his sleeve; he just lived it.

Which is why most days he spoke with a confident smile in his voice and, I suspect, a confident twinkle in his eye.

The milestones he cared about were the extraordinary accomplishments of ordinary people. Celebrity status and achievements were ephemeral and unimportant. Leave the gossip and scandal to others. Paul Harvey would rather call our attention to an elderly couple among his listeners, celebrating their 50th or 60th wedding anniversary that day. Such was the stuff real life was made of.

He celebrated the institution of marriage, even as the revolution of the 60's sought to undermine it. He placed his "Angel" on a pedestal, where she remained until the time of her death a couple years ago. Now they are together forever.

ABC will find someone else to occupy Paul Harvey's time slot.

No one will ever fill his shoes.

Selling Seafood on Radio

2009-02-27T17:57:00.000-08:00

OK, I'll say it: I like this spot.

It's the third iteration of a commercial we created a couple years ago to build awareness and increase traffic for the fresh seafood department of a hometown supermarket. We changed some of the copy around late last year and relaunched it at the beginning of the Dungeness Crab season.

Our research identified two consumer touch points for the commercial: product freshness and variety of choice. (Living in a coastal state with a high quality fishery, most consumers have high expectations where both are concerned. Seattle-area restaurants probably set the standard in this area, providing a frame of reference generally shared by local seafood lovers.)

Interviews with the seafood manager yielded details concerning the process and timetable for getting fresh fish and seafood to the store. We decided simply to convey this information as demonstrable proof of the store's assertion that their seafood was, in fact, the freshest available.

Response from listeners and shoppers to the ongoing seafood campaign continues to be favorable. (In fact, the feedback was sufficiently positive that I briefly considered entering the spot into this year's Radio-Mercury Awards competition.)

Looking over my past few posts, I realized that I'd neglected putting up any commercials recently - one of the main purposes of this blog. So, let's fix that now and share a spot for seafood.

I'm ready for dinner.

When Opportunity Knocks

2009-02-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

I worked last evening and into the wee hours this morning, composing an email for my radio station clients and prospects. When I was finally satisfied with its contents, I hit "Send."

This morning's incoming mail contained the usual amount of undeliverable mail (email addresses are frequently changed), eight "remove" requests from people who had no use for the ideas I presented, and almost as many "thank-you" messages from broadcasters who genuinely appreciated them.

One reply in particular, from a GSM in a large Florida market, was especially gratifying. It read:

Rod,
I really liked this email, and if you have no affiliate here in [city], I am very interested. This is exactly what our business needs, honest and bona fide approaches to securing new businesses with IDEAS, genuine ideas. I intend to utilize several of these thoughts in next Monday morning’s sales meeting.
I started this past Monday mornings meeting with my IDEAS FOR SALE lead, and there’s no doubt that even without ratings, advertiser’s are always looking for new ways, new ideas. They may not always be “gems” but at least the seller is making the effort, instead of just waving a package.
Thanks so much for sending. As my years in the business will attest, I am more than certain most of my counterparts will have already rolled their eyes and deleted this correspondence, at least I am hoping they have.
Thanks again,
(signed)

I replied that it was always a pleasure to meet a kindred spirit. In today's challenging environment, it's refreshing to meet another broadcaster who understands how important it is to invest the time, make the effort, and apply the resources needed to provide advertisers with the ideas and opportunities they need to succeed.

For the record, here's the first part of my email:

Every radio sales trainer and consultant I know is saying the same thing: Stay positive. Stay focused. Cover your bases.

It's certainly no small challenge for those of us who sell radio advertising for a living. We're racking our brains and beating the pavement, trying to help our clients as best we can, while "the news media" (a group that unfortunately includes our own national radio networks) continue to wallow in Bad News. More than a few thinking people have wondered out loud whether the news media aren't merely reporting, but actually contributing to our economic woes.

It's frustrating...

...even more so when we hear about big spenders like Anheuser-Busch and General Motors now demanding 120-day and longer terms for paying their advertising bills...

OK, so there's nothing we can do about the national economy.

But there are many things we can do in our local markets, with our own advertising clients and prospects, to make the best of it.

Many years ago, one of radio's most influential sales trainers taught me THE ONLY THREE WAYS TO GROW A BUSINESS - whether it's a radio station or a retail or service business:

1) Bring in NEW CUSTOMERS.
2) Cause existing customers to BUY MORE FREQUENTLY.
3) Cause existing customers to SPEND MORE PER PURCHASE.

Any growth in our personal billing, station billing, or advertisers' sales volume must come from one or more of these three sources. Everyone agrees it's more costly in time, effort, or money to win a new customer than it is to influence an existing customer. (The only exception is a new customer referred by an existing customer, a happy but unpredictable event.)

Here are a few specific steps you can take to make the most of every opportunity.

First, bring clients IDEAS. Ideas to help them stand out from their competition. Ideas to give their advertising greater traction. (I'll share a few good ones with you in just a moment.)

Second, assume the role of a trusted advisor. Practically speaking, that means staying in more frequent contact with your advertisers.
- Ask questions. What's working? What isn't? What can we do better?
- Share articles of interest that you run across.
- Use your telephone and email to supplement personal calls - not to pester, but to provide something of value.
- Do your homework. Demonstrate genuine concern.
- Write Thank-you notes.
- Take nothing for granted.

As promised, here are several good IDEAS you can take to your prospects, OPPORTUNITIES you can leverage right now to sell more advertising in March, April and May....

My letter went on to describe in some detail a dozen sales/promotional opportunities that can help advertisers and stations grow their business over the next few months.

As I look around, I see all sorts of opportunities for Radio to serve its clients.

Have you noticed how success seems to pursue the folks who know what to do when opportunity knocks?

Leaders, Cheerleaders and Obstructionists

2009-02-24T17:27:00.001-08:00

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way!"

Chances are, you've spoken these words or responded to them. More than once.

Most of the successful people I know are equally skilled at leading and cheerleading.

They lead by example, principle and service.

They know when to admonish and when to encourage, removing themselves - their egos - from the equation.

When they criticize, it is with objectivity. When they praise, it is without affectation.

They're people who say what they mean, and mean what they say.

They also tend to be generous and gracious.

They know when to get out of the way and let someone else lead.

Clients and co-workers alike benefit from their association with such a person.

Obstructionists, on the other hand, operate from a narrow self-interest that excludes consideration of others.

They tend to be self-indulgent, hypercritical, and whiny.

Nitpickers. Complainers. Foot draggers.

Their attitude and example benefit no one, except by contrast.

They're a drain on their co-workers, a bane to their superiors, and a pain to their clients.

When things are good, they're a nuisance. When things are difficult, they're an albatross.

The best way to deal with them is to avoid them.

None of us has absolute control over our circumstances, but neither are we powerless. Every day we're given the chance to choose how we respond to the challenges, adversities, and opportunities before us.

We can choose to lead.

We can choose to follow.

Or we can choose to get out of the way and give someone else a chance.

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams

Doodle Before Meeting

2009-02-23T21:27:00.001-08:00

You know how tough it can be to get a group of busy people to agree on a mutually convenient day and time for a meeting?

Let me share a nifty solution with you.

Lately I've been using this handy online service that enables any number of people to coordinate their schedules. It's called Doodle.

Creating your own free Doodle account takes less than a minute. You create a simple poll with the template provided, forward the link to your poll to all participants, then track online the participants' responses. Doodle will send you an email you every time somebody responds to your poll

I'm part of a citizen/government committee working to build a new arts pavilion (band shell) here in Pullman. There are nine or ten busy people on this committee, whose schedules are often difficult to mesh. Doodle has greatly simplified the process of coordinating and scheduling meetings.

But wait, there's more! Radio stations can also use Doodle to create and conduct advertiser/listener polls, opening up a ton of possibilities.

The free version is supported by (what else?) Google ads. If you're willing to spend a little money, you can even have your own station- or advertiser-branded Doodle site.

Best way to determine how Doodle's capabilities can benefit you is to visit their website and poke around. Check out the online examples.

Highly recommended!

How Do You Respond to a Bully?

2009-02-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

Last year American icon Anheuser-Busch was assimilated into Belgium-based beer borg, InBev.

According to recent stories in Ad Age and elsewhere, it appears the Clydesdales are preparing to run roughshod over their media and advertising services vendors.

I know of at least a few associates in media who are likely to take a pass on becoming de facto lenders to corporate bullies, and will simply sell their available inventory to other advertisers.

Did you read Aesop when you were a kid? Remember this story...?

The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said: “I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger You begin.” So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.
“KINDNESS EFFECTS MORE THAN SEVERITY.”

Or better still, the words of Jesus that many of us learned to call The Golden Rule, paraphrased thus: Do Unto Others as You Would Have Others Do Unto You.

Now, there's another so-called "golden rule" that a sales trainer of my acquaintance once coined to frame relationships in a free market economy. In his Okie vernacular, he said, "Them that's got the gold makes the rules."

That's true, too. But it cuts both ways.

So, let's say you're a media company or advertising services provider.

You want to be a bank, also? Fine, that's your choice.

Are you going to treat your other accounts with the same courtesy?

Or are you going to discriminate on the basis of a double standard, i.e., those who can intimidate and bully you into submission will get more favorable terms?

Personally, I don't like bullies. Never have.

I don't have to drink their beer. I don't have to buy their cars.

And I certainly don't need their business badly enough that I'm willing to agree to wait four to six months (or more) to be paid for services I render in good faith, in a timely and conscientious manner.

But that's just me. What's your take?

Painting Pictures, Growing Biz with Words and Music

2009-02-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

A few years ago one of my seasonal clients asked for some help creating a jingle for the family landscaping and nursery business.

At the time there were perhaps 15-20 local advertisers using jingles, many from the same original provider. The singers were different, of course. But after awhile, one begins to notice similarities. We wanted something different, new and fresh.

My search led me to Ralph Plank in Springfield, MO (near Branson - a great place to find musical talent). Impressed with his demos and friendly, collaborative attitude, we decided to hire him.

We wanted it all - a catchy tune, lyrics that painted vivid pictures, a powerful hook with a call to action, all wrapped in a style that would wear well over time (as the Myers Auto Rebuild jingle has done).

The hook we'd settled on even before engaging Ralph's services was "Get Growing." (My company produces a syndicated series of gardening features for radio by the same name, so the phrase was already top-of-mind; applying it to the jingle project made sense.) It combined the all-encompassing idea of growing things with an exhortation to act - get going! get growing!

Donna, my client, provided examples of the kinds of pictures she wanted listeners to be able to see in their minds' eye: thriving plants, attractive landscaping, water features, etc.

I got hung up on her insistence that the full name of the business be used, S Y G Nursery and Landscaping. "S-Y-G, Nur-ser-y" had rhyme and rhythm; the "and Landscaping" was just cumbersome. I lobbied for leaving it out, but was outvoted by the client, who in the end pays the bill.

Surprisingly, Ralph didn't seem to think that singing the full name of the business would be a problem at all.

He was right. I was wrong.

When I heard the jingle for the first time, I immediately fell in love with it, no qualifications. It was perfect.

The jingle hit the airwaves and almost immediately the client started getting great feedback. Awareness went up, followed by increases in traffic and sales. Everything that's supposed to happen with a good ad campaign.

Today, after four years of steady airplay from spring to fall, this perky jingle still sounds fresh and inviting, in perfect harmony with the nature of the client's business.

When it comes to painting vivid, enduring images on the canvas of human imagination, Radio is unsurpassed.

What Google Didn't Understand About Radio Advertising

2009-02-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

Don't misunderstand. I like Google. I use it every day to search the Internet. Google provides the infrastructure for this blog. Google is a genuine American success story.

But Google was a fish out of water when it entered the broadcast radio business. Google spent millions to learn a lesson that almost any mom-and-pop radio station operator could have taught them over a cup of coffee: some things you just can't automate.

Radio advertising is about relationships, not widgets.

Successful radio ad campaigns are built over a period of time on a foundation of communication, collaboration and creativity, processes not reducible to automation.

I suspect most of the individuals or companies whose first experience in radio advertising was to gamble on Google were disappointed with the results.

The advertiser who insists on buying an advertising schedule on the basis primarily of rate or ratings sets himself up for disappointment. Almost invariably he'll conclude that "radio doesn't work."

Well, not that way, anyway.

--------------

Addendum Friday the 13th

Wall Street Journal observes: "Google devalues everything it touches" -

Clients as Spokesmen #4 - One of the best I've heard

2009-02-09T22:53:00.001-08:00

A few years back the owner of a radio station in Missouri for whom I'd done some work asked me to evaluate a commercial he'd put together for a local restaurant using the cook's own voice and words.

Listening to Maxine's reminiscence was like sitting across from her at the kitchen table.

It was authentic, right up until the ANNOUNCER jumps in to provide the what-where-and-when information with all the finesse of a cold shower.

Yes, the name and location of the establishment should be included (most of the time). But I can't help wondering if there isn't a better way to convey this information, one that would preserve the "feel" and integrity of Maxine's story.

Press the Play button below to hear the commercial. How would YOU have ended it differently?

POT...CRACKLE...SNAP!

2009-02-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

Advertising campaigns built on the achievements or reputations of celebrities can lose their sparkle (if not their focus) in the blink of an eye.

Michael Phelps' indiscretion with a bong is hardly unique in this context, but it is the latest example of what can go wrong.

Kellogg's did what it thought best to preserve its brand image.

Subway's response appears to be, let's stick with our plan and our man.

Presumably, both companies thought it worth the big bucks they had to shell out to associate their brands with Phelps' achievement, even though the benefit of that association may have a shorter shelf life than they anticipated.

Regardless of which company's action makes more sense to you, the recent phlap reminds us that celebrity campaigns have a vulnerable underbelly.

Clients as Spokesmen #3 - A Product Made for Radio

2009-02-06T00:22:00.000-08:00

I was talking with a professional photographer in town recently about his proclivity for print advertising. As you would expect, he felt that since his product is visual, it belonged in a visual medium. I suggested that a well-written radio commercial can paint a picture in the prospect's mind that's every bit as "real" as the one he puts into print. Realizing that he's heard examples of this himself, he conceded that he might add radio to his mix.

He also said that in view of the economy (SFX - bells, whistles, explosions), he's going to have to INCREASE HIS MARKETING EFFORT!

OK - that's a bit of a digression from the subject of this post, but it provides a good segue.

Just as my friend the photographer is predisposed to using print, those of us who sell or create radio advertising most often think in terms of sound.

And every once in awhile, an opportunity drops into our laps like manna from heaven - a product made for selling on radio.

Say hello to the Gurgle Pot.

This ad, voiced by the proprietor of a gift shop, has sold a TON of Gurgle Pots. (And not just on radio. She has the ad on her cell phone and loves to play it for people.)

You're not given a clue as to what it looks like...what colors it comes in....how big it is....or anything else. But you do know what it sounds like when you pour from it, ...and that's the whole point. It's a hoot. An ice-breaker. A conversation starter. Something fun to bring out when you have company over, to get the party started.

How many of your advertising prospects offer items that have sounds of their own...sounds that you can incorporate into an effective radio commercial?

Now that it's on your radar, have fun with it!

What Are YOU Spreading Around?

2009-02-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

Jay Mitchell's Radio Rants: Spreading the News

My friend and publisher of the Small Market Radio Newsletter cautions us against stepping across the line that separates factual reporting from hype, and buying into that negative mindset that so many in the news media seem to love. The article he cites (from yesterday's Christian Science Monitor) is worth a read. Let's not make this thing any worse than it has to be. In fact, let's do everything we can as individuals in our own communities to make things better!

The Client Whose Ad Copy Never Gets Changed

2009-02-02T18:53:00.001-08:00

Consistency is a great virtue in advertising, all other factors being equal.

Most of my advertising clients have annual contracts that call for being on the air every day. This degree of exposure usually requires regular changes of copy, to maintain a healthy balance between repetition and freshness.

But I have one client, a mom-and-pop automotive body shop and towing service, that's been running the same ad every week, every month, every year...for well over a decade.

Yes, from a servicing standpoint it's almost an embarrassment.

We laugh about it from time to time.

All the way to the bank.

Because Myers Auto Rebuild and Towing also happens to occupy the enviable Top Rung of their category ladder. By a mile.

A dozen years ago, Steve and Theresa Myers met with a jingle company rep we'd brought into town and decided they'd move forward on a custom "musical image" for their shop.

If you've ever worked with jingle salespeople, you know that they often follow an interview format not unlike the RAB's "client needs analysis." They meet for 30-45 minutes with each prospect, asking lots of questions in an effort to document the advertiser's niche, his USP, or at least what HE thinks are his strong selling points. Then they turn these answers over to a lyricist, who presumably will distill from these notes the poetry that will woo buyers out of the WOOdwork.

It has been my experience that many of these well-meaning efforts end rather poorly. in an attempt to feed back to the client in one 30-second song, everything about the business that came up in the interview, the result is an unfocused exercise in musical chest-thumping.

In the Myers' case, the first draft was faxed to them for approval within a week of their interview. Theresa called me, a tone of concern in her voice, to ask if I would stop by to review what the jingle writer had come up with. My response merely confirmed what their gut had already told them.

It was a mess.

The tune was catchy. The singer was perfect. But the message was deficient, to put it kindly.

I quickly offered to rewrite the lyrics.

We checked with the singer to see if he had any objection to this. He didn't; he just wanted to sing something and get paid.

I've always enjoyed writing rhyming copy. The challenge here was to keep the narrative straightforward and focused, to convey when and why someone would call Myers Auto Rebuild, and what they could expect as a result. The completed story meshed nicely with the music, resulting in a :30-second full-sing jingle that has enjoyed remarkable longevity.

When a few weeks after the jingle first hit the airwaves Steve and Theresa received a telephone call from the owner of a competitor's body shop, complaining that his kids were singing their jingle, they knew they had a winner.

And they haven't been inclined to change their copy ever since.

Radical? You decide.

Another "Snow" Spot

2009-02-02T15:21:00.000-08:00

Dan O'Day's Radio Commercial Smackdown today reminded me of an ad I did a few years ago, at the request of a young man who wanted to rent snowmobiles at his cabins up in Elk River. It was late season (March) and the snow wasn't going to be around for much longer. Being 60 miles away and having no website, we had to include his phone number in the commercial - a practice generally to be discouraged unless absolutely necessary. Here's the produced spot.

And here's the script:

(SFX: Winter wind)

A giant cedar tree towers above you – it is 18 feet in diameter, 177 feet tall, and 3000 years old.

In the distance, Hemlock Butte….Elk Butte…. Grandad Bridge overlooking an ice-covered Dworshak Reservoir.

And today…it is all yours.

At the front door of this wilderness adventure you’ll find Elk Butte Recreation. You walk in, hop on one of their powerful snowmobiles, and an unforgettable adventure is about to begin.

While there’s still snow on the ground, why not do a little exploring on a big sled? Half-day and full-day snowmobile rentals are available now at Elk Butte Recreation.

Call to reserve yours now. 208-826-3632. That’s 208-826-3632.

Happy Ground Hog Day....

2009-02-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Tried to locate an ad I recorded 15 or so years ago, featuring one of the co-owners of a family grocery store, the fellow who ran the meat department. He used to have a one-day sale every February 2nd, built around a special price on ground hog. (Ben's delivery was the key to making the spot funny and memorable: "Not GROUND hog. Ground HOG! Pork sausage.)" I'll upload the ad if and when I find it. In any case, you might want to make a note on your January 2010 calendar to pitch the idea to a grocer or butcher shop in your market. It's corny. It's fun. It can sell some groceries and meats, too.

Watch all the Superbowl ads online

2009-02-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Advertising Age is making available all the Superbowl TV spots HERE.

Clients as Spokesmen #2

2009-01-30T16:36:00.000-08:00

Testimonials from customers can be powerfully persuasive in a radio campaign. But they have to be real. Listeners can smell a fake a mile away, and that hurts much more than it helps.

Case in point: for the past few weeks I've been signing up exhibitors for our annual Palouse Empire Home & Garden EXPO, an event I've helped coordinate for the past eleven years. Prospective exhibitors are solicited through a combination of radio (our primary vehicle), newspaper and television ads, and direct mail to previous exhibitors.

Every year toward the end of the show the station's news director has taken time to record brief interviews with exhibitors, inviting their feedback on the show while the experience is still fresh. He then passes these recordings along to me, so that I can use them to create vendor-solicitation spots.

These two spots are running on the air as I type these words.

Think the message would be nearly as compelling without the voices of previous exhibitors? Neither do I.

Speaking of Idiots....

2009-01-30T15:48:00.001-08:00

I remembered one of my favorite posters at Despair.com:

Idiots are Earning $2500 a pop....

2009-01-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

Periodically I visit the email dungeon labeled "Spam" - scanning the subject lines to make sure someone legit trying to get in touch with me doesn't get flushed.

As I was doing so this morning, the Subject line caught my attention: "Idiots are earning $2500 a pop day after day"

"Idiots?" No kidding.

The message itself began:

Whatever you're doing, stop right now and
check out the following website....

This will, quite literally, enable you to earn any
where from $1,000 to $10,000 to $30,000
or more within the next 30 days.

Sounds just like the beginning of too many hype-driven radio commercials.

Perhaps those who insist on running ads of this type should preface them with: "And now, a message for idiots."

Switching stations is accomplished with the same ease as deleting spam. All it takes is one click.

Clients as Spokesmen

2009-01-29T09:27:00.000-08:00

I've long been a proponent of using advertisers' voices in their radio commercials whenever it seemed appropriate.

This used to incur the wrath of program directors and indignant DJ's who felt that only mellifluous "professional" voices were worthy of a listener's attention, but the opposition seems to have mellowed of late. Even in my home market local broadcasters and advertising folk that once disdained the idea now have no problem letting their clients participate freely in their own commercials.

Done well, a client-voiced commercial offers several advantages to the advertiser:
(1) It provides a unique and distinctive sound, unlikely to be mistaken for any other personality or advertiser on the air.
(2) The authority and expertise of the spokesman may enhance the credibility of the message.
(3) Over time the advertiser becomes a familiar voice, no longer a stranger to people who have yet to patronize his business.
(4) And yes, all other factors being equal, the client is more likely to have people mention hearing the ad. What's wrong with that? If it makes his investment in Radio more tangible, that's just great.

No, not every client belongs on the air. And yes, getting most clients to speak to your listeners with authenticity and appeal, as opposed to stiffly reading or talking at them, typically requires more time and effort than simply handing the copy off to a station voice.

First, the copy has to be fine-tuned to fit the client's individual style of communicating, his personality. In my experience, this often involves editing on the fly (during the recording process).

Second, in most cases the client will need to be coached and directed to bring out the most effective interpretation of the copy, involving equal measures of persistence and patience. It can be frustrating for both client and coach to do 15 or 20 takes, fine-tuning to get everything right.

Modern digital editing tools have greatly lessened the need to get one "perfect" take. More often than not, I'll take portions of several takes and combine them into the final voice track, a best-of compilation, so to speak. Back in the days of reel tapes and splicing tape, this posed a much greater challenge, with a very small margin for error - and no Undo function. Here's a funny example from back in the day (18 years ago), a short piece I cobbled together from outtakes of the legendary Chuck "Bobo" Brayton struggling through numerous takes to voice a spot for a local Mexican restaurant. It's a hoot.)

But getting back to the issue of coaching - after many less than stellar takes, it can be tempting to throw in the towel and let a substandard reading pass. Resist the urge at all costs! If necessary, come back for another session when you're both fresh. Because if you let the client get away with a subpar reading, it'll come back to bite you every time that commercial is aired!

Take the pains to do it right, so that when the spot airs you, your client, and your listeners can enjoy it and benefit from a job well done.

You Get What You Pay For. (Or, Advertising Salespeople Need Advertising Training, Too.)

2009-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last week I posted a quick response to George Williams' report on the partnership between RAB and VCU Brand Center, "Incubating the Next Generation of Radio Creatives," in which I sort of wondered out loud whether one of Radio's vaunted advantages, the offer of free copywriting and production to advertisers who purchase air time, is really the value we believe it to be.

Might it not also be one of the main reasons for so much pap passing through the airwaves, purporting to be effective advertising?

To put it another way, to the extent that a radio station is in the advertising business, doesn't it make sense that management would make a dedicated investment of time and money for the purpose of training its sellers (who most often are also its copywriters) in the fine art of advertising?

During my formative years in radio ad sales (1973 into the early '90's) I was fortunate to receive a great deal of "sales training," but precious little advertising training.

From the sales trainers I learned how to get the money. Few of them had anything worthwhile to say about how to create commercials that would turn an advertiser's money into an "investment" rather than an "expense."

Most of that education I had to acquire on my own. So I bought books. Tapes. Videos. Studied Hopkins and Ogilvy, Trout & Ries, Jay Conrad Levinson and Bernice Fitz Gibbon (thanks to Chris Lytle for his tip on the latter; I even managed to obtain a signed first edition!), among many others. I stumbled across the Wizard in an interview in Radio and Production and started getting his Monday Morning Memo. When in a particular MMM he asked readers to pick up a copy of his first book, I did. Ditto the second. And the third. Good stuff.

I also listened to ads, hundreds and hundreds of ads, from stations and agencies across the country. Thanks to the RAB cassettes that came with the Monthly Sales Meeting kits (my favorite part was the "Hot Spots"), and the tapes of nothing-but-commercials they generously sent upon request, I was able to pick up many good ideas over the years.

Whether stations continue the practice of offering free copywriting and production services to their advertisers, or they start emulating their TV brethren and charging for them, the increasing demands of the marketplace for accountability and results will eventually force the issue. Stations that invest in the training and resources to provide advertisers and listeners with attention-grabbing, compelling, credible commercials will enjoy a degree of success that cannot be achieved or sustained any other way.

2009 Radio Mercury Awards Call for Entries!

2009-01-26T21:29:00.000-08:00

The 2009 Radio Mercury Awards competition is officially underway. As soon as I received the email notification from Wendy Frech this afternoon, I headed over to the website to check it out.

What a great new look! Click on a link and up pops a new web page cleverly disguised as a radio commercial V/O script. The requested information is presented clearly and concisely. Kudos on the attractive website makeover, performed by Cabell Harris, WORK Labs.

This year's RMA competition introduces a new category ("Integrated Radio Campaign") for the best use of radio within an integrated multimedia plan. Winner takes home $10,000. This one's open to agencies, production companies, and radio stations, and clients. Here's the summary of all the prize categories this year from the RMA website:

Prizes:

One (1) $100,000 Grand Prize
Two (2) $5,000 Agency/Production Company Prizes
New: One (1) $10,000 Integrated Radio Campaign Prize
One (1) $5,000 Political Category Prize
One (1) PSA Category Award and $2,500 charitable donation
One (1) $5,000 Radio Station-Produced Category Prize
One (1) $5,000 Spanish-Language Category Prize
One (1) $2,500 Student-Produced Category Prize

To be eligible for a prize this year, the commercial must have aired for the first time on a U.S. commercially licensed radio station between January 1, 2008, and February 28, 2009. Deadline for entry at the standard fee ($125 per commercial, most categories) is March 20th; late entries will be accepted between March 21-28 with a higher entry fee ($150).

Full details, rules, links to previous winners and more at the RMA website.

-----------------

Want to hear what great radio advertising sounds like? Spend time listening to - and learning from - previous RMA winners. You'll find a substantial library of commercials representing seventeen years' worth of winners archived at the RMA website. The library is fully searchable by client, agency, commercial title, year, and category.

Attention Station Managers: Want to get your team members fired about about selling/writing/producing more effective commercials for local clients? Get everyone together for a 30- to 60-minute meeting (around a computer with a good set of speakers) for the sole purpose of listening to commercials from the RMA archives. See if you don't come away with some fresh ideas for advertising prospects and clients.

Real-life Radio Advertising Adventures

2009-01-21T19:19:00.000-08:00

Tempus Fugit. Indeed.

I opened this blog back in 2005, thinking it would be a neat thing to share personal stories, experiences, musings, and lessons I've learned over the many years I've worked in radio advertising.

Setting up a blog took less than a minute. Finding the time to do something with it has taken considerably longer.

That time has come.

2009 promises to be a challenging and eventful year for all of us in the radio ad business. Some broadcasters fear that the radio medium is becoming irrelevant in the digital age. Others, particularly in the small and medium markets, are thriving and optimistic. I prefer to throw in my lot with the latter group, believing (with a grateful nod to Mark Twain) that the reports of Radio's death are greatly exaggerated.

Just ask Randy Miller in Illinois, whose stations continue to serve listeners and advertisers and grow each year. His approach to selling in a recession: "Ask for BIGGER DOLLARS and long-term business...[give] the client enough frequency to MAKE IT WORK." (Small Market Radio Newsletter, January 22, 2009)

Or Wisconsin's innovative dynamo Roger Utnehmer, who early on recognized the potential of the Internet and made the investment necessary to harness it. His four local stations and companion website, Door County Daily News, now daily reap the benefits of their profitable synergism. Visit his online "newspaper" to see how he does it.

Then there's Jerry Papenfuss in Minnesota, whose Fergus Falls stations helped raise $55,000 to send their high school marching band to Washington, D.C. to march in the inauguration parade. Band members filed reports on their trip, aired by the stations for the folks back home. Think they left any sponsorships unsold?

I spent five-and-a-half wonderful years selling radio advertising at Jerry's stations in Winona. When I started working for him in 1974, he was the relatively new owner of an AM/FM combo. Today he and his wife Pat own and operate all 5 stations in Winona, along with combos in Fergus Falls and Blue Earth, and he's as committed as ever to making a difference in the communities he serves.

Broadcasters like Randy, Roger, and Jerry are the salt-of-the-earth of the Radio industry, and part of the backbone of the markets they serve. You're not likely to read about them in Radio Ink's "40 Most Powerful People in Radio" issue. Where you're more likely to find them is at their City Council meetings, serving on Chamber of Commerce committees, volunteering their time and effort in myriad community organizations. They're not looking for "power," only for ways to serve, to make a difference in the lives of their neighbors and fellow citizens.

That is why they - and broadcasters like them in communities across the land - will continue to thrive and succeed. In any economy.

This month, I enter my 37th year in the radio advertising business. As I reflect on things I've learned along the way, I'm going to take some time to write about them.

If you're a radio advertising salesperson, manager, copywriter, producer, or advertiser, I hope you'll find a few useful ideas in these posts. Thanks for stopping by!

Greetings from Rod Schwartz, Owner/Creative Director of Grace Broadcast Sales

2005-04-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

Rod in the studio