2015

Dec

2015

Local Radio for Local Business [part two]

This month we will continue our look at using local radio to promote your business. Last month we looked at the factors involved in buying radio advertising, today we will look at creating effective radio spots and tracking the results of your radio campaign.

Create an Effective Spot

Meaningful Message

To create an effective radio spot, you need to grab the listener’s attention and quickly make a connection. As in all marketing, you are looking to meet a consumer’s needs with your product or service, now you need to express your product or service benefits in 60 seconds or less. You should have identified your target audience at this stage, so use your knowledge of this group to develop a meaningful message and a compelling call to action. Think carefully about what you want to convey in your message and consider using humor, stories and testimonials as effective ways to connect with the listeners.

Nov

2015

Local Radio for Local Business [part one]

Radio Can Reach Your Target Audience

Radio can be a productive marketing channel for local businesses looking to stay top of mind with current customers while reaching prospective new customers. Local radio is inexpensive to produce and offers a great way to establish a personality for your business. Arbitron (a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences) reports that in one week over 228 million people listen to the radio, mostly in their car while commuting to work in the morning and evening. Plus, many radio stations now offer a live stream of their programming online, which can help widen the local audience hearing your ad. Online listeners are also just a click away from going to your website to get more information or check out your ad offering.

One of the challenges when marketing your business is to target your advertising to your potential customers as specifically as possible. The more targeted the advertising action, the more likely it will yield good results and be cost-effective. Local radio allows you to identify the type of listener as well as clearly define the geographic area your ads will reach. For many businesses, if you have been in a location for a period of time, you can already identify your local radio stations and you may have a good sense of the type of listeners they attract.

Oct

2015

The Big Picture

Why do you do what you do?
As you prepared your business for the new year, you probably sat at your desk and reviewed your business objectives, looked at your growth strategies, and are now launching your marketing activities for 2015. Marketing plans include a lot of process, things to do and steps to take, but they also require having clear objectives and setting specific goals. Let’s look at some questions to consider as you roll out your plans for 2015.

WHY

“START WITH WHY” is an excellent book by Simon Sinek that is a perfect read for the new year. Sinek explores the key concept of knowing why you do what you do. What is the inspiration that got your business started and what keeps you going every day? In the hectic pace of running a business, sometimes we forget about the why as we tackle the daily duties and responsibilities of our job. Sinek is not talking about the why in regards to the need for making money, although that is an obvious component of why you work, he is talking about the core beliefs that are the foundation of your business.

Renting Email Lists can be Tricky!

There’s a big difference between rented postal lists and email lists. Last month I wrote about managing your postal mailing lists including both house and rented lists. I noted that this month we would look at why rented email lists are not a good idea at this time.

Because email is such a cost-effective method for sending out marketing messages, it makes sense to consider renting email addresses to expand your prospecting options. Unfortunately, purchased email lists most often contain bad data and out of date information. While postal mailing lists can be highly accurate based on a variety of criteria including geographic location, age, income, home ownership and more, email lists cannot provide the same level of quality.

Aug

2015

Managing Your Mailing Lists

Caring for Your Contacts
Knowing who you are communicating with is an essential component of any marketing/advertising activity. So your mailing lists (both postal and electronic) play a critical role in your marketing plan and should be well managed and regularly updated. Your customer, prospect, and vendor contact data is a valuable asset of your business.

Your House Lists
Let’s start with your house lists. Most businesses have a record of their clients in some type of digital format. It may be in the accounting department, a CRM software system, or simple Excel spreadsheet. There are several common scenarios that affect the quality of a company’s mailing list.

Read more … Managing Your Mailing Lists

Jul

2015

Coordinating Direct Mail with Online Channels

I recently wrote about direct mail and the effectiveness of this traditional marketing channel for both communicating with customers and prospecting for new ones. Direct mail alone can be successful and it can be even more powerful when combined with digital marketing channels. Let’s look at these digital options, some you are using currently, and others that are up and coming.

Website Landing Pages
If you plan a direct mail campaign that leads the recipient online, you will most likely need to use landing pages. They are called landing pages because these are pages that a web visitor will arrive at, or land on, from a web address in your promotion.

Jun

2015

Today’s Direct Mail Offers Great Opportunities

Direct Mail is Effective in Your Marketing Mix
I often write about digital marketing technologies, but it is a great time for your business to take a fresh look at the direct mail marketing channel. I often hear people dismiss mail as “old school” and many seem to consider it ineffective. Two points on that. First, have you noticed how little mail you now receive in your mailbox? You may interpret that to mean “everyone knows mail doesn’t work.” But research shows that mail does work when used intelligently as a component of your marketing plan. And that uncluttered mailbox means there is a bigger chance that your mail piece will be noticed. Second, data shows that direct mail generates a higher response rate than email.

May

2015

Television Advertising for Local Business

We recently reviewed using radio to promote your business, and took a look at developing a radio ad campaign for your local business. Like radio, TV advertising may be more affordable than you think and it could make a significant impact on your sales if you plan and execute it correctly. It helps to understand the television advertising process and use it to your advantage.

Like all advertising, for TV you will need to specify your customer profile and identify demographic information. Essentially, you want to know who you are talking to and what common traits they share. What are the demographic and psychographic traits of your audience that make them a likely fit for your product or service? This information will identify the benefits and drive the messaging you should include in your commercial, as well as target the TV stations, shows, and air times that you choose for your campaign.