Is your marketing person dazzled by shiny new objects like social media? If so, you need to watch this:
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyTn_DgfcFE”]
Category: The Facts
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Social Media’s Massive Failure
Pepsi substantially abandoned its long-standing commitment to traditional advertising in favor of social media. It canceled its annual Super Bowl advertising. It diverted tens of millions of dollars from traditional advertising to create the “Pepsi Refresh Project.” Pepsi Refresh was an online social media initiative in which Pepsi gave out 20 million dollars. They also spent many millions more in support of this initiative.
After making this transition from traditional to digital, the current fad in advertising, the results came in: “The results are now in. It has been a disaster. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pepsi-Cola and Diet Pepsi had each lost about 5% of their market share in the past year. If my calculations are correct, for the Pepsi-Cola brand alone this represents a loss of over $350 million. For both brands, the loss is probably something in the neighborhood of 400 million to half-a-billion dollars. For the first time ever Pepsi-Cola has dropped from its traditional position as the number two soft drink in America to number three (behind Diet Coke.)”
These are excerpts from the article, which you can view in full here: http://adcontrarian.blogspot.com/2011/03/social-medias-massive-failure.html
As marketers we all understand the need for branding, however, we also need to invite people to do business with us on a daily basis. A delicate balance between brand marketing and call to action advertising is critical to grow our businesses. Each year the average attrition rate for customer loss for any business is 20%. Therefore, in order to just maintain market share we need to grow current customer tickets or generate new customers to the tune of 20%. For growth, we have to exceed that.
As you review your advertising budgets, consider the mistake of Pepsi. Traditional advertising is here to stay, but connecting your traditional with your digital advertising has never been more important.
Compliments of Lenawee Broadcasting Company
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The Worst Cliché of All Time
In the world of bad advertising clichés, none are cliché-ier than “For All Your (blank) Needs.”
By Ryan Patrick, www.timemilesandco.com
Just listen to commercial radio for one hour. Read a newspaper from front to back. Watch local TV commercials during the 6 o’clock news. I can almost guarantee you will hear/read/see the phrase “For All Your (blank) Needs” at least once. Maybe more.
“Wait. If that phrase is so bad, why do so many companies use it?”
a) It’s safe
b) It’s easy to use
c) The ad writer had nothing else to say.
Nothing particularly special about your lumberyard? No problem! Just use, “For all your homebuilding needs!”
Can’t compete with the price or selection of the other pet store? Easy fix: “For all your pet supply needs!”
My favorite was a radio commercial for a diner in Kentucky that advertised “for all your breakfast needs.”
“Yes, I want you to smother my pancakes with beluga caviar and truffles. What do you mean you can’t do it? That’s my breakfast need!”
Each of us has different needs.
Mine are different from yours.
Yours are different from his.
His are different from hers.
There will ALWAYS be needs that you simply cannot meet.
“For All Your (blank) Needs” is an empty promise. It doesn’t convey the unique essence of your business. It won’t convince consumers to buy from you.
Congratulations. You have a marketing slogan that says nothing.
Is that what your business “needs”?
(Used by permission, www.timmilesandco.com)
Click HERE for the main article on clichés.
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Yellow Pages
Still spending money on ads in the yellow pages? Really? It’s not 1982 any more.
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Where Should You Advertise?
What’s the best medium for local advertising? According to Michael Corbett, author of “The 33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising”, it’s NOT the newspaper. According to Corbett, “the readers of most newspapers are middle aged and older. If you are looking for buyers under the age of forty, you’ll find fewer of them in the newspaper than in any other media.” Corbett says that newspapers are “a place for shoppers to compare prices and information after they’ve already been motivated to buy.”
Why then do many local business continue to spend the bulk of their advertising budget in the newspaper? According to Corbett, “he newspaper has been the traditional medium for many local businesses. For centuries, it was the only medium. But most consumers don’t rely on the newspaper as much as they once did. They get their motivation and information from many sources. The readership ages have changed; buying habits and priorities have changed; media choices have changed. The only thing that hasn’t seem to change is the tradition of thinking that the newspaper is still the motivation source for most consumers. It clearly is not. That role has been taken over by TV and radio, either of which consumers spend more time with than they do newspapers.”
Corbett concluded by saying, “newspapers, in my experience, are neither appropriate nor affordable as your primary vehicle for domination or impact.”
So, where do you advertise to get the most impact? Corbett suggests one of the two “motivational mediums”, radio or broadcast TV (not cable). Corbett also suggests you “dominate” a medium in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. Since most local advertisers cannot afford to dominate TV, the logical choice is radio.
Quoted from “The 33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising”
by Michael Corbett
Pinnacle Books, Inc -
Radio Advertising Facts & Figures
Even though competitors like to portray radio as an aging technology, the reality is radio advertising remains an effective tool for reaching consumers in today’s fragmented media landscape. Extensive research by the Radio Advertising Bureau reveals a robust weekly audience of radio listeners.
Who’s Listening?
Over 92 percent of Americans age 12 and up listen to radio each week, creating an audience of over 235 million listeners. Among 12- to 17-year-olds, who are perceived as not listening to the radio, nearly 90 percent listen weekly.Where Do They Listen?
The majority of radio listening occurs in cars, with 73 percent of adults age 18 and up listening while driving on a typical weekday. The second most popular location for listening is at home. The number of people listening to commercial radio online now includes nearly 20 percent of the people who listen each week.What Are They Listening To?
There are over 10,000 commercial radio stations in the United States. There are more country music stations in America than any other type with over 2,000 outlets. News/talk is second with 1,375 stations.Who’s Advertising?
Major brands such as Verizon, Home Depot, Walt Disney and Burger King are among the top 20 largest radio advertisers. The largest advertising categories for radio include retail, automotive, insurance, restaurants and financial institutions.How Much Do They Spend?
Radio advertising revenue exceeded $19 billion in 2008, and over $13 billion came from local businesses.Article written by Mike Stern.
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Radio Advertising Tips
Here are some concepts to keep in mind as you plan your Radio advertising:
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Feature one item, or a limited number, per commercial to insure listener remembrance. You can’t sell ten items in thirty seconds.
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If you must use price, use one or a few only. This way you won’t confuse the listener.
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Is a phone number necessary? If it can’t get an order or sell a customer, and if you can’t make it the centerpiece of the ad, don’t use it.
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Spend a reasonable amount of money. Don’t expect good results unless you invest appropriately.
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Use saturation for hard-hitting impact. You can’t get the job done with one spot. Repetition – frequency – is one of radio’s biggest persuaders.
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Distinction is an effective tool for attracting people. That sound effect, theme music or “sound signature” will help your ads make an impression.
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Don’t select radio programs or formats for your own personal likes or dislikes, but rather for the audience you want to reach.
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The best use of radio advertising is day in, day out, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. The results from radio advertising build over time, and they are lasting results.
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Don’t try to reach too many people all at once. It is better to reach 10% of your prospects 100% of the way than to reach 100% of your prospects only 10% of the way.
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How to Budget Advertising Costs
Build it and they will come… a motto which is the downfall of many new, small businesses.
The problem is, “they” often don’t know you exist! Ideally, you have figured out that you will need to advertise your business in order to attract customers.
That leads to the question, how much money should be spent on advertising?
The U.S. Small Business Administration has a lot of wonderful resources for the small business. There is a very helpful section on their website that addresses this: Click here.
In creating an advertising and marketing budget, the SBA says: “Because marketing needs and costs vary widely, there are no simple rules for determining what you marketing budget should be. A popular method with small business owners is to allocate a small percentage of gross sales for the most recent year. This usually amounts to about two percent for an existing business. However, if you are planning on launching a new product or business, you may want to increase your marketing budget figure, to as much as 10 percent of your expected gross sales. Another method used by small business owners is to analyze and estimate the competition’s budget and either match or exceed it.”
That information is also available from the SBA: Click here.
So how much will advertising cost you? Perhaps a better question to ask yourself; “How much is NOT advertising costing you?”
