Dance With Who Brung You to the Party

By Glen Gardner

CEO GG&A

Many companies seem to lose their way when they stray from their core business and forget about the basics of marketing. This played out in a big way with Netflix over the past few days.

Just a few months ago the company was the darling of the business media. The company’s stock price was soaring and the company president was named Business Person of the Year by Fortune magazine. His picture probably won’t be there this year. The company announced this week they lost 800,000 subscribers over the first three quarters of the year.

So what happened? According to Yahoo Business, “Subscribers revolted and many dropped the service. The plan to split the DVD service from the on-line service tarnished a once widely respected Internet service that had already been wounded by an unpopular price increase in the summer. Mr. Hastings (company president) was forced to reverse the planned split — but not the price increase — three weeks later and apologized.”

But the damage was already done and people were flocking to the exit. As shocking as it may seem, they simply forgot to ask their customers what they thought. They further blundered by not communicating the possible benefits of the huge price increase and elimination of levels of service that their customer base truly liked.

When businesses stop listening to their customers bad things happen. When businesses stop talking to their customers even worse things happen. When they do both, 800,000 people vote with their feet.

"Clean your room, we are having company"

I don’t know how many times I heard that growing up, but it was often enough that I can close my eyes and easily hear my mom saying it in my head.  I tried every excuse in the book to no avail.

“No one is coming into my room, mom.”

“They’ve seen my room messy before.”

“It’s just grandpa and grandma”.

Eventually my mother grew tired of my procrastination and sent me to my room.  The only way I could leave is if it passed inspection.  As I look at my desk at work now (I think I see a corner over there) it’s evident she failed at making me a tidy person, but God bless her she tried.

I’ve seen a lot of messy bedrooms out and about on sales calls.  I usually don’t mind, after all how could I blame you for not getting all dressed up to meet a sales guy.  Sometimes though it does give me pause, especially if it’s at a restaurant, medical office, or some other business I expect to be clean and sterile looking.  Once in a while I visit someplace where the messy backroom has begun to work its way to the front of the house.  It usually starts small, like in the area behind the register or with a few dust bunnies in the corner, but inevitably it overtakes an entire operation.  I’m sure your excuses sound a lot like mine… 

 “I’m a retailer; no one is coming into the back room”

“They’ve seen a messy bathroom before”

“It’s just one of our regulars (or a sales guy)”

Perhaps it’s time to give that back room or rest room a good scrub?  Not only will it help you make a good impression on the odd person who might see it you also might find it better reflects the image you want your business to project, helps you work more efficiently, and ultimately makes more money.  At the very least it should help you feel proud about your product and or business.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have some cleaning of my own to do.

QR Codes: New fad or here to stay?

By Kellie Lala

We have all seen those funny little black and white boxes popping up on things.  In magazines, on websites and even on billboards (which the city of Cedar Rapids has said that the billboard companies need to ban due to potential traffic issues and problems).  What are they?  What do they do?  These goofy looking digital symbols are one more way that marketers are trying to reach that all so powerful consumer.  According to a recent article by Online Media daily (10/11/11), 28% of mobile users who have used QR codes more than once say they “usually” get something in return that made the effort worthwhile. Most consumers want to get something in return for their efforts. 

I tell advertisers, the more that you ask a consumer to do, the less likely they are to do it.  We are all going in a million different directions and one more thing on our to do list will make us crazy.  Ever feel like that?  I do and now an ad is asking me to take a picture of their silly little code?  However, 80% of 18-24 year olds (I am NOT in that demo J)  recognize them and close to 60% of 45+ (now that is me) segment do.  The Online Media article goes on to say that in order to improve consumer use of them, marketers need to target the right demographic and make sure that the reward is targeted as well.  If you don’t, QR codes will become ubiquitous and invisible to the consumer.  What do you think? 

Music makes the world go round.....

By Kellie Lala

Have you ever gone to a music festival?  Lots of great artists, fun party atmosphere and huge crowds of people!  The concert industry suffered a huge decline in 2010 but this past summer’s festival season roared back.  According to USA Today, gross revenue for the top 100 tours dropped 13% in 2009 with ticket sales 12% down.  Consumers have shown that they crave that “smorgasbord” of bands that festivals provide but the downturned economy really hurt.  I really wanted to go to the Train and Maroon Five show at the Iowa State Fair last month.  What a great show it was bound to be!  It was on a Thursday though and that does not bode well for work the next day. J

Multiple bands mean more value for the consumer.  Brand loyalty from a band’s fan base helps drive that ultimate ticket purchase.  Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California sold out in a matter of days, even though the show was months away.  Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Kanye West and The Strokes headlined a bill of over 150 bands.  With our arena now closed in Cedar Rapids for renovations and the addition of a new convention space, we know that we must travel to the iWireless Center in Moline or the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines to see top artists.  Treat yourself to a concert featuring your favorite band.  Go ahead, Google them right now to see where they might be playing.        

I'm Sellin' Radio Now....Who Would Have Ever Thought?

By Joe Drahozal, General Sales Manager

Who would have ever thought?  Actually, I’ve always been a big fan of both stations, way back to chasing Eliot (the late Eliot Keller was a founder of KRNA and general manager of Z102.9 and 1600 ESPN for many years) around pitching a great insurance message (blah,blah,blah), and telling him what I thought of his radio business.   Eliot was always nice to me, teaching as we ate lunch every so often.  Teaching, but not really teaching in a traditional way as far as I knew (Eliot knew that’s the best way for me to learn).  Looking back, I learned a lot.
 

Radio is magic …….it really is.  Similar to airline flight……..magic!!   Nobody really knows how it works.  You turn on the radio…and, magic!  There it is - interesting, fun, informative, relevant information and Today’s Hit Music.  How cool is it to be involved?  Very cool.  And as far as airline flight, I don’t know……thrust and drag?

So how do you use this magic to help others?  Easy – how do you do anything well?  You believe in it.  It’s that simple.  Many say it’s passion.  Is it?  I say no.   Passion is reserved for helping family, friends, and for solving difficult problems.

Believing in something and wanting to do it well is nothing more than effort and caring.  The groundwork for doing radio well was laid here 35 or so years ago, by people way smarter than me. Believe in and care about what you do, give effort – and success follows.

So, I’m now in the business of teaching others how to use the “magic” to make their businesses grow.  Let me know if I can help.

How Soon They Forget

By Glen Gardner
Z102.9 and 1600 ESPN Branding Consultant
How soon they forget. In the marketing world it's a phrase we should
never forget. It gets played out in the real world each day and it's the
greatest enemy of your business maintaining any kind of mind-share. The
good news is, it's easy to solve. The bad news is, it takes resource.

A great example would be the political circus that recently played out
at the GOP Straw Poll in Ames. Michele Bachmann came screaming out of
the Ames event after a good showing and tons of media coverage. Seems
like you couldn't turn on a radio, TV or view a website without seeing
something about her. Just several weeks later it's "Michele who?"

Rick Perry jumped in the race and he grabbed the spotlight, but now just
a few weeks later he is dropping like a stone in the polls. The public
has a very short memory and needs constant reminding that you are there,
or they WILL forget.

It's not by accident that when a political candidate runs out of
resources, the campaign is over. They know that without constant
messaging to remind the public they are there, it's over and they are
out of business. Ask Tim Pawlenty.

So what is the lesson here for your business or service? You constantly
need to remind your potential and current customers that you are there,
or they will forget about you. The roadside is littered with defunct
businesses that assumed everyone knew they were there. I wish I had a
buck for every time someone said to me, "We don't need to advertise,
we've been here so long we don't need to." Or, "We are just going to
take a break for a while, we've done so much in the past it will carry
us." Both statements are prescriptions for disaster.

Be consistent with whatever budget you have and remember, they are
programmed to forget about you.

My Kingdom for a Nap

By Julie Hein, General Manager

Cheap.

Nice.

Quick.

Pick two.  Roy Williams has said that it’s impossible to offer all three.  Good product quick = high price.  Good product cheap = some inconvenience in getting it, some time invested.  If you want cheap and quick, the quality must suffer.

My perspective on how I shop has changed.  I’ve always been busy—at one point it was grad school, yoga, golf and slight case of workaholism.  I thought I was busy, but I was a naïve fool.  Now it’s the little girl shuffle, then work, with hopefully at least 20 minutes of hubby time in there each week.  A week feels like a day.  Every night when I wash my face before bed, I stare in the mirror and wish for one more hour in the day. 

This isn’t a rant about me (sorry if it felt that way!).  It’s an example of the internal rant of most parents.  Thinking back to Roy:  Cheap, nice or quick—pick only two.  I’ll pay more for anyone who can save me time.  Find a way to make it easier.  Feel free to raise your price.  I don’t mind.  Profit all you want as long as I get another half hour to split between checking e-mail and singing “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”