Where the Fish are Biting

By Jason Epner

All media are good. So how do you create a competitive advantage with your advertising?

 

Think of your advertising media (TV, radio, print, billboards, Internet, etc.) as ponds and your potential customers as the fish in these ponds.

 

What happens if you are fishing in the same pond as all of your competitors?  If you aren't casting the best bait, it becomes very difficult to get a bite.

 

But what if you, the savvy fisherman, knew of a quiet, secluded lake, with thousands of the type of fish you were looking to catch?  You have the lake all to yourself.   If you cast good bait, consistently over time, the odds go up that you catch more fish.  This lake is under-fished, meaning much more opportunity for you.
 

In advertising, these opportunities present themselves regularly in many different business categories.  Don't automatically blame the pond when the advertising doesn't work.  Are you casting bait (your commercial message) the fish are interested in?  Are you fishing too close to your competitors?

 

Give yourself a competitive advantage with your advertising- that's where the fish are biting.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

By Julie Hein

 

It seems like Eastern Iowa businesses are doing more recruitment. The more competitive it gets for the “good” people, the better your ads have to be. I know that most HR directors feel comfortable with the basics—like salary and benefits. But saying things like “competitive wages, combined with paid training, vacation pay, 7 holidays and health insurance” doesn’t really say much about the job. Those are the basics: the bottom level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I assume that there will be good benefits in a 2014 career. Like I assume there will be time off for weekends and lunch breaks. That’s nothing to waste precious words on in an ad that you’re paying for. And “competitive” salary? Doesn’t that mean just as crappy as everyone else?

If you want to be judged only on your compensation package, then put it out there.

If working for you is more than just clock-watching until Friday at 5:00, well, then you’ll get my attention. What kind of people LOVE the work you do? How does the job fit into the big scheme of the company, the customer’s life, or the world in general? What challenges, adventures, puzzles or sticky situations will I encounter? Would a detail person relish in the need to dot every "i", or is this a job where thinking on your feet and being creative is important? The more you tell about the job, the real nitty-gritty job, the better the match you’ll find.

Of course we all work for money. I happen to like money. I collect it. But recruiters need to focus on what makes this job important. We all have to go to work. Tell me why I’ll love this job. Please, tell me. Because no one loves talking about health insurance, and everyone, everyone, everyone wants to love what they do. We all want to be important to someone and ridiculously good at something. We want challenge and praise and friends for the better part of the day that we spend out slaying the dragon. Woo applicants with that. Talk about the 401k later.

For the Super Bowl-Caliber Business

By Jason Epner

 

“The more talented you are, the fewer gimmicks you need.”

 

I heard these words Thursday morning from ESPN radio show host Colin Cowherd describing the Super Bowl-bound Seattle Seahawks defense.  Sounds like something right off one of those motivational posters you hang in your office.

 

How does this relate to your advertising?  I’ll get there in a minute.

 

Colin’s point was this:  Seattle doesn’t do anything fancy on defense.  No smoke.  No mirrors.  No tricks.  They have committed to playing their brand of defense throughout the course of the year and have become really good at doing so. 

 

So good, that they are the number one defense in the league.   So good, they are playing for a super bowl championship.

 

Along those lines, businesses I work with are talented in their own right.  Some are innovative.  Some sell superior products.  Others provide unmatched service. 

 

No need for gimmicks with these businesses.  No need to advertise massive discounts. 

 

I advise the businesses I work with to focus their message on what separates them from the rest of their competition.  Educate their customers about the value they can provide .  Commit to that message on a consistent basis, and over time, the customers will follow.

 

It’s the proven winning formula.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Are the B's in B to B?

By Glen Gardner/ CEO Glen Gardner and Associates

In many cases corporations and companies are portrayed and perceived as non-human entities. We often times hear reports about "evil" corporations or companies that have a "heart." In reality, companies and corporations are made up of people. They are nothing more than a person or groups of people that have come together to perform a certain task.

When it comes to marketing to businesses you must remember you are not marketing to business, but you are marketing to people who are engaged in business. I've had many clients that have the mistaken notion that B to B advertising has a different set of marketing truths and rules attached. Nothing could be further from the truth. They felt advertising in a printed business journal was the most effective way to reach other businesses. A problem with that line of thinking is businesses don't buy anything, people do!

Advertising in a business journal carriers the same limitations as any print trying to reach any person. Declining use of print by real people and print's inability to offer frequency makes it a poor choice as a single advertising vehicle. It's a good secondary or tertiary vehicle.

The "people" who make up businesses and corporations consume the same media everyone else does. Radio, Internet, Google and television. If you want to drive great B to B results just narrow your demographic to best reflect the people who comprise the business. Then run enough frequency and a well-crafted creative message to reach that demographic. Your results will be far better than trying to market to a non-human entity.

B to B Golden Rule #1; It's the people that spend the gold!

Locally Owned and Operated

By Jason Epner

 

You should be proud.  Just don’t say it in your ads.  It’s cliché.  It’s become industry jargon.  My mind goes numb when I hear it.

 

Instead, show me what it means to be locally owned and operated.

 

An example.

 

Inevitably, I heard those four words when I sat down the other day with the owner of an auto repair shop.  I asked him what being locally owned and operated means to his customers. 

 

<Friendly staff and great customer service,> he said.   Better, but still not saying much.

 

After digging a little deeper he finally told me that that he will drive his customers to and from work while the car is being fixed in the shop.  What a great way to differentiate himself from the competition!  What a valuable service!  I guarantee that message resonates with customers much better than hearing where the owner resides.

 

The bottom line is consumers are bombarded with thousands of choices every day on how to spend their money.  As a business owner, educate them how you can help in their terms.  You will find consumers care a lot more about keeping their dollars local when they see the value in the services you provide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What If You Doubled Your Prices?

By Julie Hein, General Manager

Cheap.

Nice.

Quick.

Pick two.  Roy Williams (author and business/marketing guru, see him here) 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 kiddo 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 Williams:  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 playing Crazy Eights with my favorite girls.   

I think we all focus on price and perhaps the reason why people buy from our competitors is related to price.  I would like you to challenge that—what if you charged more?  What if you pay me back in time?  If you figure out how to give me time back, you're golden.

My $100 Lesson

By Jason Epner, Advertising Consultant

 

My wife wanted the latest smartphone.  I didn’t want to pay full price.  So when I heard Big Box Store had it for $100 less than anybody else, it seemed like a no-brainer.

 

10:00 the next morning, I went to Big Box ready to buy.  I figured the process would take a bit longer given that Big Box doesn’t specialize in cell phones.  Boy, did I underestimate what I was getting myself into.

 

For two hours, I watched the overwhelmed associate frantically trying to do the job of six people- running from the Cell Phone department to Photo, to Electronics and back.  I think I was apologized to 14 times in that span. 

 

Then there was the issue of installing the SD card.  That was followed by problems in activating the new phone.  I was even handed somebody else’s contract.

 

By 1:30 that afternoon, I had my smartphone.  I was hungry.  I was frustrated.  I had lost half of my Saturday.  Saving money didn’t feel very good at all.

 

Focused only on price, I failed to consider the other things I value like my time and the security of knowing the job was done right.  In this price-obsessed culture we live in, it’s the reason it’s so important businesses continue to educate their customers on the value they can provide.  Otherwise, those customers generally go to wherever is cheapest.

 

It turns out I was right about one thing-  where to go to buy was indeed a no-brainer.  I should have spent the extra $100 to go somewhere that was able to help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason Epner

Advertising Consultant

KGYM 1600AM/106.3FM/107.5FM and KZIA-Z102.9

Work- 319.363.2061

Cell- 847.528.2583

 

 

 

Don’t Invite Them Until You are Ready

By Glen Gardner

CEO GG&A

One of the basic rules of marketing is; don't invite them in until you are ready. What that means is don't spend marketing dollars inviting people through the door until you have all the kinks ironed out of your business or service. Not doing so can be a disaster of major proportions that you never recover from.

It doesn't matter whether you are big or small, the same rules apply. Just ask Uncle Sam what happens when you think the rules of marketing don't apply to you.

This very scenario has been playing out on the national scene with billions of dollars wasted and the public's trust eroded to a point that recovery may be near impossible.

I'm referring to the disastrous rollout of the Affordable Care Act. The government spent millions of dollars inviting people through the doors before they were ready. I saw television commercials inviting me to visit a web site that didn't work or to call a number that no one would answer. This was a classic case of breaking premature invitation rule.

The fallout is so severe that there are questions as to whether or not the program will ever fully get off the ground in the manner it was intended to. All because they opened the store before it was ready.

There is a big lesson here for any business or service that is considering spending marketing dollars in an effort to get people to a web site, store or other business. If you are not really ready, don't invite them in. It can put you out of business faster than you can say "Obamacare."

Get your ducks in a row, and then invite the masses.

Lessons from Football Coaches

By Julie Hein, General Manager

It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you've got to have is faith and discipline when you're not yet a winner.
Vince Lombardi

It all seems so easy for him.  That guy over there.  He has all the customers, all the market share, all the good staff, the good name in the community.  If I just had the good deal that he gets from his vendors or the advertising budget that he has—then I could be successful too.  If I had bought that stock so low, if I had the silver spoon, if I….

The thing that separates successful entrepreneurs from the rest of us is often that the have the fortitude to get past the scary days, months or years at the beginning of the game, and they're ready reset at half-time.  Their belief is strong.  Their forecast is positive.  And they get it done. 

You can get it done too.  Make a plan and live it.  Make sure your business plan is pointed and your team know the mission.  Have an advertising plan that’s as long as your business plan. 

Think like Vince.  What’s it going to take to win?

 

We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.
Vince Lombardi