Better Ad Copy-“Which Means?”

Why does so much of the copy written for ads, marketing materials, and websites fail to persuade?

Because, usually, the copy doesn’t answer the basic question: “Which means?” And it never drills

down far enough to touch the heart of the customer.

For nearly every phrase written in an ad, remind yourself to listen to the customer’s voice in your head,

by asking “Which means?” Here’s a shoe ad:

Even the simplest fitness regimens can cause knee pain.

Which means?

You may be wearing a shoe that doesn’t fit the shape of your foot.

Which means?

You may suffer from over pronation.

Which means?

Your foot is rolling inward more than it should.

Which means?

Your knees are vulnerable to injury.

Which means?

You’ll get hurt and you won’t get to enjoy the pleasure of being active.

Which means?

You need shoes that fit, and New Balance has the shoe for you.

The next time you’re writing copy for an ad, a brochure, or a website, keep the “Which means?” question

in your head at all times. Answer the customer’s question, and keep answering it till you’ve translated

your competitive edge into a language that will have customers knocking on your door

Have iPods eroded radio listening?

It’s a question we get often.  Actually no, it doesn’t.  In fact radio listening is UP!  Nielson Ratings latest research from the recent Spring ratings says radio reaches 91.4% of Americans age 12+  That’s 9 out of 10 Americans reached by radio each week!

While other media’s are experiencing erosion of their audience, radio is doing great! 

Why?

Biggest reason is we are mobile.  Americans are always on the go and we are on the go with them.  We reach consumers closest to their biggest purchase of the day.

Ready to reach those consumers today?  We love our listeners and we would love to tell them about YOUR products or services today!  Just give me a call and we’ll get started.

Christmas Shopping Has Begun!

(Yes, I know it's only September)

According to a pre-holiday 2009 survey by the National Retail Federation, when consumers expect to start gift shopping:

Before September, 13.4%;
September, 6.1%;
October, 20.2%;
November, 38.0%;
first 2 weeks of December, 17.4%;
last 2 weeks of December, 4.8%.

Source: National Retail Federation, 2009

Wow! That's almost 20% who are already shopping!

You probably have your Christmas product ordered and on the way. Have you thought about reaching consumers who are ALREADY Christmas shopping? Get a jump on your competition and increase your exposure to them now!

Those Christmas shoppers are on the radar screen, let's go after them with your message!

Call me today to discuss how our station can help you reach them.

Radio’s Role in Today’s Media Landscape

(Source RAB.com)

Radio remains relevant in today’s world of time-starved consumers. It provides programming content
meeting the entertainment needs of people according to their demography, geography, ethnography, etc.
via nearly 11,000 on-air stations, 7,000 streaming stations and more than 1,800 digital stations.

Radio is ubiquitous, reaching consumers on-air, online, on-site and on-demand – whether they are at home, at work or in their car. It is a passive medium allowing consumers to multi-task and listen while they work or play – essential in today’s world. It is a reach medium, delivering messages 24/7 to consumers
personally, one-on-one, in an attentive environment. It provides information as it reaches consumers closest to their time of purchase, as they drive to or from work, or even during a lunch break. When used synergistically with other media, it increases brand awareness, brand recall, and an advertiser’s ROI. In
various studies, it has also proven to increase website visitation and purchase likelihood.

Radio’s core strength continues to be the power of words and sound. With its human voice to convince it can be used as a branding medium. Advertisers continue to use DJ endorsements to build trust and drive business with DJs often providing personal experiences with the brand, on-air mentions and authentic chatter within their shows.

Radio is resilient. Its accessibility continues to expand. Various distribution platforms such as streaming, HD-Radio, MP3 also keep Radio relevant. Unlike other media, the audio experience remains intact platform to platform – whether it is delivered on a desktop, in a car, MP3 player or cell phone. The platforms allow
Radio to maintain its local presence while also delivering to a national audience. Today’s new technologies can increase and enhance consumers' Radio experience thru text messaging, mobile applications, time shifted listening via podcasts, etc., and now also provide a visual experience not previously available.

The future of Radio is bringing all technology and platforms together to deliver true interactivity to the masses, one person at a time. Innovations in interactivity such as BuyFromFM (available only on Zune), listener influenced programming, instantaneous ownership of audio content such as music, advertising messaging, news programming, etc..

Within this world of new technology and media fragmentation, Radio continues to be the #1 source for new music discovery and choice for audio entertainment. Radio listening is also what Americans prefer to do second most during their leisure time.

Supporting Radio’s important role in today’s media environment and proving its Reach, Relevance and Receptivity, Apple most recently announced the addition of an FM receiver in the fifth generation of the iPod nano. In response to this announcement, Emmis Communications CEO Jeff Smulyan stated, "Apple
clearly recognizes that Radio is the number one source for new music acquisition and has made it simpler and easier for today's listeners to access the audio entertainment they value so highly. The ability to bring a live listening experience together with digitally stored music will have a dramatic impact on listener involvement.” Jeff Haley, CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau, added, "The idea that an 85-year-old medium has the chance to remain relevant and capture new distribution in an environment when those things are hard to come by is very exciting."

 

http://www.rab.com/public/adchannel/radioroleMediaLandscape.cfm

This whole Social Networking Thing In A Nutshell

Here's an email from Joel Comm. He hits the nail on the head in this article!

Internet marketing isn't about technology. It's never been about technology. The computers and the Internet, the multimedia uploads, webinars and ebooks are all just a means to an end. They're tools for transferring information from one place to another.

The revolution that has allowed us to build online businesses, even from our living rooms, garages and bedrooms, isn't a technological revolution. We've just enjoyed the benefits of those changes.

It's a community revolution.

It's a complete change in the way that sellers and customers interact. Successful Internet merchants don't wave their products in the air and hope that enough people line up to buy them. They engage their markets with blog posts that invite comments, with tweets that create conversations, and with Facebook pages that allow everyone to discuss topics connected to the publisher.

It's the connection that the seller builds with his community -- and the community members build among themselves -- that make the marketing easy and rewarding too. Customers feel that they're part of a club, an organization that together is heading towards success. Marketers become community leaders rather than sellers, helping people to achieve their life goals.

It's a fantastic thing for everyone and it's something that depends on communications.

Those communications can take all sorts of forms. Some readers will be most engaged by reading blog posts. Others will respond better to email newsletters. Many prefer to chat on Twitter, join discussions on Facebook, and even interact on LinkedIn.

You need to be aware of which channels most move your audiences. Make sure that you're keeping track of the response rates from your regular email newsletters, from the links you place in your Twitter stream, and the clickthroughs, comments and tweeted links you pick up from your blog posts. The fact that there are so many ways now to keep in touch with buyers, clients and audience members has made the life of marketers much more complicated. The same message has to pushed through a number of different pipes so that everyone can respond in the way they want. But it's also brought those audience members a great deal closer and made the relationship far warmer. It's helped to build communities - and when you use those tools build a community too, you get sales.

(visit Joel Comm at http://JoelComm.com ) He's worth listening to. I also reccomend his book Twitter Power available at Amazon.com

Welcome To Better Advertising!

As a P1SalesPro, I am here to help you employ better advertising techniques!

I will also be sharing ideas applicable to marketing and your business. If you would like to visit more about what you read just come back to my website (http://p1salespro.com/ (enter my name here)

Here's to better advertising!