Stand Out in Ways that Matter to Directory Users A Yellow Page directory presents a difficult challenge for advertisers. All the competitors are packed together, within the space of a few pages. Each ad within the directory category screams "Notice me!" so insistently, they blend into an muffled chorus. It’s not easy for one to stand out with a clear, distinctive voice - like a soloist above the choir. That only happens when the business is clear about expressing its unique "song," and understands what buyers most want to hear.

It isn’t surprising that most Yellow Page ads say pretty much the same thing. They were all prepared by the same directory employees. What do they know about marketing? About copywriting? About what’s unique and desirable about your enterprise?

The people making the ads "grind them out," using the same templates and guidelines for every ad, in every category. Originality isn’t in their job description. Following the formulas for how an ad "should look" is a formula for being ignored.

These quick fixes cut away the bland sameness afflicting most ads. Disregard for now the related issues like the ad’s size and placement. Such factors just amplify (or diminish) an ad’s impact. A poor ad is still a poor ad, even if it’s very large. Coupled with fine-tuned copy (its own topic), these fixes will improve the impact of any size of ad, for any directory heading.

Try these Quick and Easy Fixes

You don’t have to be a designer or copywriter to make your ad stand out. You just have to understand your customers’ unstated wants, so you supply precisely the information that they’re looking for. And you need to know how you’re different than your competitors. Set yourself apart, so you don’t fade into the background, as most ads do.

1. Shrink the business name. That is NOT the most important part of the ad in the reader’s mind. And it crowds out the space for information that that could sell them on you. Once you can get them to want you, they’ll be able to find your name and contact information OK.

2. Ditto, shrink the graphics. They may be helpful to catch the eye initially, but add nothing to what directory users want to know. Images often distract from the ad’s message, wasting its moment of attention on trivialities.

3. Provide a headline that hooks the readers’ interest (the category or business name isn’t one, but most ads act like it is). A strong, emotionally-charged headline pulls attention into the rest of the information. It makes people stop skimming and actually read. Provide a promise that hits their hot button in a way that applies only to you (but not every other competitor in the category)

4. Make the location easy to find. Half of all directory users scan ads for the business location first, and then only consider those ads which are convenient. Location of the enterprise overrides an ad’s size or placement in the directory.

5. Display your expertise, along with a reason for buyers to seek out your specialized knowledge. Offer a booklet, class, in-depth information on your Web site, etc. This also establishes your credibility in customers’ eyes, which is crucial to building sufficient trust to complete a purchase.

6. Buyers are hunting for information that can assist in making a purchase. When they open the directory, they’re hoping to find a business that in some way communicates, "I’m the one you’re looking for." Make it easy for them to know it’s you, by giving ample information directed at their concerns. Organize it in bulleted lists.

7. Add your Web site address (domain name) and/or email address. Treat your Web site as a place to expand the size of your Yellow Page ad. Then state a reason why a person wants to check your site: www.mysite.com for 23 simple ways to keep your dog from over-eating Or www.myrestaurant.com for recipes to our award-winning desserts.

8. Arrange it all so the information flows logically, and to please the eye.

9. Eliminate images or phrases that appear in the other ads. Find a different, more interesting way to express it.

10. Don’t let the directory do your ad for free. It will end up costing you too much.

The Ideal Yellow Page Ad

The very best ad is the intersection between what a buyer is looking for, and what a business provides. When a business is attuned to its customers’ priorities and needs, it can say exactly what rings their bell. For example, a harried mother will respond with relief to the phrase, "Free Childcare Provided." That service carries no weight with a business person, who may consider "No extra charge for weekend service calls" the clincher.

What really makes an ad stand out is the specifics, not the generalities (which is what every other ad says). Visit www.yellowpagesage.com for advice from many experts about getting more mileage from your ad. Or obtain a customized critique of your ad, that eliminates the guesswork about what needs fixing.

Directory users are ready to buy. Simplify their lives by making your products and services so "just right" that choosing you is their only sensible choice.

–Dr. Lynella Grant, an expert in visual communication. How printed materials send signals that strengthen or undo the words. Author, The Business Card Book & Yellow Page Smarts http://www.yellowpagesage.com Off the Page Press (719) 395-9450

Unless you have become extremely popular in your personal or business name, you likely need all of the marketing and promotion you can get. Now, you may say, of course, I’m aware of this, but who has the money? This a good and fair question. It may surprise you, though, when I say, you don’t need money for some of the most valuable marketing available — radio advertising.

If you aren’t the kind of person who listens to talk radio, the next time you’re taking a drive, tune in to one of your local talk shows and listen for awhile. Try to find something that is not a sports talk show, although they also offer the type of free advertising I want to explain. What you’ll eventually hear is an interview. A talk show host will have a guest, who is an expert at something. Perhaps it’s a health show, and the subject is weight loss and the guest is talking about some new diet.

Now, listen carefully, because you won’t hear the guest babbling about his book, web site, or going on and on about his great product that is going to melt the pounds off of every fat person in America. What you will hear, in most cases, is someone who is explaining a method for weight loss that is a new approach. Now, at times throughout the show, this expert will certainly mention his product, and the host will ask the expert to tell the audience how to order it.

Even if you are an avid listener to these types of shows, and you’ve heard hundreds of guest experts, what you may not know is that in 99 percent of these cases, this is not paid advertising.

You see, there are thousands of talk show stations in America, and the ones that program only talk shows probably have five to 10 different shows per day. Some quick math will tell you that tens of thousands of talk shows nationwide need things to talk about and guests to keep listeners tuned in. This is where the magic comes in for you. As a new author, salesman or business owner — talk shows need you.

Best of all, virtually anyone can get on a talk show. When I published my first book, Winning the Mortgage Game, I had very little idea how to market it, but I did know I was on a very small budget. I put up a web site, started an ezine, and it was an extremely slow beginning. That is, until I learned about being on radio talk shows. I read a very well-written how-to book by a man namedJoe Sabah about approaching radio producers and getting them to invite me to be a guest on their shows.

The second show I ever did was an hour-lomg interview on a station hundreds of miles away from my home. The producer called me at my house minutes before I was on, and the host began asking me questions about real estate finance. At various points throughout the show, he said Mark, tell listeners how to get your book, and I simply said go to www.winningthemortgagegame.com, and use the credit card of your choice. Believe me, people are much more apt to go to your web site, when they’ve heard you talk about your subject.

Now there are a few keys to getting on the radio and to making your appearances turn into sales of your product. First, you need the names and numbers of the stations and the producers of the shows. Remember, producers book the guests, so they are who you want to talk to. When you get them on the phone, which is not easy, be sure you are prepared. Don’t just say you want to come on and talk about your new book or product. Start by telling them you are an expert in whatever the relevant field is and that you have a new system you want to share with their listeners.

Remember, this is going to be a lot like sales. You need to talk to a lot of producers to get a few bookings. Not everyone is going to jump at what you are offering. Make sure you speak in a good voice, so the producers think you’ll sound good on the show.

When you do get booked, be sure you have several key points that listeners will remember, and make certain they know exactly how to get your product. Incidentally, if you want to get a great list of radio stations and their contact information, look for Joe Sabah’s book. Radio talk shows are one of the best free ways to advertise you’ll ever get. Take advantage.

Mark Barnes is author of Winning the Mortgage Game and several other finance books. He is also publisher of Biz Sense Online and Let’s Talk Sports, weekly business and entertainment ezines. Learn how you can educate yourself and give to charity at the same time, when you purchase Winning the Mortgage Game at www.winningthemortgagegame.com. To get Biz Sense Online, send a blank e-mail to bizsenseonline@getresponse.com. To get Let’s Talk Sports, send a blank e-mail to letstalksports@getresponse.com

 New Age Media Concepts issues its first article of many that will focus on the advertising and marketing industry.

"If a young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person and that’s marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is — that’s advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is — that’s public relations." By S.H. Simmons.

Welcome to New Age Media Concepts, Inc. where we understand your needs and how to maximize your marketing dollar.

Marketing is your strategy for allocating resources (time and money) in order to achieve your objectives.

People have their own unique perceptions of the world based on their belief system. The most innovative ideas, the greatest products, or a superior service succeed only when you market within the context of people’s perceptions.  This is true from something as simple as the pet rock craze of the 1970s to the marketing muscle of Wall Street and the Internet boom of the 1990s.

Context can be many things, singly or simultaneously. To name a few, you may market to your customers within the context of their wants, needs, problems solved, or situation improved. Current and potential advertisers need to be aware of many other contexts, such as social and economic trends or governmental regulations.

People don’t just "buy" a product or a service. They "buy" the concept of what that product will do for them, or help them do for themselves.  People just don’t “buy” a laundry detergent, they buy the perceived notion of what that laundry detergent brand says it can accomplish for them. Otherwise every brand in the supermarket will be a no-frills. This is not to say that if a product fails to meet the customers’ expectations that product will be successful in the long haul. No amount of advertising and marketing will help a failed product succeed in that scenario.

To have a successful campaign a product or service must understand that they need to start out with something a consumer needs, wants, or improves their situation and that product or service actually does help the consumer for the long haul.

The New York Times said it best in a recent article, “Companies can’t Buy Love with Bargains” Building brand loyalty is more than just hyping the consumer into buying a product, it’s gaining their trust and the trust of their family both today and for years to come. One example of great brand building is H.J. Heinz, (NYSE: HNZ) they have been around for decades and they gained the loyalty and trust of the consumer spanning generations, now that is great brand building.

Anyone could hype a brand for short term gains but that doesn’t accomplish the goals of the advertiser or the consumer. It looks good initially but what happens when the product isn’t flying off the shelves any longer and the consumers have lost trust in the product or the company?. Of course you need new and innovative ways to get your message to the consumer but this message has to be geared to building consumer loyalty and not just hype. Even the largest companies make this mistake and pay for it with decreased sales and profit margins.

So whether a consumer is buying a car from Ford (NYSE: F) , a can of beer from Anheuser Busch (NYSE:BUD) or software from Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), the advertiser needs to cater to the needs of the consumer.

Louis Victor has been involved in the investment, advertising, marketing and public relations industries for close to two decades.

If you have been following the recent advertising news you will notice that more and more major advertisers are looking to smaller ad agencies to handle their campaigns.

Is it because they feel bad? Is it because they are cheaper? Or is it because they see the level of creative talent of smaller agencies?

Lets take a quick look at why this is happening and how this is good for the consumers and the advertisers. When I use the term smaller it doesn’t mean that it’s a one-man show, but that they aren’t part of the  “BIG 6”. Now with that said lets continue, smaller agencies have a hunger to succeed, they have a need to be customer service oriented, they have a desire to be more creative without the fear of upsetting upper management. Take these points into account and you have an agency that will be tenacious and with the number one goal of showing their clients results.

At New Age Media Concepts, we believe that major advertisers deserve better results from their campaigns, don’t get me wrong there have been great campaigns launched but who are going to be the new creative minds to develop the next memorable moment in advertising history?

If advertisers like General Motors, Ford, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Microsoft, Burger King, Toyota, Home Depot, Wendy’s, ConAgra Foods, Wal-Mart Stores, American Express, Colgate Palmolive, Intel and the many others are looking beyond what agencies they are accustomed to working with and are looking towards connecting with their consumers in a big way, then they have to look beyond the brick and bring in a creative team that can help them do that.

Consumers today aren’t ignorant and in this age of reality television and the shock factor mentality, advertisers need to step up to the plate and shed their skin to be able to reach the new age of consumers, the ones that are their core audience, the ones that will have brand loyalty.

By Louis Victor – New Age Media Concepts, August 31, 2004
info@namct.com

Louis Victor has been involved in the investment, advertising, marketing and public relations indutries for close to two decades. Through various articles he looks to give some insight on various topics as it relates to these industries.

SELLING DIRECTLY FROM A CLASSIFIED AD

Classified ads can be used to sell products directly from the ad.
This works best for items costing no more than
approximately $5. The best use for classified ads is to utilize
them in obtaining inquiries. This is called the two step
approach. The first step is to get maximum inquiries from the
classified ad, in the second step the promotional package is sent
to the prospect and as many inquiries as possible are converted
to buyers.

CLASSIFIED ADS FOR MAXIMUM INQUIRIES

Classified ads are substantially less expensive than small space
ads, but by no means are they cheap. Most national publications
catering to the mail order business charge from $3 to $8 per
word. A well laid out ad should consist of about 20 words which
includes the company name and address. It is important that you
remind yourself that only the purpose is to get the prospect to
take immediate action and write for more information.

Before you write the ad know exactly what it is you want to sell.
You must know very specifically what you are going to accomplish
through this ad. Once you have determined what you want to get
across to the reader, write it out in one or more complete
sentences. For example, you have the reproduction rights for
several reports and want to market them. So the objective is: "I
want to get the maximum number of responses to inquire about my
self-publishing material which has excellent income potential and
is easy to market, especially for a newcomer to the business."

This ad may read as follows:

TREMENDOUS PROFITS THROUGH SELF-PUBLISHING! Start part-time. Easy
to do. Request free Special Report! XYZ Publishing/E, PO Box
1000, Frederick, MD 20908.

THE OPENING LINE

The first 3 or 4 words– are critical. Since there are hundreds
of classified ads in any given publication you must be able to
get the reader who scans all, or some of them, to stop in his
tracks when he gets to your ad and read your ad and then take
action.

Open any publication and review the ads and you will see that
many of those ads have absolutely no purpose. They are a total
waste of money. But that is good for you since I am sure you will
make a real effort to get your message across. Here are a couple
of examples of useless ads:

Still Looking For A New Beginning? Write…….

What do they mean by that? How does any of that pertain tome and
what am I supposed to make of that? Here is another one:

The Easiest Business On Earth. Valuable information mailed
free…..

Do you think many people are going to write in for an ad like
that. Especially not since there are hundreds of other ads in
competition for the readers’ time.

THE OBJECT IS TO GET THE READER TO TAKE ACTION - NOW!

In less that 25 words you have to create a message that will make
a reader stop; give him a reason - benefits to him - why this is
for him; tell him what to do - action; and provide the vital
information. It is as simple and as complicated as that. Simple
because you know what you want to accomplish, but complicated
because it has to be done with so few words. I think you can see
why it is virtually impossible to sell a $10 or $20 item from a
classified ad. You just would not have enough space to tell a
story compelling enough to convince someone to part with $10 or
$20.

SELF-CENTERED ADVERTISING COPY IS INEFFECTIVE

With some practice you should have no problem getting lots of
inquiries from your ads. Stay away from "Self-centered
advertising copy", copy that speaks about you. How great you or
your company are, or how great your product is.

The only thing the reader cares about is himself. What’s in in
for Number One! Nothing else.

SOME COST SAVING TIPS

Almost all weekly and monthly publication will charge for each
word including your company name and address. Most daily
newspapers have a per line rate. Since just the address can take
up from 6-10 words here are some ways you can save money.

The following ad has 23 words.

TREMENDOUS PROFITS THROUGH SELF-PUBLISHING
Start part-time. Easy to do.
XYZ Publishing Co.
Dept 12 P.O. Box 1000 Frederick, MD 20908

This ad has 21 words.

TREMENDOUS PROFITS THROUGH SELF-PUBLISHING
Start part-time. Easy to do. Free details.
XYZ Publishing/E (The E becomes the code instead of Dept 12
PO Box 1000
Frederick, MD 20908

Or this one which has 18 words

SELF-PUBLISHING, TREMENDOUS PROFITS!
Start part-time. Easy! Free report.
XYZ Publishing/E
PO Box 1000
Frederick, MD 20908

Some publications charge 2 words for the zip code and state, some
only one. If you live in a city which consists of several words
such as Palm Beach Gardens you are only charged for 1 word.

Evaluate the cost effectiveness of your ad by the cost per
inquiry and not the cost of the ad. Example a $150 ad generates
170 inquiries $0.88 per word versus a $28 ad which generates 15
inquiries at a cost of $1.87 each.

WHEN THE INQUIRIES START ARRIVING

If you have written and placed an effective ad and the inquiries
start rolling in, the most important job, or actually several
jobs have to be done. They are as follows:

1. Your sales/promotional package must be ready before the first
inquiry arrives and it must be answered promptly, preferably the
same day but certainly within 48 hours. The longer you wait the
more chances are that a competitor will win out over you.
Although some people will wait for weeks before they make a
decision, many will act within days.

2. The ad you are placing is just the beginning. The names which
are generated from the ad must be used again and again in order
for your total advertising effort to be effective in the long
term.

3. A percentage of your inquiries from this first ad will become
buyers. You need to send these buyers additional offers within
several weeks after their first purchase and thereafter mail at
least 3 times per year to them. You drop them from your list if
they have not bought anything for about 8 - 12 months.

4. The inquiries that did not buy buy this time may still buy at
a later time. You can send them the same material again, or a
similar offer. It is advisable to send 2-3 more mailing to them.

Many mail order companies may only make a small profit or just
break even when the actual sales results are measured against a
single ad. But over the life of the customers which are converted
from those inquiries and the subsequent purchases from the
inquiries who were not converted from the initial ad many
hundreds or thousands of additional dollars will be generated.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer

This article may be reproduced freely on the Internet as long as the resource box remains intact.

DeAnna Spencer is a virtual assistant that helps entrepreneurs run a successful business by providing affordable administrative help. She also publishes a blog for small business owners. Visit this small business resource today.

In the marketing world, radio has earned the reputation of being the odd step-cousin. You know the one. No one knows quite what to do with him. Especially at family gatherings when everyone tries hard to avoid sitting with him. (After all, who knows WHAT he’ll start talking about.)

Much of that reputation comes from radio being tough to track. On one hand, radio does work. Businesses do notice an increase in sales when they add radio to the mix. However, radio doesn’t test well. In surveys and other tracking methods, radio tends to be the one with the dismal scores.

A good friend of mine, who’s also a marketing consultant but before that she sold radio for many years, has a theory about that. She says radio works on a subconscious or unconscious level. People remember the ad, but not that they heard it on the radio. So, they tend to credit a different medium for the ad, like the yellow pages. Yellow pages gets a boost while radio drops a few points.

Regardless, radio should not be ignored because it does work. And many marketing consultants will probably tell you radio is an excellent medium to reach a local market.

However, I feel there are possibilities beyond merely reaching local customers.

Internet radio shows are starting to take off in a big way. That means advertising and sponsorship opportunities are also taking off. In addition, "offline" methods have been shown to be pretty effective at driving traffic online. If increasing Web traffic is your goal, using traditional media outlets to increase traffic should be a part of your mix.

If people already know you (which they might in your local market) they’re more likely to be loyal. And they’re more likely to send other customers to your site. Depending on the costs of radio in your community, radio may be a very affordable way to get a good viral campaign going. (A viral campaign is when your customers send promotional items about your business such as e-mails, articles, Web site urls, etc. to their friends and family members.)

Below are some other positive reasons to use radio:

* Affordable — when you compare spot to spot, radio tends to be one of the least expensive media out there. However, one spot ain’t going to do it. To reach your target market, you need to purchase several spots. That’s why radio can also turn into one of the more expensive media. However, there are ways to keep your costs in line yet still reap the benefits of radio — for instance, buying less spots but running them all in one or two weeks, so your customers are more likely to hear your message.

* Psychological, if you voice the commercials yourself — hearing your voice makes people feel like they "know" you. (Hence the popularity of audio on Web sites. In fact, marketing gurus claim just by adding audio to a site substantially increases how many people buy.)

People tend to buy from people and businesses they know and trust. Hearing your voice helps them feel as if they know you. These psychological aspects may be another reason to consider running a few radio ads in your local market even if you have an Internet business.

* Speed — you can get your spot up and running in no time.

* Loyalty — listeners choose stations based on the music or shows they like and they tend to be quite loyal to that station. If you know what your customers enjoy listening to, it’s an excellent way to reach them. (I include both music and talk shows in this.)

* Good support medium — radio works really well when paired with other marketing mediums (like print, direct mail or television).

But for every positive, there’s a negative. In the spirit of being objective, here are a few for radio:

* Background medium — radio tends to be on in the background, which means it tends to be ignored. Generally, your target market needs to be exposed to your ad more times than other marketing media before they’ll act upon your message.

* Little staying power — the lack of visuals again keeps radio from "sticking" with people. At least, that’s what some of the marketing gurus say. But, here again my marketing consultant friend differs. She thinks it’s that subconscious thing again.

And if you can write a spot that creates pictures in your customers’ heads, you can actually work this to your advantage. In fact, according to my friend, if the picture is defined enough, not only will people remember it better, but they’ll also think it was a print ad instead of a radio ad. (More on the art of creating pictures using words in later issues.)

* Hard to track – it’s impossible to know exactly how many people are tuning in at any given time.

A final note: Because radio is subconscious, keep that in mind when crafting your ad. Repeat your business name a lot and any other branding info, so it gets into your customers’ heads. Don’t put in phone numbers. Instead, purchase a memorable Web site domain name and repeat that. And remember to create "pictures" whenever possible.

Creativity Exercise — How can you use radio in your business?

Would radio work for your business? Let’s find out.

Take out a sheet of paper and a fun pen. (I’m partial to gel pens.) Draw a line down the center.

On one side, put the header: Why advertising on radio is a good idea for my business. On the other side, put the header: Why advertising is a bad idea for my business.

Now pick a side and start writing down reasons.

You might be more comfortable starting with the side that’s easiest for you. Then when you work on the other side, you can simply turn the reasons around.

For instance, let’s say you started with the bad idea. One of your reasons was: My product is completely visual. You could turn it around by saying "Because my product is so visual, I’ll have to work harder to create pictures in my customers’ minds. And because the customers create their own pictures, they’re more likely to remember them."

Or what if you started with a good idea, and one of the reasons was: "Because my business is local." You could turn it around and say "Because radio is holding me back — I’m only reaching this local market." (Ah, now I’m even going against what I said earlier. Maybe with this statement you could look for ways to get your customers to spread the word outside the area about your business.)

As you saw by my last example, you’ll be amazed at what comes out when you do this exercise. Even if you don’t change your views on radio advertising, you may come up with new and powerful insights to your business.

Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com

The very name "advertainment" sends thrilling vibrations up the spine of anyone with marketing in their blood or communication in their genes. And it produces a strong shiver of disgust from many of my colleagues in the music industry.

"I don’t want my songs to be involved in advertising," they say, forgetting entirely that by wearing branded running shoes, a t-shirt hawking Fender guitars and a baseball cap emblazoned with the Peavey logo, their very lives are involved in advertising. Plus, if they attend an awards show, they happily state the brand and designer names of everything they’re wearing.

They further ignore the fact that radio itself is a form of advertainment. What gets played has little to do with musical accomplishment or artistic merit, but is directly related to the backing of large corporate distributors. I have been told to budget anywhere from a quarter of a million dollars to $350,000 in promotional costs to obtain national radio play on (the appropriately-named) commercial radio stations. Is it any wonder that corporations are seeking ways to build a little brand awareness into the songs?

Turn on any rap, urban or hip hop station and you can start counting the product mentions in the lyrics, some paid-for, some just happenstance. In the electronic-pop field, I have done it myself. On my "Electro Bop" album are songs such as "Paranormal Radio" (which begins as a documentary about American Technology Corporation’s HyperSonic Sound system), "Sheena Sez" (about talk radio host Sheena Metal), and "Check the Tech" (about the joys of watching the TechTV channel).

Has this advertainment hurt acceptance of the album? Not that I’ve noticed. Many e-mails from around the world cite "Paranormal Radio" as their favorite track. Not one person has complained about the ad messages, I assume because the audience for my dance-oriented music is pleased to receive information about technology and a far-out rock-talk jock such as Ms. Metal.

Ads and entertainment go hand-in-wallet in many other ways, some pretty strange. In music alone, we have all wondered about Bob Dylan’s "Love Sick" in Victoria’s Secret commercials (not to mention Mr. D himself smirking between shots of the lovely bodies wearing the lingerie). But don’t overlook Keith Richards in the "Cover Girl" ad while "Honky Tonk Women" plays, or Willie Nelson’s "Red Headed Stranger" in the Herbal Essence spot, or Iggy Pop’s liquor/drug/sex-soaked "Lust for Life" blasting throughout the Royal Caribbean commercials. (Love to work with the Account Executive who was able to sell that concept!) By contrast, Sting crooning from the back seat of a Jaguar seems a very model of demographic compatibility.

And that’s the point: ads and public relations are routinely dismissed as silly, annoying, intrusive or a waste of time right up to the moment when they are delivering facts the reader or listener wants. Then, suddenly, the sponsored message is viewed as helpful and instructive. Therefore, the trick is to achieve the right match between audience and message.

One problem is choosing your media. Just listing advertising outlets can be daunting: TV, radio, outdoor, newspapers, magazines, transit, direct mail, Internet banner. Many of these have subsets: paid inserts (advertorial) in newspapers and magazines, sponsored "newsbreaks" and infomercials on broadcast media, static or animated announcements at stadia, those dreaded ‘Net pop-ups, brand names on sports uniforms and equipment (can you say NASCAR?), etc.

One of the most enjoyable categories for producers of both music and advertising is viral ‘Net marketing, which has had some notable success stories such as BMW Films, the Seinfeld AmEx campaign, and of course, Burger King’s Subservient Chicken.

We haven’t even considered cooperative advertising, which can be anything from myriad logos at the bottom of an event poster to the branded music tones and flashing-light Intel trademark that ends every other commercial for someone else’s computer products.

But it extends further. Consider: Magazines that sell cover stories; product placement in movies and TV (and yes, live theater); branded clothing; bumper stickers; even fliers stuck on parked cars. There are ad messages on private automobiles (and those anti-humanistic trucks that some insist are called SUVs). Pull up behind a vehicle in traffic and you can read an ad for the car dealership on the license plate frame, plus another piece of public relations for the state on the plate itself. (Come on, you don’t think it’s hype to put "Land of enchantment" on every vehicle licensed in the state of New Mexico?)

You might think that this plethora of options makes it easier for firms to get their messages across to their targeted demographics, but a good case can be made for the opposite view. TV audiences are turning to Tivo and pay-per-view. Radio audiences are discovering XM and Sirius Satellite Radio. Newspaper readership is becoming an oxymoron. Motion picture audiences can be heard groaning, mocking or booing the pre-feature commercials.

This means there are a lot of people working on new ways to get the product benefits into the brains of the consumers. I do it with humorous radio scripts and subliminally seductive music, but there are going to be some innovations in our industry, and at the risk of appearing foolish, I’m going to make a few predictions. Within the next few years, we’ll see:

* Debit card scanners in TV sets, so you can order during a commercial with the flick of your remote.

* Barcodes in songs, so you can download from iTunes by swiping your XM or Sirius player with your Visa or MasterCard.

* Credit cards built into wristwatches, so your "plastic money" is always close at hand.

* Links to product sites in every scene of DVD movies or computer games. Do you want the shoes in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater game? Click-click-click and they’re on their way to you via FedEx (note product placement for the big competitor to United Parcel Service).

* Broadcasts of infotainment and advertainment will pop up everywhere: in public restrooms, at the Starbucks, at traffic signals, at the gas pump, on your mailbox, in the packages you purchase, in the parcels that arrive at your door, etc.

* Captive broadcasts. Just as you can preview the music on packaged CDs (available in EU now, but coming soon to the USA), the product benefits, price points and warranty information will play as soon as you lift up a product in the store.

* Digitized logo placement in the rebroadcasts of syndicated TV shows ("Hey, we can sell the product placement another three times!")

* Branded ingredient lists on menus.

* Corporate artwork that takes you on a virtual tour of the company.

* Interactive ads, where you get to play Jerry Seinfeld and/or Superman (or the driver of the BMW) in a five-minute escape from reality (and from reality TV).

* Holographic projections of commercials from postage stamps, car and house keys, magazine covers and ad pages, etc.

And these are just the changes we’ll be seeing in the next few years. We’re not even discussing the opportunities for advertainment once we move beyond traditional broadcast methodology; when microchips are embedded under your skin, YOU will be the receiver for TV, radio, satellite, telephone, and global positioning system signals. And at that point, the possibilities for marketing communication via advertainment are going to become truly mind-boggling.

Are these prospects exciting, frightening, or both? My view is positive. After all, a lot of these new forms of communication are going to need my scripts and my music.

# # #

Scott G is president of G-Man Music & Radical Radio. His music is on commercials for Verizon Wireless, Goodrich, Monaco Motor Coaches, BAE Systems and more. A creative director of the National Association of Record Industry Professionals (NARIP) and a member of The Recording Academy (NARAS), he writes about music for MusicDish.com and the Immedia Wire Service. The G-Man’s albums are released by Delvian Records and are on Apple’s iTunes. He can be reached via http://www.gmanmusic.com.

Can it be???

Is there advertising that people actually love?

You bet there is! And you are already very aware of it. The type of advertising I’m referring to is promotional items, also known as advertising specialties. It’s anything a company would put their logo and contact information on, and then give away. They are used by many businesses all over the world to help maintain, and increase the amount of business they do with their customers every day.

Why do people love it? Because we view the item more as a gift from the giver instead of an advertising tool. Have you ever been handed a logoed scratch pad, coffee mug, pen, coaster, calendar, etc. and then said THANK YOU? Of course you have. We all have.

When you accept it, an emotional (almost an obligation to do business with) type of attachment is created in you. A kind of warm & fuzzy feeling if you will. For a long time they’ll remember the gift you gave, and in order to show their appreciation to you, almost instinctively, they’ll try to do more business with you. That’s the secret behind this type of advertising!!!

And that’s why it’s The ONLY type of advertising people love. AND it’ll work powerfully for you too!!

The next time you’re pondering ways to increase your business, consider using promotional items.

Scott Rauber, Biz Promo, LLC - In the business of helping businesses get more business. Master of finding prospects using little or no money.

Pay close attention and make it work the best for you.

No doubt you’ve listened to, and then quickly deleted, messages from account execs from your local radio stations. Maybe you’ve even entertained them in your office. Hopefully you didn’t have to sanitize your phone or office afterwards.

Well, radio can be great way to garner awareness cheaply… ahem, inexpensively… if you do it right. Remember… 97.823% of all radio ads S-U-C-K. That leaves you to carry the banner for great radio advertising. And when you do, you will get noticed. Believe me, you will get noticed.

Why do so many radio ads suck? Between the screaming car ads, nasally voiced business owners who should never get anywhere near a microphone reading their own ads, and the next “turnkey” business opportunity, they are all dressed in their plaid suits and resorting to hucksterism. They want your money and they want it now.

They forget one thing. Well, actually a lot of things, but the main thing they forget that people are not tuning in for their ad. Listeners want Rush, Rome, Al, Laura, music, sports, news, or whatever. People aren’t saying, “Gee, I gotta hear great heating and air conditioning ads today!”

Your ad is interrupting what they listen for. By nature, you are already behind the eight ball before you start in radio. But there is hope.

First off, do NOT let a radio station employee write your ad.

If your exec isn’t a writer (you may luck out in that some radio execs are copywriters in training looking for an agency gig) and you don’t speak up, your ad will probably get written by either: the station producer- who may have already written 4 or 5 other ads that same DAY,who doesn’t have enough time to fully attend to your needs, and thereby wasting your money; OR a disc jockey (strange term- they don’t spin wax anymore, Daddy-O) whose annoyed he or she has to write an ad, or who’s not a talented writer to begin with, also wasting your money; OR by an intern, secretary, or other employee - who may relish the opportunity, but may not have the chops yet, or is being pressured to write something “quick and dirty” so it can produced and on the air — also thereby wasting your money.

You have creative control and the ultimate yay or nay, so feel free to choose your writer. Hint and Shameless Plug : There is a link here to direct you to an excellent radio writer. It’s http://www.brandedbetter.com.

Now, when it comes down to concepting and reviewing scripts, remember this: Radio is called Theater of the Mind for good reason. Use it to your advantage. Recall your disadvantage before starting.

Cleverness will grab attention. But… it must be on strategy to be effective. Give your writer ONE benefit to express. How does that benefit resonate with the target audience? Don’t think if you have a “mundane” or “boring” product or service, there’s no cleverness to be had. Give a good writer enough information, and they will find it.

A few of the BEST radio ads I’ve ever heard was for a soil conditioner. Yup. A soil conditioner. Two voices. One performed by the writer. The other performed by midlevel (read… talented, and nonunion) voice talent. Writer as The Hick Farmer. Nonunion Talent as the Smart Farmer.

Hick Farmer: “Hey, nay-bor…Whatzzat on yer roof?”

Smart Farmer: (obviously) “It’s a satellite dish.”

Hick Farmer: "Whazzit fer…? Talkin’ to the Martians?"

You can almost hear the slack jaw in your head. And it makes you want to hear more. That’s your goal for radio.

Another ad for the same product was even better.

Smart Farmer: "Hey, neighbor… Why so glum?"

Hick Farmer: "Aw… the weeds, the bugs, the disease… my crops are about ruined… I’ve had an awful year. The wife has been pickin’ her tooth for leftovers."

Now, I’m not a farmer. I never heard of conditioning soil. But, you can bet I understood what it did after these ads. And did I mention I was wondrously entertained when receiving this information?

To be fair, these ads were produced by an ad agency with a good sized budget. The campaign also won some ad awards and some industry awards. The point is– a good ad isn’t loud, repetitive, trite, condescending, or tries to jam as many words possible into the time frame. In fact, silence works to your advantage. Silence in radio (or even TV) is like white space on a print ad. It tastefully surrounds the content for maximum effectiveness, drawing the eye (in this case, ear) in to read (hear) the copy.

Voices are important, too. Ever listen to the radio and hear the same voice all over the ads? That’s usually Mr. or Ms. Producer– the person who makes sure the ad gets made. That’s why they don’t have time to write a good one for you. Many freelance writers, myself included, know something about voices and casting, and can probably get you the best talent for your dollar. Some writers can even voice their own copy. And think twice, no… three times about voicing it yourself. Better make that four times.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what length of ad to buy? In most cases, go for the :60. For just a few dollars more, you get twice the time to play with. If you are spending money on radio, use ALL the resources available to you to create the best possible ad. And that usually entails going outside the radio station walls to get it. ~~

John is a freelance commercial writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He publishes a free monthly e-zine focusing on branding, advertising, and marketing from his website http://www.brandedbetter.com. Speaking with both agency and in- house experience, he knows the most valuable asset of a businees is its brand.

One of the challenges facing marketers is determining the most effective level of advertising exposure for a brand, while maintaining a given budget. Conceptually, the media planner could choose continuous advertising (even exposures spread over a period of time) or follow a strategy of pulsing (“on” for some months and “off” for others). The decision is important because the wrong one will considerably affect customer response. When advertisements are run at a low frequency (very few times), they run a risk of going unnoticed. The first time customers view an advertisement, a majority of the time, the message doesn’t even process in their minds. On the other hand, when an advertisement is run at a high frequency, advertising wearout may occur. Therefore, the task at hand is finding just the right frequency for a positive response.

Overly repetitive messages typically have a negative effect on customer attitudes as they relate to a brand. Advertising wearout occurs when, at some level of repetition, the customer’s affective response is either no longer positive or shows a significant decline. Advertising wearout is the result of excessive frequency causing viewers to perceive there’s nothing new to be gained from processing the advertisement, thereby withdrawing attention. That’s assuming all possible customers view every exposure, which is unrealistic. Not every customer will see every rotation. That’s why it becomes difficult to find the optimal level of exposure. Media planners must remember that not every rotation is seen by all customers.

Wearout can also be a hazard, causing negative customer attitudes. Aggressively communicating with your customers doesn’t always lead to poor or deteriorating relationships. But unless media’s carefully planned and executed, it may ruin the opportunity to build long-term customer equity. So, the question is “How do marketers solve the puzzle of how frequently to expose their advertisements?” First, we have to address the issue of wearout. To avoid wearout, marketers frequently develop and rotate a pool of advertisements that employ different executions but convey the same basic message and claims. These executions typically share a number of common features, such as brand name, logo, tag line and general layout, while other features such as headline, copy and graphic elements are varied. The logic is that by introducing ample variations in advertising executions, the onset of wearout will be delayed. At the same time, the continued use of certain features of the advertisement across executions establishes consistency and presumably builds brand recognition or equity.

To understand why wearout occurs, scientists studied the brain to understand cognitive thinking and responses to these situations. They found the brain tends to ignore an object or theme that’s repeated too many times. Essentially, most communication works by triggering memories. Old images or concepts are associated with something in the advertisement, recognizing elements as familiar. In the process, something new may be introduced and the brain links it with the old. When something new or unknown to a customer is presented to the brain for processing it evaluates: a) whether it is new and b) whether it corresponds to prior experience, knowledge and beliefs. The familiar portion of the advertisement is treated more casually. The brain recognizes it and spends less time evaluating its validity. It’s interpreted as given. To that end, marketers should change portions of advertisements to keep customers interested.

Of course, when considering advertising wearout, we must consider that each situation, product, market, and many other characteristics are always variable factors that can’t be conformed to an “advertising mold.” Each situation must be dealt with differently. Radio, television and print media wearout at different levels; print media tends to wearout more quickly than more entertaining forms of media such as television. For example, which would you rather do, watch a commercial over and over, or read an article over and over? Obviously the stimulation that occurs with entertaining commercials will bring customers back more easily than a newspaper or magazine article.

The best way for marketers to fend off wearout is to rotate variations in theme with different executions of the same message strategy.

Regarding low frequencies, the question remains, “What isn’t enough?” That’s also dependent on the situation, but budget allowing, multiple exposures are more effective than one or a few. Media schedules are based on budgets and demographics. When selling products to the elderly, a low frequency will generally suffice. As for teens, the higher the frequency the better. Business-to-business typically requires higher frequency, as well. Simply put, the shorter the attention span of the customer, the more exposures necessary to break through.

There’s no finite answer to the question of advertising wearout. The most important variables in deciding the optimal frequency are an understanding of the customer, rotating different advertisements, and keeping the customer’s attention. There are rewards in reminding the consumer about the attributes of a brand. Reinforcement and refreshment of existing attribute, without wearing out the message, is a primary goal of advertising.

Mark Levit is managing partner of Partners & Levit Advertising New York and a professor of marketing at New York University. For more information visit http://www.partnerslevit.com or call
212-696-1200.