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Someone recently explained to me that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over with the expectation of a different result.  Man, have I ever been insane!  I do this with many aspects of my life, but one example is with computers and technology.  I’m the guy who will continue to try the same couple of combinations while working on a website for about an hour thinking maybe the 99th time will work and I just had to try it 98 times in order to get there!  I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve stayed up messing around with my iPhone or editing HTML on my blog to get everything to line up right.

People do that with their businesses every day.  How many clients tell me they continue to advertise in a local newspaper because it’s what they’ve always done?  It doesn’t really work much if at all, but they like the way the ad looks and it’s something they can hold on to and feel like they are at least making an attempt to draw in new customers.  They tell me all the time how much they don’t like their website, but a friend built it for them and the price was right, but it’s not a very good representation of their services and doesn’t really drive any traffic or even show up in search results.  Another great line I get is, “Well, people don’t really know what we do, but we have a billboard up to get our name out there.”

If you or your business is stuck in a rut, you can come up with all kinds of excuses like “Oh, the economy is terrible right now.”  “People are still out of work”.  “I’d love to re-image our logo and marketing material, but I’m just wearing too many hats right now.”  Continuing to step on the gas, when you are stuck in the mud only digs you in deeper!

Here’s what I have learned in my own life as well as by the example of many successful clients.

1. You have to stop doing the same thing expecting a different result.  Just stop it.  Right now.  Do it!
2. Be willing to make some changes.  Drastic ones if you need to.  Move your location.  Change your company’s name!  Come up with a new logo or color design.  Do something DIFFERENT.
3. Network!  Go to a morning chamber coffee meeting?  It’s awkward to talk to people you don’t know, but what if your next top sales person is there?  Talk to your customers.  Find out what they do for a living.
4. Get some help.  There are tons of marketing and advertising experts in the world.  (I’m one of them)  We spend hours and hours thinking about commercials, design, promotions, all to drive traffic, increase sales, get your customer’s attention.  It’s our full time job.  We have really good ideas and have experience with what works because we work with a lot of other smart businesses out there who know that they can’t do it alone.

Getting help & a support system is an important lesson that I have learned the hard way.  We can’t do it alone.  If you don’t have a team of fans in your corner, co-workers, business partners, etc., then you are doing yourself a disservice.  Your friends will help pull you out of the mud!  And you never know… some time you might be called to return the favor.

So, what are you going to do today that’s different than yesterday?

TV will continue to be the main driver for advertisers according to a recent Strata survey of advertising agencies.  Even though a lot of money is being shifted online, the majority is still being spent on television.

“To advertisers, TV still matters,” said John Shelton, STRATA President/CEO.“But just as radio gave way to television, we can see that TV is slowly giving way to digital. The good news for TV stations and networks—for now – is that they remain the dominant medium. The survey taps into the perception that digital has its limitations in reach and effectiveness and must still be used with traditional media like TV.” (Cable Spots 5/24/10) 

Other noteworthy stats:

• About half of the agencies polled feel that business is improving.
• 25% plan on hiring staff this year.
• 87.5% are likely to use Facebook in a client’s campaign; 57.1% Twitter; 39.3% YouTube.
• 32.1% say their clients will spend less money on radio than they did a year ago.
• 67.9% place digital allocations toward online display, then social media, then PPC/Search/ SEO

We are seeing this in Kansas City as well.  Online advertising has become an important part of a marketing consultation and that wasn’t the case when I entered this industry several years ago.  If you haven’t researched opportunities to advertise on cable providers ISP portals, you are missing out on a great opportunity.

Like this study revealed, TV programming should remain the lion’s share of sound ad allocation, but don’t ignore advertising online.  At Time Warner, we have the ability to place banner ads on www.roadrunner.com.  This is the site where anyone with a kc.rr.com e-mail address can go to check their e-mail.  It’s also a standard homepage for many Internet users.  There are all kinds of local news and programming information, even links to online dating!

The biggest benefit of this site is the fact that all banner ads are exclusively placed by market, so in KC you will only have web banners placed in front of Internet users in Kansas City.  Most competitive sites such as the one run by the local newspaper does not filter online ads to local IP addresses which means there is often a lot of waste!

In the same way that cable TV advertisers eliminate waste by only advertising in the metro area where the majority of the population lives, online opportunities offer the same advantage.  This equates to more commercials or banners in front of the right people more often!

Are you shifting your advertising budget around?  Are you using more digital platforms?  What’s working for you?

Image Source: Wikipedia

I read this morning that CBS, ABC, and Fox affiliates are “seeking some regulatory conditions as a condition of approval of the deal between Comcast and NBC Universal so that they are not put in a competitive disadvantage.” (CableSpots 4/1/10)

 They are worried that the new Comcast/NBC Universal conglomerate will have an unfair competitive advantage when it comes to negotiating retransmission rates and that the Comcast branch might favor the NBCU networks with lower fees.

 Comcast is the largest cable provider in the country and consumer groups are concerned that the deal will result in less competition and higher fees for service.

 These are valid fears.  Competition from satellite and overbuilding cable companies, I think, will continue to keep rates as low as possible.  This is also the reason why each January networks have threatened to pull their content from cable providers like Time Warner.

 While this is national news and may not seem to relate to TV advertising in Kansas City, it is important.  The broadcast networks continue to struggle against their cable competition that has more content to offer and is more efficient because of the ability to geo-target commercials so that a business can get more commercials in the areas where they are most likely to draw customers.  I wrote before that the network audience is aging too.  This isn’t helping local affiliates gain any share in local revenues.  NBC Universal’s Chairman Jeff Gaspin said previously, “‘You can’t dismiss the fact that cable is just much more profitable than broadcast television. I don’t see that changing. Cable is a much superior business model.’”

 The advertising trends are leaning toward the fact that cable TV has the audience because of quality programming and niche channels.  If you are an old school marketer who isn’t taking advantage of the efficiency of cable advertising, then you should seriously reconsider and pay attention to the migration of viewers that is happening.  That head in the sand media buyer or agent is often the same person who is still using the newspaper and doesn’t see the value of the “series of tubes” known as the Internet. 

 Speaking of online advertising…cable media sales departments all over the country are selling that too and have a geo-targeted product that’s better than any radio or TV station because it’s viewers are going to www.roadrunner.com for example, to log in to their e-mail accounts.  If you would like to know more about it or other online marketing tools, get in touch with me.

Image Source: Wikipedia

This is a guest post by former Time Warner Media Local Sales Manager, Phil Brouillette, published in their monthly newsletter in October 2009.

A recent study by Magna Global finds the big three broadcasters are graying, experiencing the oldest prime time audiences the nets have seen in their history!

At the same time broadcasters are aging, cable’s major networks are seeing a decrease in audience ages, says former Magna Global EVP Steve Sternberg.  He has been producing median age reports for more than 15 years, and these recent findings were reported in a Variety interview in September ‘09.  Highlights of the study:

• The median age of the five broadcast nets’ audience for live (not DVR) viewing is 51.  DVR skews younger.
• That’s a big jump from 10 years ago when their median age was 43.
• For the last season, CBS was the oldest network by audience age hitting 55 (DVR median age is 54).  This is the first time it has traveled out of the A25-54 range for live viewing.
• ABC was next at 51 (DVR was 50).
• NBC followed with 49 (47 with DVR).  The addition of Jay Leno in prime time should put them over 50.
• Fox median age was 46 (44 with DVR) and CW was 34 (or 33 DVR).
• In contrast, TBS sports a median age of 35, down from 38 two years ago.
• TNT’s median age has slipped from 46 to 44.
• USA’s median age has held steady for years at 46; FX held steady at 37.

The reason for broadcasts’ age increase, says Sternberg, is that they began to age themselves a decade ago as they mostly got out of the kids and teens business.  Procedural-type dramas such as CSI and Law & Order tend to attract older viewers, and comedy has somewhat collapsed at the same time.  The addition of older skewing reality shows (Dancing With the Stars) and game shows like (Deal or No Deal) haven’t helped to attract younger viewers.  Not good news when media’s coveted demographic is A18-49!

Phil Brouillette is currently the founder of PB Marketing Strategies & Tactics and can be reached via e-mail at pbmarketingstrategies@gmail.com.

Sources: Variety, 8/28/2009; Cable FYI Kansas City Oct. 2009

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One mistake I often identify when visiting with a small business owner, or inexperienced marketer is the desire to be everything to everyone. If you try to advertise in a generic way and you haven’t taken the time to really figure out what it is you do best, then you will be very disappointed with the results of your campaign.

I received training from the Center for Sales Strategy who teaches a 5 step model as well as studied other principles by Al Ries and Jack Trout.  I will summarize how I use their teachings in order to help you make better decisions and get better results from your advertising.  The first step is finding your niche.

Successful marketing comes from a focus on your strengths over your weaknesses.  An example from a coffee shop would be that if 80% of your profits come from your famous danish sales instead of java, then you’re really a pastry shop.  Another thing to consider when figuring out your identity is whether or not anyone else already owns the label of being the leader in that category.  Where do you fall compared to your competition?  What ever you do, don’t try to be the same thing as everyone else.  That’s the opposite of finding a niche, but people do it every day!  Really dig down to figure out a narrow point to focus in on.  When it comes time to advertise, if you can’t say what you want to be to your clients on a billboard, t-shirt, or in a slogan, you haven’t figured it out yet.  Don’t invest any money until you have your identity down pat.

Questions I often ask when trying to figure out a client’s specialty are:

1. What product or service accounts for 80% or more of your business?
2. What do you sell that makes you the most money?  Is that also the most profitable?
3. Even if people don’t realize it, your company is really good at (blank).
4. Are you altering any of your product lines or increasing your services to be more competitve?

Before you can go on to identifying your target or position or are ready to advertise, you really need to know what it is that you should be known for.  What is it that your clients or customers really need from you?  The problem is that many business owners think that everyone should buy from them.  Which would be fantastic, but isn’t realistic.

So, once you have a specialty or category figured out you can move on to the next steps which involve identifying who to target, how you’ll position yourself and then finally what media you want use with a creative message in an advertising campaign or promotion.  The advertising and promotion is often the sexy part that people get excited about, but if you don’t stick to these marketing strategy fundamentals when planning your campaign, you run the risk of wasting your money!

Can you think of any examples of companies who serve niches really well?

These were the most watched programs or events during the week of 12/7-12/13 on local cable networks in Kansas City:

1. ESPN – MNF: Baltimore @ Green Bay, Monday, December 7th
2. ESPN – College Basketball: Kansas @ La Salle, Saturday, December 12th
3. TNT – The Closer, Monday, December 7th
4. USA – WWE Entertainment, Monday, December 7th
5. ESPN – Heisman Trophy, Saturday, December 12th 7-8p
6. USA – WWE Entertainment, Monday, December 7th 8p-9p
7. ESPN – College Football: Appalachian State vs. Montana, Saturday, December 12th
8. BRAVO – Top Chef, Wednesday, December 9th 9-10p

Since sporting events and specials are so popular, these are some of the things that will be coming up that viewers will be watching:

· Big 12 Basketball (Current-Mar)
· SAG Awards (Jan. 23rd)
· NBA All-Star Weekend (Feb. 12th-14th)
· Winter Olympics (Feb. 12th-28th)
· NASCAR (Feb-Nov)
· LFRC Academy Awards (Mar. 7th)
· Royals (Mar-Sept)
· Kid’s Choice Awards (Mar) – 1-sheet coming soon

Other program news of note:
· Season 2 of Leverage continues January 13th on TNT.
· Southland premieres on TNT January 12th.
· The 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards air simultaneously on TBS and TNT January 23rd.
· TBS’s Lopez Tonight will air new episodes beginning January 11th.
· Season 3 of Bravo’s hit series Millionaire Matchmaker premieres January 19th.
· USA’s new drama White Collar has been picked up for a 2nd season. Season one continues Jan. 20th.

It didn’t take long for AT&T to fight back against the Verizon campaign labeling the iPhone as a “broken toy” because it’s 3G network coverage is poor.  You can read more about it here.  I think it was smart to immediately strike back, but is the rebuttal strong enough to overcome the damage that has been done?

It’s no secret that AT&T had been winning the battle for customers because they had the most popular smartphone and while there are some very good alternatives to the iPhone now like the Droid , BlackBerry Storm, T-Mobile G1, and  Palm Pre  just to name a few, none of them will out ”cool” the iPhone.  I do however love the fact that Verizon took their strength and ran with it!  They turned the argument back around to the claim that they have the best 3G network in the country.

My problem with AT&T’s come back is that while they are trying to argue that they have a strong nationwide coverage area, they say they have the best 3G “experience”.  To me, it’s almost giving Verizon affirmation of their claims by playing around with the label.  Verizon claims AT&T’s 3G coverage isn’t very good and they respond with, “well ours is faster!”  At least they do it with some humor.  Directly going after your competitor by name and punching them in the mouth doesn’t come without the risk of getting a return blow.  You’d better be ready for it.

At the end of the battle consumers will have to make a choice between getting the iPhone and dealing with AT&T’s “fast” but lesser than 3G network, or having the coverage they want with an almost-as-hip-as-the-iPhone mobile device.  Either way, I get a kick out of watching these two giants battle it out!  Don’t you?

What do you think of  the campaigns?  And where’s Kansas City’s own Sprint fit into this?

Source: Wikipedia

Is tomorrow Thanksgiving already?  This month has flown by!  I hope you’ve found yourself and your business as busy as I have.  Before I go for the holiday weekend, I wanted to share with you some of the most popular rated programs from earlier in the month.  Nielsen puts out these reports for us each week, but they now delay the information to include DVR viewing.  If a viewer watches a program within 7 days of the original airing, it counts towards the ratings.

The most watched advertising supported cable programs in Kansas City from November 9-15th were:

1. ESPN – MNF: Pittsburgh @ Denver, Monday, November 9^th 7:30p-10:45p – 13.3
2. USA – Monk, Friday, November 13^th 8p-9p – 7.0
3. COMEDY – The Daily Show, Wednesday, November 11^th 10p-10:30p – 5.8
4. LIFE – Project Runway, Thursday, November 12^th 9p-10p – 5.7
5. COMEDY – The Daily Show, Thursday, November 12^th 10p-10:30p – 5.5
6. COMEDY – The Daily Show, Tuesday, November 10^th 10p-10:30p – 4.9
7. USA – White Collar, Friday, November 13^th 9p-10p – 4.8

These top rated programs rate as high as many popular shows seen on regular broadcast channels, but are often a fraction of the price!  The ratings are based on the percentage of household viewers and are not based on any specific demographic.  Are you taking advantage of some of these great shows to invite the viewers to do business with you?

I’m looking forward to spending time with my family this weekend and enjoying all of the great food!  Have a great holiday weekend!

Lately I have found myself going back to the basics with many clients who feel like they need to either confirm that they are on the right track with their marketing and advertising or START OVER! What I find myself doing with them, especially as planning for a new year is taking place, is to go through a marketing strategy model that I’ll write more about here soon. But for now, I wanted to talk about an example of a company that was on the verge of something big, then finally nailed it!

It’s no secret that AT&T has been wildly successful in their cellular business because of their exclusive agreement to sell the iPhone. Their competitors have been struggling with a way to combat this iPhone popularity. AT&T made the gadget itself the most important selling point. Verizon has long been known for having the best network, but because the iPhone was so popular, people didn’t care so much. Then they came out with a TV and radio ad campaign that in my opinion really missed the mark. What Verizon wanted to do was show that no matter how “cool” the iPhone was, it wouldn’t have very good performance because it’s on an inferior network. Their horrible slogan…”there’s a ‘map’ for that”.

This was a blatant rip off of Apple’s very popular commercials that suggest that anything you’d ever want to do in your life has an iPhone application to go with it. The problem with Verizon’s tag line was that all it did was point out that the iPhone has a lot of really cool apps. I believe you should always point out your strengths and avoid giving your competition too much credit.

Enter the new campaign…I saw the ad below on TV the other night and found it to be a stroke of genius. Take a look for yourself:

Awwww! That sad little iPhone with all of its cool apps is on the island of misfit toys because its network sucks! That’s the point they’re trying to make anyway and I think this time it may stick. I found this to be a brilliant example of positioning a company’s strength and making the competition look darn near irrelevant.

How does this relate to your business? Every company should have a competitive advantage against their rivals. It’s something that makes you special or unique. When it comes to your advertising campaigns, this point should be burned into the mind of your core target so that your customers will know why they should be doing business with you instead of someone else. Are you taking advantage of that? If you’re not quite on the right track, maybe it’s time for a reassessment.

I’m in the process of upgrading my site to Wordpress.  Look for more great content and an easier to navigate site soon!