FAQ

We believe in “one thought per talk” commercials. Quantity of words should be replaced with the quality of the message... one message or one thought per commercial. Usually this means no more than 85 - 90- words. And remember, each individual number is a word. Even the “dot” in your URL counts as a word.

Well... um, uh,not exactly. What you really want is to give customers a reason to do business with you - a W.I.I.F.M.

Marketing and advertising should not be about the business. It should be about the customer. Every decision anyone has made in their adult life has answered an unspoken (and even sometimes spoken) question – “What’s In it For Me?” - a W.I.I.F.M. If your marketing message answers that question consumers will pay attention to you. There may be many answers to their W.I.I.F.M., or there may only be one. Rest assured, if your advertising and marketing message is about your business and not about the customer, the sound you hear will be crickets and not the cash register.

A few things you should know about today’s consumers and WIIFM’s. Don’t waste precious dollars and seconds on the clock advertising things that don’t matter.

• We have been in business for 300 years… (All your old customers are dead – that may be a little over the top but when I say it live, the room laughs). No one cares how long you have been in business. They want to know “How can you help me? Can you deliver what I need when I need it?”
• We are friendly and dependable. “Um, I would hope so.” They expect you to be friendly and dependable. Has there been an issue I need to know about?
• We are open… Nobody will remember your days or hours of operation. Give them reasons to come (WIIFM’s). If they want to do business with you they will find your store hours from your website, Facebook page or on your front door.

You are trying to hit a moving target. A target that is inundated with over 5,000 marketing messages a day. You have approximately 6 seconds to capture their attention... Your script's opening has got to engage their brain and get them to want to hear the rest. Let’s not put them to sleep.

Phone number?  Probably not. Don’t use them in radio or television ads. Nobody uses them; we look at our Smart phone and say “Call Greg's Hardware.” Voila, there's Greg's Hardware on the phone. Plus a phone number takes up ten words (twenty if you repeat the number) out of 85 words in a :30 commercial with information that no one remembers.  The exception? If your phone number is very memorable like 444-444 or a part of a jingle.

Street Address?  Same thing as your phone number. No one is going to write it down. And most street addresses take six or seven words that no one will remember. If you must give a location use “at the corner of”, “across from” or “next to”. Consumers will be much more likely to remember where you are this way and find you. And NEVER say you are conveniently located. If you are convenient... it goes without saying (wasted words).  If you aren't conveniently located then just tell them how to find you. Besides, Smartphones and Nav systems in cars can get you directions to your destination.  

Web Address?  Yep!  I would. Ever hear of something called SEO - Search Engine Optimization? There is an entire industry of IT professionals who will gladly optimize your website so you are easily found when someone Googles or searches for you. But... with millions of URL's there is no way every business in your category can be on the first page of an organic search, optimized or not. Where and when you come up in a search is constantly changing based upon a variety of parameters.

The most effective way to improve your Search Engine Optimization? Advertising your web address.  Consumers will hear it, see it, remember it and can type in your URL directly. If they do that you’ll be found – every time!  You don't need to say the “www” and remember the dot is a word and numbers are words – even in your web address. They steal precious seconds in your ad.