Radio is a marathon runner. Try to use it as a sprinter AND expect it to perform for you over the long haul, and you're dead meat.
Meaning that, the way radio works best is when you come up with an engaging, salient brand message. Then, you repeat that message endlessly until you worm your way into the hearts and minds of your market. In the end, you gain category dominance (i.e., you win the marathon) by becoming the first name people think of when they need whatever it is you sell.
A perfectly valid model.
However, what about a campaign that spans various media?
Not just radio but, say, print and web as well?
Is it still a marathon?
I say, yes--and no.
Consider this: a proper ad campaign is a triathlon.
WE'VE JUST HEARD ONE OF THE BEST THINGS A CUSTOMER CAN SAY
One of our clients is a New England optometrist. He was mentioned here about a month ago when discussing expectation management.
We presently have him running on radio, in local print media and online.
Each of the radio commercials is the good doctor talking about a different aspect of eye care.
Each of the print ads is a "quote" from the good doctor, talking about a different aspect of eye care--reflecting what's in the radio.
The website is all about the good doctor's particular brand of eye care, and maintains the same simple, folksy language as the radio and the print.
It's all working together.
And recently, a new patient was asked how she had found the good doctor.
Most business owners are waiting to hear something like, "Well, I heard you on Joe Blow's WXYZ Morning Zoo yesterday at 8:12, and I immediately picked up the phone and called for an appointment."
This, of course is not what she said. (Almost nobody ever says anything this specific and if they do, they're probably mistaken.)
What she said was, "You've been popping up all over the place. Your advertising is working."
WELCOME TO THE BRAND
For the last 10 weeks, this woman has been routinely pelted with the doctor's message.
It's on her radio.
It's in her newspaper and her local supermarket giveaway rag.
If she's been to the website, she's finding the same messages coming out of her computer.
There has been absolutely NO offer-driven advertising of any kind.
No "mention this ad for 10% off" inanity that so many advertisers try to push into their ads in an effort to "prove" one particular medium is working better than another.
What this woman has been hearing and seeing is a man who has no interest in anything other than delivering good care at a fair price with a respectful and comfortable manner.
The doctor has been running each event in his marketing triathlon consistently and intelligently--and it's paying off very nicely.
RUNNING THE TRIATHLON IS ALSO PAYING OFF IN ANOTHER WAY...
We were recently talking with the doctor's operations manager (who also happens to be the doctor's wife), and she said something very interesting.
It seems the good doctor is "becoming something of a local celebrity."
You want to talk about feeding a client's ego?
You want to talk about "proving" that his advertising is working?
Put the man (or woman) in the advertising in an intelligent and engaging way, and watch the fun begin.
But the good doctor's celebrity is only the icing on the cake.
The real substance of the campaign's results?
DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF NEW PATIENTS FOR THE LAST TWO MONTHS
That's right.
This is one of those "useless" brand-building ad campaigns we're always told to avoid--and it has doubled the number of new patients for August and September.
Which medium is working better?
Who cares.
All the advertising is of a piece and it's all working in concert to produce the desired result: endlessly reminding the local populous that the good doctor is there for them when they finally decide they want proper eye care.
Now, let's also put this into local perspective.
One of the good doctor's main competitors was running this offer on their website: a contest to "Design our new logo and win a $100 gift certificate."
Really? You want to entrust your marketing image to an amateur artist willing to take a chance at $100 worth of product and service at your business?
I'm sure this was entirely well intentioned. It's also dangerously naïve.
WINNING A TRIATHLON REQUIRES STRENGTH IN ALL EVENTS
I am an amateur triathlete. And I mean Amateur with a capital "A."
Last August, I went into my first triathlon knowing my weaknesses and having exactly one goal: finish in the middle third of the pack.
Understand this: I have never been a competitive runner. But I have run hard on frequent occasions. I have never, ever been a competitive cyclist, but I have frequently ridden hard. I have absolutely never been a competitive swimmer by any stretch of the imagination, and I can't even begin to say I've ever swum hard.
In my first triathlon, I had no hope in hell of winning anything other than the free t-shirt they hand to everyone who crosses the finish line.
But I put it all together as best as I could, knowing exactly where my strengths and weaknesses lay.
And I finished solidly in the middle third of the pack my first time out.
Goal attained.
THE MARKETING TRIATHLON ISN'T ANY EASIER
Few businesses are going to do blazingly stupendous advertising across all media, especially their first time out.
But it is learnable.
If a small business can run it smart and understand why they're saying what they're saying and make all media work together, they can do something most of their competitors can't: they can raise their profile and be noticed.
They can go from being a struggling non-starter to being a reckoning force. They can get their competitors running scared.
BUT THE FIRST REQUIREMENT IS KNOWING ONE'S STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
Then it requires not treating your audience like they're idiots.
Don't ask them to design your logo for a hundred bucks worth of your product.
There's plenty of material out there on how to do marketing properly.
There are plenty of examples of businesses who are doing it well.
One must go into it realizing that no matter how much communication media change, the fundamentals still apply.
Be fundamental and aim to finish solidly in the middle third of the pack--and climb to the top from there.
Blaine Parker
Your Lean, Mean Creative Director in
Park City
|
