Hello from the midwest

[maintenanceguy]

My name is Dan and although this isn't the first venture I've been involved with, it is certainly the first where I seek out the customer rather than them just coming to me.
I hope that I will be able to find and use alot of the members knowledge and experiences as well as provide the same myself.

[Patrysha]

Welcome to the forum. I peeked at your website when you posted it in Steve's thread...I would think that it wouldn't be long before your humming along with referrals and a few low level marketing tactics...

[maintenanceguy]

Thankyou for the welcome. Seems strange to me but all of my business right now is from refferals, even though I have spent a ton of money on radio ads. I think I may have one customer from radio and another two to three from web. Everything else is word of mouth.

[Patrysha]

I love radio, when it is done well it's practically like magic! I used to be in radio advertising and saw the way radio could work when well done...but a lot of it isn't. But word of mouth is a hugely powerful when you have a great product or service. It will be the death of you if you fail to please the people you attract. It's largely under-rated part of small business marketing and it kills me to see how many businesses fail to take advantage of their existing customers in their marketing when it's so easy and inexpensive to do...sigh.

[maintenanceguy]

I require that each of the homes we contract to be done better than if it were my own home. Alot of our clients are elderly or younger people that bought our service for their elderly parents. If it were my money and my parents, I would want it done right so mediocrity is not an option. I do love the radio. I would like your thoughts on when I should try to stop the bleeding. I have a LOT of money on the contract with them but I made sure there was an escape clause of two weeks notice if it wasn't working. I am entering my seventh week and have only received one call which I turned into a customer but, that was the only call aside from a few sales calls. Since you were in radio, should I have received at least a few calls by now.

[Patrysha]

It depends...on the number of spots, the distribution, who the target was, what the target of the station is, when the spots played and of course what the ads actually communicated to the listening audience and whether they were in a position to buy or close to it when hearing your spot. I do have a service where I go over all the variables and make recommendations on what I think would work best based on the market and the goals...it might not be a matter of canceling the contract but of tweaking it to meet your needs.

[maintenanceguy]

Ok so don't look at me as being on one side of the fence or another but, I advertise once per day on a local station that carries the Rush Limbaugh show during his show and I advertise twice per day on a station that has a rock program geared towards the 45-55 age group. I am sure you know the demo of the rush show, hence this is why I advertise there. The demo of the rock show is pro's who make 75k or more a year and own their home. I am trying to gear it towards pro's who dont want to do it or have parents that need it etc. I would be very interested in you reviewing these spots and giving me your input. They are sixty second spots but I am not sure they are conveying the message that this service is necessary. Is your service one that designs the commercials or just tell me the ones I have suck? I have also given contracts to reputable personallities for testomonials but still to no avail.

[Patrysha]

Actually, I can only guess at the Rush show demographics, as I haven't actually seen them. Being Canadian, half the time I find what he says to make no sense to me. But that's neither here nor there.

One thing that immediately concerns me is your lack of repetition. Once or twice a day is not going to be enough to hit the 7 impressions quickly to generate a response. Have you heard of that theory in advertising that a person has to be exposed to an ad or business seven times before they take action? Even with direct response copy only a small percentage will respond on first exposure. At least you do have the advantage of being on in the same time ranges every day (the second show is an actual show and not just run of schedule on a rock station, right?) which increases your odds of being heard by the same people every day. In my experience it usually takes about 4 months to reach a level where customers start to internalize the ad message and recognize/mention it. That's how long it took one a day clients to start having customers say "Oh I heard your ad on the radio" on a regular basis.

What I do in the critique is make suggestions for improvements that you can take back to the radio station writers to write and produce. More of an edit than a re-write...just because writing and producing is usually included in your radio contract and why pay for the same service twice, kwim? It's not like they reduce the spot rate if you do bring in a prepared spot. That's not to say I don't offer commercial writing...it's just not part of the critique package.

[Steve B]

I noticed the fact that you didn't repeat very often in the same day also. Sixty second spots seem too long for radio; it's just too easy to change the station and without video it would have to be a really compelling ad to keep my attention that long when all I have to do is push a button to hear something else. I would think you'd be better off with 4 times as many 15 second spots or 2 times as many 30 second spots.

With that said, I've been a miserable failure at every type of advertising I've ever tried to do, so don't listen to me. Or, better yet, doing the opposite of what I suggest might work.

[jamesray50]

Welcome Dan, I like your website. Good luck with getting customers. I'm a new business too and have no customers, but I have a meeting Monday with my first potential client. It looks promising. I had a long conversation with him on the phone and discussed with him what I could do for him and what my billing rate was and he still wanted to meet with me. So I am excited and have been preparing.

[Blessed]

Welcome to the forum... now I'm off to see if I can find this elusive website everyone keeps mentioning :)

Stick it in your signature line - that will make it easier for everyone to find!

[maintenanceguy]

Demographics on Rush in my area is 35-70+ age and 90% make 75k+ per year. These commercials are very expensive. About $55 everytime one plays.$165 per day.
As for the length of the spot, I have been on both sides of that fence and just cannot convey my message in less than sixty seconds. Jo Ellen, good luck with meeting on Monday. I also have a new client meting on Monday. A smart young lady is purchasing my services for her elderly mother. Seems to be a theme or maybe people dont want to get out in the cold since it is six degrees here this morning.

[Patrysha]

You'll want to get a gauge from your sales rep on the percentage of the audience that are homeowners too. You likely don't have enough information compiled yet since you are just starting out with this effort...but you'll want to keep your eyes peeled for the trends to see if you can identify the buying triggers for your clients so that you can niche your efforts most towards the people are on the edge of being ready for your service.

Hate to tell you this but $55/spot is not a high rate...in a metro area during morning drive time some spots are heading towards the $200 mark. In a small town like mine (town has 10,000, about 40,000 in the listening area) the average is around $30 a spot on ROS (which can be reduced with more spots or a longer contract) but a morning drive time specific spot will cost $65.

The easiest way to convey a strong message in less time is with strong story telling...show don't tell...it will save time. Remember radio is theater of the mind...you don't have to say everything out loud to communicate it...

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum Dan. Thanks for joining the community.

[daveb]

hi welcome to the forum. must have been real cold for you in the midwest this winter season lol

[cbscreative]

Hi, Dan. Looks like you've already integrated well here. Welcome to the group.

[KristineS]

Welcome to the forum Dan.