“Radio Advertising To Create An Avalanche Of Profits!”

Two years or so ago, I called the local Radio station. My plan was to get an interview with the Sales Manager and maybe do some barter. Vacuum Cleaners for advertising time.

Well, they never returned my calls, so I lost interest.

About a year ago, a smartly dressed man & his smartly dressed wife came into my store and gave me $699 for a vacuum cleaner. He was the Sales Manager for the local radio station. His name is Craig Walton.

A week ago he came in and gave my wife his card & said he wanted to talk to me. I was with another customer at the time.

I called him back, and we met...and here is what happened.

He told me that he knew some other area merchants that told him I was a “Marketing Guru” and that he should listen to my ideas. I was flattered, of course. And he asked me how I would use radio to make a profit.

You got that?! He asked me how I would use radio. So my answer pretty much sold me on the idea. I’m a great salesman. Even I can’t say no to me. (that’s a joke)

Anyway, he showed me a deal. $8700 for a year of 60 second spots. With matching AM, and free night spots. He gave me so much free stuff I had no idea how to negotiate. So I just said “OK”.

I had nothing to compare his offer to. It was impossible to shop around. He was “Bundle selling”.

I later told him that he was the first ad rep I ever just paid the asking price to. He said “Did you know that you’re my only account?”

I asked him how that was possible. He said “I wanted to talk to you, and didn’t want to send a rep out. Plus, we bought that vacuum cleaner from you...and I told the reps at the sales meeting that week that they should all come in your store to watch a person really sell.

Anyway, he also agreed to an interview about radio advertising, and you have the CD in this month’s mailing. Enjoy.

He read my book, and asked if I thought of recording it as a “Book on tape”. Or really a book on CD. He owns a recording studio, so he was really selling too. But I said “OK” and the CD version will be out in a month or so.

I’ll sit for a coupe of hours & read my own book. How hard can that be? We’’ll find out.

Craig & I talked (of interview) about some of the mistakes advertisers make when advertising on radio. He mentioned a local company owner that had a website. The name of the site is like www.begood.com (No, that’s not really it). The advertisers just wanted to get as many people as he could to go to his website. His website sells commercial telephone equipment. But he told Craig essentially “I just want to see masses of clicks onto my website. I don’t care who they are. I just want clicks”.

In a month of radio, he got 22 clicks. It was a disaster.

Craig wanted me to listen to the commercial & give my opinion. Here’s the commercial;

“Begood.com, be good.com….www.begood.com” It was just the website name said over & over again with background music. I took a breath.

“Craig. Everything is wrong. He shouldn’t have used radio. He didn’t target his audience at all. He sells commercial equipment. Teenagers aren’t his prospect. The commercial has no benefit. The listener has no reason to go to his website. There isn’t a single part of this that was a good idea” (Claude ““all warm & fuzzy” Whitacre)

Craig said “I know, how would you improve it?”

“Well, if the advertiser insisted on using radio,

and just cared about how many clicks (onto his website) he got, how about this…

““Sitting right in front of your computer?

Stop doing what your doing, and click on www.begood.com and you will be amazed! Www.begood.com...www.begood.com”

I said ““He will get lots of clicks from kids and bored adults. No money will be made, but he’ll get his clicks. OK?”

Oh, and his website name is absolutely useless. In no way does it tell what he sells, convey a benefit, or give his name. Silly.

Anyway, my radio spot is on the CD at the end of the interview. And the very first day it ran, I took in $1,500. Nothing the second day, and today is the third day. So far, my first month is paid for out of profits. I’m a happy camper. And remember, the ad sells a heater….it’’s not even cold out yet.

Listen to the ad. Lots of benefits. I’’m discussing a 15 minute radio spot to really sell the heater. So far, we’ve had sales, but mostly people coming in for a brochure. I want to skip the “I want information to chew on” stage, and have the customer come in ready to buy. I’m already getting that with vacuum cleaner sales.

Here’s the ad;

This is Craig Walton with WQKT. You know with home heating bills from natural gas expected to almost triple this winter, its time to put a stop to this scary situation with the all new Solar Comfort Zone Heater from the Sweeper Store in Wooster. Now, the Solar Comfort is the original infrared zone heater design. It’s the safest, most efficient heating unit on the market today. Solar Comfort is especially safe around pets, around kids, older adults, and distributes heat evenly without the loss of humidity. You can place the Solar Comfort anywhere you want- it looks great, like a small end table- and will heat up to 800 sq. feet. Perfect for any hard to heat area like the master bedroom, family room, nursery, rec room, even the office or in mobile homes. Plus it’s so economical you can turn down the furnace and heat only those areas you want to be warm and toasty saving lots and lots of money. We use one in our home and wouldn’t be without it. We even got two for the Radio Station. But remember, the Solar Comfort is available only at the Sweeper Store. Mention this ad and get a $50 discount on the original Solar Comfort heater. The Sweeper Store is just 3 buildings south of the Green Leaf Restaurant on Cleveland road.

Why don’t I have my phone number in the ad? I don’t want them to call, I want them to come in. I still get calls. But I gave a great local landmark to find my store.

Several years ago, I worked for a couple of weeks with Julius Toth at a mall kiosk selling Air Purifiers for $699.

The only advertising we did was radio. Half of the people coming to our booth heard the radio spots. In one day I sold (I think) 17 air purifiers. Radio can work.

Here is something I learned right away. The ads need to play while you are open. Radio ads have a very short shelf life. An ad playing today will not bring in a customer next week.

The ad should be heard at the latest, an hour before you close. And not on days you are closed. My fantasy is that everyone hears my ad as they are driving on my street on the way to deposit their paycheck.

Craig also said a very smart thing to me to help me “see the light”.

He said; “I read your book. You like direct mail. But nobody can read direct mail while the are driving to work. Nobody watches TV while they drive to work. At the beach, you don’t see people reading their mail or watching TV. They listen to the radio”.

There are several holes in the logic, but I thought it was a brilliant way to show why radio is the way to go.