EndorsementRadio.com

Heaven help us.

Roy Williams of the Wizard Academy says that you can train your potential customers to only respond when there’s a discount. So, the advice goes, focus on value, benefits, and continuity. Marketing 101 stuff.

Ignore Roy’s advice at your own peril.

It happened to me.

We’re running ads with a huge local talk show personality for over two years with a discount code. The response during these two years have been phenomenal. Month over month profit.

After analyzing the numbers, we reasoned that we didn’t have to offer that discount code in the radio spot any more. His audience simply responds to anything he says.

So we drop the code. Guess what.

Sales plummet. We add the code back: sales are back on track.

Now, you say, that just means that you need to have an offer in all spots. Maybe. But if you’re advertising something to the right audience and people need what you have to sell, consider thinking long term. Especially if you’re using an endorser. The short term strategy is to generate quick response. But you gotta be tough. You gotta have faith. It’s proven time and time again that if people want what you’ve got, steady wins the race.

And you don’t need 10% off.

I have to take a detour from radio endorsements for just a second. I just lead a creative review of ad agencies at the company where I work. Here’s what I’ve learned: all you agencies say THE EXACT SAME THING. One literally could swap out the logo on 90% of the presentations with any other agency, and you would never know.

It would probably be efficient for all agencies to share the same powerpoint and only differentiate themselves based on referrals.

Here’s the painful thing. I worked at both huge and micro agencies for 11+ years. AND I USED TO SAY THE EXACT SAME THINGS THAT THESE GUYS ARE SAYING. Ouch. I thought I was being soooooooo innovative and creative…especially because I always handled the media portion of the presentation and you just have to talk about “synergies” of creative and content to seem creative. Guess what. Everyone talks about those synergies. Every one.

I’ve learned my lesson. If I were to ever find myself again in the agency world, I think I’d limit my presentation to about 5 pages and spend the rest of the time asking very detailed questions about how they will measure success…and providing about 10 referrals. And doughnuts.

Without further ado, whether they are good or not, here is what every agency will tell you. Guaranteed.

1. Of course, we won’t know everything about your business. But we know everything about generating results.
2. We think like the entrepreneur.
3. We all come from big agencies and were looking to start something different.
4. We are radically different from the other agencies out there.
5. We don’t care about awards. What matters to us is the client’s success. But in case you’re interested, we’ve won…
6. Our teams work collaboratively. The creatives know what media is doing. Media knows what the account planners are doing. Etc.
7. We want our creatives to sit in an open, fun environment.
8. You want to meet the team that will work on your business? They’re us. We are the team.
9. What’s your budget?
10. We’re always optimizing your campaign.

The one that might drive me the most crazy is ‘what’s your budget?’. To me, that’s the wrong question. To me the best questions are:

1. What do you want to acheive, and
2. Can your business handle it if we do achieve that? Prove it.

So, knowing that everyone says the same thing, I think the ideal presentation focuses on questions to the client, an exploration of that energizing idea that will drive business, and very specific case studies, corraborated by the Advertiser.

I also hate using the word “drive” when it comes to marketing or business. Baby steps.

Man, if anybody deserves a national soapbox to talk about what ever he wants on a daily basis, it’s Dennis Miller. Dennis Miller going to talk radio is like all those Hollywood stars doing the big Broadway productions in New York: it raises the level of interest in the show and immediately gives the format a new audience.

Got to meet Mr. Miller on two occassions. Once at the LA Grammy’s (pictured here) and another time for lunch in Santa Barbara.

The guy is class. I love how he thinks. Many people know that he’s changed his mind on certain things (see 9-11-01). And as he says (I’m paraphrasing): I’m as liberal as the next guy, but when people start flying planes into your biggest buildings, that is significant and you’ve gotta fight that.

So he’ll go way “right” on some stuff and way “left” on other stuff. Right or left, he’s entertaining and engaging, exactly what you want in a talk radio star. Regarding endorsements, if he’s behind it, it’s got to be good. I’d probably buy anything he recommended.

Wassup Hiroshi?

Legal Zoom seems to have done it right. They are endorsed by the best and brightest in media. People talking about Legal Zoom.com include Laura Schlesinger, Sean Hannity, Bill Handel, Bill O’Reilly, Dennis Miller, former superior court Judge Napolitano, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Howard Stern, Hugh Hewitt, Glenn Beck and the best of big market, local radio stations. Others that have endorsed Legal Zoom include Jim Cramer, Larry King, and Dr. Joy Browne.

The good news for Legal Zoom, and for their customers, is that we know that the above-listed hosts are all very cautious about their image and thoroughly evaluate a company prior to endorsing that company.

It looks like Legal Zoom is and has been changing the way people approach the law. And with 95% of customers saying they would recommend the company to a friend, it appears that these national media stars are completely validated in their endorsement.

Mark Davis is just plain fun. I’m constantly amazed by great radio personalities. You meet lots of stand-up comics (well, I do) and they are completely different as soon as the microphone is off. They drop everything and you can’t imagine meeting a more un-funny person. Mark Davis is actually MORE amped off the air.

I had the good fortune to sit with Mark over some de lic ious bar b que in Dallas after his show. He had the table of reps and execs in tears of laughter. He’s all Texas in the Big D. You wouldn’t listen to him and say “my, what a great Rhode Island host”. It takes 5 minutes for you to say TEXAS. Not that there’s an accent…there’s just nothing small about him. Well, as far as I know.

And he must sell a lot of product for a lot of people. He’s got a list of companies 10 deep that want to pay the station big money for his endorsement. They must know something.

Big D has a new meaning. Here is a picture of Big D and me.

Chris Baker is another one of those guys that were just born to do this. Twice nominated for major market talk host of the year, Houston’s Baker is (of course) one of those fiery conservatives. But unlike some others, he’s not afraid to take on the republicans. It’s scary how much he knows about national and local politics. And he knew a lot about us, too.

I had a chance to meet Mr. Baker at the KTRH studios on a recent Texas swing. He’s among the best rated shows in Houston, and within a couple of minutes I could see why. I could almost feel my chair being pushed back by his booming personality and voice. And not in a bad way.

I think that for the right advertisers, Chris could sell a heck of a lot of widgets. We’ve got our eye on you, Mr. Baker. Or do you have your eye on us???

Good Lord is Michael Berry fun. I live in California so I don’t get a chance to listen to his Houston radio show (but I’m going to look into this thing called the internet), but the hour and a half lunch I had with him was nothing short of rock-star entertainment. I could barely chew because my mouth was in a perma-grin through the entire meal.

First things first, Berry knows his stuff…and he’s FUNNY. Like Roger Hedgecock in San Diego (who often fills in for Rush), Berry is a politico. He’s actually the current (as of 2007) Mayor Pro Tem (kind of like the vice-mayor) of Houston, so he knows his local politics. But during the course of the lunch we discussed all types of law, sports, politics, marriage, children, world leaders, and ME. Yeah, usually these big name radio talk hosts talk a lot about themselves, but he had a lot of questions for my boss and me. Kind of nice for a change.

I wish Michael well, and I hope he does a good job for our products. He’s off to a nice start. If he’s half as fun on the radio as he was at lunch, Houston listeners have a daily gift at home and in their cars.

I may get a hernia in life. I may have chronic heartburn. But it looks like I can avoid identity theft.

Rush Limbaugh is doing a great job for LifeLock. LifeLock, as I understand it, allows you to register your SSN and then they guard it like pitbulls. In order for your SSN to be used to apply for credit, open accounts, etc., you have to give permission to allow it. In other words, nothing happens to your identity without your say-so.

I love their non-endorsement commercials (though I haven’t heard them in a while…hmmmmm). The founder of the company starts the spot and gives his actual SSN in the commercial, presumably so confident in LifeLock’s system and promise that no-one will be able to do jack with his number.

Obviously, Rush ain’t gonna give his “soshe” out over the airwaves. But he really nails the value proposition, as he typically does. But the real gem is adding a real customer testimonial that equally talks about how great Rush is (finishing with a “God bless you”) as how great the product is.

It’s like double credibility: I love the product and I love the person talking about the product.

Aside from that, the testimonial that Rush reads is great. This customer literally signed up with LifeLock a few days before somebody tried to use her SSN.

Pretty scary stuff. I’ve very rarely taken action on a radio endorsement, despite my passion for this blog. But this is one that I’ve got to do. My dad took 7 years untangling himself from an identity fraud problem originating with someone nabbing his SSN, and it looks like I can avoid all that.

Hernias and heartburn…that’s different.

I’ve had the good fortune to meet Bob McCormick on a number of occassions. Bob’s a true media star. Sure, he’s got the voice for radio, but his face is built for TV. Well, he does a lot of reporting on TV also, but I love him because of his radio endorsements. He’s on KNX 1070, a powerful news and talk station in Los Angeles and he hosts a show called Money 101. It’s basically money and finance for the college educated, but not necessarily the PhDs. Rather, he covers a host of very common issues such as credit fraud, estate planning, mortgage rates, debt and debt relief, stocks and bonds, all the way to the price of gas and how to shop for men’s clothing. It’s usually very good radio.

What I like about his endorsements is that he’s very picky. He really investigates a client before giving his go-ahead, and the management is equally cautious about his image. It makes sense: he’s there telling us every day how to save money and not get suckered into a scam…so he better be recommending the right advertisers.

LegalZoom.com, for example, has had a two year partnership with the man, and the way he delivers his spots so seamlessly fits in with his normal show content, you hardly know it’s an ad. I trust Bob when he says that there’s a better way to manage my debt, and I trust him when he says that I should buy X good or Y service from his favorite companies.

Here’s a pic of me, LegalZoom co-founder Brian Lee, Bob, and his producer together. Good looking guy! Bob, too.

Dr. Greg Cynaumon, the miracle of direct response and endorsement radio’s all time hero, graciously provided me with his thoughts on the psychology of direct response advertising. It’s a fascinating read from someone who has literally helped generate billions…that’s Billions, for his clients and partners. Thanks Dr. Greg!

Psychology AND Direct Response Advertising
By Dr. Greg Cynaumon
President and CEO of Ad•Col•ogy, Inc. A premiere Los Angeles based advertising agency.
www.Adcology.com

To the reader:
The following excerpts were extracted, by permission, from Dr. Cynaumon’s recent seminar to radio station advertising executives.

Many of you may know me from the work I and my Adcology Agency have done for some fairly high-profile radio and television advertisers such as: The Phonics Game, Hooked on Phonics, CortiSlim and currently – SoniClear for acne control. I was asked to share with you today based on one primary distinctive to most of my colleagues in advertising game – I’m a shrink. But before you start to think that having a degree in psychology is some sort of unfair advantage that I have over any other radio station rep or advertising executive, that couldn’t be further from the truth. You most certainly do not need to be a psychologist to create winning advertising campaigns – which by definition is any campaign that earns a lot of money for the advertiser and stays on the air a long time. To create winning ads campaigns you must first change the way you experience any a product or service and this has to be done prior to writing and airing a commercial.

Failure to Psychologically Define the Product
Let’s start with the understanding that advertisers (and account executives at the agency and station level) sadly fail for a multitude of reasons. Even though we could agree that most of the ads we see and hear are poorly written, poorly produced, condescending and even downright insulting, those are still not the reason most advertisers don’t succeed long-term on radio and TV or in print. The real culprit for failure runs deeper – starting with psychologically defining the product or service. By this I mean that selling any product – from garden hoses to anti-aging creams – involves psychology. Even household staple products that everybody uses – like laundry soap – involves subtle psychology to create a niche and a desire to buy. Now imagine how much tougher it is to create a desire to buy when your product is something that consumers don’t even know they want yet!

Defining your product in the psychological sense means understanding every subtle nuance connected with your product. You might find the following very enlightening.
1. How do consumers experience and relate to your product? In other words, what and how do they feel when they see or use your product?
2. Does your advertising reenergize and reinforce the consumer’s experience, because if it doesn’t, you’re missing the mark.
3. Does your advertising message touch on the primary psychological prompts to buy? Primary psychological prompts to buy are related to fears and anxieties. In other words, if the consumer doesn’t buy your product, she will be missing something or feel left out or not part of the group because…
4. Does your advertising message psychologically differentiate your product over your competitors? Unless you’re the only product in your category, you better be able to communicate why yours’ is best in 10 words or less.
5. Is your message so psychologically compelling that consumers are in such a rush to order that they’re willing to risk a traffic accident dialing your 800 number on their cell phone?

Don’t feel embarrassed or alone if these are new ideas – even to the seasoned advertiser or account executive. You’re in a large club!

Do You Really Know Your Product!
Yes, of course you do, but knowing it and understanding it from the consumer’s perspective are two different worlds. You’d be shocked how many company presidents – along with their sales and marketing people – who believe (in good faith) that they understand their consumer, but have missed the boat completely. The reason for this is we can get too close to the product lose objectivity. It’s also common to mistakenly believe that everyone thinks and feels the same way about your product that you do. Wrong.

Still other heads of companies engage in focus groups – a near-total waste of money. Any psychologist will tell you that, any group of people (be it a jury, group therapy session, or a gathering of friends over coffee) will be completely influenced by group-think. Believing focus groups will reveal what consumers think and feel about your product will result in an amalgamation of thoughts – none of them truly helpful in developing a laser-precise marketing plan.

Psychological Prompts to Buy
I’ve found the best way to determine the psychological prompts leading consumers to purchase products can defined by separately interviewing as few as 5 to 10 satisfied customers. Asking questions that extract when they purchased, why they purchased, what did they hear, think or see that caused them to select your product are paramount to understanding and defining your message. Again, it doesn’t take a psychologist to ask good questions and listen.

Creating an Ad Out of What You’ve Learned
Okay, you’ve met with 5 to 10 satisfied customers and you’ve picked their brains clean! Now it’s time to distill what you learned into advertising copy. Here’s a hint… start with themes, words and emotions that you heard repeatedly. These are the cornerstones that will help you to create psychologically compelling ads. Continually go through the FIVE questions above so that you are always answering them based on your interviews. Now all you have to do is to boil it all down to a one-minute message. No sweat!

Testing Your Psychological Prompts Theory
Once you get ad copy that you feel hits the mark – test it! Don’t make the mistake of sharing it with everyone for opinions because, the fact is, some will like it and some wont. You’ll start to doubt yourself and then you’re back to square one – too many cooks in the kitchen. If you based your ad copy on the right psychology, and not on personal opinions, ego, or group-think, then you have a better chance at success.

Deciding Where to Test
Before I take products to television or print, I like testing advertising messages on radio for a number of reasons. Radio is more fluid, dynamic and much easier to adjust on the fly. All advertising should be measurable and radio is the easiest to use for this! If you can’t measure how effective your ad is (dollars earned against dollars spent), then you have no business advertising yet. This is another reason that radio is a great medium for understanding, tailoring and refining ad messages. You can dedicate different 800 numbers or web addresses to different stations and creative differences and instantly measure which resonate best with consumers.

Many advertisers feel that, because much of radio is not nationally syndicated, it can’t be as successful for the advertiser as television. To the contrary, you can create a multi-million dollar smash success on local radio alone – plus radio will tell you how ready you are to start a television, print or mail campaign.

Summary
Hopefully I didn’t alienate any of you by allowing elements of psychobabble to filter into the world of advertising. This approach has served me well and it is the approach we use here at Ad•col•ogy, Inc. If you have specific questions, feel free to send me an email from our www.adcology.com website.