Google Kills The Radio

Ok, so maybe Google hasn’t killed radio in general, but it has killed its radio ad program.

Google Ends Its Program For Selling Radio Ads, screamed the headline last week. The news, not entirely unsurprising, was met with shrugs and whimpers. It was an interesting idea, use Google’s reach to buy time on radio stations nationwide (or region wide). Google would connect you with production teams, let you buy ads using their marketplace and offer analytics to show whether the ad worked.

The general slowdown in advertising, coupled with Google’s recent belt tightening (they killed a similar Print Ad project earlier this year), lead to the demise of the Radio Ads product. Add to that a generally disinterested response from people at radio and you have a recipe for disaster.

What you can learn from this is that single solutions rarely fit every situation. While Google could negotiate ‘networks’ of radio stations to buy ad time from, they couldn’t build the relationships necessary to fill that time with worthwhile messages.

The recession is making every ad purchase that much more important. You need to know that what your spending your money will bring business back to your business. You need to know what works. AdSymetrix helps. We can help you Plan, Place and Perfect your marketing solutions to fit your business situation.

How Cash4Gold Used Blogs to Manage Their Public Relations

If you watch the SuperBowl for the ads - and usually, that is the best strategy - you probably remember the strange commercial from Cash4Gold that featured famously bankrupt spokespersons Ed McMahon and MC Hammer.

The ads, shown here, explain that Cash4Gold will buy your unused gold for their weighted-only value. Meaning you could have a beautifully designed gold lace necklace that you bought for a couple thousand dollars, but because it weighs so little, you’ll only get a few hundred dollars for it.

As the economy worsens, people are looking everywhere for extra cash. The pitch from Cash4Gold is that they can get you cash quickly for gold you’re not using. The whole story isn’t quite told though, as the word Gold brings dollar signs to even the most skeptical eyes.
To combat that skepticism the company has gone on the defensive. They have launched a Cash4Gold weblog, where they refute their critics and try to explain why their business is worthwhile.

It’s a great example of how a business can use free media to speak directly to its customers. The company knows that they are walking a tight-wire between savory and unsavory businesses. They also know that by being open and honest with their customers and potential customers they have a better shot at controlling their image.

While your business may not be in Cash4Gold’s business, you can still learn something from their situation. By being open and honest with your customers you are showing them the respect that they so greatly desire. When you build a relationship with your customer they think of you more often than they would your competitors.

Free Breakfast Turns Into Paying Customers

Denny’s bought a bunch of ads during the Super Bowl touting their Free Grand Slams day, offering free breakfast for anyone who came into a Denny’s on February 3rd.

The promotion was a huge success that day. All over, Denny’s were crowded with people eagerly gobbling up breakfasty goodness.

But now, a week later, something even more interesting than free breakfast is happening : Denny’s restaurants are swamped.

It seems that the free meal offer has turned free customers into paying customers.

Which should make you think: what could you business give away to bring back new business?

Why Knowing What Works Matters

AdSymetrix was created with one idea in mind : Advertising is too important to be so confusing.

That being said, we realized that the most important thing for any marketer to know before committing to another round of ads is what works for their business. To know what works is to know what doesn’t. And when you know what doesn’t work, you can stop wasting your time and money.
Our solution is through response-measurement. We believe that if you know what responses come from what ads, you can refine and focus your marketing efforts to make sure that you’re only going down the right paths.

When you know what works, you can prioritize your marketing. You can focus your efforts. You can spend a smaller amount of money in a more effective way.
Just today, Search Engine Watch published this article about Local Search Tactics for Tough Times. In it, we learn that focusing your efforts on activities that work is incredibly important.

We know that the economy is slow. You know it too. If you could find a way to spend less money marketing than you do now, but were able to increase your sales, would you?

Hyundai’s Return Policy

Last Sunday, Hyundai released a few ads explaining their new return policy. As a nod to the concerns of car-buying Americans, the company offered this interesting idea: Buy a Hyundai today, and if you lose your job or can’t afford it within the first year, bring it back without penalty.
It’s been said that economics is psychology. That how people feel about the economy is more important than what the numbers actually state - because how they feel drives how they spend. By offering this unique-to-the-industry return policy, Hyundai is making it easier for car buyers to feel comfortable buying a new car. Where’s the risk, after all? They get a car and if they can’t afford it they aren’t saddled with it anymore.

The key here is how Hyundai read their audience. They realized that people are afraid to spend money, especially money that they’ll have to keep spending month after month after month, and they found a way to alleviate that fear. They refined their plan to react to their potential customers’ concerns.
That’s the same logic behind AdSymetrix. We say that if you want to turn potential customers into customers you have to perfect your advertising plans to focus on what works. For Hyundai, it starts with a product shift. What can your business do that will help you reach your potential customers?

AdSymetrix Webinar: Learn to Socially Market Your Listings

AdSymetrix will present its webinar “Learn how to socially market your listings and yourself using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Video” on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 11 am PST (2 pm EST). In the webinar we’ll cover:

• Creating a social marketing plan for yourself and your listings and market for next to nothing
• Creating and distributing video on the social web
• Using Facebook Pages and VFlyer to market your business and your listings
• Connecting with professionals on LinkedIn and how to become their trusted agent
• What the hell is Twitter and how can it help me?
• How to measure all your marketing and making better decisions

And give you time to ask questions

Sign-Up Today using GoToMeeting’s Simple Signup Form

Space is limited.
Reserve your Learn to Socially Market Your Listings Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/119431956

When The Game is Better Than the Commercials . . .

Every year around this time, we talk about the difference between shotgun and sniper advertising. Shotgun is when you throw your ad up in front of the largest audience possible and hope that the small percentage that is going to react to your message will be paying attention. Sniper is the opposite: you focus your message only on the audience that is most likely to respond to your ads.

Superbowl advertising is the very definition of the shotgun approach. With a few hundred million of your closest friends watching, your company could spend upwards of $3 million -before production- to get out your message. There’s a reason that you see ads for broad-based products (beer, cars, movies) and not for specialized services: some products needs huge audiences.
Take a look at the best, and the worst, ads from yesterday’s game. While a lot of them are entertaining, they’re still intended to be advertisements. Miller had the brilliant idea of using a series of one-second ads in local markets, rather than try to get a single 30 second ad placed.

The real question needs to be whether any of these ads will make a difference in sales. If your business was going to spend millions of dollars on a single advertisement, wouldn’t you want to know if anyone responded? Wouldn’t you want to know if your ad worked?