Category: Marketing

Confidential to Oregon Auto Dealers

Who’s writing your copy? If it’s someone at a radio or TV station, you probably assume that you’re working with a professional who’s up to date on auto advertising laws.

You may very well be wrong.

A few months ago, the Oregon Department of Justice, having just issued a new set of rules, held a half-day seminar on how to keep auto ads legal. The only Portland broadcast rep who attended the seminar also writes this blog.

Yesterday, I heard a commercial that committed five separate violations in 60 seconds. I didn’t think that was possible, but in fact, all of the violations took place in a 25-second span. The commercial violated the Federal Truth in Lending Act, along with several Oregon administrative rules.

If the commercial had actually aired, the dealer could have faced thousands of dollars in fines. It didn’t air because I heard it in advance, called the other radio station and told them how to fix it.

I guess I’m just a giving sort of fellow.

Want to know if your commercial’s legal? Give me a call before you put it on the air.

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Advertising Lesson from Professor O’Day

If you write copy for a living — or otherwise depend on ad results to put food on the table — you should check in on Dan O’Day’s blog. Monday is my favorite day of the week, because it’s “Commercial Smackdown” day.

Once a week, Dan deconstructs an actual radio commercial. And he’s not shy about letting you know exactly how he feels.

This week it’s a Lasik commercial. Enjoy, and learn.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

How to Convert Contest Entrants into Customers

As reported in an earlier post, my company will soon be launching the “Green Home” contest — an online lead-generation promotion for Portland-area environmentally-conscious home improvement companies.

We’re going to be delivering thousands of leads to the contest sponsors, and I was looking for “out of the box” ideas on how to turn those entrants into customers. So I posted the question on LinkedIn (see it here if you are a LinkedIn member).

Among the answers was this insight from Mike Seidle, who runs the internet marketing firm Indy Associates. Here’s what he has to say about follow-up techniques:

Doesn’t matter what the method of contacting the consumer is, the conversion rate is always a function of the offer you make after you generate the lead. We just did a contest that generated 78,000 leads. Soft offers worked (get a free catalog, try ___ for 30 days at no cost, free fertilizer application, etc…) , hard offers didn’t (SAVE 10%, $100 OFF, GET A FREE TRIP!). Funny thing is sellers don’t like soft offers because they see a risk of higher cost. Reality is that you get lower ROI on hard offers because they don’t convert as well.

It seems counter-intuitive at first — once you’ve got a whole bunch of qualified leads, why can’t you just sell ’em something. But I’m guessing that although these people, by definition, are interested, they’re not yet ready to buy. The contest is a promising first date, but it’s not time to get married yet.

Check out Mike’s blog here.

 

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

Interesting Way to Get Your Call Returned

There are sales gurus who tell you to have a scripted 30-second sales pitch ready to leave on a voice mail. There are consultants who recommend leaving vague and, sometimes, deceptive messages to pique a prospect’s curiosity. And there are those who say you should never leave a message.

This afternoon, someone left a phone number on my voice mail. No name or other identifying information. Just “Please call 559-297-4640.”

I didn’t recognize the voice or the phone number. There was absolutely no reason for me to call back. But I had to.

I got voice mail. “Hello. Please leave your name and number after the tone.”

So, what was it? Cold call? Long lost relative? Wrong number?

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

Adjust Your Marketing to a Changing Market — A Great Example

If there’s one thing becoming increasingly clear in 2008, it’s that marketing techniques that have worked for years — and in some cases decades — may not get the job done anymore. Like it or not, the market’s different now. Nobody knows if the differences are temporary or permanent. But for the short term, at least, you may have to add some more creative steps to your dance routine.

A terrific Portland example appeared in the Oregonian over the weekend. Craig Reger, a principal broker at The Hasson Company, will be offering foreclosure bus tours beginning next month.

Reger, one of the region’s top producing brokers, normally works in the high-end market at $500,000 or higher. But the higher-end homes aren’t moving as fast as foreclosed homes.

“The market’s changed, and my business model’s changing,” Reger said.

Reger recognizes that the world is different now. He’s not sitting still, hoping it’ll change back — he’s making the necessary adjustments now.

The bus tours haven’t started yet, but it’s already gotten Reger quite a bit of attention. I called his office to see if I could help him spread the word, and his assistant told me he doesn’t need to advertise the tours right now — he’s getting all the free publicity he needs. [Craig, if you’re reading this, feel free to give me a call as soon as the media attention dies down…]

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.