Tag: Radio advertising

Using Keywords to Compete Online

Among the information available to me as WordPress blogger is a list of search terms that readers use to get to my blog. Every so often I learn something interesting — for example, by accidentally mis-spelling Sarah Palin’s name (as “Sarah Pailin”), I picked up a bunch of traffic from political junkies who made the same mistake in their searches.

This evening, the term “KXL Radio Advertising” turned up on the list. I couldn’t figure out why — 750 KXL Radio is a competitor of 1190 KEX, which is one of my stations in Portland. So I plugged it into Google, and discovered that because I once complimented KXL in a post, Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog now shows up in the #2 position.

Inadvertent, but potentially beneficial. A couple of thoughts come to mind:

  • If you have a blog of your own, mention one of your competitors in a post. You might attract a few of their customers.
  • As long as I’m engaged in this exercise, I’d like to say hello to potential advertisers of the following fine Portland radio stations: K103, Z100, KPOJ, KOOL 105.9, KUPL, KINK, K-Hits, Jammin’ 107.5, KWJJ The Wolf, KGON, Charlie, KNRK 94.7, KFXX The Fan, 95.5 The Game, 105.1 The Buzz, KPAM, and The Fish.
  • If you were the person who was interested in advertising on KXL Radio in Portland, I hope you’re enjoying my blog. And by all means, feel free to call me at 503-323-6553.

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

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Could Newspapers Go Web-Only?

My dad was for many years a highly-respected law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He also had a thriving side business as an arbitrator. At one point in his career, he took a leave of absence from the university to see if he could arbitrate full-time.

A year or so later, he went back to teaching. He later told me that arbitration jobs became much harder to get when he was no longer a university professor. Once he was back on campus, the demand for his arbitration services went right back up.

It turned out that in the arbitration community, “Professor Bernstein of Washington University” was a powerful brand. It gave him a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.

I thought of that story today when I read Jeff Jarvis’ suggestion on Huffington Post that it may be time for the Los Angeles Times to turn off its printing presses and go online-only.

His reasoning is that the Times’ web revenue is apparently now greater than its newsroom payroll costs. Eliminate all the costs of printing and distributing a physical product, outsource the national and international reporting to the big national papers, (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc), focus all of your efforts and resources on local news, and you’ve got a profitable digital news operation.

As an advertising guy, I see some big questions:

1. How much of that online revenue will disappear when it’s not part of a print advertising package?

2. How important would the LA Times website be, as an advertising vehicle, if it’s not tied to LA Times, the paper? Will readers still go to that website if there’s no physical product to remind them? Will merchants still pay to advertise there if they’re not in the paper, too?

In my radio-and-online world, our websites are becoming increasingly important, to listeners and advertisers. But at least right now, it’s the “on-air” that drives traffic to our sites online. Much of the value advertisers see in being on www.1190kex.com is tied to the reputation and reach of KEX Radio, 1190 on the AM dial; and most of our online advertising is purchased in conjunction with an on-air radio campaign.

If you take away the physical paper, does “LA Times Dot Com” become a thriving online source of local news? Or is it just another web site?

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

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

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Your Testimonials = Free Publicity

Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, rarely crosses over into the realm of real-live advertising. But a recent blog post had a great tip for leveraging your paid ads:

If you buy newspaper or magazine ads and you’re pleased with the results, let your advertising sales rep know and offer a testimonial on what results you have seen from the ad. You might mention, for example, how much additional traffic or sales the ad brought to your website. That almost guarantees that if the publication uses your testimonial, it will include your URL. Newspapers love these testimonials and will often use them as “filler ads” that can be used if an advertiser pulls an ad at the last minute.

Although her post deals specifically with print, I can tell you that her approach will work with radio, too — if you’re a paying advertiser, many stations would be delighted to record your testimonial and use it when there’s unsold commercial inventory. If the ad is constructed carefully, it will act as an effective commercial for the station and your business.

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

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

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Need a New Ad in a Hurry? Try Radio

It was Monday afternoon, and the stock market had just closed. Down nearly 778 points. I was in my car, listening to one of my news/talk competitors, KXL Radio in Portland, Oregon. Within about 15 minutes of the closing bell, as everyone tried to figure out if the end of the world was upon us, Talk Show Host Lars Larson had to do a live spot for a mattress store.

He began the pitch this way (I’m paraphrasing here): “Now that the stock market’s just had the biggest one-day drop in its history, you could probably use a good night’s sleep. And you can get one, on a Sleep Number Bed By Select Comfort.”

I’m not much of a Lars Larson fan. And every advertising dollar that goes to KXL is a dollar that I didn’t get.

But sitting in the Starbucks parking lot, I had to applaud. Because Lars had beautifully illustrated an advantage radio advertising has over just about every other medium — the ability to quickly change the message to reflect changes in the marketplace.

Over the years, I’ve quickly come up with new creative when storms hit; when the product a retailer was advertising ran out; when concerts sold out; and when a representative of Oregon Department of Justice informed me that a car dealer’s offer was illegal. In each of these cases, a new commercial was on the air within hours — and sometimes within less than an hour — of the change that prompted it.

Newspaper can’t do that; neither can direct mail, or television. The Yellow Pages? Fuhgeddiboutit. Each of these media has advantages of its own. But if you need to change something in a hurry, you can’t beat radio.

My name is Phil Bernstein, and I approved this message.

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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.

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.