Tell Us Where to Find You!

Here's a fun little exercise, and the results will surprise you.

Take a look at the circular from any major chain store that you've got hanging around the house. Maybe one that was mailed to you, or one from the Sunday paper.

Now see if you can find any indication of where the nearest store is located. I'll give you 2 to 1 odds that you won't find any locations listed at all!

The big box stores are the prime offenders, but the problem extends to department stores and smaller chains too. The stores seem to assume you already know (how? by osmosis?) where their stores are located. Personally, I find it aggravating. And from a marketing standpoint, it's foolish.

I get a circular in my Sunday paper every week for OfficeMax. They used to have a store a mile away, but closed it about two years ago. I like OfficeMax, but haven't shopped there since the local store closed. Why? I don't know where they are! But they keep putting a circular in my newspaper anyway.

If you're lucky, a chain store might, in its circular, provide a telephone number you can call to find its store locations. "Press 1 to find a store within 10 miles of your home; Press 2 to find a store within 20 miles..." Frankly, It's not a call I'm about to make.

I find this amusing: When a department store, and Macy's is a prime example, runs a sale there's always a section on the last page of the circular that lists all the exceptions in very small print - "domestics not available in Hanover, shoes not available in Brockton" and so on. It's written to satisfy the lawyers, not the customers.

With a little rephrasing that back page disclaimer could satisfy both the lawyers and the customers:

Hanover open daily 9-9 (domestics not available); Brockton daily 10-10 (shoes not available).

Wouldn't that be useful information?

If you're serious about increasing sales, don't forget to tell your customers where to find you!


____
Coming Up Next Time: "Fred's Advertising Clinic - Part One"

Brown Cow Studios of Boston offers complete creative services

including copy writing, scripting, and advertising production.

Please visit our website at www.BrownCowStudios.com

Radio Excels at Positioning, So Use it to Sell Your Image

Some advertisers, especially shops that are locally owned, are addicted to "price list advertising." Their radio commercials drone on and on about what's on sale for how much. You've heard them. They sound like this:

"This week at Super Mega Value Shop Mart ... Denim jeans for guys $19.99 ... for kids only $12.99 ... SuperMegaValueShopMart brand laundry detergent just $1.99 ... Dog collars 89 cents or three for two dollars! And SPF 30 suntan lotion $3.99! ... Fifty paper bags for only 39 cents!"

So let me ask you a question: Do you remember those spots or are they just part of the commercial jumble? Five minutes later, do you remember what was on sale for how much? Do you even remember the name of the store? Right now, without looking back, can you tell me the price of the laundry detergent?

A list of anything more than one or two items and their prices is too much for a radio spot. Our memories aren't that good. To catch all that information requires strict attention. But radio listeners are a distracted bunch. We do most of our listening while we drive or are getting ready for work in the morning.

If a listener pays attention at all, he or she probably ends up wondering, "Did the announcer just say there was a sale on bananas or hammocks? Or was it ham hocks? $29.95 is a good price for hammocks, but way too much for ham hocks! ... Hmmm, I'd like to get a red bandanna ..."

Here's where radio ads work: Positioning and image building. If your store is the low-price leader, your listeners need to know that. But you don't have to give dollar and cents proof that you've got the lowest prices on No. 24 rectifiers. The only people interested in the price of No. 24 rectifiers are those who are in the market for them. And that's not most people.

Just tell people your prices can't be beat.

To make your positioning stand out, give yourself a nickname or a slogan that tells the world what you're all about. Then plug the bejeebies out of it in every spot, every time.

• For the lowest prices, it's Rectifier Rick's.
• Larry's appliances: The low price kings.
• Nervous Ned! What a great buy!
• With the money you save at Joe's garage, you'll get that limo in no time.
• Bill's exterminators: Bugs. Dead. Now.

If addiction to price list advertising is hard for you to kick, here's the cure: Buy a newspaper ad and put all that item and price stuff in it. Then, tag your radio spots with "find out what the Low Price King has on sale this week - see our ad in the daily newspaper."

Take advantage of radio's theatre of the mind effect. Use it to position your company's image in the listener's mind. Hit them often, hit them hard, make it interesting. Soon, everyone in town will know your prices are the lowest. Or even better for you - they'll think they are!


Need help positioning your business with radio spots that sell? Come to Brown Cow Studios of Boston. Creative services to complete production and media buys. Get in touch with Fred@BrownCowStudios.com today!

Who's Your Betty Crocker?

People who follow this blog or our web site (www.BrownCowStudios.com) sometimes ask about our mascot, Brownie (that's her up there on the right). Why use a cow -- one who sticks her tongue out at you, no less -- to promote our studio?

The obvious answer, of course, is that we're called Brown Cow Studios, and Brownie is the Brown Cow. But she's more than that. Brownie is our Betty Crocker.

No doubt you're familiar with Betty Crocker. She's been adorning packages of General Mills cake mixes and baking products since 1921. Although she's only an artist's rendition of a typical home maker, people believe in Betty. She's one of the most well-known product spokespeople ever, whether real or imagined. Most of us assume that recipes or household tips with her name on them are good advice. Even though we know she's an advertising image, we trust her implicitly. We write to her for advice, or just to let her know we are fans.

Because Betty Crocker stands for something: Wholesomeness, family, American values, trust. Not bad for a fictitious advertising image!

So what about Brownie? What values does she embody? Well -- everybody who sees Brownie's picture smiles. That's a great place to start. Then too, in her own special way, Brownie is very cool. With her tongue sticking out at you she embodies a certain attitude of rebellion; she's hip. She's also a bit silly too, so she makes you feel good. Which, for Brown Cow Studios is the image we're looking for. Although video production and sound design is a serious business, it's a fun business too.

But most importantly, Brownie is an image people remember. That means they'll remember Brown Cow Studios too.

So... who's your Betty Crocker?


For cost-effective advertising ideas that bring in sales, get in touch with Brown Cow Studios of Boston.  Offering everything from complete creative services to professional production and media buys.   

Go Back in Time to Find Something New

Recently, I borrowed a couple of books about business writing from the library. I had hoped to find some good examples of moving sales letters and the like. But as I browsed them, I was quite disappointed. The letters weren't special; they were the kind of business letters we see every day.

They were a far cry from the letters in a two-volume set I came across a few years ago. The letters in this set, written in the 1920s or 30s, were creative and moving. To my 21st Century eyes, they were powerful and exciting.

Chances are they were typical business letters for their era, and had I perused the books when they were new I probably would have thought they were not anything special. But these days, they seemed refreshing.

A few weeks ago I was browsing radio station sites on the Internet, and came across one that was reusing a tag line from the early 70s. Back then, San Francisco top-40 station KYA was billing itself as playing "Music for the People." But in 2010, it was a news-talk formatted station that was using it. Their version was simply, "... for the people."

How appropriate that line seemed to be for a news-talk station today. "Of the people, by the people, for the people." I get it.

So all this got me thinking about some of the great ad campaigns of the past and how they might be adapted for use today.

For example, iconic 60s artist Peter Max once licensed his art to 72 corporations for use in their marketing. Though Peter is still going strong, his work isn't as ubiquitous as it once was. But it's still powerful. A campaign based on a similar, psychedelic style would seem refreshing today.

What about the anti-drug propaganda movie "Reefer Madness." The crazed, totally out of control drug users it portrays seem laughable to us today, but the producers were absolutely serious at the time. So what if an advertiser, let's say one who sells soap, were to spoof Reefer Madness: "This could happen to you if you don't use Cleano!" Or if you don't drink Red Bull. Or sleep between cotton sheets.

A great idea then is a great idea now. Find one, update it and make it your own. You'll have success.


For more great advertising ideas, come to Brown Cow Studios of Boston. Our full creative services and professional production bring in the sales. Drop a note to Fred Pagano and learn more!

Ford Promotes Chevy!

I'm watching TV the other evening and a Ford Truck spot comes on. It's hosted by Mike Rowe, who is a great talent. Ford made an excellent decision to use him as their spokesman. He's likable, amusing, and just tough enough to be a truck kinda guy.

In the spot, Rowe interviews truck owners about their Fords and how much they like them. It's spontaneous and off the cuff. Everybody's having fun. It's a nice commercial to watch. It makes you feel good about Fords.

The closing scene of the spot shows Rowe talking to a dog. He asks, "so what do you think of Chevy?" The dog growls and tears a a rag doll to shreds. Pretty funny stuff, probably ad libbed. A clever way to close the spot and great entertainment.

But Ford blew it.

Through the entire commercial my attention is focused on only one thing: Ford trucks. I am entertained, the message soaks into my brain without me knowing it. If there had been a Ford salesman watching with me, he would have made a sale then and there. In my zoned-out, TV inspired bliss, I have no notion that there is any kind of truck besides Ford.

And then they mention Chevy.

With that one question, "What do you think of Chevy?" the spell is broken. I remember now that besides Ford, I could also spend my money on a Chevy. The whole message is negated.

This spot cost Ford hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce and distribute. If I were GM, I'd be sending Ford a bottle of expensive champagne and a letter of thanks.

The time to acknowledge your competition is when you're developing your ad campaign and marketing strategy. Never mention you competitor in your advertising. Instead, pretend you operate in a vacuum. Don't blow your advertising budget promoting your competition!

If you're only talking for 30 seconds, why do I have to pay so much?

I was talking with a friend who is in the public relations business the other day. He's one of the most successful press agents in Boston, and specializes in getting his clients booked on TV and radio talk shows. As we compared notes, we realized we both faced the same obstacle: Clients who don't understand why our services are priced the way they are.

Not that we can blame them. To the uninitiated and those new to using the services of a press agent -- or in my case, a voice over artist -- it doesn't make sense. They wonder how a commercial that takes sixty seconds to do can cost so much to record.

A similar comment is one I used to hear back in my Top-40 DJ days: "I wish I had a job at which I only had to work four hours a day!" On the surface, it sounds about right, and believe it or not, there really are some DJs who only work four hours a day. But the fact is, they're not very good and they don't last in the business very long. The best radio personalities -- the ones who make it seem oh-so-easy have to work at it. And they work hard. The best don't put in a four-hour day, or even an eight-hour day like most of us. They'll spend hours preparing for their shows and trying to come up with new material. For the truly successful, it's more like a 10- or even a 12-hour day.

My friend the press agent? Sure, all he has to do is make a phone call to get his client booked, but again the truth is there's much more to it than that. He doesn't make one phone call, he makes fifty. And the only reason he can make those fifty calls is because before those fifty he made made 500 other calls to newspapers, radio and TV stations so he would know the producers and bookers, and what their tastes, interests, and preferences are.

Now since this blog is about voiceover production, let's take a look at what happens when a voiceover artist is hired to do a 60-second spot.

Even before the voiceover artist gets hired, he's already put a lot of work into the job. He's made phone calls to his agent, he's paid for and sent out demos, bios, postcards, letters, and maintains a web site too. He's probably called a few hundred potential clients on his own, and done every other kind of marketing he could think of. Along the way he's probably done fifty or sixty auditions -- maybe 100 -- that haven't resulted in any gigs.

Then one day the phone rings, or he gets an email from somebody who liked his audition enough to actually ask him to do their spot. They fax the copy over.

The first thing our voiceover artist does is read the copy to find out what it's all about. Then he reads it again, this time to get an idea of how the read should sound. Depending on the type of spot it is he may have to figure out who his character is, what his purpose is, even how he feels about it. In other words, he goes through the same preparation all actors go through when they land a part. But our voiceover actor doesn't have the length of a feature film or even a sitcom to develop his character and get his message across -- he's got 57 seconds, or even less.

He reads the copy again, this time marking it to note which words to emphasize and which to downplay, trying to find the most effective way to get it said.

By this time, he's read the copy five or six times, and hasn't even opened his mouth yet. But that's next. It's time to rehearse. Again he'll read the copy as many times as he needs to -- or, if he's working with one, as many times as the producer wants him to -- until it sounds right. So we're up to ten reads or more.

When the mike goes on, all that preparation hopefully results in a good read the first time. But, alas, that's rarely the case. Inevitably there will be goofs, mistakes, places where he rose in pitch when he should have gone down. Since he didn't write the copy, the words he speaks aren't his own in the way he would speak them, but in the way some committee somewhere wrote them, and he has to find a way to make that committee sound like one person with one voice, who's fluent in the English language.

If the recording is being done in a studio with a producer, engineer, and likely the client too, all of which are listening in on the session in the control room, our voiceover artist will have to follow their direction. Some of that direction may be genuinely helpful. Some of it may be arcane. "Can you make it sound like stardust?" or "put more electrons into it!" Hmmm ... electrons! More takes...

Eventually the tracks do get laid down and the recording session is finished. It's taken all day, and for his day's work the VO artist has earned $600. It may be the only job he'll do that week. If he's lucky, he'll get a check within 30 days as promised. If he's not so lucky he'll have to wait, track the client down, or maybe just not get paid at all. It happens.

So add it all up: The VO actor has probably read that script anywhere from ten to 50 times. And the money he gets paid has to cover all his administrative expenses and the costs of marketing, maintaining a studio, and going to auditions. Don't forget he has to pay his agent's commission too, if he ever wants to work again.

Do the math and you'll see that for all the effort to land and then produce that 60 second spot, our voiceover guy is lucky if he makes $10 an hour.

So why does he do it? Easy: He loves it.

Should you take advantage of a station's offer to produce your ad for free?

Just about every radio station, and many TV stations too, offer their advertisers free commercial production. To advertisers pinched by today's economy it's a very attractive offer that's hard to refuse. But should you refuse it?

I think so. From my years of experience in the broadcasting industry, I believe a very strong case can be made for declining the station's offer and instead using a professional, independent voiceover artist.

First, if your ads are being produced by the station on which you've bought time, your ads are being produced by one of the station's staff announcers. The voice will be one of the five or six people who voice probably 80 percent of all their spots - those of your competitors too! I'm not saying that the staff announcers aren't good at what they do; on the contrary, they're probably excellent. But your spots will end up sounding like every other spot on the station, and listeners will easily tune them out because they don't sound any different from everything else they hear. They'll just be part of the "clutter".

To be their most effective, it's very important for your ads to stand out and sound different from the rest. This is particularly important with 10- or 15-second "shorts."

Secondly, auditory memory plays a big role in the success of your ad. If a listener dislikes a particular personality for whatever reason - maybe they think those dulcet tones are too syrupy, or they don't care for the subject matter of that DJ's show (think of your local "shock jock"), that voice will have made an unfavorable impression. That impression carries over, subconsciously, to your product - it's quite likely that just hearing the voice of the announcer they don't like will work against you.

If you've ever found yourself talking back to the radio or arguing with a particularly annoying or stupid commercial you know what I mean.

But when you use an independent voiceover announcer, you're using a voice that's not heard every day - day in, day out for years. So your spot cuts through the clutter, is more likely to command attention, and won't suffer ill effects from a listener's auditory memory of an unfavored personality.

Many voiceover actors have spent years in training, taking acting classes, courses on dialects and accents and the like. The result is not just a "read" of your copy, but an interpretation of it. Even with relatively straightforward copy, professional, independent voice actors bring elements of drama, credibility, and showmanship to your spots. They don't get lost in the clutter.

In the end, your advertising is more successful because it commands the listener's attention and gets results.

Finally, there's the price issue. Free sounds great, but how much is that "free" actually worth? Most voiceover actors, myself included, operate their own studios and can provide complete creative services - from copy writing to voiceover to producing a finished spot at very reasonable rates.

You also gain the benefit of a professional who gives your spot complete attention and wants to earn your repeat business. Radio DJs and staff announcers don't get paid extra to do your spot, and they may not be happy about it either - it's just one more spot on the list of 5 or 10 spots they have to do that day, in addition to doing prep for their on-air show, paperwork, and the show itself. Because they simply don't have the time to give you their full attention, you might end up with a spot that's not great, but "good enough."

When you think about the total cost of your advertising schedule, the cost of choosing a a pro voice actor versus the station's "free production" offer works out to a small percentage of your ad budget. But the results a pro voiceover actor will get you are much greater!

So when the sales exec from the station offers you free production, tell him "no thanks." Then get in touch with Fred@BrownCowStudios.com, or one of the many fine VO talents working today.

- Fred Pagano