Pub. 1 2010 Issue 3

www.wvbankers.org 20 I n the decades of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, advertising involved just a few basic concepts: radio, TV, newspaper, billboard, and magazines. If you bought a fair amount of advertising in those five, you were likely reaching your target market with your message. However, reaching that target market today, is far more complex. Consumers still listen to music in their vehicles, but they are not only listening to com- mercial radio, but also mp3 players, and CD’s (not to mention time spent on the cell phone). TV’s greatest nu- ance of the last 20 years, is the DVR. Newspapers have faced competition for their printed product, including the loss of readers of the printed version of their paper, to readers of their own website. Billboards ? This product seems to have adapted well—with new digital tech- nologies, adding another dimension to the product. Additionally, the number of drivers on today’s highways, is as significant as ever. Magazines ? Numbers suggest that this entity is actually growing , even among readers in the 18-34 demographic. But who am I to say? I only subscribe to eight or ten magazines per month, and I enjoy every one. So, what to do ? Here are some examples of ways to enhance your marketing, both with new types of technologies, and with the traditional formats: • Radio : It’s all about time and frequency. When I was in radio management in the 80’s and 90’s, many advertisers would request one commercial per day, between 6a-7p. Why is that a problem? One day your commercial could air at 8:20, directly in the middle of “morning drive.” The next day it might air at 2:20 in the afternoon. That concept likely wasn’t successful then, and certainly wouldn’t be now. Long-term listening, where a consumer would stay “locked- in” to one station for hours on end, is not what it once was. The solution? Higher frequency of commercials, aired in a shorter time span. In other words, it’s better to air five commercials in one morning or afternoon drive time slot, a few days per month, heavily promoting a specific product, than it is to air one commercial per day, for 30 straight days. • TV: Buy the local morning news. Due to the aforementioned DVR, it’s more of a challenge to actually reach viewers of prime-time programming. Sure, the viewers are still watching the show , but they might not be watching the c ommercial . Conversely, morning news ratings are still strong, the viewers are within your target demographic (Working people in the 25-64 age group), and consumers don’t typically “DVR” the morning news. One other note: there are more “avails” (ad space) in morning newscasts, so the price is lower compared to evening news broadcasts. • Newspaper : It’s easy. If you feel that more and more people are reading a newspaper’s website, instead of the printed product, advertise on their website. Things sure have a changed a lot in the last 10 years, haven’t they? Not just in banking, but also in the way that banks market their products. Marketing Your Product By Tim Maxwell, President of Great Advertising Factory