You're hearing it often; We're not getting the good level of results we did last summer.

It's probably not the station, it's the economy. Consumer confidence is down and people are putting off buying decisions. Everyone is hearing words like frugal, thrifty and belt tightening, but there is an answer. It's just going to take more to get the same response rates of 2007.

And how do we do that you say? 

A-ha!  We are singularly qualified to beat this economy. Girls and boys, they say Radio is a Business of "C" Students. Admit it. We all know it's true and I'm damn proud to be one of them. Why?

• People like us, that is OUR kind of people . . .
• Could figure out how to cut that 7:40 AM geology class about ten times, sleep-in and still grab a "C."
• Or, how to sneak in after 2AM, hide the beer cans and not get beaten to an atomic particle by your father - the cop.
• Or, Mom, don't be so silly, last night at Eleven, we were helping paint the church. Why would I pass that up to spend time with some woman?  

YES! US! We know how to figure things out!  This economy is a gift from above - it's designed for us to show them our stuff.

It's for us to apply all that innovative survival training to this do-do economy. Begin with; we need to do things differently than we did in 2006. Like  . . .

• We need to get more involved with the advertising process by learning some basic, elementary stuff about the Ad business.
• Get on Amazon and order two books:  On Advertising by David Ogilvy and the Copy Workshop Workbook by Bruce Bendinger. If you order them used on Amazon, Ogilvy goes for less than $6 bucks, Bendinger for less than a dollar. This is good, readable stuff. It's actually fun reading and you'll learn more about the business of advertising. You can actually talk the talk with a client. THAT'S how to REALLY help.
• In the past the client handed us the copy - we turned it in and that was that.  Now it's time to discuss it with them before it goes on the air.
• More involvement With and By the client. They need to know they also now need to do more including a good spot, with a good offer, clear and compelling customer benefits.
• Involve the client's own salespeople - a template letter to them explaining what's going on and how they can get involved.
• Understanding the logic that traffic would be down, then concluding that she must maximize each of the fewer customers that actually DO walk in, one enterprising AE, seeing the chance for a big order, asked the client to send a note to all their salespeople. The note said that secret shoppers would be coming in during the Big Sale and the salesperson knowing the most about the Big Sale would get $100 bucks in lottery tickets. You know what happened. Good sale, good results, happy client and renewal - in spite of lower traffic.

DO MORE

• At the Remote, no more sitting behind the table under the canopy. Add a high school band - give away lottery tickets, at night rent a searchlight. Have a ______ lookalike contest.
• A Shoppers Guide on the website. List of the clients with mp3 of spots.
• A Client Copy Writing Workshop.
• Create a Job-Hunters Guide on the Website. Sponsor and promote it like mad.
• Downloadable client coupons to your Listener Club - A NEW ONE EVERY DAY! - but they must be considered a Good Deal for the Listener.
• A Diners Club with all your restaurants promo'd together.
• Short code, Keyword for everything possible. 

Categories
Since this newsletter started, we've really zoned in on this subject. Some categories won't make it through the downer - others will thrive. Stack the deck in your favor by spending your perishable selling time working only with categories and accounts that have more consumer demand.

Or, to say it another way; if I had a list today (and one never knows) I'd sculpt that list leaning heavily toward those categories with a better chance of thriving during a do-do economy. I'd pass on the Hummer dealer, most new car departments and stay closer to the used car department, the service department.

WE-CAN-DO-THIS!

See? The list is endless, limited only by our imaginations. Remember the people who said we (C Students) were Dreamers? Let's prove them right. It doesn't take Albert what's-his-name to come up with this stuff; it's common sense - good old Yankee Ingenuity. So . . .

To my Fellow Snore-Through-the Semester & Pass Without Cracking a Book until the Night Before People; it's our moment of Destiny! WE CAN DO THIS.