Week of June 1, 2009

I was intrigued by an article in BizReport about the latest study from Ad-ology Research about consumers' perceptions of advertisers in this recession. They found during a good economy consumers think well-branded companies that don't spend a lot of money to market themselves are so successful they don't need to advertise. But now, with what seems like a business failure every minute, people are reassured by a company advertising. After all, if they are advertising they are still in business and must be doing it right.

Three interesting points from the study are:

1. 40% of those surveyed use coupons more now than a year ago.
2. The thing that would make people buy something for more than $1,000 was a deeply discounted price.

And a really interesting finding was:

3. Most are as willing or more willing to pay more for products they feel are healthy or organic.

Find ways to use this new study. Maybe ...use it to convince your advertisers to utilize couponing on your website ... help them to find ways to deep discount effectively ... market your station as "organic to the advertising medium."

I'm only partially kidding that radio programming and its various methods delivery could be marketed as "organic." Think of radio advertising as pure and direct to the individual listener. It's the medium that most successfully sends a listener into his/her imagination to paint the picture suggested by words. When your advertiser gets into his client's imagination, the advertiser is into the client's head. If the message is right, the product sells.

There has been some good news recently you need to get into your head and use. Consumer confidence is up; higher than it has been in eight months. People are now feeling the job market will improve. Indications are that the turnaround has probably already started and will be very evident within six months. Look for more good news in spite of the bad news in the auto industry. Don't allow the bad news to block the good.

Always keep in mind that Americans are a resilient group. Our history is full of times when disaster looked imminent.

• The British occupied Washington, D.C. in the War of 1812 and burned many buildings, including the White House ... but the U.S. prevailed over the British superpower.
• The nation was pulled apart in the Civil War, but we came back together.
• We pulled through several depressions ...1819, 1837, 1857, 187, and 1893 before the "Great Depression" of 1929. We came out of all of them because Americans somehow always find a way to get things fixed. It is in our DNA and our form of government always rights itself by making adjustments.

In our hearts we all know we will pull out of this economic downturn. When it becomes a bit more distant history, we will look at it and say, "Whew, that was tough but it only lasted a couple or three years."

I can't say it enough: Find ways to keep your spirits up because your positive attitude is the ultimate antidote to negativity.

I haven't owned a gun since I left Viet Nam in January 1969, but recently have been seriously considering getting one since I am older and the "bare-hands protection" method is probably not as valid as it used to be.

I played golf in a military benefit tournament a couple of weeks ago and actually won a Glock hand gun (new from the factory) for closest to the pin on a par 3. I never imagined I would get closest to the pin and NEVER imagined winning in a hand gun, but Glock is a military vendor, so I guess it isn't so unusual.

It occurred to me that I am probably not the only person considering getting or adding to a collection for a myriad of reasons. I had people come up to me after the announcement was made and told me how fortunate I am. They added that guns and especially ammo are becoming difficult to find because people are afraid selling them could soon be illegal, or at best more difficult.

Second Amendment activists are afraid the current Administration and Congress will put more stringent gun control legislation in effect. As a result, they are very much in the market for weapons and ammo.

People who formerly did not consider owning a gun are now contemplating it and legal dealers could use your help. If you don't have state laws that forbid it, or personal feelings that cause you to pass on it, gun and ammunition advertising should be on your list of leads.

Have you done a "Surviving the Recession" programming special, event, online promotion, etc? We have become a society of hiring all services done rather than doing it ourselves (DIY). This is a prime moment in our history to revert to where we were not too many years ago.

We used to always do most of our minor auto repairs; we planted gardens, seldom used the dry cleaner for anything other than actual ...dry cleaning; ate out infrequently because we knew how to cook; and people actually sewed their own clothing.

Even with the computerized autos of today, there are many repairs and services we can do ourselves ... if we are shown how. Most people who don't live in the heart of major cities have a plot of ground that can become like the old "victory garden" of WWII. Do you know there are many folks who have no idea how to iron a shirt or a pair of cotton pants? I could go on, but you get the idea. Brainstorm how to use the new DIY as a programming/promotion/sales opportunity. Couldn't this be a great interactive event for your digital assets?

As America ages, medical advertising continues to gear up for older folks. For leads, go to your search engine and type in the name of your city and things like "elder care," "senior medication," "senior medical supplies," etc. Using these searches will give you a long list of leads. Also, you might want to target in on attorneys who specialize in medical malpractice for seniors.

To expand the search, remove the word "senior" and you will get leads for all ages. However, I've always thought focusing on a narrower lead base made more sense.