Week of August 24, 2009

Let's end the week on a good note. The July figures are in for sales of existing homes and they are at the highest level since August 2007 -- 5.24 million. According to the National Association of Realtors, resales of single-family homes and condos were up 7.2% in July. But, as they say in the Vegomatic commercials, that's not all, folks. Resales have been up for four consecutive months and that is the longest streak of increases since 2004.

Tax incentives and affordability have been two of the biggest factors in the increase. The average price of resale homes dropped 15.1% from last year to $178,400 and distressed properties were 31% of July's sales. But, the bottom line is that it looks like we are bottoming out and activity is increasing.

I've said it before ... stay close to clients involved in housing. There's positive movement and the people who advertise are going to be the people who capitalize on that movement. You should push your people to blitz the real estate market at least once a month.

I know what follows is a no-brainer and everybody is doing it ... or should be doing it. But sometimes a friendly reminder is in order because, with everything else happening these days, the basics are sometimes overlooked.

Have a meeting of all air personalities and promotion people this week. Discuss where, other than at your events, people in your community will be congregating in the next couple of months and find ways to make your station(s) part of the landscape.

If you include the sales managers and a couple of the really good account executives, I'll bet you'll be surprised at the fresh suggestions they might have ... maybe even a way to make a couple of bucks.

Here's the tricky part: How do you become part of the landscape? First, assess your personnel and physical assets. How many jocks are willing to spend time in the field, probably without pay? Do a quick inventory of vehicles, signage, tchochkes, etc. Then find creative ways to be visible ... maybe even at the competition's event. Part of the Randy Michaels magic was appearing at the other guy's events (or front door). I'm not advocating throwing dead fish in the street in front of the competitor's remote, but ... people are still talking about it! Remember, demoralizing your competitor is not a bad thing.

I enjoy all the studies about success rates for Internet ads. There is a new study by Dynamic Logic, an ad effectiveness measurement firm. They looked at 4,800 campaigns and found the simple 180 pixel-by-150-pixel rectangle ad was the best performing in terms of brand awareness, recall, and intent to purchase. And, the least effective was simple Flash. The reason? People don't want to be distracted from the initial reason they went to the Iinternet. They aren't there to see your client's logo fly across an ad. Blinking, flashing and other annoying ads are not only ineffective; many times they are counter-productive.

The most effective ads were simple, non-annoying, to the point ads placed in the body of content. Ads adjacent to content are most easily ignored.

Good creative is essential. If the ad is in the middle of content it needs to be non-annoying but must grab the viewer's eye for a moment as it rolls over it. You've only got a split second to make an impression so the creative has to do its work quickly. Remember, flashes and blinking might grab attention, but be counter-productive.

You can have what appears to be great creative, but miss the mark. A case in point was a financial services marketer known as trustworthy and a bit stodgy. One of their marketers had been to a conference and saw how gaming could increase engagement. But, the research for this client showed gaming would impact trustworthiness in a negative way. It was great creative, but not for that client.

Be careful to make sure you steer your clients to digital advertising with creative that is right for them. One of the problems we all have with digital is that the possibilities are endless (given enough money) but the most effective creative might be close to the least expensive.

Remember, BFF (blink, flash, fly) is not necessarily a good thing.

Well, Cash for Clunkers is over and no matter how you feel about it, it brought people into dealerships and sold a lot of cars. Most of us benefited in varying degrees. Whether you made a few hundred dollars, several thousand dollars or tens of thousands of dollars, it was a good thing for our business.

Now that it's over, where do we go from here? There is no doubt that the attention was good for the automotive category, not only because it sold new cars, but also because it increased visibility for your local dealer and got people thinking about cars again.

There are still clunkers out there that didn't qualify for the government rebate for various reasons. This made people think about upgrading their rides. Can you think of some creative ways to draw those people in to purchase something ... maybe a good used car? Get with your favorite dealer and brainstorm what they can do financially to move vehicles.

The people who want to buy a new car, but have a decent one to trade in, probably felt a bit left out in the clunkers campaign. How about doing a "Cash for Creampuffs" promotion where the dealer puts together an incentive for regular folks? Don't let the momentum go away. Come up with the next great idea for your local dealers.

Do you consider yourself a hard worker? Do you get in the office before everyone else and are you the last to leave? The early bird catches the worm, right? Is your Blackberry or other instrument of evil constantly buzzing? Have you noticed your wife's new hairdo or your husband's weight loss? Do you remember you have a spouse? Quick ... how many children do you have and what are their names?

I've been there and am going to suggest a little exercise that might make you crazy, but could also make you more successful and certainly a lot less stressed. If you are "there early and out late," take this week and do no more than eight or 10 hours each day. Turn the Blackberry to silent and don't check it until you get to work in the morning, again at noon, again at 3p and at 6p.

Turn the instruments of evil off and take your spouse out to dinner ... spend a quiet evening at home talking about the time you met each other ... do something with the family... AND DO IT DURING THE WEEK. Weekends don't count. Your family may wonder who this strange person is

If you slow down, I think you'll find the quality of your work will go up. It's amazing how that happens. Hard work frequently is simply spinning your wheels and digging yourself deeper into the muck.

Have some fun this week ... on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.