You think all of the pieces of the puzzle are together to make a successful business.  You unlock and doors and can only hope these consumers start coming in, spending their hard earned “disposable income”…

As you know….things just don’t always work out that way.  You may have the most inspiring and intriguing small business in town.  You may have the most amazing products with the most appealing prices.  You may hold a unique position in the market, and no other business can come close to competing with you.  All of these things could be true and still consumers are not trampling each other to get through your doors.  The biggest missing piece of the “successful business puzzle” is—–TELL YOUR NEIGHBORS, TELL YOUR FRIENDS, TELL EVERYONE THAT YOU CAN AFFORD about your story…your unique selling proposition—What you do better than anyone else?

Go Radio specializes in the “Brandsformation” process—- helping you to not only FIND your unique selling proposition, but also telling your story in a creative “sticky” way that people will actually remember!  Imagine that!

If you feel like that puzzle piece has been missing—that your ’story’ hasn’t been told in a way that will actually increase the revenue in your business.  Let us help…It’s easy, pain free….and actually a little fun!  We will help get that open door swinging and the cash register tape moving.

Call 701.237.4500 today and let Go Radio get started on finding the missing piece to your puzzle.

It is the aggregate perception the market has of a particular company, product or service in relation to their perceptions of the competitors in the same category.

It will happen whether or not a company’s management is proactive, reactive or passive about the on-going process of evolving a position.

But a company can positively influence the perceptions through enlightened strategic actions.

In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. It is the ‘relative competitive comparison’ their product occupies in a given market as perceived by the target market.

Re-positioning involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products, in the collective minds of the target market.

De-positioning involves attempting to change the identity of competing products, relative to the identity of your own product, in the collective minds of the target market.

The Process of Positioning

Generally, the product positioning process involves:

• Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are)

• Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product ’space’

• Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the relevant attributes

• Determine each product’s share of mind

• Determine each product’s current location in the product space

• Determine the target market’s preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector)

Examine the fit between:

• The position of your product

• The position of the ideal vector

Position

The process is similar for positioning your company’s services.

Services, however, don’t have the physical attributes of products - that is, we can’t feel them or touch them or show nice product pictures.

So you need to ask first your customers and then yourself, what value do clients get from my services? How are they better off from doing business with me? Also ask: is there a characteristic that makes my services different?

Write out the value customers derive and the attributes your services offer to create the first draft of your positioning.

Test it on people who don’t really know what you do or what you sell, watch their facial expressions and listen for their response.

When they want to know more because you’ve piqued their interest and started a conversation, you’ll know you’re on the right track.

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by Jack Trout in Brand Positioning, Branding Basics

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Are you marketing or just wishing something will happen?

Simply having a goal in mind does not achieve success. A goal without a plan is just a wish…and daydreams alone seldom produce results. To move beyond wishful thinking-and produce tangible results, requires specific goals and a well-crafted marketing action plan.

By Lonnie Hirsch and Stewart Gandolf, MBA

How can Go Radio help you transition from dreaming about your practice to putting the dream in motion?  We have hired one of the premiere marketing consultants in the country, Chuck Mefford.  Chuck is a marketing-guru that spends his life helping small businesses grow.  As people get busier and their medical options grow, healthcare marketing is more important than ever before.  Chuck will teach you how to tell your story, get a greater Return-on-Investment for your advertising dollar and show you how to build a strategy that isn’t just a dream, but a reality!

Please call a Go Radio Broadcasting marketing consultant if you’re a healthcare provider and you’re wondering how to grow your practice.  We would love to help. Call 701.237.4500 today to get started on your healthcare branding.

Assuming that’s where we are headed, the consensus indicates the recovery will be steady but slow. So is this a good time to be optimistic and take a pro-active approach to advertising and marketing? Very possibly so. After all, if you’ve continued to advertise during the recession, you hope to capitalize with share gains coming out of it, right?

That same philosophy holds true during the recovery. Spend on advertising and marketing while your competition may be cutting expense and you gain share of voice and expand your brand. But it’s still critical that you get the most for your advertising dollar. And to do that, you need to understand your customers and what will entice them to be engaged in your advertising.

Instead of buying what they want when they want it, the American consumer is now more focused on practicality, thrift and staying on budget. The emerging mindset of the consumer is to be less willing to charge on impulse and run up debt.

“What we are seeing is a changed consumer,” said Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch. “The faltering economy, employment worries and questions about who’s going to pay for healthcare are really weighing on the consumer’ psyche.”

How does this relate to your advertising message? Make sure your product offerings, and then your advertising, reflects what’s important to your customers. For instance, in this environment, a higher percentage of consumers are attracted by value and price reductions. When asked by BIGresearch how the current economic crisis will impact their lifestyle over the next five years, 52.1% say they will consider each purchase more carefully, 48.8% will be more price conscious when buying clothes and food and 46.7% will stick to a budget.

It’s critical that you speak to your customers and prospects about what’s important and meaningful to them. Consumers have money and are willing to send as long as the offer is right.

Your Checklist for Advertising in an Economic Recovery

Spend More

The common tendency is to shrink budgets when hard times hit. The smart approach, however, is to identify where your money will have the most impact and increase your spending in that area. Often that means putting more money into advertising and marketing, because while other businesses in your industry are struggling and cutting back, you should be gaining market share. It could also mean investing in critical infrastructure that will help you be more efficient and increase your scale of economy.

Use Proven Advertising Vehicles

Generally, the bigger, more established, proven properties are most effective. This is not a good time to experiment. And it’s not a good time to do nothing. A recent Ad-ology study shows that 48% of consumers think a lack of advertising indicates the business is struggling.

Focus - Don’t Diversify

Don’t take the shotgun approach to business, shooting as much as possible, crossing your fingers and hoping that you will hit something. The best entrepreneurs pick up a rifle, identify the right target, and nail the bull’s-eye. The more difficult the economic environment, the more important it is for you to focus on your core passions, values and competencies. Those who try to be everything to everyone often do very little for very few. You must identify who you are, why you exist, who you can serve, what you can do best in the word at, and then bring that core to the word in the most powerful and effective way possible.

Focus Your Advertising, Too

Target your best prospects. For most businesses, at least 70% of people will never be regular customers. It is likely that most of your sales come from 30% or less of people that walk through your door. Control advertising waste and increase effectiveness. This gives you more dollars to increase frequency and target your advertising to your customers and likely prospects. And remember that frequency is the key. The more exposures, the more consumers like your brand. Research proves that positive feelings toward any brand are directly related to the number of advertising exposures or messages sent out.

Make Sure Your Message is Strong

Make sure the message is right! Are you certain that your message, in whatever media you use, is meaningful to your target? More importantly, since your message should reflect what the consumer will actually experience, is your business focused on the right things to entice consumers to begin with? Revisit your offers and strategy first, and then revisit the creative concepts used in your campaign and ensure your message on target!

Why Radio-Now More Than Ever?

Radio is getting a second look from many advertisers looking to improve the effectiveness of their advertising. Why does Radio make so much sense in a covering economy? Two of the most key reasons are targeting and frequency. Radio makes your marketing dollars work harder because you’re targeting the right people, those most likely to be loyal or potential customers. Because your dollars are focused on your most important consumers, Radio is perfect for tight budgets. Then, employing Radio’s unique ability to provide repeated messages (frequency) dramatically boosts awareness, positive feelings and product usage.

Why Are the Yellow Pages like Nursing Homes?

They’re shockingly expensive, few people under 70 use them, and many who do are just a little out of it.

Moral of the story? When you invest in Yellow Page ads, you’re setting fire to money.

Are we being a little harsh on this venerable (read: antique) information source? Hell no. This obsolete technology sucks millions of dollars away from more cost-effective marketing tools, while delivering less every year. There are better uses for your budget, especially if you market goods and services to people who don’t remember the Truman Administration.

Killianadvertising.com

Go Radio’s opinion:  Yellow Page ads are sold as “bigger is better” and “club your neighbor” approach.  Let’s be real…The BEST marketing strategy is to never have your customer go to the yellow pages to choose between you and your competitior.

Yellow Page ads are designed to reach people that are buying right now, at this moment and price shopping.  They want to be able to go down the list of names and call for price quotes.  By driving cosumers to the Yellow Pages, they now have the opportunity to choose between you and your neighbor who may be better, have a lower price OR has already ‘pre-sold’ the consumer, because they’re advertising on the radio.

Don’t get stuck in the ‘Yellow Page’ rut…say NO….we know your Grandpa probably built his business on Yellow Pages and the local Newspaper, but times have changed.  People are busier then they’ve ever been.  No one….let me repeat….no one has time to search through the Yellow Pages, when you can GOOGLE anything you want!

The two growth areas for marketing as forecasted by media watch groups include radio and the Internet. The two go perfectly together as radio drives Awareness, Interest, Desire and the Internet helps generate Action. Go Radio Broadcasting, LLC. is a leader in online marketing solutions from banner and display advertising to integrated marketing that involves radio promotions with online interactivity.

With 96% of the cell phones with texting capabilities, this is a new and necessary way to communicate with current consumers but also a strong way to gain new customers. There are many marketing opportunities to engage consumers with texting campaigns; Mobile Coupons, Sweepstakes, Alerts and Ads. Because of the policies requiring ‘opt-in’, these consumers have asked for information, are engaged in the process and have a better chance of continued loyalty to your business. Texting campaigns are not only strong in the expected demographic of 13-24 year olds, but parents of young adults and teens (Adults 35-54) are the largest user group.