Despite most daily newspapers’ struggles to survive, many local advertisers still insist upon using radio only to “support” a local newspaper ad campaign.
The bane of radio salespeople is the fact that many customers do enter a retail outlet clutching the local newspaper ad.
Naturally enough, the merchant assumes it was that ad that caused the customer to come.
As I teach in my radio advertising seminars, however, newspaper advertising is best used as a source of factual information: Prices, hours of operation, phone numbers, addresses — all the junk that usually should not be in a radio commercial.
A well-crafted radio campaign makes the targeted consumer want the product or service being advertised.
A good newspaper ad is a handy reference tool.
A good broadcast campaign motivates the consumer to make the purchase (or otherwise act on the sales message). But a newspaper ad can’t do that.
Ask your “I Know The Newspaper Works Because People Enter My Store Carrying The Ad” prospects what I call “The Mapquest Question.”
(Note to non-U.S. subscribers: Mapquest.com is used ubiquitously in the U.S. I don’t know if it’s used where you live. It’s a free, online service that gives you directions from one address to another.
(I suspect Mapquest has taken a big hit from the iPhone — as well as from Google Maps — but it still attracts 34+ million unique visitors per month.)
Here’s “The Mapquest Question”:
“Have you ever used Mapquest?”
Odds are the prospect will answer affirmatively.
“So you’ve used Mapquest to tell you how to find a particular address or business, right?” (Right.)
“Did you print out a copy and take it with you?” (Yes.)
“One more question: Was it Mapquest that made you want to go there in the first place?”
That’s a rhetorical question. Just let it hang there between the two of you, as the merchant slowly gets the point:
Information is not the same as motivation.
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informative