{"id":19422,"date":"2016-12-13T00:50:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T08:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=19422"},"modified":"2016-12-13T00:50:07","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T08:50:07","slug":"2-key-questions-radio-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"How<\/a>My big “secret” as a radio commercial copywriter<\/a> is to keep asking basic, naive questions until I understand:<\/span><\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> <\/span>What problem the advertiser is promising to solve for the consumer<\/span><\/p>\n

and<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> <\/span>Why their customers or clients chose to become their customers or clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until I understand those two points, I can’t write anything worth writing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s an oblique example of this (i.e., I’m deliberately withholding enough information to enable anyone to guess who the client is):<\/span><\/p>\n

In interviewing the client<\/a>, I kept asking why someone would want what the client was offering. <\/span><\/p>\n

What’s the Advertiser’s Value Proposition?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

I wasn’t being sly; I simply didn’t understand what you might call the Value Proposition.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the client would reply with boiler plate, right-off-the-brochure answers that didn’t add to my understanding, I’d repeat my question.<\/span><\/p>\n

Again and again…because I still didn’t understand the Value Proposition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, with considerable frustration, the client replied “Because ___________!”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Results of Doggedly Repeating that Question<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

1)<\/strong> <\/span>At last I understood.<\/span><\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/span> I wrote the entire campaign around that “Because ___________!”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/span> To my surprise and delight, “Because ___________!”<\/em> actually became a catch phrase in Southern California. <\/span><\/p>\n

You can ask someone, “Are you familiar with (Company)?” <\/span><\/p>\n

If they are, usually they respond, “Oh, you mean the ‘Because ___________!’ people.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Inasmuch as “Because ___________!”<\/em> explains precisely why you’d want to do business with this company (rather than being something that’s just catchy or cute), I’m delighted whenever I hear that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Frankly, it never occurred to me that I’d ever create a catch phrase.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Importance of Asking Naive Questions<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

For my technique of asking naive questions, you need to resist the temptation to nod and say “uh-huh” after the first few times you don’t get an answer you comprehend.<\/span><\/p>\n

In school, I never could understand why when the teacher would ask, “Does anyone have any questions?” nobody but me raised their hands. <\/span><\/p>\n

If I didn’t comprehend something we were being taught, surely at least one other kid in the class didn’t get it, either.<\/span><\/p>\n

I realized that some other students must be equally puzzled but were too embarrassed to admit it publicly.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if I don’t understand something, I don’t blame myself. The other person hasn’t successfully explained it to me. <\/span><\/p>\n

So I keep asking “But why…?” until at last I understand why the targeted consumer wants what the advertiser is offering.<\/span><\/p>\n

At that point, the hard part is done. Now I’m free to devise whatever type of story I think will sell<\/a> that “But why…?”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My big “secret” as a radio commercial copywriter is to keep asking basic, naive questions until I understand: 1) What problem the advertiser is promising to solve for the consumer and 2) Why their customers or clients chose to become their customers or clients. Until I understand those two points, I can’t write anything worth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nThe 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My big \u201csecret\u201d as a radio commercial copywriter is to repeatedly ask these two questions until I understand the answers. 1) What...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My big \u201csecret\u201d as a radio commercial copywriter is to repeatedly ask these two questions until I understand the answers. 1) What...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-13T08:50:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/dan_oday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9eff1b56aca175cb9ea83e40cbabddd1\"},\"headline\":\"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-13T08:50:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":417,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/\",\"name\":\"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-13T08:50:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9eff1b56aca175cb9ea83e40cbabddd1\"},\"description\":\"My big \u201csecret\u201d as a radio commercial copywriter is to repeatedly ask these two questions until I understand the answers. 1) What...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"description\":\"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9eff1b56aca175cb9ea83e40cbabddd1\",\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"description\":\"Dan O'Day is radio's leading air talent coach & listener retention specialist. He's personally coached winning radio stations and shows in 37 countries. A 2-time BILLBOARD Radio Personality of the Year Winner, he refers to himself as a Radio Guy and probably will punch you if you make the mistake of calling him a \\\"consultant.\\\"\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.DanODay.com\\\/store\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/DanODayRadio\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/http:\\\/\\\/www.twitter.com\\\/dan_oday\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/dan-oday-2\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising","description":"My big \u201csecret\u201d as a radio commercial copywriter is to repeatedly ask these two questions until I understand the answers. 1) What...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising","og_description":"My big \u201csecret\u201d as a radio commercial copywriter is to repeatedly ask these two questions until I understand the answers. 1) What...","og_url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/","og_site_name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio","article_published_time":"2016-12-13T08:50:07+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dan O'Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/dan_oday","twitter_site":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan O'Day","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan O'Day","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9eff1b56aca175cb9ea83e40cbabddd1"},"headline":"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising","datePublished":"2016-12-13T08:50:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/"},"wordCount":417,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/","name":"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg","datePublished":"2016-12-13T08:50:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9eff1b56aca175cb9ea83e40cbabddd1"},"description":"My big \u201csecret\u201d as a radio commercial copywriter is to repeatedly ask these two questions until I understand the answers. 1) What...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/radio-advertising-catch-phrase-320.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/2-key-questions-radio-ads\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The 2 Key Questions for Effective Advertising"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/","name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","description":"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9eff1b56aca175cb9ea83e40cbabddd1","name":"Dan O'Day","description":"Dan O'Day is radio's leading air talent coach & listener retention specialist. He's personally coached winning radio stations and shows in 37 countries. A 2-time BILLBOARD Radio Personality of the Year Winner, he refers to himself as a Radio Guy and probably will punch you if you make the mistake of calling him a \"consultant.\"","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.DanODay.com\/store","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio","https:\/\/x.com\/http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/dan_oday"],"url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/author\/dan-oday-2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19422"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19427,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19422\/revisions\/19427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}