If anyone can give me any useful feedback or opinions I would greatly appreciate it. Maybe some of you have had similar problems, and this can be helpful to use as well.
I will try to be as thorough as possible to explain the situation without writing a book. An associate/career/not for profit school recently advertised with my station. They were working with another rep who did not do a good job customer service wise so they gave the account to me. I am in the NYC market. His campaign only included on-air, no online (the client was unaware of online opportunities), all the commercials were running in mid-days, and there was no call to action in the creative. The commercials were run on a top 40 station targeting teens and young adults--the demo for the school. They had the commercials running mid-days so that people could call them when they are open---I personally believe that this entire idealogy is flawed---being enrolled in graduate school and in my mid-20s, I would never call any number from a school commerical if I heard it. I would always go to their website to see if I was interested. This campaign apparently generated no results, no phone calls, no emails, etc.
I recommended that we create a new campaign focused on the call to action of an open house. We ran some more interesting ads, conversational between two fake students, and promoted the open house, their programs, and the benefits of the school. We ran 60 ads over two weeks evenly distributed through dayparts and 2 stations- the top 40 station and an adult contemporary station. Also we had a van apearance with our street team at the open house.
Every client is different, but this is a similar formula to what I have run in the past with successl
My client told me that his friends called him and told him they were hearing the ads, and that other ad reps started calling the school about advertising---this did not happen the first time around. However, I found out yesterday that 12 students came to the open house (which I did personally stop by), but that none of them had come from the radio station or heard it from the radio stations.
Any ideas as to why this happened?!?!? Suggestions? Its extremely discouraging. I have some ideas...but I'd like to hear your opinions and see if they line up.
He asked them where they heard it from, and he also asked if they had heard it on the station.
He ideally wanted 20, but they would have been thrilled with that
I believe they were ok with the overall attendance, but just expected at least 10-15 coming from the radio station itself.
In my past life as a business owner and someone a bit OCD as far as tracking advertising numbers etc., I will tell you this:
Most people do not know where they heard something or saw something unless it is a coupon. Of course on the radio there aren't any coupons are there? Most people take the path of least resistance when asked where they saw an ad. And they can be led by the nose, for instance, I would say 'did you see us in val-pak?' and they would say yes.....maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
Did the school tell you where the people that did show up heard about the open house? Were they running any advertising at the same time besides your radio campaign?
My guess is that some of those 12 heard it on the radio and subliminally were led to the event....that is the beauty of advertising when done right....when done properly, it is hard for someone to remember EXACTLY what caused them to act. I find it a bit coincidental that they simply just showed up...or perhaps they found it through your stations' website(s)?
Julie:
Good for you, wanting to drill down and figure out what happened. Your client is fortunate that you think this way, whether or not they realize it.
We know that the issue isn't the radio medium. (As many consultants have enjoyed pointing out over the years, Marconi, Tesla, Armstrong, et al tested radio a long time ago and found that it worked. It's continued to work reliably for nearly a century.)
So, it's not a matter of testing the medium—or even testing a particular station—as much as it is testing the appeal of the advertiser's offer—the message!
Answers to the following questions may help shed light on where the problem really lies. Doing a post-mortem is dicey without first having ascertained the answers to some of these questions, and not all will apply to every situation.
Most of these are not simple "Yes or No" propositions but matters of degree:
1. Was the goal of the campaign precisely quantified, stated, understood, and agreed upon by both parties in advance of the schedule?
2. Was this goal achievable?
3. Were the client's expectations and timetable realistic?
4. How did the advertiser plan on measuring results?
5. Was the proposed means realistic?
6. Did the client, in fact, follow through with the proposed plan for measuring results?
7. Did the ad schedule provide sufficient frequency (repetition) to achieve the goal?
8. How relevant was the offer?
9. How timely was the offer?
10. How compelling was the offer? (Was it irresistible?)
11. Was the price too high?
12. Was the message perfectly clear? (If you were a prospect, would you have understood the proposition?)
13. Was the message credible? (If you were a prospect, would you believe what was being said?)
14. Was the message engaging*? (If you were a prospect, would you have stopped to pay attention to it?)
15. Was the message compelling? (If you were a prospect, would you have responded?)
16. Were there factors outside of your control that interfered with the success of the campaign? (A severe winter snowstorm, a power outage, even a competing event that had not been factored into the equation, can all affect the outcome of an advertising campaign.)
17. Did the schedule run as ordered?
18. Did the right commercial(s) run as they were supposed to?
19. Was the transmitter on? (OK - trick question, sort of. But the truth is that stations sometimes do go off the air, which tends to make it harder for someone to hear the commercials.)
20. I have long thought it important after a disappointment to ask the advertiser: "Why do YOU think the campaign was not as successful as it should have been? What can we—both parties—do better next time to insure greater success?" (Your approach to the relationship should always be in terms of a strategic partnership. It should never be an adversarial relationship.)
Hope some of this may be helpful.
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*Cliché-ridden, cookie-cutter copy; lame attempts at humor or dialogue; announcers pretending to be someone they are not; shouting AT the listener instead of talking TO him or her; forcing too much copy into the alloted time, resulting in a rushed delivery; adding reverb and other digital effects for no apparent reason: these types of things all tend to dilute the effectiveness of a commercial. They impede successful communication, rather than promote it.
In my experience, a business owner asking someone where they heard a message is about as flawed as those cards they hand to customers and have them check a box with where they heard about it. It's flawed on so many levels- by simply asking that one question; in my opinion, they eliminated the path it took that potential student into finding their school.
Those 12 students might have said: website. However, how did they know about the website? Did they hear the commercial, get directed to the website and then attend the event?
Also, how many potential students are going to come in over the next 4 weeks and inquire about the school or visit the website simply because they heard the commercials? I'm betting it's more than those 12 students who attended. Now, that's if the copy gave the students a clear, compelling message that had little to no "tune out" factors.
I would ask your client to check his website hits prior to the event and about 5 to 6 weeks out. Did he see a spike in the number of visitors? If so, the commercials probably worked. Maybe there was something about the school that didn't meet the listeners' needs. Maybe there are potential students who will enroll next semester because of the ads.
It sounds like this client got burned by the previous rep and had mixed feelings about doing more advertising.
