Hey, this thing works!

Gary has been my friend for close to 15 years, we went to college together & our first fulltime jobs in radio were at the same station in the middle of nowhere Michigan. Since then, we've both become successful Creative Directors with countless success stories behind us.

He called me the other day to talk about the sales team at the stations he works for. They're attempting to sell annual contracts now, not just short flights, but they're struggling. My training is based in the Roy Williams / Wizard Of Ads philosophies of only buying annuals (actually, the philosophy is to never NOT advertise...it's part of doing business, always). Turns out, they have a couple of Roy's training videos, but not the entire system. "Well there's the problem" I thought...as a team, they don't even KNOW the system, let alone being able to show a client how that system works.

I'm encouraged that they're seeing the benefits of long term advertising...it truly works to build a company's "brand" in the marketplace. However, the system only works when the system is followed.

Have a strategy with a definable focus, stick to that strategy and you'll succeed.

Oh, and SAY something in your advertising that means something to the listener (You knew I had to talk about the message, right?! That's the most important part!)

When you hit a home run!

Friday morning was the culmination of hard work and professionalism.

One of my newer clients is a financial planning service (Have you noticed the large amounts of service industries increasing their advertising?!). They have been through our complete program now: from an opening meeting, to strategy sessions, to the creation of their ad campaign that is based on that strategy.

I'm extrememly happy with the advertising we've developed for them and I'm thrilled they'll begin their campaign next week. But, the best part for me was as we left their office yesterday, the owner actually took the time to say thank you for our process. He said it was the most professional advertising program he's ever been involved in and his confidence has never been higher.

Needless to say, my head was held high yesterday: it's a wonderful validation for all the hard work that has gone into developing this system.

Does YOUR advertising have a system?