Lead Nurturing: The Key to Creating Customers Online

[By Sarah Faglio]

Creating customers is the key to success for any business.  With any buying decision, people need to take time (whether it be minutes or months) to contemplate if they are willing to spend money on a particular product or service.  For those people who need more time to decide on whether or not they want to buy from you, it is important for your company to take the right steps in nurturing them so they wind up becoming customers.  If these people who have shown an interest in your company are ignored, they may decide to not buy from you.  Therefore, it is important to nurture qualified leads to guide them and appreciate them so that they turn into customers.

There are a multitude of ways that people can express general interest in your company and what you have to offer.  These actions include but are not limited to: following the company's social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ et. al.), subscribing to a company's blog via RSS feeds, signing up for a company's newsletter and providing contact information to access a downloadable document (white paper, case study et. al.) or webinar .  These people who have voluntarily provided their contact information or chose to follow company updates are showing that they are interested in the company and what it has to offer.  These people are considered to be qualified leads since they have the potential to be paying customers for a company.

After a qualified lead voluntarily provides their e-mail address, your company has the authority to send informative e-mail messages, since they are interested in receiving them.  These e-mails could be newsletters, tips, follow-up, updates or other education information that is relevant to your company's product or service.  E-mail messages can remind  prospects of your product or service and sales, which can lead them to making a purchase based on familiarity and trust from being sent informative messages from a company of interest to them.  Various parts of the e-mail body should link to a landing page that expands on a particular topic, such as news, industry, sale, special offers or website updates.

Qualified prospects who follow a company's social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and RSS blog feeds) are showing that they are interested in company updates.  Since they willingly choose to follow the company, they are welcoming any updates that the company posts.  This is a quick way to share industry news, helpful information, company news, website updates, sales and special promotions to prospects all at the same time.

Consistent blog entries (2-3 times a week) provide opportunity for companies to develop relationships with potential customers as well as lead them directly to a place where they could provide their information or make a purchase.  Feedback from readers through comments allows companies to speak directly with them, answering questions, giving them advice or provide solutions to their problems (which could possibly be solved through a purchase from their company).  Blog entries could end with or consist of links to various parts of a company's website, such as product or service catalogs or descriptions, free demos or other landing pages that require interested prospects to provide their contact information.

By placing call-to-actions in your landing pages, you are raising your chances of gaining contact information for qualified leads who visit your website, opening the door to an opportunity to nurture these qualified leads into sales.  These call-to-actions can request your website visitors to provide their information in exchange for more information on a product or service, downloadable resources, viewing of a company webinar or speech, access to free samples, demos or discounts, to receive your newsletter or to be contacted by someone in your company.

Research has shown that about 50% of qualified leads are not ready to buy after going to a company's website.  This shows the importance of nurturing these leads to guide them to becoming customers in an effort to avoid losing these potential sales.  By showing these leads the appropriate attention and guidance, you are able to create a sense of trust and loyalty to your brand, since they see you as a subject matter expert that helps them to solve their problem or satisfy their desires by purchasing your product or service.  By treating qualified leads as valued customers, you have the opportunity to gain both their business and respect for your company.

Advertising: History of Psychology Attracting Consumers

[By Sarah Faglio]

I am a big proponent of psychology and how it could be used in developing successful marketing strategies.  The main goal of an advertising campaign is to attract and draw in as much attention as possible from potential buyers.  With the multitude of advertisements that we come across everyday, companies need to develop ways to stand out from not only other ads but particularly their competition.  Marketers have been using psychology methods to help develop their advertising campaigns for many years.  With growing competition, it is important that companies learn new ways to attract attention with psychology. 

In 1895, Harlow Gale was the first psychologist to use theory and scientific methods to study advertising and the process of persuasion.  He was the first to develop advertising surveys and experiments that sought to find the effects of advertising on attention and memory.  He was intrigued by how people processed ads "from the time they see the advertisement until they have purchased the article advertised."  He concluded that "attitude toward the ad" consisted of both affective and cognitive aspects, central and peripheral cues, issue involvement, personal influence and unconscious attitude formation.

 In 1903, Walter Dill Scott wrote The Theory and Practice of Advertising, where he asserted that people were highly suggestible and obedient.  He believed in two advertising techniques, which involved commands and coupons: 1) stating a direct command such as "use such and such product" and 2) asking consumers to complete a coupon and mail it into the company.

Harry Hollingworth was a psychologist who worked to understand what was behind the use of effective advertising.  He believed that advertising needed to accomplish four things in order to be successful: 1) attract a consumer's attention, 2) focus the attention onto the message, 3) make the consumer remember the message and 4) cause the consumer to take the desired action. 

As the psychology of advertising got more popular, other psychologists started conducting experiments that would be the stepping stones for successful advertisements.  Starting in the 1960s, Madison Avenue became the hub of advertising agencies where many companies would make great strides in the advertising world.


Psychology has had a huge impact on the effectiveness of advertisements.  Once people become consciously aware of a particular advertisement, they need to store the message in their memories long enough to provoke a purchase.  The advertisement needs to convince or show a target audience that they need or want the item, which may lead to a potential purchase or impulse buy.  Many studies show the effectiveness of advertisements through the use of psychological factors that affect behavior or buying decisions.  Psychology has a huge impact on the advertising industry by providing new research discoveries of what motivates people to buy.

Blogging: How Your Company Can Benefit

[By Sarah Faglio]

Many companies do not realize the benefits that blogging could have on their online marketing campaigns.  It has the potential to have a significant impact on a company's popularity and subsequently its discovery of potential customers.  Blogging also contributes to a company website's search engine optimization (SEO) value, which affects its search engine result ranking, therefore driving more traffic to your website.  The more traffic to your website, the greater your chance of attracting qualified leads and potential customers.

Companies that blog on their websites have already seen significant benefits to their marketing campaigns.  According to recent data, the average company that blogs generates 55% more website visitors, 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages.  As you may already assume, the greater the number of visitors to your website, the more popular your pages and subsequently your business.  Inbound links are when other websites reference to your link on their own site, which can direct their visitors to your website.  Indexed pages are how many of your pages are sorted by search engines, which allow them to be found in search results by users. 

In a recent study on ROI, HubSpot found that 69% of businesses attributed their lead generation success to blogging.  Lead generation consists of nurturing qualified leads into paying customers.  Blogging is a great opportunity to provide information to readers that is relative to what your company sells.  This helps to guide them along the path to trusting your company and gain an interest in what you could provide them.  In addition, 57% of businesses claimed to have acquired a customer through their company blog.  Not only are companies seeing more traffic to their website from blogging but also an increase in sales.  Information from blogging content helps readers to find answers to their problems or come across a product or service that they could benefit from.

Top 5 Tips to Creating a Successful Company Blog

1. Remarkable content.  Unique content stands out among the rest of the information on the Internet.  By creating useful, remarkable blog posts, you are attracting an audience that is looking for information that they do not already know.  Repeated information is boring and less likely to garner interest if it is the same as what everyone else is writing about.  Be sure to post information that is related to your industry as opposed to just your company.  You are trying to provide valuable information that helps position yourself as a subject matter expert in your industry.  You want users to come to you for advice and value your blog content information as opposed to feeling they are just being sold to.  Proper blog content consists of information that is of interest to your target audience, such as industry updates, news and important general information related to products or service that your company offers.  The information needs to matter to your audience and not bore nor interest them.  Content links can also direct to call-to-action landing pages, previous blog posts, free demos, newsletter sign up, product or service descriptions etc.
2. Social media.  After posting a new blog entry, it is important to update your other social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with a direct link to the post.  This updates remind your followers, people who are interested in your company or industry, of new entries and drives additional traffic to your blog.  Also, by placing social media share links at the conclusion of your blog post, you are making it easier for readers to share your entry on their own social media accounts, which spreads your post to their followers as well.
3. Comment box.  Leaving the comment box option open allows readers to give feedback on what you wrote.  Many companies are hesitant to leave this option available due to negative feedback that could arise.  However, this gives you the perfect opportunity to speak directly to this person to quell any negatives and offer suggestions.  When people reply back with problems or questions, you are able to reply back with suggestions and advice that may lead them to your product or service to help solve their problems or make an informed decision about a potential purchase. Be sure to reply directly, by addressing them by name, to those who comment to show that you valuable their opinion or feedback.  In the case of unsolicited or inappropriate comment replies, you have the option to moderate comments before they are posted publicly, allowing you to delete if you deem necessary.
4. Keywords.  Posts including proper keywords help your blog entry get found in search engine results by users searching for that topic.  Be sure to develop a list of keywords relevant to your industry, product or service, company or location and try to use those words as often as you could without making the entry seem awkward.  Proper keyword placement and usage attributes to the SEO value of your blog, and subsequently your website.  This helps your website rank higher on search engine results, get found by qualified search users looking for that information and increasing traffic from organic searches, to your website.
5. Updating.  In order for your blog to be successful, it is vital to publish posts about 2-3 times a week.  Stale content does not draw interest to your website or add to your SEO as well as new content does.  By continuously updating your blog, you are showing your audience that you are a subject matter expert who stays keen to updates or alerts in your industry.  Maintaining an active blog allows you to generate a following as well as general interest in your blog.  By allowing readers to subscribe to your blog, by adding the RSS feed option, they are able to receive direct updates of when new content is added so they know to go to your website to view them.

Blogging is very important to a company's website and has a large impact on how it gets found by qualified leads.  A multitude of important factors of a website's SEO value that blogging can attribute to are keyword placement, updated content as well as how valuable its content is to users.  This would help your company's website rank higher in search engine results, therefore driving more traffic to your website.  By looking at the analytics of your blog posts and determining which gain the most views, you will learn which topics are most popular and are of interest to your readers.  This information could help you to determine what you could write about in future posts in an effort to gain more traffic.  More traffic means more interest and subsequently more qualified leads that can turn into valued, paying customers.

Digital Marketing: Would Your Business Benefit?

[By Sarah Faglio]

As technology advances, so does our means of communications with others and the public.  The radio and television were two technological mediums that companies used to advertise to their target audience.  However, since the mid-1990s, the Internet has drastically changed the way we share information.  It has turned into a new way for businesses to market their products or services directly to their target audience.  Online platforms, such as websites and social media, offer a lot to companies such as higher ROI on their marketing campaigns and more business.

Research shows that more than half of all U.S. residents and more that 3/4 of all U.S. adults are online.  A recent survey found that 92% of online adults use search engines to find information on the Internet, with 59% who do so on a typical day.  Of these daily searches, 46% are for information on products or services.  89% of U.S. Internet users search online before they make a purchase, even when the purchase is made at a local business.  With an astounding amount of people and potential customers online, it is important for companies to have an online presence so they do not miss out on opportunities and business that could be found on the Internet.

Top 5 Ways to Create Strong Online Presence

1. Website - This allows companies to post valuable information about their company and their products or services.  It is a centralized location where users can learn about what the company has to offer.  60% of all organic clicks go to the top three organic search results.  With correct SEO and keyword placement and number of indexed pages, websites are able to rank on search engine results - helping them get found by users who are searching for topics related to their company. 
2. Blogging - 65% of daily internet users read a blog.  By keeping a frequent blog, 2-3 times a week, you are contributing to your website's SEO and are generating traffic to your site.  B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those that do not.  Businesses that blog at least 20 times a month generate 5 times more traffic and 4 times more leads than those who only blog a few times a month.  Blog posts need to be valuable and remarkable content and need to be of interest to your target audience.  Instead of solely company news, you should write about industry updates or other information that is of value to your target audience.  By continuously updating your blog with industry updates and information you are positioning yourself as a subject matter expert.  Also, by opening up the comment box, you are allowing direct communication between you and your potential customer - a place where you can offer advice and suggestions. 
3. Facebook - 93% of U.S. adult Internet users are on Facebook.  As of date, there are more than 800 million active users on Facebook.  When users "like" company pages get updates made to the business's profile, such as new wall posts (blog and industry news updates), pictures, videos, discussion questions and more.  Facebook allows companies to easily provide updates to followers as well as interact with users via comments.
4. Twitter -  There are 100 million monthly active users on Twitter with over 250 million daily tweets.  Companies with over 1,000 Twitter followers get 6 times more traffic.  70% of U.S. Twitter users are more likely to recommend the brands that they follow.  Twitter accounts allow companies to share quick industry or company news, as well as blog posts to followers.  Since posts are only allowed to be 140 characters, they are read quickly by followers, allowing them to easily decide if the topic is of interest to them.  These updates can link back to your website or blog to drive traffic to updates you have made.  With more than 1/2 of active Twitter users following companies, brands or products, it is important to make sure your company creates a continuously updated page for them to engage with. 
5. LinkedIn - As of date, there are over 135 million professionals on LinkedIn.  Company profiles allow businesses to connect with other professionals and establish themselves in a professional setting.  They are also able to provide status updates on industry or company news as well as blog and Twitter updates to its followers.  It grants companies the opportunity to network with others in their industry as well as become members in groups consisting of other members that may be of interest to them.

Establishing your company on the Internet allows your business to develop its online presence and reach towards potential customers.  Websites provide information to help users make an informed decision about their buying purchases.  Social media platforms keep users updated on the company and industry.  Actually, 71% of Internet users are more likely to purchase based on social media referrals.  By making use of what the Internet can offer your company, you have the opportunity to boost your sales and business.

Direct Mail Marketing: Does It Really Get Past The Front Door?

[By Sarah Faglio]

It seems logical that sending mail directly to someone's doorstep would be an effective means of direct marketing.  However, recent technological advances and the inundation of advertisements sent directly to people's homes has made them ineffective.  Junk mail or advertising mail is often thrown away by its recipients who do not bother to read what service or product the advertisement has to offer.  Also, with the rising costs of postage and cost of printing the advertisement, this direct mailing method is more expensive than its technological alternative. 

Junk mail makes up a large assortment of advertisements sent directly to peoples' home or business.  It consists of advertising circulars, catalogs, postcards, coupons, applications and other promotional items sent to homes or businesses.  However, it costs a company money to print the advertisements, develop address lists, purchase postage and develop the advertisement.

Not only is junk mail costly for marketers, but it is also very unproductive with many of the advertisements not even being read by recipients.  The average American adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 44% of junk mail is throw away without being opened or read.  People have become so inundated with advertising mail that they cannot or care to go through all of the pieces of junk mail that they receive, which leads them to just throw most of it out.

Junk mail recipients have become so annoyed and irritated by unwanted advertisements that laws have been put into place that allow them to opt-out.  In response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Rowan vs. Post Office Department, applicants have the opportunity to obtain a Prohibitory Order issued by the United States Postal Service.  This allows people to stop non-governmental organizations from sending them mail and demands that these organizations remove the consumers' information from their mailing lists.  This order blocks marketers from sending advertising mail directly to peoples' home or business.


Direct mail marketing seems like a practical idea, since you are putting advertisements directly into a recipient's hands by sending it straight to their home or business location.  However, new technology, such as e-mail seems to be more productive than direct mail for many reasons.  These reasons include it being cheaper, analytics that allow you to track if an e-mail is opened or if they click on included links and people who volunteer their e-mail addresses are looking forward to your advertisements and welcome them.  With direct mail, you are unable to measure ROI since you do not know, in most cases, if the recipient bought your product or service because of the advertisement.  Also, with e-mail being free to send and with many people using the Internet to research a product or service, direct mail seems to be an ancient way to get a potential customer's attention.

Online Marketing To Add To Your Holiday Sales

[By Sarah Faglio]

The holidays are a hectic time of the year - for both customers and businesses.  While customers look for gifts to buy their loved ones, companies try and offer the best deals and stand out among their competition.  Companies use various marketing strategies to make sure that they take advantage of this profitable time of the year to drive sales towards their business.  It is important to increase their sales during these few months in order to gain the business in a time when masses of people are looking to buy.  The Internet has become a vital marketing tool for businesses who want to add to their holidays sales this year.

According to Deloitte's 25th Annual Holiday Survey of the 2011 holiday season, respondents' holiday spending intentions have improved.  The number of respondents who expected to spend more or the same amount as last year has risen 11 percentage points from last year's survey.  Also, expected sales on gifts is up 3% from last year, representing the first increase since 2004.  The survey also reports that respondents admit that technology has facilitated their decisions around whether and what to purchase. 

While in-store purchases make up a large part of holiday sales, online purchases have contributed to additional business that have been considered quite profitable for retailers.  During the second week of December, a total of $6.3 billion was spent online, which brought the total spend for the holiday season to $30.9 billion as of that week.  This is a 15% increase compared to the same period last year.  The top days for online holiday business surpassed last year's sales: 

• Cyber Monday (12.2.11) had $1.25 billion in sales, 27% increase compared to last year.  
• Green Monday (12.12.11) had $1.13 billion in sales, 19% increase compared to last year.  
• Free Shipping Day (12.16.11) had $1.07 billion in sales, 14% increase compared to last year.

Top 10 Strategies to Enhance Your Online Sales

1. Offer discounts for online purchases.
2. Send out targeted e-mails, to those who voluntarily provided their e-mail addresses, to advertise online sales.
3. Hold contests for free giveaways.
4. Provide free shipping for orders over a certain price.
5. Create clear navigation bars divided up into specific categories and search options to make it easier to explore options and find products of interest.
6. Use payment and money transfer services, like PayPal, to provide safety and security for customers' personal credit and debit card information. 
7. Use online shopping carts to make it easier for customers to view all their purchases before they check out.
8. Display product reviews under items to provide research to help customers make purchasing decisions.
9. Provide full descriptions for products so users are not left with any questions about the product.
10. Optimize keywords on website pages to attract and and convert the most targeted prospects. For example, by adding the phrase, "holiday gifts" or "great gifts for mom" to your page you are able to attract users searching for that term.

Online marketing and website optimization have significantly contributed to businesses' sales.  By using various marketing strategies, with a focus on top holiday shopping days, your company may be able to boost their sales and overall reach to potential customers.

SPAM: Seeing People Avoid Marketers

[By Sarah Faglio]

When e-mail first started being used by the public, it was seen as a convenience by many who wanted to stay in touch with people, whether it be business or personal.  It was favored over direct mailing since it was free and the message was instantly sent to someone's inbox. This new means of sending messages allowed companies to share updates or sales to customers instantaneously as well as not having to spend money on postage and paper for direct mailings.  Customers would opt-in to these company e-mails by willingly providing their e-mail addresses.  However, many companies send unsolicited e-mail messages to consumers, better known as SPAM.

The first SPAM e-mail was sent on ARPAnet (or the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, the network of government and university computers that preceded the Internet) on May 3, 1978 by Gary Thuerk to all 600 ARPAnet members.  He was a marketing manager for Digital Equipment Corp. that wanted to publicize open houses that would be unveiling the company's latest computers.  More spammers have arisen since 1978, clogging users' e-mails with messages that they are uninterested in.  According to the Message Anti-Abuse Working Group, the amount of SPAM e-mail was between 88-92% of e-mail messages sent in the first half of 2010.

There are a number of ways that people avoid SPAM mail, in addition to filters put into place by e-mail administrators.  E-mail accounts now have mail filters that not only allow users to organize incoming mail into different folders but directs all SPAM mail to a designated folder separate from the inbox.  These users may automatically delete a marketing message or avoid them completely by unsubscribing to them - blocking any further e-mail messages.

Despite its annoyance, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 declared SPAM to be legal as long as it adhered to certain specifications.  The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stand by rules that prohibited the sending of unwanted commercial e-mail messages (messages whose primary purpose is to advertise or promote a commercial product or service).  These detailed rules also restricted the sending of unwanted commercial e-mail messages to computers.  It prevents states from enacting stronger anti-spam protections and prohibits individuals from suing spammers.  However, in the same month that the act went into effect, less than 1% of spam e-mails sent to U.S. users' inboxes actually adhered to the rules of the CAN-SPAM Act.

 Spammers collect people's e-mail addresses without them knowing or voluntarily providing it. They get e-mail addresses from chatrooms, websites, customer lists, newsgroups and viruses that harvest users' address books and are sold to other spammers.  When consumers voluntarily provide their e-mail addresses, this shows that they are both interested in your company and will therefore not delete your messages since it is wanted and anticipated.  By focusing your e-mail campaign to a targeted audience, you are preventing wasteful mass sending of SPAM e-mail to uninterested users.

Telemarketing: Is Anyone Picking Up Anymore?

 [By Sarah Faglio]

Telemarketing is a means of direct marketing where salespeople call people in an effort to persuade them into buying their products or services.  This type of cold calling occurs when these sales people call people who were not expecting to be called.  Robocalls, or "automatic telemarketing," use voice broadcasting of recorded messages with an autodialer and a computer to deliver prerecorded messages to people's phones.  These calls are either placed from a company office, a call center or from home.  They also send messages through other forms of electronic marketing such as e-mail or fax,which is also considered spam mail.  Telemarketers call consumers to access their needs and motivate them to make a purchase from their company.

Call recipients are identified in a multitude of ways, such as past purchase history, previous requests for information, credit limit, competition entry forms and application forms.  Phone numbers are also purchased from a company's consumer database, association members, telephone directory or public list.  Telemarketers acquire these lists with the intent of finding people who are likely to purchase their product or service.  Techniques include surveying, or polling, the company's prospective or past customers to access consumer satisfaction with their product or service.

In the past few years, people started to get so annoyed with these calls that they purposely tried to avoid them.  Caller-ids on phones have let people view who is calling them before they pick it up.  This allows people the opportunity to ignore any calls from numbers they do not recognize as an effort to avoid speaking with a telemarketer.  In 1991, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA),established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), restricted the use of automatic dialing systems, artificial or prerecorded voice messages, SMS text messages to cell phones, and the use of fax machines to send unsolicited messages.  In 2004, the National Do Not Call Registry, managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), gave U.S. consumers the opportunity to limit the telemarketing calls they receive.  Those who register are not allowed to receive calls from telemarketers (except from certain  non-profit organizations) from both interstate and intrastate callers.  This prevents commercial telemarketers from calling those who are on the registry, reducing the number of unwanted phone calls to consumers' homes.  In addition, many U.S. states have created "Do Not Call Lists" that allow people to add their numbers to a list that telemarketers are not permitted to contact.

Telemarketing has always been a nuisance to consumers, by calling them unexpectedly and interrupting their daily lives with products or services they may not be interested in.  As a marketer, you want to target your audience with more efficiency as a way to not waste valuable resources on non-customers and reach out to those who are potential customers.  In a society with caller-ids and Do Not Call registries, telemarketing has become a less valuable marketing strategy for companies.

Radio Advertising: Is Anyone Really Listening To You?

[By Sarah Faglio]

Radio transmission began in the late 19th century, when physicists started looking at how variations of electric current could be projected through space in the form of radio waves.  In 1896, Guglielmo Marconi received the world's first patent for his invention of a system of wireless telegraphy, which sends wireless communications over long distances.  Wireless telegraphy eventually led to the development of the widespread use of the radio. Radio broadcasting began in the early 20th century, with KDKA being the world's first commercially licensed radio station in 1920.  


Radio is available in AM and FM stations in commercial broadcasting, non-commercial educational public broadcasting and community radio.  Commercial broadcasting can be heard by audiences through portable radios, cars, online, satellite radio, and mobile apps.   

Radio broadcasting originally began without paid commercials, but as the communication medium's outreach grew and the cost of operating a radio station became significantly expensive, radio advertisements emerged in 1922.  These advertisements take the form of commercials, sponsorship/endorsement mentions and banner ads, except in the case of satellite radio that is substantiated by paid subscriptions from its listeners.  

Arbitron reports on radio audiences and provides ratings data of specific cities, to allow advertisers to select a specific segment of the listening audience and purchase radio airtime based on that target demographic.  According to a September 2011 report from Arbitron, radio has added an additional 1.7 million listeners since September 2010, aged 12+ tuning in on an average week.   The number of listeners aged 12+ listening to the radio each week has reached an estimated 241.4 million, representing 93% of the population aged 12+.  This growth in radio listeners is largely attributed to young demographics, with a growth of 80,000 listeners aged 18-34 since September 2010.  

However, despite this growth in radio audience, there are new technologies and public responses that have led to the Top 10 Drawbacks to Radio Advertising:

1. Messages are strictly audio and therefore have no visual support.
2. Listeners may "channel surf" to avoid having to listen to commercials.
3. "Ad clutter" prevents one ad from standing out from the others.  Multiple exposures are usually necessary for the message to be remembered.  
4. "Commercial clutter" is an excessive amount of non-program content, where the number of commercials sometimes irritates listeners to a point where they change the station or turn off the radio completely.
5. Messages are short and fleeting, making it difficult to attain listeners' attention as well as provide sufficient marketing messages.
6. Advertisements can only sell one idea (or product/service) at a time.
7. Messages cannot be reviewed by the listener, so if they did not hear a part of the message, they may be unable to react or follow-up.
8. A lack of "track-ability" in the advertisements prevent marketers from evaluating the effectiveness and reach of the message.
9. The ads have no tangible reference for listeners to go back to and look up the marketing message.
10. Many listeners who find ads to be annoying or intrusive, simply turn off the radio entirely due to their frustration of listening to these type of advertisements.  

Due to these disadvantages of radio advertising, a trend toward fewer commercials is arising, such as "commercial-free hours."  In addition to these perceptional drawbacks of listening to radio commercials, portable media players such as MP3 players and iPods, allow people to listen to music that they have compiled on their own.  These portable devices allow listeners to play a song of their choosing without having to listen to any advertising commercials.


While the number of radio listeners has increased, the effectiveness and reach of advertisement commercials has subsided.  What used to be a valuable medium of reaching a target audience,  has turned into a place where advertisements are avoided and may unproductive in its efforts.  With the ease of portable media players, radio stations are avoided all-together.

Television Advertising: Should You Be Investing In It?

[By Sarah Faglio]

Throughout the century, television has made a large impact on how the public receives information.  TVs have been commercially available since the late 1920's, which eventually led to it becoming commonplace in homes throughout the country.  For viewers, it has become a top source for entertainment and news.  But, for companies, it has become a target for advertisement placement, or commercials.  

By analyzing viewership of particular programs, companies are able to pinpoint when and what their target audience is watching.  From this information, they are able to place their commercial advertisements during these programs as an effort to successfully reach their audience. 

With the prevalence of  television usage in U.S. households, throughout the years, companies have used this medium to their advantage by creating and airing advertising commercials that are shown directly to their target market.  Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of viewers of a chosen program.  In its 2012 Advance/Preliminary TV Household Universe Estimate, The Nielsen Company estimates that 114.7 million households will have a TV in 2012.  This estimate is actually a decrease from the 115.9 million households with a TV in 2011.  This report also notes a decline in the estimated percent of U.S. households with a T.V. of 96.7% in 2012 from 98.9% in 2011.  The State of the Media Trends in TV Viewing, produced by the Nielsen Company, successfully outlines the current 2011 trends in television.

According to Nielsen data, U.S. television advertising spend in 2010 reached $69 billion.  This is an incredibly high amount of money to spend, despite new technological advances that have entered the market, damaging the effectiveness of TV advertising infiltration reach.

The videocassette recorder (VCR) became a mass marketed product in the late 1970's.  VCRs allowed viewers to record programs and watch them at a later time.  With control over tape speed, viewers were able to fast forward the commercials and only watch the program.  However, in the early 2000's, the VCR declined with the introduction of the DVR as a popular consumer format for playback or prerecorded video. 

Digital video recorder (DVR) products, ReplayTV and TiVo were first introduced to the public in 1999.  They were more convenient than VCRs and allowed viewers to pause live TV, replay scenes, view a program before its completed and set and record programs.  The product also allows viewers to skip commercial advertisements completely.  According to Nielsen data, DVR penetration increased by about 4% in the last year, rising from 35.7% of TV households with DVRs in February 2010 to 39.7% in February 2011.

With the rising cost of commercial advertising, the decreasing number of TVs in households and the increase in the use of products that allow viewers to skip commercials, the traditional use of television advertising is becoming less of a productive and viable investment for marketing.