I don't know about you but I don't drive down the road with a pencil and paper on the seat.

Why then should you waste valuable advertising seconds on the radio by telling me your phone number?

Spend 20 minutes with local radio and you will hear more phone numbers than in most Yellow Pages.

Most radio ads are second thoughts. "Here take my ad in the paper and make something".

Trouble is, most radio people don't know squat about making a good ad so they take everything from the print ad and squeeze it in, including the phone number.

And who designed the print ad in the first place? The business owner, who wants a big bang for his buck, so he put it all in there, lines carried, years in business. Probably even a pic of the building, or worse, the owner's mug shot.

Telephone numbers, photos of the owners, grandiose statements that have nothing to do with good advertising.

The only time telephone numbers work in a radio ad is when the whole ad is built around getting the listener to remember the number. An excellent example comes from the Holiday Inn Hotel people. Their ad screams one 800 HOLIDAY. Great for remembering (a pain to dial).

They sell product when people call the number. Unless you can close the order on the phone and have a mnemonic to remember the number, don't waste seconds repeating your number on the air.

The only time your pic should be in the paper is when you give the Humane Society a truck load of dog food. The only time your voice should be on the radio is in a news sound byte from the dog shelter.

Benefits get the customer to your door, or on the phone. Offer to solve their problem and they will come to you. Help them remember your name and they will find you in the phone book. Help them remember your location and they will come thru the door.

"In the phone book under Veck, as in wreck" "Downtown, across from McDonald's" "On the highway, look for the giant Q in the sky"

Make your print ad all about benefits and use your radio ad to reinforce it and help them remember you and how to find you.

For more about advertising, get my article "What Does Your Business Cards Say?" MailTo:BizCardSay@BigIdeasGroup.com

©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel, All Rights Reserved BIG Mike is a Business Consultant and Professional Speaker. His BIG Ideas Group helps business grow with promotions, special reports, mastermind groups and seminars. http://BigIdeasGroup.com

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