Mid-Missouri Marketing Resource Blog

There are some songs I used to hate in the 80s.  Or maybe I didn’t “hate” them per se – I just got tired of them.  I wasn’t a big fan of Journey, for example. Seems like “Faithfully” played every day, all day, everywhere I went. Couldn’t get away from it. Now, 37 years later, when that song gets played somewhere and I’m there to hear it, I have to stop whatever I’m doing to enjoy it. Could it be that Journey is like a fine wine and just got better with age? More likely, it was always good and I just appreciate it more now.

Whew! What a year! In 2019, we published well over 100 blogs and e-books full of information designed to help you get the most out of your marketing, so your business can become bigger, better, and stronger. We've covered a wide range of topics: everything from radio to magazine to hiring and digital. We have content for business owners and marketing directors, human resources managers and salespeople - over 71,000 views! Why? We're super passionate about being a source of cutting-edge, thought-provoking information that is both useful and relevant to our clients, businesses and fellow marketers. We believe in being the best we can be, and helping you do the same. 

Marketing success depends, at least partially, on the strength of the creative in your advertising. You may have the better product, the lowest price, or a longer history in the market than your closest competitor, but if your marketing messages are boring or weak, people aren't going to give you a second look or listen.

Jake is a nice-looking young man with a trustworthy face.  He looks no more than 35 years old.  He wasn’t what I expected for the owner of a used car dealership, so when we sat down to discuss his radio ad creative for the first time, I initially thought maybe this was the owner’s son. But since having a trustworthy face doesn’t help to sell trust over the radio, I asked Jake what he could tell me about his dealership that might make his brand stand apart from all of the other dealerships in the area.

The world’s most brilliant marketing teams always think BIG. Thankfully, as a business owner, you can ask the same questions they do about your company, your audience and your approach. Here are those questions:

Bah Humbug! It’s true, we all feel a little Scrooge-like at times, and that’s ok!

It’s America’s most popular ice cream flavor and gives your common cup of coffee a tasty punch. Vanilla. Somewhere you won’t find this flavor? Strong marketing campaigns.

If you walked into an ice cream shop with 50 different flavors, would vanilla be the first one you asked for? Probably not, because it’s not as flashy as Double Brownie Chewy Chocolate Chip. (This sounds amazing, by the way.) 

Here are a few ways to help you be bold in the World of Branding:

Bookended between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s safe to say that Small Business Saturday runs an extreme risk of being completely overshadowed. Is this shopping holiday truly effective for our country’s valued small businesses?

Here is Part 2 in our 2-part series on common mistakes that businesses make trying to write their own radio ads. While the first three mistakes are frustrating enough…these last four cause professional writers and producers everywhere to groan inwardly and smack their foreheads in exasperation.

When it comes to advertising on the radio, it’s common for business owners to feel that they are in the best position to know what needs to be said about their business on the air -- and how to say it.  It’s easy to understand why they feel that way; it IS their business, after all.  However, in most cases, they’re incorrect.  They are no more in a position of expertise on how to advertise their own business than a non-doctor is on how to diagnose his or her own problem.  Unfortunately, there are still those business owners who will go on ahead and write their own radio scripts anyway… and we find that, most of the time, they make the same 7 mistakes...