Four States Small Business Blog

More than 70 local businesses attended our BrandsFormation workshop earlier this month, led by business strategist and long-time Zimmer Radio, Inc. branding partner, Chuck Mefford. See what one business owner had to say about the event:

Today’s recruitment landscape is completely different than it was just a decade ago. Rather than searching the local paper when they’re ready to make a move, job seekers have access to tools and technology that put them in the driver’s seat. They can take their time and research potential employers online, consult social media and review sites like Glassdoor, setup job alerts on LinkedIn, and apply with the click of a button when something good comes up.

Welcome to the first edition of our Zimmer Radio Inc. team spotlights! Our team of radio and digital marketing experts work with businesses in Joplin and the surrounding Four States Area to develop effective, integrated marketing campaigns. But we’re not just passionate professionals—we’re people with unique stories to tell.

Putting all of your eggs in one basket can be a costly mistake for advertisers if you lack proper strategy and focus. For example, some might think all they need is traditional. Maybe radio or TV has worked before, so why complicate things by adding digital to the mix? But in reality adding digital could mean updating your website and making sure you’re following SEO best practices. On the other hand, younger marketers who gravitate primarily towards digital (it’s what they know!) are missing out on traditional opportunities.

Digital marketing is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes, and you’ve already taken the leap and made investments to run digital campaigns for your brand. The question is, is it working? Do you actually know how to recognize if it is or isn’t working? You need to be measuring your progress, and if you’re not, you might be wasting your money or failing to reach your true potential.

Let’s do a thought exercise: A consumer wants to obtain a particular product, and they do the research to determine which brand they’d like to buy and which store to buy it from. They find it’s available from their favorite store, but while they want it right now, they know the store consistently runs regular discounts. Instead of buying it now, they wait until the next discount kicks in so they can buy it for a cheaper price. In this exercise, most of the advertising for the product brand and store worked. The consumer is successfully converted, the product solves their pain points and desires, and a sale is made. So what’s the problem?

Advertising is supposed to be a tool, and one that provides clear results for your business. You need to be seeing returns on your investment (ROI) for each of your advertising choices. If you aren’t, then why are you advertising? That’s just a waste of time and resources, not to mention a big waste of money!

One of the hardest lessons to learn in marketing is that building a brand takes time. While some lucky brands get struck by advertising lightning — e.g., TOMS, which first made headlines when it was barely a company, nearly tripling orders in one day and sparking even more news coverage thanks to its core cause — most companies have to work hard to carve out a place in their market. Even major brands, like beverage powerhouse Coca-Cola, have to build their momentum over time.

There are more than 63,000 searches per second on Google. Your business should be among those searched for, and radio can help make that happen.

Discounts, special promotions, and sales are often a big draw to customers — in fact, two of the top motivating factors for how American consumers choose where to shop are price (81%) and the availability of discounts (71%). But is that what actually drives results? Is that all that keeps customers coming back? In today’s post, we’ll take a look at what drives consistent results, as well as when you should actually be using discounts.