might wrap a van for a radio station but.....

[slappy]

well, back to the actual subject on getting famous singers photos for print, i guess he does not want them on the van so i'll be doing more with the station logo.

And for the air time, i'm not advertising signs on the air. Our main business is aftermarket truck, jeep and suv accessories, so that is what the commercial will be about. I'm busy enough with the signs that i don't want to even mention it on the air till "someone" hires "someone" to start answering the phone and take about 1/2 of what i do here off my hands so i can focus on everything else that i'm needed to do (build a online store, doing all the ads in papers, price tags, inventory i can go on and on). I feel like a clock everyday and have 12 projects that i go any direction with till the phone rings or a customer comes in then get side tracked to something else.

We had success last time i lettered this radio stations van, i know for fact cause i asked my customers how they heard about us. I'm also considering dropping the phone book and focusing on tv and radio with the advertising budget. Shooot, i didn't even get a new phone book this year at my house.

Anywho, like i said, i had good luck in the past, and the opportunity is here again so i'm going to jump on it.

Addy, I would be a fool to fall for what you want to do. i had one of those "radio brokers" come in here 2 weeks ago. He wanted $45 to say my name on the radio with his commercial for a month. I didn't know him from joe and called the radio station that he buys air time to cause the owner here was about to write a check for it. It was stupid. Basically my $45 would just get my business name on the radio with nothing that i'm about and on his commercial as a "sponsor" It would have been 5-7 seconds on his ad and my location, website or phone number probably wouldn't have even been mentioned with that amount of time. The radio station actually called me back and told me they were about to yank the plug on it. To me it was like a pyramid scheme and i feel bad for the businesses that did write him a check to basically pay for his advertisement of his business. Sorry, i'm busy enough on my own to go out and be a radio broker and having to worry about that chit.

 

[Locals Find!]

well, back to the actual subject on getting famous singers photos for print, i guess he does not want them on the van so i'll be doing more with the station logo.

And for the air time, i'm not advertising signs on the air. Our main business is aftermarket truck, jeep and suv accessories, so that is what the commercial will be about. I'm busy enough with the signs that i don't want to even mention it on the air till "someone" hires "someone" to start answering the phone and take about 1/2 of what i do here off my hands so i can focus on everything else that i'm needed to do (build a online store, doing all the ads in papers, price tags, inventory i can go on and on). I feel like a clock everyday and have 12 projects that i go any direction with till the phone rings or a customer comes in then get side tracked to something else.

We had success last time i lettered this radio stations van, i know for fact cause i asked my customers how they heard about us. I'm also considering dropping the phone book and focusing on tv and radio with the advertising budget. Shooot, i didn't even get a new phone book this year at my house.

Anywho, like i said, i had good luck in the past, and the opportunity is here again so i'm going to jump on it.

Addy, I would be a fool to fall for what you want to do. i had one of those "radio brokers" come in here 2 weeks ago. He wanted $45 to say my name on the radio with his commercial for a month. I didn't know him from joe and called the radio station that he buys air time to cause the owner here was about to write a check for it. It was stupid. Basically my $45 would just get my business name on the radio with nothing that i'm about and on his commercial as a "sponsor" It would have been 5-7 seconds on his ad and my location, website or phone number probably wouldn't have even been mentioned with that amount of time. The radio station actually called me back and told me they were about to yank the plug on it. To me it was like a pyramid scheme and i feel bad for the businesses that did write him a check to basically pay for his advertisement of his business. Sorry, i'm busy enough on my own to go out and be a radio broker and having to worry about that chit.

I am not suggesting you become a full time radio broker. I was saying if you can get the spots and offer them up to your customers at or even slightly above cost. You can have it as an added benefit to doing business with you. Not as full time business model. Just a perk that you offer that sets you apart from the shop down the street. That was my only suggestion, A way to set yourself apart from the next guy.

 

[Gino]

 

[WCSign]

As for being a fool for bartering or doing business with a radio, television or some other media, the fool...... is the one saying this.

Having knowledge like he possesses should help him make a better decision of how to wheel and deal with these medias.

Being in the sign industry, I don't have a product that someone is always itching to buy like cars, appliances or some sports arena... so selling products isn't my idea of advertising on a billboard or radio ad. It's simply a reminder or image enforcer if you do it correctly, so someone might remember your ad at some later date when they DO need your service or product.

The inside knowledge and how things and people are manipulated and screwed....... plus that he has taken part in it, just serves up more confirmation and proof..... some people never change.
​

yes the true benefit of "making it work" and not taking a loss with a radio station is the exposure that the van gets, especially in markets where wraps are still newish

 

[petesign]

As an 8 year radio veteran, I call bulls**t on this one. Capital expenditures are budgeted for at the first of the year, and usually by the time they change frequencies or formats, their budgets are blown. If you had a GM who was pocketing money by giving away spots in trade and writing them off later, he will end up fired or in prison, not eventually, but soon. Especially in large market or large companies - I worked for Clear Channel and let me tell you every cent is counted for. Trust me, I had to do CapEx budgets for the last few years in my career. It's no fun when they blow up your station right after you just paid for a bunch of banners, a tent, and a wrap - so you have nothing to promote the change with. They will make the rounds with every sign company in town to do trade until the well runs dry. I am even guilty of doing some trade with people I used to work with just to get the wheels rolling.

It's been my experience that while radio reaches a captive audience, there's not a really strong call to action for them to come see you as a sign company. You'd probably be better off doing a sponsorship of their vehicle and split the area with them... at least people would see your handiwork at every event they go to, and that van will be out a LOT. Maybe even work it into mentions in all of their live breaks at remotes. It will go a lot further than a commercial schedule, and your impressions will not fade in a month when your schedule runs out. What we need is top of mind awareness in our markets.. and that takes a LOT of time to achieve.... Sponsoring events and things people associate with their lifestyle is a great start. And sponsor their talk radio station, that's what the business owners are listening to right now. Ask for Arbitron ratings, and Scarborough research on who is likely to buy a sign from their stations, and pick the one that makes the most sense. It might even be cheaper for you to go that way. Advertisers of some products like the 18-34 age group, and those stations can get pricey, because of national ad buys (its cost and demand) -- but other stations cater to the 25-54 age group, or even a little older for talk radio, and that's where your business owners are right now.

Sorry for the long winded reply, but finally, something I know a little about

You guys that fall for the bartering for Airtime trick are fools. I did work for Beasley broadcasting for years. (2nd largest radio station owner in the US just behind Clear Channel) and let me tell you. They have cash by the wheelbarrows full. You can get paid cash if you want to get paid. The station managers always try to barter because, they pocket the cash they didn't pay you.

For example if they take your $5000 invoice and give you Airtime during say drive time. Its because they lost the Auto Dealer for that spot and its dead air. They put it down that they sold all the spots for $1000 for the month, and submit a request for reimbursement for the $4000. To the corporate office for the van wrap, they pocket the cash and you got screwed.

Airtime is dirt cheap if you buy it on your own. I used to buy up stations time slots all the time. They like to have them booked up 3 months in advance and if they aren't booked up you can usually buy em up for pennies on the dollar of value. That is what all the big marketing firms do. They call around all year buying up air time to resell em. No reason if you got some cash handy you can't do the same thing for yourself and sell some of the spots to your customers or reward loyal customers. Plenty of voice over companies will put together a :30 second spot for $500 and you can use it for years.

 

[WCSign]

As an 8 year radio veteran, I call bulls**t on this one. Capital expenditures are budgeted for at the first of the year, and usually by the time they change frequencies or formats, their budgets are blown. If you had a GM who was pocketing money by giving away spots in trade and writing them off later, he will end up fired or in prison, not eventually, but soon. Especially in large market or large companies - I worked for Clear Channel and let me tell you every cent is counted for. Trust me, I had to do CapEx budgets for the last few years in my career. It's no fun when they blow up your station right after you just paid for a bunch of banners, a tent, and a wrap - so you have nothing to promote the change with. They will make the rounds with every sign company in town to do trade until the well runs dry. I am even guilty of doing some trade with people I used to work with just to get the wheels rolling.

It's been my experience that while radio reaches a captive audience, there's not a really strong call to action for them to come see you as a sign company. You'd probably be better off doing a sponsorship of their vehicle and split the area with them... at least people would see your handiwork at every event they go to, and that van will be out a LOT. Maybe even work it into mentions in all of their live breaks at remotes. It will go a lot further than a commercial schedule, and your impressions will not fade in a month when your schedule runs out. What we need is top of mind awareness in our markets.. and that takes a LOT of time to achieve.... Sponsoring events and things people associate with their lifestyle is a great start. And sponsor their talk radio station, that's what the business owners are listening to right now. Ask for Arbitron ratings, and Scarborough research on who is likely to buy a sign from their stations, and pick the one that makes the most sense. It might even be cheaper for you to go that way. Advertisers of some products like the 18-34 age group, and those stations can get pricey, because of national ad buys (its cost and demand) -- but other stations cater to the 25-54 age group, or even a little older for talk radio, and that's where your business owners are right now.

Sorry for the long winded reply, but finally, something I know a little about

THATS ALL FOLKS:U Rock: