Gratuitous sorcery and incantations from actual Wizards.

Your life is a singular journey; a generation is a collective journey.

We’re circling an 11,000-degree fireball as it shoots through a limitless vacuum at 52 times the speed of a rifle bullet.

If this dirt-covered rock we occupy was the size of a standard schoolroom globe covered with a coat of varnish, the thickness of that varnish would represent the air we breathe.

Like it or not, we’re all in this together.

All seven and a half billion of us.

When it gets dark tonight, look up at the stars. You’ll be looking out the window of our spaceship.

If we could aim our 11,000-degree fireball at the nearest of its siblings – those things we call the stars – it would take us 63,000 years to get there even though we would be shooting through space at 52 times the speed of an 865 mph bullet.¹

Right now you think I’m going to talk to you about cultural tolerance or global warming or world peace or some other big idea.

But you’re wrong.

My goal today is to teach you how to use metaphors to make your data more interesting so that you can persuade more people.

I borrowed the metaphor of the earth being a spaceship from Buckminster Fuller and the varnish on the globe came from Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth.

A metaphor relates the unfamiliar to the familiar, the unknown to the known, effectively translating your data into a language your listener can understand.

A good metaphor sharpens the point of your data.

Once you’ve chosen your metaphor, your second challenge will be to select nouns and verbs that carry the voltage of mild surprise.

I might have said, “The earth orbits the sun as it moves through space at 0.0004842454 au. (astronomical units).” But I chose instead to say, “We’re circling an 11,000-degree fireball as it shoots through a limitless vacuum at 52 times the speed of a rifle bullet.”

“We’re circling” causes you to see yourself in the story. This is the first step toward reader engagement.
“11,000-degree fireball” is more vivid than “the sun,”
“shoots through a limitless vacuum” is more exciting than “moves through space,”
and “52 times the speed of a rifle bullet” packs more of a wallop than “astronomical units.”

Brilliant communication isn’t a product of wit or charm or even talent.

Preparation is what it takes to click the brightness of your message up to high beam so that it pierces the darkness like a lighthouse at midnight. In the words of Alec Nevala-Lee, “A good surprise demands methodical work in advance. Like any form of sleight of hand, it hinges on making the result of careful preparation seem casual, even miraculous.”

“Like a lighthouse at midnight” wasn’t technically a metaphor, by the way. It was a simile. Metaphor: The earth is a spaceship. Simile: The earth is like a spaceship. A simile feels like a metaphor and can be used to accomplish the same effect.

1. Write down what you want to say. Don’t overthink it. Just get some words on paper.
2. Find a metaphor that relates your information to an idea that your audience already understands.
3. Now look at what you wrote and replace the weary, dull words with energetic, bright ones.

Want to know a secret? There’s really no such thing as good writing. There’s only good rewriting.

Ernest Hemingway won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature. Each time he came to a place where the words weren’t flowing, he would set his work aside and answer some correspondence so that he could take a break from, “the awful responsibility of writing” — or, as he sometimes called it, “the responsibility of awful writing.” ²  In a letter to 22 year-old Arnold Samuelson in 1934, Hemingway advised that after writing something you think is pretty good, you should, “leave it alone and don’t think about it; let your subconscious mind do the work. The next morning, when you’ve had a good sleep and you’re feeling fresh, rewrite what you wrote the day before.”

Having the courage to write badly is the first step toward brilliant communication. The second step is to look at that first draft and say, “How can I make this better?”

One final piece of advice: Read great writing, for “As you read, so will you write.” Gene Fowler said it this way, “The best way to become a successful writer is to read good writing, remember it, and then forget where you remember it from.”

Brilliant communicators develop stronger relationships, achieve higher goals and make more money.

Why not become one?

If you're struggling to craft killer direct response ads for your business, Ryan Chute from Wizard of Ads® can help. Book a call.  

Step right up, folks! In this week’s razzle-dazzle episode of Advertising in America, your trusty trio—Mick, Chris, and Ryan—tackle the age-old question with modern flair: Is traditional media really pushing daisies, or is it just getting a facelift?

Episode Highlights

• The 800-Pound Gorilla in the Room
  TV, radio, billboards—call ’em dinosaurs or call ’em dependable, but don’t call ’em dead just yet! We give these so-called “Boomer Bangers” their day in court.
• Mick’s Media Time Machine
  Mick hops in the DeLorean to revisit the golden days of media, then slams the brakes on our digital assumptions. Spoiler alert: traditional still packs a punch.
• Chris Says Consistency is King
  While the doomsday prophets cry “TV is toast,” Chris shows us that consistency—and frequency—still win hearts and wallets, no matter the medium.
• Ryan Drops Some Doozy Data
  Only 1 in 10 have cut the cable cord, and folks still listen to hours of radio a day? That’s right, daddy-o—turns out, the airwaves are alive and well.

🧠 The Message > The Medium
What really moves the needle? Not where you say it—but what you say. Be medium-agnostic, message-obsessed. That’s the ticket.

💡 Why Listen?
If you want to market like a Madison Avenue maverick, you’ll need more than TikTok tricks. We’ll show you how to blend the old with the new to make magic happen.

‍

So, polish your shoes, pour a highball, and tune in to Advertising in America. Because the death of traditional media? Greatly exaggerated.

🎧 Click play, and let’s sell smarter, sweetheart.

‍

‍

‍

Welcome to Advertising in America, the podcast, where we meet entrepreneurs, where they're at in their marketing and bust through their bottlenecks, breakpoints, and blind spots hosted by Wizards, Ryan Chute and the Royal Torbay twins. Where we put the fun in marketing fundamentals. Are you ready to dominate your marketplace? Are you ready for outrageous advertising? Do you want to become a household name brought to you by Wizard of Ads for Services?

Visit us at wizardofads.services to book your free strategy session with Wizard Ryan Chute today.

‍

Ryan: On today's episode of Advertising in America, let's talk about the 800-pound gorilla that Wizard of Ads Partners love dragging around.

While some people know it as traditional media, terrestrial media, old-school media, or even Boomer Bangers, I prefer offline media. But many people continue to wonder if TV, radio, and billboards are a worthwhile investment of their marketing dollars. Mick, what say you?

Mick: There was a time when we only had four or five good media to choose from, and they all worked reasonably well. Radio, TV, print, outdoor. And if you didn't do any of those properly, well, there were always the Yellow Pages. Any of those could give you serious traction. So, I remember when they started talking about digital advertising. Sounded like it was gonna be a fifth major advertising medium that we'd all have to deal with, and with luck, it would know its place and only ask for its fair share of marketing dollars.

Well, It didn't work out that way, did it? What is digital media? Can you even define it? I mean, is it pay-per-click? Is it GMB? Is it LSA? Is it social media? Is it YouTube? I mean, Billboards are digital now. Is that new media or is it just the same thing? It's always been, only with tiny light bulbs, instead of paint.

There's no question the landscape has changed. I think the same number of people listen to the radio as they did when we were kids or broadcast TV, or cable TV like they did in the olden days.

The TV people will tell you viewership is down. Radio Reps will admit, that not as many people are listening as they did in days gone by. I mean, yeah, you can still make progress using nothing but traditional media, and I suppose you could churn your own butter too if you really want that pioneer experience. But when it comes down to media choices, wake up and smell whatever Instagram smells like.

Ryan: I believe, it's teen spirit Mick. Chris, what are your thoughts on this contentious subject?

Chris: I've been doing this job for nigh on 30 years, and since the day I started, the marketing media have written the same article every year.

The 30-second TV ad is dead. Okay. First, it was people delaying on VHS, then it was PVRs, then it was Blockbuster, then Netflix, and now the streamers and all the YouTube content. Every year, broadcast is dead. And the same for radio. Oh, people have CD players now, they can listen to their own music. Then it was iPods, then Spotify.

No one listens to the radio, you say, over and over again, and they are wrong every time. We know what the numbers are. TV ratings are measured by Nielsen, an independent company that tracks who is watching what and when. Nielsen will tell you how many people are watching, who they are, and they will be there. And until they're not there, the argument doesn't hold.

And yes, everyone knows viewership and listenership is declining or diversifying. And yes, people will also Google your business or, you know, your product, so you better have a digital presence, and it better work well. But don't confuse trends in viewership with the truth of who's where now.

Regardless of what people may also be viewing and what they may be down from in terms of its peak, we do know how many people are watching things on traditional media. And for many advertisers, those numbers are still great. The question you need to ask is, how expensive is it to reach those people at a reasonable frequency?

So they remember your brand, compared to digital options. How much for how many sets of eyeballs? Because all these fancy computer options aren't cheap.

Ryan: All I heard Chris say was, I'm really old.

From teen spirit to highway to heaven, we'll be back right after this commercial break to take some cheap shots at you damn kids today. Stay tuned.

‍

Hey, listeners. Wizard Ryan Chute here. Want a personalized strategy that instantly 4X the effectiveness of your marketing dollars? Schedule a free call with me at wizardofads.services. We'll chat about your goals and how you can quickly dominate your marketplace. I have limited availability though, so don't delay.

Well, I guess you could delay a bit, but not too much. That'd be like an over-delay. So maybe you just skip the delay part entirely and book a call just as soon as you're ready to start making money. You certainly don't to delay that, right? And now, I'll pitter-patter.

‍

Ryan: Ryan's Fun Facts.

Fun fact, guys. While cable and broadcast TV have seen a decline in overall viewership in the past 15 years, did you know that only 10% of the country has eliminated cable television altogether? 10%, that's all.

Chris: So 10%, you're saying this whole movement towards cable cutters, we're all supposed to be scared of, is only 10% of people have actually cut their cable?

Ryan: They've, certainly, taken it on the OTT and the streaming, but yeah, also not a good thing.

Interestingly enough, young people have not even seen the cable. They don't know what the cable is, so they haven't cut it because it's never been, that's one of the weird things about this whole thing. Cable and broadcast still don't need total viewership by a landslide, and while adding additional streaming and OTT advertising solutions to augment overall viewership solutions, television can still totally dominantly capture, in excess of 50% of any market in North America today.

Chris: Wow. Right? Over 50%. Well,  which is what I was saying if you look at what, like Nielsen will tell you how many people are still there. And while things may be fluid, maybe even moving around, the truth is, many of those markets remain.

And until they are actually gone, until the numbers show they have left, we can fearmonger all we want about, oh, I think people are going to go. And to me, that's what's been happening for 35 years. That's why that article gets written every year. People say I think this is the year that all the people are going to stop watching TV. And they never stop watching TV.

Mick: I think the mistake that we make is that we use things like, nobody does this, nobody does that. It sounds like a little thing, but it's a big thing. Because when you say words like nobody and use these absolutes, that's actually the message you convey to that person, and then they get this twisted sense in their head that this used to be a thing that people did, and now they don't.

And the truth is, what we're talking about is trends. We're talking about, do more people do, or fewer people do it. And if fewer people do it, well that's fine. The only question is how many, and how much does it cost? And the crazy part is, is that because of this perception that nobody listens to the radio, nobody watches TV anymore.

What that has done to the cost of those commercials is, that it becomes more, it becomes an even better value because disproportionately, advertising has been cut on those two media disproportionate to the amount of viewers that they've got. So since all media is purchased on supply and demand, if fewer people watch, but even fewer than that people advertise, the price has come down and it actually becomes a better value to buy television today than it was 15 years ago.

Ryan: Interesting perspective, I like that. And, and this all goes around this, yeah, but I don't watch TV anymore. I don't listen to the radio.

Does anyone listen to the radio anymore? Billboards, I don't even know what any of them look like. You're instantly forgettable. Another fun fact. Fun fact, North Americans listen to the radio on average two hours and 43 minutes a day. Two hours, 43 minutes. So for everyone who says, I don't listen to the radio, think about that.

Some of your charted audience has to be listening to the radio for more than two hours and 43 minutes a day. Well,

Chris: And again, that's the classic thing too, is treating yourself like the focus group of one guy, which is you say, well, I, I never watched that channel, so I don't think we should advertise on that channel.

Well, Nielsen will tell you the kind of person who is viewing that channel what shows they watch and how frequently they watch it, et cetera, etc., and your viewership habits are not indicative of that. And just because you don't do it and your two friends who are just like you don't do it, doesn't mean, that's the way the world has gone.

Nielsen will tell you the way the world goes by and is.

Mick: Which is, this is why when you're buying media, you absolutely have to be dispassionate about it. And that's why regular people like you and I actually can't do that. And that's because, and I cannot give you enough examples where a client says, but I listened to the sports talk station and everyone I know listens to the sports talk station. How is it possible that you've gone and done a media buy that didn't include the sports talk station? Literally, everyone in this town listens to the sports talk station. It's like, no, it's you and your friends, and everyone you know. And I believe you.

And, the truth is, the sports talk station you're talking about, I'm not talking about any particular media. They're overpriced. They Cost too much per listener per year to reach, and so that's why you need someone who has no vested interest in this is what I listen to when I go to work. It's like all I want to do is reach the most people for the least amount of money, and it doesn't matter what freaking format they're listening to.

Ryan: And we did see a shift in podcasts and streaming services for audio of 6% cannibalization over COVID. But we've started to see that number creep back down again, bringing it back to its more original percentages. Now, there's still a problem with sports talk because there's nothing to talk about.

Chris: Everybody's still hunkered down. 

Mick: I got it. No one wanted to own the sports talk station for about a year. What are we going to talk about? Last year, the team was very good. Well,

Chris: Your favourite quarterback was golfing again today.

Ryan: Let's talk about quarterback from 1975. Right? Yeah. Now listen. And it was a lot of people at home. They were listening, they were, investing in themselves. We saw companies like Masterclass and training platforms, which I'll see during that time, as well, and we haven't seen a complete reversion of those percentages, but it's about half. And ultimately it means that, yeah, radio is still as poignant and sticky and prominent as it ever can be.

Chris: And people still have a role for it. I mean, like anyone else, I would love to go on a road trip and bring my own playlist, right? Whether I, in the old days, we'd bring a sleeve full of my you know, favourite 10 CDs.

Ryan: And let's not pretend it was a sleeve. That was a crate that you literally had a milk crate for.

Chris: It was a necklace, or whether you do it on Spotify now, you create your own playlist or you, and you just call up a playlist of your favourite band and they whatever. Love to do that. But also I think, people still like to expose themselves to new content. And so, you know, if you listen to top 40, you're going to hear the new stuff, right?

I'd love to listen to the artists that I know I like. But after a while, it's, okay, so I wondered what artists I will also like in the future. And the only way I'm going to do that is to listen to the top 40 and find out what these kids that I listen to discover somebody new. And so, as much as you may replace some of your listenership, and this has got to be true of viewership too, with stuff you know you're going to like, the comfort food of viewing and listening, you're also going to have times in your life where you go, let me hear what's on.

Mick: But there's also, I think it's easy to just sort of consider our viewing habits as our preferred viewing habits or listening habits.

And that's not the only thing we do. We don't only listen to what we want to listen. I don't only listen in the car driving to work. I'll only listen to what I want to do. Sometimes, I'm in the car with my wife, and then I have to listen to her shitty station.

Right? So, And it's the same thing with TV, right? It's not only the things I like to watch. Sometimes, you're in a home with more than one person, and then you have to you're forced to engage in a viewership habit that's not to your liking. You still watch the freaking commercials though! And that's why, you know, there's so many examples, where people say, well, I don’t listen to the radio, and say, well, I like commercials from these people.

Oh, I hate those commercials. Well, How do you hate when actually hear them for the first time?

Chris: And this is why self-reporting and this is why that focus group of one thing is the whole thing can be completely useless, is that people say, oh I listen to, not listen to the radio. And I'm just like, well do you listen to it when you're driving into the workplace?

And they're like, okay, well I listen to that, but I never listen to it on the And Nielsen will tell you where people are actually listening. If you ask people to self-report, they are going to give you the idealized version of themselves, not what they actually do.

Mick: If you talk to somebody, okay, radio. People who say they never listen to the radio.

I'm talking directly to you. I never listen to radio people. Do you hate the cars for kid's songs?

I win.

Ryan: But it's sticky.

Mick: Yeah, it's sticky.

Ryan: You know, and I think, this really kind of is important for us to think about what is the right question to ask? I know that earlier, we talked about you saying, look, this is a moving point that media, the channel that we're speaking about, it's really just another way of deciding where are we going to listen to it.

But what we're really talking about here is that the radio is the channel, right? It's the delivery vehicle. Right? Right. So, If it's the delivery vehicle, and you don't do the delivery vehicle right if you don't have the right frequency, if you don't have the right message, that's why traditional media suffers more often than any other medium.

I think we, know statistically speaking, that we've got tons and tons and tons of these people in our audience listening to it. We know that in every single city in North America today, we can reach over 50% of the population on TV and radio.

So, the question isn't whether or not the channel is dead or works or doesn't work. The question really has to be,

Chris: Are you going to be the one on that channel that stands out from all the others? Because there's always, the beauty of advertising is, there's lots of mediocre advertising out there that just takes up time. Most of it is mediocre, if you're the one who's got something interesting and sticky and memorable and compelling and that talks to you as a homeowner, or a guy who's about to buy a diamond ring for his fiancée or whatever, you are going to stand out in that media.

And that's, Let's stop worrying about, the medium and just spend most of your time being the one within that medium who gets remembered.

Ryan: I love what Johnny Molson, one of our partners, says, we're media agnostic. We do not have a feeling about radio that is different than TV or direct mailers or a plane towing a sign.

What we care about is, what is the strategy. What's the message that we're going to do, do? The job that we need to do? And, do we have the frequency or the saliency, the impact value, quotient, that is going to punch hard enough?

‍Mick: We're paid based on results. We're not paid by anything else except growing our client's top-line revenue.

So, If we make a recommendation that you should switch your dollars from dominating this medium to moving it over here, it's simply because we are self-incentivized to do the thing that will make us a little bit more money. We only make a little bit more money if our client makes a lot more money. So that's sort of the proof of that.

Chris: One of the reasons that I agree with being media agnostic, the reason with that media agnosticism, there is still a love for television and radio and some of those traditional media is that, what we have also found is that there are certain things you can accomplish with certain media that you can't accomplish with others.

You can get the name out there in pay-per-click or display advertising or all these other sort of, Google My Business, all that kind of stuff. What you can't do is build a relationship. You can't, You can't convey the character of the person who runs this company and why that's the kind of company that I want to work with. Or tell a long-term story where you're interested in this guy and you're watching the growth of the campaign and you're drawing people in and, hey, it's these guys again, I love their ads. You don't get that in certain media.

Where you get that is, in, those broadcast media where you have 60 seconds to do a radio commercial, and 30 seconds to do a TV with images. And those things are not necessarily possible in other media that reach consumers, but they don't reach consumers. In that way, in storytelling content.

Mick: Now having said all that, I think, there is a thing that we do need to acknowledge, because there, there is one way that has legitimately changed, and we can't pretend that this part hasn't happened.

20 years ago, you could build a campaign solely on one of those media. Yeah. You could just do radio, and you'd be fine. Just do TV or print, or you know, whatever. Today, because of the buying habits of the consumer, there is no option to not have a digital presence. Absolutely. You cannot just say, well, I'm going to opt out of pay-per-click. I'm going to opt out of that stuff. You have to opt in.

Now, where you have a choice to make is how much of your media spend are you going to dedicate to that last-minute consumer, who is at the palace of being ready to buy, but does not have the preferred brand. Absolutely. It's the same arguments, exactly the same argument, 20 years of the Yellow Pages.

Chris: Yeah.

Mick: You know, if you don't. Now, what I would say is that I said this at the time, the Yellow Pages is the option for someone with no ideas. If you have no marketing plan, you can always get somebody at the last minute with the Yellow Pages. Our goal is to actually win the hearts and minds of the consumers before they're at the place.

Chris: And I would add on to that because even more insidious about the Yellow Pages back in the day and about Google and other online solutions today, is that our habits are to still go to those things at the last minute. And so, I may have a tow truck company in mind. I'm going to call it, Jerry's Towing, because I hear their ads all the time. My car just broke down, and I may not remember the phone number from the ads. And so I'm going to go to the Yellow Pages and look up Jerry's Towing. These days, it's like, you know what gotta call that Jerry's Towing guy. What the heck was his number again? Jerry's Towing put it in Google. And so Google is still necessary.

You better come up, as soon as I'm looking for Jerry's Towing.

Uh, so that presence has to be there, but you are in a much better position if I'm going to Google and in the old days going to Yellow Pages, knowing what I'm looking for. I am not devoid of a preference.

Ryan: So while the delivery vehicles have changed as technology evolves, the brain really still just has those 12 different ways that they can go perceive communication.

We have five senses. We have 12 ways that our brain perceives it. That's not changing, right? So as long as we're using these 12 languages as a litmus test, we can fit into any media channel that is necessary, given the strategy that we're looking for. Is it great to go and solicit for leads on Facebook, where people are looking into Doom Scroll and and dopamine inject? Or is it better to go to intent-based marketing? Strategically speaking, is it made more sense to step up to the roulette wheel of casino Google, and, put your number chips on a couple of numbers and hope for the best? Or is it better to have them know like, and trust you before they show up?

The fashionable delivery mechanism is going to change, but people aren't. It's just going to be paying attention to where we can have the greatest effect for the least amount of money.

Mick: And be aware of the fact that when you're discussing media, you're discussing, how am I gonna say it, and how loudly am I gonna say it. Yeah. And that's important.

It's not as important as, what the heck am I gonna say? What am I saying, could be your first concern? And your second concern should be, how am I going to say that? If you're thinking of media first, you've got it backwards.

Ryan: But it's because the message is going to inform the media, right? You're going to say something different on a pay-per-click ad on Google than you would on Facebook, then you would on a radio ad, then you would on TV.

Mick: Absolutely. Because with Google, you're talking to a different mindset. You're talking to a person who's ready to buy. Mindset's very, very different. When you're advertising on television or radio, you're talking to a person who's not in the buying mindset. You're trying to put them into the buying mindset.

So what you would say, if you're Budweiser, what you're saying to a person watching a football game is something very, very different from somebody who's Googling beer.

Ryan: But it's just one of these many questions that entrepreneurs constantly ask. They're saying, Hey, what media should I use? It's the same mistake they make with branding. They go, well, I want to rebrand my company, what truck wrap and logo should I get? Right. That's not bringing your supplier.

Chris: The idea, what's most important is the strategy and idea.

Ryan: Right. So the strategy dictates the story. The story dictates what the truck wrap will look like because a truck wrap is a channel. It's not an actual brand. The logo is an iconic piece of the brand, as are the colours fonts and everything else. But way more important is the words we're going to use to influence people to do the thing, we want them to do because we're doing something distinct or different. So the fascinating, little world that we're in is not binary. Right. And that's really what no.

Chris: And here's the other thing that maybe is an interesting closer. And I almost put this in my rant. I sort of thought of it after having written it, because it's something that's happened just kind of in the last year or so. So we've been talking about how for the last 35 years, people have been saying that's it, people are turning away from these traditional media. No one's gonna watch broadcast TV because they're all going to watch HBO, and you know, that wasn't the whatever. And it just continued to happen. It's interesting.

Guess what's happened in the last year or so? Suddenly, there are 30-second ads on Netflix. There are 30-second ads on Amazon Prime. If I listen to my podcast because no one listens to the radio anymore. What's in the middle of your podcast, 30-second radio ads, right in the middle of your podcast. So this whole idea that you can't use these media anymore maybe over-the-air channels, there's certainly fluidity, there's certainly evolution, but, interestingly, all of these new media are coming back to the same advertising within them, and that's weird.

I would be interested to see whether, in fact, the prevalence of TV 30, the prevalence of Radio 60, and those sorts of things, actually start to grow again, because they are now being used in the media, it's supposedly killed it.

Mick: Turns out people like getting their content for free you always have, probably.

Ryan: Yeah. Mick, you've always said that there is no such thing as new media that, breaks that TV show on Netflix is TV.

Mick: To the consumer, would the, I mean, we, as advertising people know what OTT is? Would consumers recognize that, well, that's a 30-second ad on a streaming service? Whereas, television is a 30-second ad in the middle of Jeopardy.

Chris: Yeah,

Mick: Would the consumer say? Oh, that's a very different thing and it's worth paying. Well, I don't see it.

It's a commercial than the thing I'm trying to watch.

Chris: And we're used to having commercials interrupt the things we're watching.

Mick: Yeah.

Chris: And sure enough, in when we all switch to new media, somebody says, you know, we could interrupt these things with commercials, and then, the streaming services says, and I can make money.

Sure. I'll set, I'll set that up.

Mick: Yeah, and young people who say, You know, I love Netflix. I don't love paying for stuff. Can I have Netflix and not pay for it? And Netflix is, like, you betcha! And so now,

Chris: You have to get to the thing called a 30-second TV commercial. Okay!

Mick: Wait, is this going to be exciting?

Chris: Good going, Gen Z!

Ryan: And this has been a standard business model for pretty much every SaaS product that we have seen, that is customer forward, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Prime, Disney. All of these guys have been planning this all along. Jeff Bezos had no problem losing money for 20 years to get to this spot. Because now, he's the second and the first richest person in the world depending on the day. And it's fascinating that we are very, very willing to do that.

‍

Remember that saying only half your marketing is working. You just don't know which half. Let's help you with that. Book it free strategy session with Wizard Ryan Chute today at wizardofads.services. Yes, that's a URL, wizardofads.services. Now let's get back to the show.

‍

Ryan: So ultimately, what it comes down to is traditional media dead?

I would argue that it is definitely not dead, that it is, it's different, and that we have to pay attention to a multitude of different channels that work in concert with each other. We're looking at what's called the cross-cumulative traffic of those channels. So that we are speaking to the people that we want to speak to and influence and persuade at a hundred percent.

The biggest challenge that our clients face when we come into it that we can solve very quickly, comes down to that exact problem of spreading your marketing dollars too thin, and getting it so watered down that they don't remember it.

It doesn't get past this electrical memory and into the chemical memory where you can build something up. Now, you pair that in with an impactful message that makes people feel, now we've got something that's pretty darn, really pretty, potent. Digitizing in marketing is, without a doubt, going to be the future.

That's not even a question. But that doesn't make digital marketers the authority by any stretch. They're very often channel salespeople.

Mick: And digital marketing, if you spend enough money, you can get your fair share. It's very expensive, but you can get it. Our clients are not interested in getting their fair share. They want to get. It's way more.

Ryan: You have to get way more than your fair share if you ever hope to become a household name, not just name recognition or somebody that they pick from a random list, on Google, or wherever. And that means, having this comprehensiveness of both online and offline, marrying together and working together.

There are efficiencies that we're starting to see on places like social media, where we're able to push through frequency at a better rate. We're using different strategies to really lift up and get that same kind of viewership on your ads. And we also have to be conscious of the ads that you're running.

People have a different temperament when they're in that area where they want to be entertained and soak in some of that dopamine. We love, by the way, working with digital marketers, particularly those who are talented. It's a digital presence.

Yeah, the big things we're interested in working with are those that are morally sound, right? They're the guys, the girls out there who are doing really, really talented, great work, but they're also not trying to take advantage of the situation due to the lack of understanding of this dramatic thing. But the other thing that we find morally kind of a bit challenging with a lot of folks is, when they sell a channel, the only solution is the channel.

Every single thing is a nail, but the only thing they have is a hammer, right? Right. Right. We have an entire suite of tools, and we're looking at, what are all the ways that we can put this together to make the most beautiful company that we're making. So, it is very fascinating how we actually drive this forward, and it's so much more complicated.

Be it a startup, straight through to a giant company, a billion dollars, right? They're all going to have their unique challenges.

Do you know that Apple spent 7% of their marketing budget?

Chris: That's 7%. Top one. Top one.

Mick: And that's more than most of mine.

Chris: And that is the company that is the best known already. Right. That clearly has not, we'll learn about it just by looking at the people around them. Hey, the cool new phone you got there. Tell me about it. And then that person, we've got to tell them, they are still advertising.

Ryan: Absolutely. So it's an indicator of, look, we're not going to advise our 3 million dollar operators to, you have an omnipresent strategy like Apple. But what we are looking to do is, figure out what best we can punch hard right at the gate out of the start so that they can get the maximum result for the least amount of dollars, based on the ambition of the business owner. Cause that's a big deal.

If you have the ambition to double your business, versus have the ambition to become a hundred million dollars, we'll be dominating the market leader. Those are different strategies.

If you're planning on selling in five years, that's a different strategy than if you're planning on passing it down to your kids. All of these things have to be taken into consideration. And we don't want to give advice in a vacuum. We need to make sure that it's the right strategy for you. Because the strategy will inform the message. The message will inform the media. The media will be the money that you spend to get the customers to bring your company.

This has been a really interesting conversation for nerds like us. And I'm looking forward to having more of these.

The real question becomes, what the heck are we trying to achieve? And what can we say about, what we can do constantly and better than our competition?

That message will inform the delivery vehicle, not the other way around. With this approach, we get laser-focused on exactly where to spend those marketing dollars. And we don't have to guess anymore, which part of your marketing isn't working.

That's it for this episode of Advertising in America. Thanks for tuning in.

‍

1. Use Words that have Specific Meanings. “The bug moved along the ground, deciding which way it should go.” The ant crawled between the blades of grass, peeking left and right at every intersection.”

Bug is nonspecific. Ant is specific.“…moved along the ground” is mildly specific, but not vivid.“…crawled between the blades of grass” is specific and vivid.

2. Don’t Tell. Show.“…deciding which way it should go,” tells you what the ant was doing.“…peeking left and right at every intersection,” shows you the ant and leads you to conclude that the ant is deciding which way to go. You are, for a moment, seeing through the eyes of the ant. Giving human motives to inanimate objects is a powerful tool known as personification. “Your Rolex is waiting patiently for you to come and pick it up at Shreve and Company.”
3. Write Tight and Clean. Short Sentences Hit Harder than Long Ones. Adjectives and adverbs don’t accelerate communication. They slow it down. Use them with restraint.

What I’m doing now is giving you an example of a long sentence, (in essence, the kind of sentence often written by persons who are trying to sound educated, although in truth, sentences like this one just make you sound full of yourself,) for the purpose of demonstrating that complex sentences full of commas and parenthetic statements and verbose, multi-word, adjective-stacked descriptions have a much diminished impact and are not nearly so pleasant to read as short, clear statements like the 6-word sentence and the two 4-word sentences that preceded this horrific construction of 135 pompous, tedious and wearisome words that keep going on and on for so very long that by the time you get to the final point, you have forgotten several of the previous ones that were made.

4. Let the Subject of the Sentence Take the Action. Passive Voice is a Bad Choice. You speak in passive voice when the subject of the sentence is acted upon: “Wizard Academy is attended by interesting people.”

You speak in active voice when the subject of the sentence takes the action: “Interesting people attend Wizard Academy.”

Passive voice is noncommittal: “It got lost.” Active voice is confident and clear. “I lost it.”

5. Feed Your Pen Surprising Combinations of Interesting Words If you inform without persuading, you are hearing a newscast when you write. The goal of the journalist is to inform, not to persuade.

If you entertain without persuading, you are hearing creative writing as you write. The goal of the creative writer is to entertain, not to persuade.

The poet leads you to think and feel differently. The goal of the poet is to persuade. And the best ones do it in a brief, tight economy of words.

I’m not talking about rhyming. I beg you not to rhyme.

I’m talking about using surprising combinations of vivid words to trigger assumptions and conclusions in the minds of those who hear you.

Edwin Arlington Robinson wrote Richard Cory in 1897. This was when “clean favored” meant good-looking, and how you were dressed is how you were “arrayed.”

Richard Cory Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said, “Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—And admirably schooled in every grace: In short, we thought that he was everything To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Compare the images contained in that 124-word poem to those in the 135-word example in Point 3. – RHW

6. If you would become a better communicator…if you would write better ads, persuade more people and make more money, read Good Poems, curated by Garrison Keillor. You can get the 3 books or visit the online archives.
7. Read a poem a day, every day. It will take you about 60 seconds. Think of your daily poem as a vitamin. Don’t worry about understanding the poem. Just rub the salt of it on your mind. You will soon begin hearing a different voice when you write, and find yourself looking into sparkling eyes when you speak.

Photos that have been black-and-white are about to become full-color.

Book a call with Ryan Chute of Wizard of Ads® today.  

I was 16 during the winter of 1974.

Ted was 52.

We worked together in a steel fabrication shop in Oklahoma.

I was known as “Schoolboy.”

Standing near the heat of the coffee pot waiting for the horn to signal the end of our break, Ted would tell stories about World War II. Those stories might as well have been about cave men and dinosaurs because Pearl Harbor had happened 35 years earlier and I was only 16.

The story I’m about to tell you happened 42 years ago.

It seems like yesterday.

Do you remember Bluto from the old Popeye cartoons? In 1974 his name was Harold and he was 32 years old. Muscular and angry, Harold got what he wanted through intimidation.

One day I called his bluff. I told Harold “no.”

But Harold wasn’t bluffing.

I regained consciousness at the base of the storage racks where we kept the 6-foot aluminum fan blades. Ted told me Harold’s lightning blow lifted me off my feet and landed me 2 yards from where I had been standing. When I went home at the end of my shift my neck was so stiff I couldn’t turn my head.

My mother knew immediately what had happened.

When I got out of school the next day, Ted was waiting for me in the parking lot at work. He told me not to go inside. Two policemen had led Harold out in handcuffs earlier and his buddies were planning revenge.

NOTE: Never hit a minor when he’s being raised by a single mother. Angry moms fight differently than men do.

I worked in that steel shop for 2 more years.

One day Ted said, “Schoolboy, every person you meet has something they can teach you. Your job is to figure out what their skill is and then get them to share it with you.”

Ted, as usual, was right. When you assume that everyone you meet has a valuable skill, you begin to look at them differently.

Harold was a different person when he came back to work. Crushing legal bills and the humiliation of jail gave him a beating far worse than he had given me. With Ted’s advice fresh in my mind, I asked Harold the secret of knocking a man off his feet.

Harold’s answer surprised me because his technique had little to do with physical strength.

A few years later I learned that success in business has little to do with intelligence and success in selling has little to do with being talkative and success in advertising has little to do with the product.

Business isn’t about knowing, it’s about doing.
Selling isn’t about talking, it’s about listening.
Advertising isn’t about the product, it’s about the customer.

And knocking a man down isn’t about your fists, it’s about your feet.

If you aren’t a showman or a storyteller, you’re still in good company. Wizard of Ads® can help you create the brand or marketing story you need to drive your user experience. Book a call.

I’m experimenting with radio in a way that, for me, is new and different.

Many of those who understand what I’m doing won’t agree with the fundamental premise of my experiment. But that’s not what worries me.

I’m concerned about those who will agree and then attempt it – and fail. I believe they’ll fail because they won’t do it right.

Here’s what’s happening: I’m airing a 5-second ad every hour, 24 hours a day, for 365 days, on each station in a broadcast group in a major city. The result will be 51% reach (18+) with a weekly frequency of 10.4. This means that 51% of the total population in that region will hear one of my ads an average of 10.4 times each week, 52 weeks in a row.

That’s right. One 5-second ad per hour, 24 hours a day, on each station in the broadcast group.

You can run, but you can’t hide.

Here’s why I fear people who attempt this experiment will likely screw it up:

1. They’ll buy too little frequency.
   “Well, I think a spot an hour is overkill, so I’m just going to buy a 5-frequency instead of a 10+ frequency each week.”
2. They’ll rotate too few ads.
   I’ll be producing 12 new 5-second ads every 6 weeks. Consequently, even though I have a 10.4 frequency each week, the typical listener is likely to hear 10 different ads, one time each.
3. Their ads won’t say anything worth remembering.
   The key to success is to make a different, memorable statement in each 5-second ad. You can then open, or close, each ad with a single word that identifies the company. Only one or two ads in every series of twelve will feature the contact info of the company.

Here’s what I like about this plan:

1. Reach is double what I used to get for the same money.
2. Frequency is triple what I used to get for the same money.
3. With a 10.4 weekly frequency, I can safely expect a listener to unconsciously “connect and combine” each of my brandable chunks, nuggets and factoids to create a coherent mental image much bigger than the information found in a single ad. In fact, I expect that within a few months a large percentage of that city will be able to recite meaningful amounts of information about my client.
4. The 5-second format – combined with 12 new ads in rotation every 6 weeks – will allow me to dodge the audience burn-out bullet.

What will happen if my experiment proves successful?

1. I’ll finally have a way to help advertisers with small budgets in big cities.
   Give me a schedule of 1 spot per hour, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year on the smallest station in town and it won’t be long before my client is on a second station, then a third.
2. Get enough advertisers to do this and Radio will become happy again.
   Even if you believe that “a unit is a unit, no matter the length,” you can’t argue with the fact that airing twenty-four 5-second ads would mean only a 2-minute commercial load per hour. This would mean that a listener tuning in to your station would be greeted by a commercial – instead of music – just once in every 30 visits to your dial position, compared to the current 1 in 4.
3. Even if radio stations began airing 36 ads per hour – more than double the number they’re currently airing – I’m fairly certain that listeners would be delighted with just 3 minutes of ads per hour.
4. A radio station with 4 commercial breaks of NINE, 5-second ads each hour would have rollicking, rock-and-roll commercial breaks of just 45 seconds each and I’m convinced listeners would retain a higher percentage of those messages.

The weakness of this plan is that so few people know how to write attention-getting, memorable 5-second ads.

Book a call with Ryan Chute of Wizard of Ads®, and let's create those mind-blowing ads.  

The basis of lasting partnerships is honest UPFRONT communication. Before signing any Agreements, it is important that we agree to work together in the following ways:

Mutual Investment

Wizard of Ads® for Services pricing is designed to help small businesses become BIG brands. Given the Client's current size, we appreciate that this is a significant investment proportionate to your size and revenue. This investment and trust in Wizard of Ads® for Services is taken very seriously.

This means we put ourselves in the vulnerable position of being underpaid when there's less money available. As the business grows, so does the Wizard's income. If the business falters, the Wizards go backward with you.

We intend to be your true partner - in sickness and health - so long as you own your business. Wizard of Ads® for Services is only looking for true partnerships, not a vendor/supplier relationship.

If you’re uncomfortable with the notion of paying us less now, to pay us considerably more once revenues allow, please do not commit. Wizards choose to follow this model as it is in the best interest of all parties and fully aligns motivations. 

You get an elite team of marketers motivated to profitably grow your business in alignment with you. We get a little bit more money when you make a lot more money. 

Both Parties are investing significant resources, energy, and time to work together. Wizard of Ads® for Services do so selectively with clients we believe in, and trust are in it for the long term.

Creative Authority

Getting the creative strategy right is imperative. Every word a Wizard writes is painstakingly scrutinized and carefully chosen to hit the mood just right. 

That’s why Wizard of Ads® for Services must hold creative authority over the words. You may accept copy as written or reject it outright, but may not modify the words themselves.

If you don’t like something as written, our creative writers are happy to discuss it and make the necessary changes to maintain the integrity and intention of the words chosen. 

Alternatively, the concept can be scrapped, and new creative can be created that you want to get behind 100%.

Decision Making

Wizard of Ads® for Services works with a single, courageous decision-maker. Decision influencers are welcome to participate but only look to ONE PERSON for final decision and approval. Wizard of Ads® for Services cannot be held accountable to an invisible committee.

Therefore, it’s always best when all decision-makers and decision influencers participate in the Uncovery and Marketing Strategy Presentation. It is essential you approve the plan at 100%. If you can’t fully defend and champion the plan, we are better off creating a plan you are behind 100%. 

Disruptive Strategy

As creative strategists, Wizard of Ads® for Services will regularly bring information that might be hiding in your blind spot. Pre-existing worldviews and beliefs can sometimes make these conversations difficult.

We only ask you to consider these ideas with radical open-mindedness and assume our positive intent. We are all motivated for the same results.

For example, we will steer you to limit discounts, rebates, coupons, and sales to attract clients. We appreciate this feels counterintuitive, and we will clarify our reasoning.

Rest assured, Wizard of Ads® for Services has considerable expertise in creating similar offers that do not damage profitability, brand integrity, and long-term customer relations.

Ultimately, you make the final decision. Our job is to figure out how to make it work for you. Just give us our day in court.

Anti-Agency

We are not a full-service agency. Full-service agencies are only motivated for you to spend more money since they tie their efforts to your budget. We reject this notion and eliminate unnecessary expenditures by focusing our services on what matters most in growing your business.

Wizard of Ads® for Services does not charge or pay for production, nor do we claim commissions or mark up production costs of our Clients. There is no situation where Wizard of Ads® for Services will be motivated by your marketing expense. We are only paid by your growth, putting your success at the center of our motivation.

Media Negotiations

The mass media buy must be structured in a very specific way, including running a full 52-week schedule and a very specific repetition. Given the nearly limitless number of cumulative listenerships, any change in the media budgets midstream leads to a complete renegotiation of the total channel buy. 

Once we have committed to a mass media buy, it’s really important to avoid adjustments unless they are calculated additions.

Media Management

Wizard of Ads® for Services does not claim the 15% agency commissions and, therefore, does not add the cost of media maintenance to our Client's fees.

That means you are responsible for all invoices, reconciliation, and sending new ads to the various media vendors. Wizard of Ads® for Services is not responsible for payments, make-goods, or ensuring the correct ad is playing on air. 

If an issue arises, we are available to work with you and the media groups to find an acceptable arrangement. 

Expect Knuckleheads

When you start running ads that are certain to get attention, you need the confidence to continue running those ads, even when you receive complaints. Wizard of Ads® for Services celebrates complaints. It clearly indicates that you are having an emotional effect in your marketplace.

You will also be certain to have someone take advantage of your generous offers. When strategizing, you’ll need to factor in the occasional knucklehead into the cost of doing business.

Digital Misconceptions

Within three months after your advertising hits the air, many digital marketers will show a marked increase in direct and organic traffic. Some Digital Marketers mistakenly claim this result as their own. This is a common mistake we see. 

Done correctly, over time, you will continue to spend less and less on unbranded digital lead generation by increasing your branded keyword online presence.

Trust Takes Time

It takes time to build trust with prospective clients. That’s why branding is a long-term strategy. There is always a lag between the start of the new campaign and the time it takes your customers to connect the five critical dots.

You MUST BE WILLING AND ABLE to endure this lag period.

Experience suggests this lag is typically 8 to 12 months, depending on how competitive the marketplace is, the company’s reputation, the budget in relation to reach, and uncontrollable environmental factors.

During this time, we will be helping you implement a transition plan to ease the pain. The good news is that this only happens once.

If you're not prepared to make a 3 to 5-year commitment to elevating your brand using the Wizard of Ads® methodologies, this is a poor investment of everyone’s money, energy, and time.

Annual Strategy Session

Travel permitting, we meet in person once a year to do a deep dive of your strategy outside your city. Years of experience have taught us that we get better results when decision-makers are outside their office. That’s why this meeting should not occur in your hometown.

During this one-day session, we’ll go over where we started, where we are now, and where we’re going next. This is the time to address the marketing strategy in earnest, make any desired adjustments, celebrate success and partnerships, and solidify the media buy.

‍

‍

Are you ready to dominate your market and become the next household name? Call Wizard Ryan Chute today.