What makes radio commercials effective?

As Featured On Ezine Articles

By Jay Maharjan on October 25, 2007

We recently started a radio advertisement campaign on CBS KFWB Los Angeles. KFWB 980 is one of the largest radio stations in the city known for its second largest media market in the world. This was the first time we prepared a script for a station with million + listeners. So far, we have already run 2 separate spots. Interestingly, one worked and the other didn’t.

Use simple scripts
Using technical jargon or unfamiliar business terms in the script will confuse listeners. Our first set of ads was straight forward, with the terms in the script very easy to understand. As a result we received many responses. Our second spot didn’t generate as many responses because of the complexity of the words used in the script.

Free is always good
The word ‘free’ is an immediate attention grabber. The scripts that stand out should include phrases like “free assessment”, “free first consultation”, or “free passes”. We are including the term “free consultation” in our third spot that is starting in a week. Here’s a sneak

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Lets see how this works!

Direct to the website that has detail information
With the advertisement that didn’t work, we relied too much on receiving calls to our 800 number. Instead, we ended up getting many hits on our web site. As we did not have the most up to date content on our website, we lost some leads. Always have supporting information on the website. Try to create a custom landing page other than your main website for each advertisement that you air.

Come up with a catchy 800 #
Try to come up with catchy letters corresponding to your 800 number. Fedex uses 1 800 GO FEDEX. This works especially well on radio commercials because the chances are that people hear your ad while they are on the road and cannot stop in time to jot down the number. Fun, creative numbers can work wonders for businesses.

Do not miss the incoming calls
Too often companies spend large sums of money for advertisement, but fail to align the back-end fulfillment portion. Each missed call represents missed revenue. Be ready to take all the calls. Have people standby when the ads come out. Or, even better, have answering service pick up the calls 24/7 while you are busy or attending other clients. There are many good services out there. Companies like Global messaging Center in Hollywood have trained staff and good customer service to take calls 24/7.

In case you miss the calls, follow up promptly and offer to visit them in person.

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Business Plan Basics II

By Jay Maharjan on October 15, 2007

Starting a business is a major commitment that will consume 24/7 of your life with no end in sight. It is always good to know what you are getting into before you take the plunge. From my experience writing business plans for large and small companies alike for the last 8 years, there are basically two reasons why you need a business plan - the first reason is to re-assure yourself that this wild dream that you have in your mind is actually attainable. And, the second reason is to convince a lender or a venture capitalist. More than likely, you are writing for the second reason. Whatever your reason may be, as the legendary management guru Peter Drucker would bluntly put - always ask yourself what your business is, who your customers are, and what the customer considers value.

In my opinion, here is a list of pointers that will save you headaches later.

a. Be clear about what you are selling.

Spend as much time as you need to define and clarify what you are selling. From the gettgo, come up with a 15 second elevator pitch. This will come handy later on. If you need professional help to come up with a pitch, companies like - 15secondpitch can help. This is a great resource to help you discover who you are, what your company does, and what others perceive of you and your verbal and written messages.

b. Come up with Mission, Vision, and Objective statements for your venture.

Mission, Vision, and Objectives - They may all look the same at first glance, but they reflect different rationale.

The mission statement represents the underlying operating philosophy and the values of the company - ‘The mission at Company ABC is to provide a reliable, yet affordable XYZ technology for residential customers.’

The Vision statement represents a long term plan - that provides a direction to make significant impact - ‘Our vision at company ABC is to become a global niche leader in XYZ technology by the year 2009.’

The Objective represent definitive goals for different purposes within the company. Peter Drucker first popularized the term “management by objective” in his 1954 book ‘The Practice of Management’. Objectives can be set in all domains (services, sales, R&D, human resources, finance) - ‘The main objective of company ABC is to understand the target market, to implement the most optimized form of logistics, to include a series of efficient fulfillment processes and to provide an unmatched form of customer service.’

c. Be honest with your Strengths and Weaknesses.

You can conduct a simple SWOT analysis on your venture. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Create four quadrants and fill up with honest lists of answers. This simple test allows you to assess your compatibility with the venture that you are getting into. This test will also indicate opportunities, threats and barriers to entry that exist in your vertical market.

d. Conduct a thorough research on your vertical market.
Leverage on new Internet research tools to conduct comprehensive studies. At every stage of your research, be open to adopt new directions based on your findings.

e. Make sure there is a real opportunity.
or move on to a different venture.

f. Make sure your product or service addresses pain point (s).

This goes back to the point (a). Understand and address your customer needs.

g. Conduct a thorough research on your competitors.

Create a matrix and conduct a thorough competitive analysis. See what your competitors are offering.

h. Make sure your product or service addresses pain point (s) better than your competitors.
Its all right if your competitors got in the market before you did. But, focus on doing things little bit differently that you address the customer needs, pain points better than them.

i. Be realistic with the revenue projections.

Don’t fall for cliches like - ‘According to Forrestor’s research, our market will be $ X billion by ___’, ‘We will drop our product in China and we will make billions.’ There is nothing wrong with wanting to become another Google or Microsoft, but make sure you have unique product or services. If you have a patent on your innovation, that helps. If you already have an angel investor on board, that gives you credibility. If you have a veteran management team in place, thats going to help you a lot! Always be ready to explain to lenders and Venture Capitalists how you are going to reach the big numbers - and never ever use cliched answers.

j. Surround yourself with people smarter than you. Do not be afraid to ask for help.

Always reach out to people smarter than you. Big ideas take right people to bring them to life. You want to do things smartly and not give your idea away, but at the same time you need to be open to sharing with right people. One rule of thumb is - it is better to team up with people with complimenting skill sets. If you are an engineer, you don’t need another engineer to support your point of view. You need a professional sales partner to sell your product, and a sharp finance guy to keep the numbers in order.

k.. Seize the opportunity to scale up - quick.

Big deals don’t happen on their own. Big deals happen because of right people, right product, right momentum in the market among many possible variations. If you have everything in order and luck is in your favor, seize the opportunity to scale up - and do it quick! Otherwise, good entrepreneurs know when to pack up their bags and move on to another opportunity. I advise entrepreneurs to get out of business if the venture doesn’t take off within two years.

More to follow on this topic. I can be reached at [email protected]

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Tips for getting grants for your non-profit organization

As Featured On Ezine ArticlesBy Jay Maharjan on October 5, 2007

One of the classic mistakes that most non-profit organizations make while applying for grants is that they do not follow proper guidelines. “ About 90 percent of applicants are rejected just for not following the required guidelines,” says Elana Edelstein, Assistant Director of Communications, Marketing and Foundation at Glendale College. She was directly responsible for writing grant proposals for the last 4 years - raising over $ 3 million.

The process of grant writing has many resemblances to writing a business plan.

Come up with a game plan: You really need to have a complete game plan. This includes understanding your program and its core needs. When you write a business plan, if you are not sure of what you want, the chances are that Venture Capitalists (VCs) and Banks will not find you credible. Same goes for writing grant proposals. If an applicant doesn’t do a thorough homework, the organization is perceived as not well managed and not having a clear mission.

Attend a grant writing seminar:Short-term grant-writing seminars like Grantmanship Training offer tremendous insights that can be applied to your strategy immediately.

Come up with a sound financial plan: It is extremely important to come up with a practical financial plan. Projections need to make sense and you need to have a clear plan on how you are going to spend the money.

Research is the key: As I mention in my Business Plan Basics posts, take time to do a thorough research. Conduct competitive analysis. Separate your proposal from the rest and outline clearly and precisely why your organization is better than the others. This includes studying your competitors’ business plans, their tax returns, and most importantly the sources of the grants that they received. “The first step that you want to do is to go after the same group of donors who previously offered grants to your competitors.” says Elana Edelstein.

Follow the guidelines: Always follow the guidelines. You need to follow much stricter guidelines when applying for grants. “You improve your chances tremendously just by following the guidelines.” adds Elana Edelstein.

Internet is your friend: Make most out of the resources that you have available at your fingertips. Grantsmanship Centers website is one of the best resources available out there on the Internet.

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