Ask an Expert: Need to get your message out? Wrap it in 'cheese'

— -- Q: My manager tasked me with analyzing our using mass media – radio and TV – for our business (5 stores.) Any insights you could give me to get started would be appreciated. — Linda

A: There's an old maxim about advertising and dogs which is pretty true, and I once had the dog to prove it. Her name was Gert. Like most dogs, Gert hated it when she had to swallow a pill. She would spit that pill out as fast as she could.

I learned that the only way to get Gert to swallow a pill was to wrap it in something she loved. I usually stuck it in a hunk of cheese. She would gobble the cheese up, pill and all.

Your mass media advertising is not unlike that pill. Customers don't really like ads. They try to avoid them and figuratively spit them out by turning the page or changing the station or zapping through them.

So what do you do?

You need to wrap your ads in some tasty metaphorical cheese of course. Your cheese may be a great benefit, or humor, a giveaway, or maybe a catchy jingle.

Whatever it is, the first lesson of mass media advertising is that creativity works.

But let's drill down a bit more.

Radio: If you want to succeed in your radio campaign, here are three rules to follow:

1. Pick the right station: It does not matter how great your ad is or how clever it is, if you pick the wrong station the ad is a waste of money. The people who need to hear it, who might buy what it is you are selling, will never hear it. So be sure to pick the station with the right demographic.

2. Have a creative ad: Right, the cheese. First, make sure you have a "headline" that catch's their attention! After that, the key is to be engaging and creative. Radio is a medium that takes place between the ears; people must use their imagination to make it work. Whether that means telling a story or using wacky sound effects is up to you.

3. Buy as much frequency as you can afford: Radio requires frequency. It is said people have to hear an ad six times before they really hear it. In addition, listeners change stations, tune ads out, and talk on the phone while listening, so you have to repeat the same message again and again to get it heard.