Category Archives: Storytelling

Jim Williams on Using Demo Tapes to Sell Radio Advertising

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Rod Schwartz

HIS NAME WAS JIM WILLIAMS. He was radio’s first serious sales trainer. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of radio advertising salespeople across America acquired their unshakeable belief in the power of radio advertising from Jim. By way of introduction, this post is … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Audio Equipment, Client-voiced commercials, Communication, Copy, Copywriting, Grace Broadcast Sales, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Copywriting, Radio Production, Radio Sales Cafe, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Context Matters

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Rod Schwartz

Whenever I meet with a new advertising client or prospect, one of the first items of business is to come to a meeting of the minds concerning the singular importance of: The Message. What-the-ad-says has more to do with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Branding, Communication, Copy, Copywriting, editor, graphic design, Newspaper, Print, Problem-solving, Professional Services Advertising, Promotions, Proofreading, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Copywriting, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Best-Selling Wizard of Ads Trilogy…FREE!

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Rod Schwartz

If Roy H. Williams has advertised this elsewhere, I’ve not seen it.  But earlier this week, as I was poking around the Wizard’s website, I happened to notice that he’s making available FREE (for how long?) all three of his … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Branding, Communication, Problem-solving, Professional Services Advertising, Promotions, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Copywriting, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

David Ogilvy on Writing and the Spoken Word

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Rod Schwartz

From Brain Pickings… On September 7th, 1982, Ogilvy sent an internal memo to all agency employees, titled “How to Write:” The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well. Woolly minded … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Branding, Client-voiced commercials, Communication, Madison Avenue, Ogilvy, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Copywriting, Radio Production, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling, Voice Acting, Voiceover | 1 Comment

“WORD-OF-MOUTH IS MY BEST ADVERTISING.”

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Rod Schwartz

“I don’t need to advertise.  I rely on word-of-mouth. My customers tell their friends.”   How often have you heard those words? Personal referrals and recommendations are powerful, especially when we’re considering the purchase of a product or service from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Branding, Client-voiced commercials, Communication, Problem-solving, Professional Services Advertising, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Copywriting, Radio Production, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Charge of the Mosquito

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Rod Schwartz

             Mosquitos suck. They’re tiny. They’re irritating. And they’re inevitable. Even if you’re fortunate enough to live in an area where these biting insects aren’t a problem (does such a place exist?), you still face the … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

RADIO (Still) Gets Results!

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Rod Schwartz

The fact that I retrieved this presentation from a cassette tape tells you something about how long ago I put it together. (Hint: it was before we recorded onto flash memory cards, before we emailed MP3 files, even before we burned CD’s. Seinfeld was … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Branding, Client-voiced commercials, Professional Services Advertising, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Production, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling | Leave a comment

DONT U MAKE THESE MISTAKE’S

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Rod Schwartz

Working in radio does not give us license to trash the English language. After all, we’re supposed to be professional communicators, right?  We radio folks may find it easier to hide our misspellings, grammatical and punctuation errors behind a microphone … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Communication, Professional Services Advertising, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Copywriting, Radio Production, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

RADIO-MERCURY MUSINGS

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Rod Schwartz

Each year since 2004 I’ve retained copies of my best radio work from the previous year, with a view toward entering them in radio’s premiere creative competition, The Radio-Mercury Awards. My 2010-11 folder contains some 15 commercials from which I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Casting Talent, Client-voiced commercials, Communication, Grace Broadcast Sales, Professional Services Advertising, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Copywriting, Radio Production, Storytelling, Uncategorized, Voice Acting, Voiceover | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Power of Words

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Rod Schwartz

“Choose your next witticism carefully, Mr. Bond.  It may be your last.”   –Auric Goldfinger to James Bond, who is about to be cut in half by a laser beam. Bond: “Well, you’re forgetting one thing. If I fail to report, … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising (General), Branding, Casting Talent, Client-voiced commercials, Communication, Professional Services Advertising, Radio Advertising, Radio Commercials, Radio Copywriting, Radio Production, Sales & Marketing, Storytelling, Voice Acting, Voiceover | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments