Breaking Through The Clutter

Posted October 20, 2020

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If you want to get a sense of what the media world is like today, visit any supermarket.

Walk down the aisles and take a look at the offerings:

230 different soups. 

175 salad dressings

275 different cereals

24 different oatmals

7 differnt kinds of cheerios

64 barbecue sauces

In any given supermarket in America there are 50,000 items from which to choose.

It can be overwhelming.

Most people, however, do not stand and agonize in front of the cereal boxes for endless hours, trying to make a decision.  They reach for the brand which is the most familair to them, and probably the one they bought last week.

This is the power of brand identification.

Many years ago, we were working with Erickson Retirement Communites, one of the largest retirement home chains in the US, we were also launching RLTV - Retirement Living TV - a cable channel that is stil on today.

To launch a cable channel, you not only need content but you also need a revenue stream.

(NOTE - On November 10th, I will be offereng a FREE Virtual Workshop on How To Make Money WIth Your Own Online TV Channel)

The path to revenue for RLTV was advertising.  

So we pitched the concept of a cable channel for retirees to ad agencies.

Most of them turned us down.

"Why should I spend millions to advertise my products to your viewers?" One asked. "They are all going to be dead in a few years.  I am better off convincing 16 year olds to buy my client's toothpaste. They will be buying it for the next 70 years."

Well, that argument made sense, in a way. But a bit of research told us that 50% of new cars, 70% of cruise line trips (when people still did them) 75% of toys and 90% of pharmaceuticals were purchased by people over the age of 60.

They had the money, they were ready to splurge, they had the grandchildren, and of course, as any viewer of NBC Nightly News can tell you, they had the diseases.

RLTV went on to be a great success.

Now, if you are thinking of launching your own online TV 'channel' (and who isnt'? This is probably the most popular free offering we make), you have to focus on the revenue.

And you have to learn how to differentiate yourself in a crowded media market - much more crowded than you average supermarket.

That only has 50,000 items clamoring for your attention. The Internet has millions.

It is all about branding.

You can either brand your work by affiliating yourself with an already established brand - like writing for The New York Times.

Or you can learn to create your own brand.

As I mentioned above, in bold no less, I am going to be running a FREE interactive Zoom session on how to do this (and a lot more) on November 10th.

If you are interestd in attending (spaces are limited) let me know.

I think you'll find it intersting.