Rather than rely on our perception of what we think may or may not be needed these days, sometimes it's best to look at the data.  For example, we are aware of a community with a Time & Temperature telephone service.  The number of calls the Time & Temp line receives is higher than the local government website, a local weather website, the local Chamber Of Commerce website and the weekly newspaper's website – COMBINED.  So if a service is still being heavily used – no matter whether it's an established service like Time & Temp or whether it is a newer service like the web, cell phones, texting, etc. – who cares when the technology was developed?  The point is – is the service being used?

And, of course, we have to remember that a substantial number of calls to Time & Temp lines are made from cell phones.  You can read the "nostalgia" here, if you wish. 

An article about the time change in a Scottsboro, Alabama newspaper mentions the option of calling the local Time & Temp line.  The operator of the service in Scottsboro (population about 15,000) gets about 35,000 calls per month.

By the way – WeatherNow Time & Temp systems from RTI Media automatically change to the correct time twice each year.  Read about Scottsboro here.

I've said it before, and it applies in this case – I wonder how many local websites in Dallas get 10 million hits per year?  But while the bank involved in offering the service decides whether to shut off the Time & Temp system to save money – wouldn't it be interesting to see a cost comparison?  Let's compare the cost of creating and maintaining a popular website with the cost of continuing a popular Time & Temp service.  I'll bet it costs ten times more to create and maintain the website – and I'll bet the Time & Temp gets far more calls than the website gets hits. 

And let's not forget – lots of the calls going into Time & Temp services are coming from cell phones.  Older forms of communication are not abandoned – they continue to be used, along with the new forms of communication.  Nothing was "replaced" by the Internet. The Internet is used along *with* the information sources we've always used.

Thanks to Mark Irvine for pointing us to the Dallas story.  The Dallas Morning News has put the story behind a pay wall – you can't read it without being a subscriber to their newspaper (at least the time & temp service in Dallas is free!).  If you would like to read it – send us a note by using the Contact Us page of this website.

And while we all suffer from the same assumptions – that the new products must be better in some way than the old, the truth is that the "old" ways of delivering content still have value, they are still used by consumers, they still have value as an advertising vehicle, and they still make money.  The major television networks are doing just fine, for the most part.  There are even signs that the radio industry might be returning to profitability (although the way the industry is getting back into the black are probably not the best).  And, of course, our favorite industry – telephone time and temperature – continues to deliver content on the phone to millions of callers per day, including content delivered to callers on cell phones.  At the end of the day – content is still what it's all about, no matter how that content is delivered.  That includes time and temp.

That's why a recent study is interesting – it shows the number of HAM radio operators in the United States at an all time high: over 700,000 licensed operators in September, 2011.  If anything is "old" tech, you would think it would be HAM radio.  Just goes to show that our perceptions aren't always correct.  Just like with telephone time & temp – millions of calls per day still go to Time & Temp systems – many from smartphones!  Here's a link to the HAM radio info.

Let's consider the options – you can say to yourself: "Possible" or "Can't Afford It"

Television
Radio
Newspapers
Trade Shows
Direct Mail
Trade Magazines
Telemarketing
Facebook LinkedIn Presence\Ads
Twitter Marketing
Website\Blog
Non-Traditional Marketing
Word Of Mouth

You might say that the list starts with the most costly forms of advertising, and ends with the least costly, although you could certainly re-order the list. 

As a business operator, you also have to determine which marketing\advertising methods will get results.  There is, of course, no point in spending lots of money on magazine ads if the ads don't produce significant additional revenue.  At the same time, there is no point in spending part of your day working on low cost marketing if THAT marketing also doesn't produce results.

In speaking with business owners lately, I hear the same theme:  "there is nowhere we can afford to advertise that provides an adequate return."  There is no easy solution to this issue – but a few ideas:

1) Try to narrow your target market.  If there are 200 decision makers for the product you sell, you can afford to spend $10 on each one if it means you can be fairly certain of getting your message to those 200.  Perhaps some unusual kind of direct mail.  Do a search on "dimensional marketing."
2) Locate a (non-competing) company that markets to the same targets you market to.  Ask them for advice.  Determine if there might be a way to cooperate in your marketing with them.  If they won't talk to you, analyze their marketing. Use their ideas.
3) Related to #2. Borrow ideas from other companies.  If you see a magazine in the doctor's office and you have no interest in the subject matter of the magazine – don't read it.  Look at the ads in the back and try to learn something from what the advertisers are doing.
4) Consider non-traditional marketing.  What does that mean?  It means things like a second website just for one of your products.  Or participating in a LinkedIn group that deals with your area of expertise. Or having a custom message on hold recording done for your phone system so you are delivering your marketing message directly to callers (who are, after all, the best targets for your marketing).  Look at things like our Time & Temperature products or our weather websites – to deliver a service the public that just happens to include your marketing message. 

Good luck!

These days, many small and medium-sized communities in the U.S. have limited sources of information available.  Their newspaper may have cut staff drastically in an effort to survive, or the town may have only a weekly paper published by essentially one person, or the town has no newspaper at all.  If there are any radio stations, they probably offer the same level of community service that most stations provide their communities these days: none.  Most radio stations have computers that provide music-only or satellite-delivered formats.

In other words, there is a need and an opportunity in many towns for a new source of information – if it can be delivered at low cost.  RTI Media has begun offering our customers a local weather website for their towns – a website that also provides space for local news and events.  Red Cross blood drawings, church fundraisers, local government events and many other kinds of news can be promoted on the local site, along with the latest weather information. 

Visit one of our websites that is now offered to the community of Apex, North Carolina by the Apex Chamber of Commerce: www.apexweather.com.  Note that in addition to the weather and community events, the site also provides advertising space, so the site can be not only a vehicle for serving the community – but to make money too. 

In addition to the desktop website, our customers also have a mobile website for their towns – specially formatted for the screen of a smartphone.  So our product contains two websites – desktop and mobile.  We think the websites will be a great add-on to the Telephone Time & Temperature systems we offer.  Give us a call for more details.