8 things to consider when advertising on the radio

Photo by SplitShire

We talk a lot about digital marketing tactics here at MarketWren as they are critical to creating awareness for a product or service in today’s day and age. However, there are many viable traditional media outlets that can help generate a buzz for your brand. When planning your multimedia mix for your advertising strategy, your business may want to consider advertising on your area’s local radio station.

Much like several marketing channels, advertising on your local radio station can be extremely effective if done correctly. If not, it can be extremely costly and you may or may not get a low response. If you are contemplating the idea of putting your message into the airwaves, here are some things you should consider before launching a campaign with your local radio advertising sales rep.

1. Frequency

If you are going to advertise on radio, you’ll want your message to be heard often in effort to keep it top-of-mind with the station’s listeners. Work with your radio advertising sales rep to come up with a schedule that will give you plenty of commercials or “spots” throughout key day parts where listenership is at its highest.

2. Consistency

Radio advertising can be extremely effective at building brand recognition, but it certainly does not happen overnight. While it may sound like a big investment, you will want to commit to at least a year or longer in order to build a relationship with the station’s listeners. Work with your rep to come up with an annual budget that you are comfortable investing in. Frequency and consistency are two critical success factors in radio advertising campaigns.

3. Station demographics

Each radio station features different genres of music or content and each reaches a different demographic. Before committing to an advertising campaign, you will want to consider who your target customer is and ask for some research from your radio sales rep as to what is the typical demographic of the station you are considering. As in any other marketing channel, you’ll want your message to be heard by the people who are most likely to consider buying your product or service.

4. Your core customer location

If your business is geography-based (i.e. a restaurant or retail store), you will want to take the radio station’s signal reach into serious consideration. Your radio station sales rep should be able to provide you with a map of the areas in which the station’s signal broadcasts to as well as ratings information that shows where the majority of the station’s listeners are coming from. If you are targeting a small geography, make sure that the radio station is covering that area.

5. Action-oriented messaging

When advertising on radio, you have thirty or sixty seconds to get your message across to the audience. When working with your station’s creative professional, make sure to feature a call-to-action, like visiting your website, in the copy of your commercial to give listeners a chance to find out more information about your product or service.

6. A commercial that stands out

Like any great marketing campaign, you’ll want to have a radio commercial that stands out from the others on the station. When working with your station’s creative professional on a script concept, consider a “slice-of-life” scenario with fictional characters, adding humor to the commercial or even a jingle if possible. Any extra element that will help keep your brand top-of-mind with the listeners is key to generating awareness for your business.

7. Less is more

Just because your commercial is only thirty or sixty seconds, you do not need to list all your products and services in that small piece of audio real estate. In fact, your message may confuse listeners if you try and list off too many sales or promotions that your business is offering in the copy. As a follow up, you may want to consider driving listeners to your website or a landing page with an easy to remember website URL if you would like to showcase a variety of products or services.

8. Personality endorsement

If your budget can afford it, you may want to consider doing an endorsement campaign with one of the radio station’s on-air personalities. For many stations, the on-air personalities are local celebrities in their market. By having them endorse your brand on-air, it can position your brand as a thought-leader.

Have you considered advertising on a radio station? We want to hear from you. Share your thoughts with us at @MarketWren on social media with the hash tag #RadioAdvertising