Marketing and Business 101

Radio Advertising Part One

Marketing is a coordinated attack using a variety of media, one of which is frequently radio. Radio advertising can be effective for many businesses when it is done correctly.

Like any form of advertising the message, (your ad content), is very important to the effectiveness of your advertising campaign. Too many businesses seem to think that just because they are on the radio customers will flock to them ... I assure you that isn't the case. Your ad must make the prospect want to do business with you. You must demonstrate to the potential customer that doing business with you is good for them. After all, they are only going to buy if it benefits them – they really don't care if it benefits you or not.

Is there any format of radio that seems to work better than another? In my opinion the answer is a resounding "Yes". Talk radio.

When I was with Iglou Internet Service we were entering a new market area, (Lexington, KY), and did a test of radio. On the morning drive we did a syndicated talk show, (Bob & Tom), at noon we did Rush Limbaugh, and on the drive home we did a local personality. The amount of advertising on each program was roughly the same, though each program had a different
promotion code so we could track which program was generating the most
sign-ups, and we offered a t-shirt for each new sign-up. Other than the
promo code all the offers were the same.

Rush pulled 67% of our sign-ups, and Bob & Tom came in second, followed
by the local personality.

I know of other businesses that have used talk radio with similar
stunning results.

Talk radio is effective because the listener is doing "active listening"
and not "passive listening"; talk radio isn't generally used as
background noise like music radio is, thus talk radio offers greater
potential for connecting to the prospect.

What about Public Radio and Sports radio, people listen to them as well – are they as effective?

When it comes to Sports Radio the businesses I've talked with and worked with have not had the sales gains as experienced by those using traditional Talk Radio.

Listeners of Public Radio as well as the religious stations are very loyal supporters of their station, but that doesn't mean they purchase from every sponsor. It simply means that the station has a loyal devoted base that wants the station to succeed, but that doesn't mean that they care if you succeed.

Obviously the offer is a key part of any advertising
so just because an ad, (radio or other), doesn't work well doesn't mean
the medium doesn't work - it could be the message.