I am assuming two things at the start of this post:
1. You have a product or service that you want to advertise on radio.
2. You do not have an advertising agency that takes care of your advertising placement.
Radio advertising today is still one of the effective modes of advertising, despite statistics that show advertising budgets for radio campaigns slashed down in favor of print and tv, and the other non traditional mediums such as online advertising, billboards and other targeted efforts like direct marketing.
So how do you choose the right radio station?
Each radio station, much like your product or service, has its own audience or listener base. They are the radio station’s customers. The first thing you should do, is find the radio station whose listeners are the type of people you foresee buying your product or availing of the service you are offering.
There are many ways to do this. You can contact the radio station and request for a portfolio and proposal. A radio station has Account Executives whose job is to bring in advertising placements from advertisers like you. Chances are they will give you a station profile that would likely give you a brief introduction about the station, their programming, their market, and their reach. Usually what is not included are specific figures like survey results to give you a clear picture of the numbers they have, this is important because you want to establish market share; you need to know how many people are listening to this station, and at what times of the day.
Once you have all the proposals from the radio stations you contacted, all you need to do is compare markets/listenership and cost. If a station is able to give you facts and figures, even better. Narrow down your choices and once you have done that, move to the next step.
Proposals are proposals, they are supposed to look good. Which is why you have to do your own checking to verify information printed on those proposal you received.
If you have an existing business, all you have to do is ask your customers if they listen to the radio and what radio station they listen to. You can and may not ask all of your customers, just choose those customers that you see as your ideal customer that fits certain criteria that you may have.
For example, if you want to advertise a product that targets middle to upper class males aged 25-40, find the radio station that has that demographic, and at the same time interview your customers who appear to be of that market. Their answers will give you an idea what radio stations their demographic listens to. Check if the radio stations on your shortlist are the radio stations that come out on your survey.
Another method, which could be helpful especially if you product is new and you do not have any customers yet, is to look at your competitors advertising campaigns. Find out what radio stations they are advertising with, and find out how long their ads have been running. Like any smart advertiser, an advertising campaign on a radio station that is not working, will not run long term. There are of course exceptions like if it is a dated ad for a sale or promo. A long running ad on a radio station could be a good indicator of a radio stations effectiveness.
Many advertisers however make the mistake of choosing a radio station simply because it is what they are listening to or because it is the cheapest to advertise with.
That being said, once you have identified a radio station to go with, try to get the best priced package. The best priced package of course is the least cost you can get the advertising campaign for, which also is not in excess of your advertising budget for radio.