Radio Advertising Tips: Choosing The Right Radio Station to Advertise On

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Radio Advertising Tips: Choosing The Right Radio Station to Advertise On

August 2nd, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

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.

Tips for Radio Commercials and Radio Advertising Part 5

July 17th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

This is the last batch of tips for radio commercials, I hope you have found these most helpful.
8. Sound effects are an important element to radio commercials, however need to be used appropriately. Sound effects are primarily aids in helping the listener picture the scene,and improper use of sound effects might divert the attention of the listener from the main advertising message. When listening to a radio commercial, the listener cannot see the action, and sound effects help in creating the scene, however since most effects sound alike, it is best used in tandem with the radio commercial copy, unless the sound is really unique and obvious. A listener may not be able to differentiate from water gushing on a sink or on a river bed or waves crashing on a shore, but that effect used with the right text such as “nothing beats lying on the sand getting that tan and listening to the ocean”; would be very effective.

9. Present a clear call to action! What do you want the listener to do after hearing the spot? You got their attention, they heard your message, so what next? A radio spot will only generate calls if, at the end, your prospect can answer the question, “What do you want me to do right now?” The answer should always be to get that inquiry, through phone call or walk in. To sweeten the deal, you can even reveal the call in number in a bribe or freebie such as the vioce over at the end of the ad saying, “To get your free brochure on how to lose weight fast by better eating, call (phone number).”

10. Give the listener a sense of urgency, a reason for them to act within a given time limit. Limited time offers are not an exclusive tool of direct mail, they work in every medium, also radio. No one wants to miss out on a good deal. YOu are eventually going to putt your spots out, especially if it is also a dated ad like a sale maybe, so you might as well establish a deadline to force an immediate response.

Tips for Radio Commercials and Radio Advertising Part 4

July 16th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Welcome to our fourth installment of tips on radio commercials and radio advertising.

7. One of the most difficult tasks when getting started in writing your radio commercial copy is creating the ad’s format. There is actually no hard and fast rule, and it would really depend on what you would feel appropriate to the message and to the product. Here are the common formats being used.

Straight Announcer — This is by far the simplest, a single strong voice talking directly to the listener. The radio commercial copy should be simple, direct, and clear. The voice should speak as if direclt addressing a single person and not sound like someone reading. It is important for the copy writer to write like they were actually speaking to a person right in front of them, taking care not to use words that would distance the speaker from the listener. It does not have to be declarative, the voice can pose a question also.

Dialog — Let’s face it, people are social beings… we love to talk, and somehow we also love to listen to other people talk… if it is in any way interesting. In most cases the discussion revolves around one person’s experience about a product or service, with the other person not knowing anything about it; and thus there is a transfer of information.

The party that is unaware of the product can even pose questions or present opportunities that the product or service may provide.

This is a very powerful method of advertising, especially if executed well and with the voices used match the demographics of the listeners of the radio commercial.

Vignette — We start the ad with a scene like a slice of life scene presenting a situation or problem, followed by the announcer who presents the product or service as the solution. It could be several slice of life scenes punctuated with voice over announcements that. Vignettes can also be in the form of personalities or voices that represent a demographic and a situation they find them self in.

Person on the Street — This is the easiest to produce and has a high level of believability. All you have to do is pick people on the street, persons who represent the demographic that probably already benefits from the product, then ask this real people what they think about the product.

The key is to get them to talk about the product, describe how it’s benefited them and ask if they would recommend it to others. Not all the answers will be eloquent, and may need some measure of editing or cleaning up. Having them sound unscripted, unrehearsed.. REAL is what makes it effective. Hearing real people say good things is one of the best forms of advertising you can get.

Testimonials — This is actually taking the person on the street concept a step further by getting the people you picked to directly speak and address listeners, talking about using the product and its benefits. Testimonials treatments have been used with experts, celebrities, or ordinary people.

Story — This is one of the most difficult to put together, but very rewarding if pulled off. Everybody loves to hear a story but to do it in just 30 or 60 seconds is quite a feat. You would need a plausible, brief plot and voice talents who can properly deliver lines and add to the drama of the scene. Like any good short story, there is a crisis that needs a solution.

Tips for Radio Commercials and Radio Advertising Part 3

July 15th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Welcome to Day 3 of tips for those who want to know more about radio commercials and radio advertising.

5. When writing a direct reponse radio commercial script, your ultimate goal is to get that phone to ring, or get that listener into your store.  The absolute goal is to get inquiries or orders, or inquiries that you now have an opportunity to convert into an order. A really good radio commercial sometimes doesn’t guarantee a sale, but does guarantee a response in the form of a phone call or a walk in inquiry. What happens next depends on you; and what you do or say to that potential customer.

This may be a little off tangent, but here I would like to say something about handling inquiries, where a lot of potential customers are lost simply because the person who does the answering or the entertaining does not know how to handle a customer. When handling an inquiry, don’t simply be satisfied by giving information or making a client more aware about what you are offering. Go a step further, establish a rapport, build a meaningful relationship with potential customers by offering free information, free consultation, a special price, or some other reason to gain their trust.

6. So you have put together your radio commercial copy, the script that is going to get sent to production. You feel its a good script, catchy, funny, compelling. Now, take away the information about the product or the product itself. If the commercial sounds good on its own without the product, then you got a bad copy. Remember to make your radio commercial about the product or the selling message itself.

The mains sales message should come first, and that should what the entire ad revolve around, it is what the creative concept should revolve around.

Tips for Radio Commercials and Radio Advertising Part 2

July 14th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

This is the second installment of tips for radio commercials and radio advertising.
3. Project execution is critical! Once your copy is approved, it goes to the production company or a producer who puts the ad together. A great producer or production house to work with is that who can hear the ad in their head just by reading the radio commercial copy, and know what to do in order to produce the final copy; just the way the copywriter envisioned it to be.

The production house or producer usually takes care of getting the talents, identifying the right voice for the part, identifying the right music and sound effects to be used.

Most of the really good producers I know are those who are technically proficient, know their equipment and know how to achieve a specific sound. Although not an absolute rule, production houses or producers who have strong studio recording experience, a musical background and a good measure of creativity in them have been most successful at capturing the essence of the radio commercial copy.

The first version or demo cut is usually not the final cut and could be subject to changes as agreed by the people involved in the production process.

Have you ever hear a conversational radio ad, two people supposedly talking to each other but rather than sound like they were conversing they sound like they were reading and each from a different planet from the other. Terrible! If a client wishes to save a few bucks by just getting any body to deliver lines, they can save more money by simply not have a radio ad done.

4. Write for a specific length and specific purpose. Radio commercials have a purpose, the messages you deliver are just actions of achieving a specific goal. Are you promoting a sale? Is your ad a long running institutional ad? Do you simply want people to drop by your place during rush hour because its happy hour and drinks at half price for that specific day only? Know your goal, know your message, know how much time you would need to deliver the message.

30 second spots could be straight to the point, and very direct in approach that zeros in on the selling point because you do not have enough time. With a comfortable 60 seconds, you have enough time to set up your scene, sell your product, and repeat your phone number.

Tips for Radio Commercials and Radio Advertising Part 1

July 12th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Radio advertising has distinct advantages over TV and Print advertising and is still a proven and effective mode of advertising. You can target specific audiences and elicit direct response. When compared to TV or Print advertising, Radio commercials are much cheaper, easier to produce, and faster to get on the air.

There have been instances, when a client signs a contract or gives you a radio advertising broadcast order for an ad to run immediately, within an hour or less and depending on the how complicated the ad is, you can then quickly run the spots.

Radio advertising has a weak side though, and that is bad copy writing. Radio commercial copy that sucks makes your campaign ineffective.

There are some spots which run for a day and are targetted at specific times, and if you don’t have a good radio commercial copy your campaign is a failure and your radio advertising budget a waste.

To help improve your radio advertising campaign, here are some tips:

1. Number one rule? Write for Radio! Writing copy for radio is very much different from writing for TV or print. Remember that Tv has an advantage, it is an audio-visual medium, people see and hear. Print has advantages because people can read all those details and read them over and over again. When your radio spot plays, your listener has only one chance at catching your radio commercial message, and your ad should create a direct response. Radio ads are fleeting, once its done, its done. Your audience can’t click a button to replay. Your chance of getting to them again is if the spot gets played again later on, and if your lucky to still have the same people tuned in to catch that spot played again.

When I write, I try to identify at most 3 main messages that I want the radio commercial to deliver, if there are too many messages this will lead to information overload. Either the listener won’t know which message to digest and react to first, or they have a hard time remembering which or what it was you were trying to tell them.

Grab the listener’s attention, deliver the sales offer or message, and get an inquiry.

2. If you are not a good writer, then hire a good radio copywriter. The best radio copywriters are those who understand radio and how it works, especially those who do make a living on radio.

For business owners, if you hire a professional radio commercial copywriter, let them do the job. If you want to write it yourself, or want to suggest lines or text to be used and you are pretty insistent about these lines, then you might as well write the copy yourself, save your money and don’t get a radio commercial copywriter. But do make suggestions, professional radio commercial copywriters will listen to your input, what you have to say; and take it into consideration.. but, will do and write what they believe to be the best way to sell your products or services. Let the radio commercial copywriter do the job YOU hired them for.

For copywriters, if you do know what you are doing then I am certain you know that it would be great to listen to the client’s suggestions as one way of understanding the product. You have to do your homework as well. But bottomline is, you got to do what you feel is right; what you know is right. That is what you are getting paid for. Do not be intimidated with an insistent client.

If you are cowed by the client into writing an ad in the fashion or manner the client wants it; and if after the campaign runs the ad is not effective, you just might get blamed for its failure.

I’ll be honest, I’ve had my share of clients who were indeed insistent; it is just a matter of dealing with them I guess and getting them to understand that you do know what you are doing.

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