Before you spend a nickel on Direct Response Radio advertising, learn how basic principles of human nature, marketing, creative, and media will impact your success.    Open each of the articles on this page.  Print it.  Punch it.  Put the articles in a three-ring binder (make extra copies for your staff). Read The Book.

Open.  Print.  Punch.  Bind.  Read.

Make notes in the margins on how each idea can apply to your own Unique Situation.  When you're finally ready to spend that first nickel, you'll have a much clearer idea of what it will buy.

NOTE:  These articles are organized in three sections: Strategy, Tactics and Results.  The buttons and text links at the top of each section open single pages that briefly describe my method.  The articles show you why & how it works.

Creative Media & Conversion Strategy

Maximum sales velocity in Direct Response Radio starts with a proper alignment of Creative, Media and Conversion strategies.  The three must complement each other.

Planning for Profitable Radio Advertising.  A brief outline of my free Excel workbook. Set your own revenue goals and media budget, define your Target Audience, write a simple Brand Promise, set a firm Deadline - without which there is no reality. (3:00 Read)

Logical Analysis Leading to A Leap of Faith.  How to write communications strategy and a compelling Brand Promise.  Seven Easy Questions.  Nothing much will happen unless you answer them accurately. (5:00 Read)

Seagull Strategy.  Before you set out on a Quest to Conquer the World, take a lesson from two Very Wise birds.
(2:00 Read)

The Steam Principle. Al All response comes from Active Shoppers in your category.  You cannot expand the category yourself, but you must understand why, when, and how often people enter it. (2:00 Read)ont>

The Reflection Principle. Steam Heat shoppers see only what they're look for. That's one reason they often ignore bullet point copy.  Here's a simple exercise that proves the point and helps us tailor your creative to your prospects' actual interests.   (1:00 Read)

Ditka's Dicta. Mike Ditka's observations on motivating NFL players apply to Direct Response Radio, in that you have to similarly recruit motivated prospects.   (2:00 Read)

V-Marketing.  All marketing plans & actions can be expressed in a single letter that moves up or down or stands still and collects money.  (2:00 Read)

Fear & Ruin in Direct Response Radio. How Credit Card, Tax, Mortgage and Debt relief advertisers have changed D.R. Radio, and how you can beat them.  (3:00 Read)

Brand Support Radio. The techniques of Direct Response Radio apply to corporate brand sales, too. Instead of calls and clicks, you track Bar Code sales.  (3:00 Read)

Rosser Reeves's USP v. Multiple Selling Propositions.  USP is logically flawed and empirically false.  MSP makes much more sense. (2:00 Read)

Problem Detection Research.  Invented by BBDO to launch Burger King 30 years ago, this is a formal way to Think like a Seagull.  (5:00 Read)

Brand Resistance Survey.  The response to long-running Control Copy can easily flat-line.  Your in-bound TMs can document what to do next. Free. (3:00 Read)

Initial Resistance to New Campaigns. Unknown, high-priced brands in cluttered categories should expect some Initial Resistance. Well-known, low-price, unique, or Free Offer spots might enjoy negative IR!
(2:00 Read)

Radio Flighting & Personality Types.  Salespersons match their messages to fit the personality type (Driver, Expressive, Analytical, Amiable) of the prospect.  Every direct response radio commercial should include something aimed at each quadrant of the population.  Your landing pages and in-bound scripts should be geared to Drivers and Expressives.  They'll be first to respond to our commercials!    (3:00 Read)

Eight Things You Can Do in Any Recession to prepare for the next rising tide of economic prosperity, should it ever roll in.  (4:00 Read)

Do You Report to a Committee?  Do you need permission to try anything new? Here's how to get it. Even from yourself. (3:00 Read)

Creative & Test Market Tactics

We test new creative on one or two good local stations, a few SiriusXM channels, or a mini-network of 200 to 300 streaming stations.  We measure early Response & Conversion rates, refine Media Cost Per Sale, and set Target CPM & Optimum Effective Frequency range.

Local Tests & Network Rollouts.  In 3 to 10 days on one or two benchmark stations, satellite channels, or streaming mini-networks we can easily define the metrics that will yield excellent results in national rollouts.
(4:00 Read)

Remnant Radio Blitzes.  Use the low CPMs of remnant radio to blitz an entire market for a week or two. Pick up new customers from a four to station buy.  Drop the newbies into your back end Pipeline.  Repeat.
(2:00 Read)

Radio Cluster Bombs.  A brand new solution to an age-old consumer problem may require a little extra persuasion to jolt prospects out of Hopelessness and into Action.
(2:00 Read)

Direct Response Radio Flighting.  Maximum ROI requires maximum response velocity, which in turn requires that you run on any station, program or channel just often enough to pick up Today's Active Shoppers.  (2:00 Read)

Control Burnout.  If you run any commercial too long it will burn out and response will flatline.  This page outlines how we predict & prevent burnout in advance.   (3:00 Read)

Conversion is King.  The rate at which you convert curious inquiry to sale is the single most important metric in any profitable Direct Response radio campaign.  This article outlines how to greatly improve on-line and in-bound phone conversion.  (10:00 Read)

Streaming Radio Conversion.  The tracked paths from Streaming Radio media players to landing pages to check-out produce Google Analytics data that, in turn, yield firm click-to response and conversion rates you can apply to Terrestrial Radio.  (3:00 Read)

Direct Response Radio Math.  D.R. is not rocket science, but good planning and tracking does require 8th Grade Arithmetic. 

Media Dollars, Incremental Orders, Phone Calls, Conversion rates, and Drag are hard numbers.  Arbitron data produces softer numbers such as AQH, Cume, Reach, Effective Frequency, G, M, P, Π, and Δ. 

Tracking these metrics simultaneously is no more complex than building a watch.  Or a rocket.    (60:00 Read)

How Much for a Totsie? Say you want to reach about half of a cume audience 2.7 times. How many spots? How much money? Why 2.7?

Radio Costs Less Than You Think! A primer of terminology plus a review of the Three Fatal Fallacies of Direct Response Radio.

Glossary of Radio Terms.  This site uses a fair amount of Radio Jargon. I added a page that explains what terms like reach, frequency, CPM, ROS, and OES mean.

The Radio Show  My personal top 20 favorite commercials.  Your next :60 or :30 should be on this page.

Complete Campaigns  Two dozen complete direct response radio campaigns plus selected one-offs from the distant past.

Real People Radio  When real people talk, other people listen.  Learn why your own loyal customers can often sell your Brand faster, more believably and economically than Union Actors or Throaty Announcers.  (5:00 Read)

Radio Production Costs.  Thousands of station announcers read bullet point copy for free. Most of it bounces off people's brains.  To break through that daily drone you'll have to pay for creative & production.
(9:00 Read)

Radio Jingle Production Costs.  As in all human endeavors, when you walk into a recording studio, you get what you pay for. (3:00 Read)

Roll Out Results in Direct Response Radio

A successful Direct Response Radio test on one or two good stations sets initial values for the metrics we need to roll out in local ROS spot radio, satellite, streaming networks, or network destination programs.

The Dinovite Saga. After five years building his Pay-Per-Click revenues to $5,000 per week, Ed Lukacevic used Real People Radio and OEF Flighting to drive revenues to $235,000 per week. (4:00 Read)

Click the Dice! Real People Radio and OEF Flighting in 22 markets drove the leading IT Recruitment site's revenues from $14MM to $40MM in 18 months. (4:00 Read)

S-O-C-K-S! After running the same :30 for nine years, National Dynamics Speed Tapes tried a new campaign based on our Brand Resistance Survey. Call volume jumped from 2,000 to 5,000 Week I. Sales increased $35MM over three years. (2:00 Read)

Ten Case Histories. My personal favorite and most instructive episodes in corporate, retail and direct response advertising. (8:00 Read)

The Basics of Direct Response Radio     Strategy: Tactics: Results     The Radio Show

Your Unique Situation is the same as everyone else's.
Not enough people agree with you.