How fast will your campaign pay out?

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The information on this page may save or earn you a small fortune.  Read it carefully and with an open mind.

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Many advertisers expect DR Radio to produce hot sales action overnight.  But radio stations are a little like family bars. The same patrons show up to listen to the same programming and the same advertisers, week after week after week.  Everybody knows everybody.

    If you're the New Guy, nobody knows you. So how long do you have to be there, putting in your face time and building Brand Credibility, before you, well, score?  

    That depends... 

     0 to 70 MPH in....?

    The spots on the right are ranked in rough order of  acceleration - the speed with which they produced immediate, sustained response.  (Click to listen.) 

     There is no clear correlation between "format" and acceleration. Straight announcer copy, testimonials, fusillades and slice-of-life all work.  They work faster in some situations than others, though.  

     There does seem to be a correlation between the fundamentals of the brand or category and the speed at which people will respond to new creative.

     Here's the evidence:   

  S-O-C-K-S
  DINOVITE
  DICE VO
  DICE TESTIMONIAL
  WHITNEY SEMINARS
  CASH FLOW SEMINARS
  NATIONAL HOME BUYERS
  VERBAL ADVANTAGE
  STAR TRADER
  AFLUXX
  NATURE BEE
  COUNSEL LAW  FIRM 
  NU-ZYMES

     

National Dynamics had built Brand Awareness and Resistance for nine years.  Dinovite solves a host of intractable problems shared by thousands of pet owners.  Dice was already established among IT recruiters and contractors.  When the Whitney, CFG and Star Trader free investment-training seminars come to town every few months, they use TV infomercials to attract attendance.  Radio helps build the gate.  National Home Buyers offered a last ditch solution to people about to lose their homes.  Verbal Advantage has run the same VO copy for ten years. Afluxx, a fat-burner, and Nature Bee Bee Pollen are unknown entries in the huge food supplement category. The Counsel Law firm has to compete with hundreds of lawyers, some of whom spend millions to promote themselves.   Nu-Zymes solves an obscure problem - chronic indigestion. 

A logical analysis of measured results leads inexorably to
Burkhard's DR Radio Acceleration Principle:

The Known, Unique & Free Pull Faster than
the Unknown, Generic, or Obscure. 
 

     Where are you on the ZOOM to PATIENCE continuum?

ZOOM!  If you're already well-known to listeners, or you offer a new, truly unique solution to a pernicious problem, or you have a "free" or "time value" offer you can expect my creative to accelerate 1-800 or click-to response very quickly.  

TACTIC A:  Open hard with VO or fusillade intros in my standard 22-Spot Fixed Position single station AM Copy Test.  Follow with Real People testimonials in a 3-5 week, 60/2.5 cume reach/frequency rollout at FP/IP/PP/ROS rates.  We'll use your daily logs to track G. With a click-to CTA, you can even venture outside AM into the three music formats that will drive web traffic.

     OH, REALLY?   If you're debuting a new brand, or you're in a cluttered category (lawyers, food supplements, mortgages, etc.), or your product solves an obscure problem, you may have to hang out in the family bar for a while before you make your moves on the clientele. Have patience.

TACTIC B:  Assume response will only begin once you've achieved a frequency of 5 to 7.  Budget the up front media as part of a long-term investment in the station's loyal cume.  Open soft with 2-3 weeks of FP/PP/IP/ROS to achieve an 80/4-6 r/f at very low media cost.  Use VO or Real People testimonials to build "coming soon" brand awareness and intent to buy.  Offer a click-to CTA.  (Monitor incremental shipments to the station's ZIP Code coverage map.)  Week Three and Four run your 1-800 CTA in high response Fixed Position dayparts.  Plot G at f5-7.

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     PILLS MUST HAVE PATIENTS! 

Natural food supplements, vitamins, fat burners, enzymes. calcium, kelp and all manner of herpetological olefins are categorically SLOW in DR Radio.  There are more pills on local and network radio than car dealers.  All promote generic claims of good health, long life, and physical stamina.  After five years of ailment-specific "Ask Your Doctor" prescription drug TV - followed by Vioxx - people are suspicious of a category that carries no FDA or AMA endorsement. Health Food aficionados already shop GNC.

Personality Flighting:  Your normal Early Responders (Drivers & Expressives) instantly decide, "No!"  You have to be there for a few weeks to pick up Analyticals and Amiables, who were going to wait anyway.  (See also Burkhard's Third Law.)  

LAB TEST PROOF:  I ran two Nature Bee fusillades on KMJ/KFPT in Fresno for two weeks.  The second week, I ran two Dinovite fusillades.  Same market, same station, same audience, same format, chemically similar products.  Nature Bee is an all-natural food supplement for humans.  Dinovite is an all natural food supplement for dogs.  Nature Bee pulled no 1-800 response.  Dinovite paid out immediately with 35 on-line orders @ $24.95 to $158.00.

     Consider Patient Alternatives.  People who are reluctant to call a telemarketer may be willing to investigate your brand on-line. Construct a homepage that shows off the product (not just the package).  Add testimonial sound bites or the original text from complimentary emails or letters.  The math of Click-to DR Radio is explained in Section VII of The Basics of Direct Response Radio.

    Nature Bee runs live 2:00 interview spots with the morning host on selected AM Stations.  The local celebrity endorsement begins to pay out after four weeks or so.  Nu-Zymes has moderate success with weekend 30:00 TV and radio infomercials.  Afluxx (AKA V-Lean) drives huge retail store traffic with testimonial radio spots that barely made the phone ring.  People gotta see the pill.

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     But you wanted Instant Results!

     Neither the absolute quality of your brand nor the number of bullet points you can recite will necessarily produce instant DR Radio Acceleration. All purchase decisions are driven by human emotions, then rationalized by facts. People have to know you and sort of like you before they pick up the phone.

     For example, a lot of humans bookmark this site, read ten articles or so at their leisure, look at dozens of ads, and listen to 10-20 commercials before they call me.

     Frankly, whenever I suggest a three to four week test, many Drivers (fast-acting decision-makers) instantly decide that tactic will require an unacceptable investment of time and money.  They want to score overnight.

     About half of them call back, though, after everyone in the family bar turns them down.  

     You?

     407 895 3092  

    

 

 

Advanced Concepts of Radio