Radio Advertising is easy.

If you build it, they will come, eh?  Your Thing is so good any announcer can rattle off some bullet point copy and hordes of eager prospects will rush to the phone, your site, your store...

Radio Advertising Tactics require skill, discipline and patience.

Your creative has to break through the Daily Drone of Urgent Announcer copy. You must select and run on stations that actually deliver your Target Audience.  You may have to test more than one commercial to strike the Mother Lode.  You must measure, track, and project response accurately.  And your telemarketers, web designers, and sales force have to convert a reasonable percentage of Inquiries to Sales.

Roll up your sleaves.

1. BREAK THROUGH.

Most radio commercials feature a Powerful Announcer reading Urgent Copy.  Your creative must break through that Daily Drone, unless you can afford massive media buys.  Very few advertisers are well-heeled enough to bludgeon their prospects into submission.

I prefer testimonials.  Happy, enthusiastic customers are your best salesmen - if they are properly coaxed, recorded & edited.  Real People speak from heart in words and phrases that ring true in the listeners' brains.  Good testimonials cut through the clutter instantly and stick in the brains of all Prospects - even Tomorrow's Shoppers.

The Radio Show

Complete Campaigns

Real People Radio

Free Radio Creative!

Production Costs

2. SELECT THE RIGHT STATIONS.

We normally test on two or three local stations or satellite channels whose weekly cume audiences include a high percentage of your defined Target Audience.  Ten :60s on a big AM blaster will give you a better read on the market than 50 cheap spots on a tiny station no-one listens to.

In Direct Response, AM works better than FM.  People hear music in the background.  They actually listen to Talk.

Cume Ranker Selection

Target Demographics

3. TEST FOR 3 TO 10 DAYS.

If you're the only radio advertiser in your category you can gauge the natural Steam Heat for your brand in as little as three days.  Competitive brands in cluttered categories usually require a 10-day test.  A good remnant radio blitz in a decent-size test market will last one to three weeks.

You'll have already set a test budget & schedule, determined your Target Response rate, estimated Initial Resistance, and put up a simple URL or leased a simple 1-800 number.

Local Tests &
Network Rollouts

Steam Heat

Remnant Radio Blitzes

Initial Resistance

Cume Quotas

The Call To Action

4. TRACK & PROJECT RESPONSE.

Radio Advertising drives Inquiries: calls, clicks, store ups...  Response rate varies with creative, category clutter, station format, absolute Cume Quota, frequency, and a host of other variables.

We track daily & weekly response using G, or "Gallons of radio per useful action."  (1 Gallon of Radio = 1,000 Target Audience Impressions.)

Similarly formatted stations tend to attract the same types of listeners, so G helps us project test results into future rollouts.

Media Cost per Sale is always a function of response rate, CPM, and conversion.   Of the three variables, conversion exercises the most leverage.

Media Cost per Sale

GM/C=X

Optimum Effective
Frequency

Target CPM

Air & Drag

5. SLICKIFY CONVERSION.

Most Radio Advertising efforts that fail do so because the client - You! - fails to convert a sufficient percentage of Inquiries to Sales, then blames the media.

Radio responders are somewhat more cerebral than those you field in TV or print, and they are a bit more open to suggestion than Keyword Searchers.  But they are no less impatient.

The commercials you run OPEN a sale. Your in-bound telemarketers, web designers, or floor salesmen must be prepared to CLOSE it.  Fast.

No matter how wonderful Your Thing is, you have to compete with hundreds of other advertisers whose Thing is equally wonderful.  Solid strategy and a disciplined tactical plan can help you do so.

Next, what sort of RESULTS should you expect?

Conversion is King

Streaming Radio Conversion

NEXT: