In today’s fast-paced environment, interaction with family and friends is often relegated to a few spare minutes here and there, leaving many people feeling isolated.
The radio fills the void. Radio provides an emotional one-on-one experience. Create a connection that is a personal and unique experience for each listener. It’s just you and the voice on the radio, speaking to you.
Television and print media are mass media. Getting an emotional response from the print is nearly impossible. Television is emotional but not personal. You know it’s you and the thousands of people watching, plus it’s beyond the budget of many companies.
As an advertiser, you have the opportunity to speak directly to your customer, using words and phrases that are meaningful to them. Radio can link messages that have synergy with campaigns in other media, but they must not be written in the same style. Effective radio is a conversation with the customer. This is your chance to tell a story.
How interesting would you find a story that began with the company name or “We have a friendly and knowledgeable staff. Come visit us. We have 20 colors of sofas in a variety of sizes and styles.” Boring right? So why are so many advertisers doing it?
It’s easy to talk about your business and what you want to sell. It takes more time and effort to figure out what the customer wants and talk in terms of their buying motivation, but it’s worth it. It’s easier to get quick results when announcing a sale than it is to build a relationship with the consumer. Where do you think those deal buyers will be when your competition has a deal, not in your business, I bet?
Another of the great strengths of radio is its ability to reach a defined market segment. When you buy newspaper advertising, you buy the entire and general public, all demographics and special interest groups. Now it’s not bad to reach more people, but if you have a limited budget you can spend it very quickly on your newspaper, on an ad,… one day,… once. That’s not a great frequency and unpredictable range. What if your best prospects don’t read the newspaper the day your ad runs?
Radio gives you the opportunity to target the age and interests of your market segment. With a budget large enough to cover the cost of a reasonably sized ad in your daily newspaper, you can buy a whole week of radio commercials.
Don’t be intimidated by the commercial prices at the main stations. It is not about reaching a large number of prospects a few times. It’s about reaching a smaller number of listeners enough times that they think they know and like you and want to do business with you. Spend time and money creating a message that conveys a message your customers can relate to.
Have you ever bought something that you simply had to have, then went home and logically explained to a family member why it was essential? You bought for emotion and justified with logic, the same as your client does. Forget generic when it comes to radio. This is one time that pays to get personal.
In the US the standard is 60 seconds for a radio commercial in Canada 30 seconds. If you have a great story to tell and you’re a good storyteller, use 60 seconds; otherwise, the shorter commercial is better. The only thing worse than boring the listener for 30 seconds is boring them for 60. The frequency of raising awareness of your company name and purpose of speaking to them can be achieved inexpensively by adding a schedule of sponsorships and/or messages from 10 to 15 seconds. .
This is an example of a 30 second radio script that connected with the client. How do we know it was good? Sales increased.
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On radio, as in all your advertising, you must keep it simple. A well-read soliloquy is much more effective than something with too many words, multiple focus, lots of sound effects, or a conversation between two or more people.
Points to remember:
Radio is an opportunity, use it to your advantage, some of your competitors will never do it.
Negotiate; the price is not always the price.
Don’t get too hung up on price per commercial. Request preferred commercials free of charge to increase your campaign.
Find out when your commercials will run. If you choose a station based on the number of commercials included in a package, make sure they don’t increase the numbers by airing them all from 6:00 pm to 5:00 am
If you have a small budget, focus on one part of the day to increase the number of times a listener hears your message.
Writing and production are included in the price, but that does not mean that the message they create for you will be effective. You need to be involved in the creative process.
You can be too creative. Don’t make listeners strain to try to understand what you’re saying.
If you don’t have the budget to run a strong enough campaign to make an impact, save your money until you do.
Ask how the station schedules its commercials. If they have long trading blocks, you have to work extra hard to stand out among the 5 or 6 (or more) other messages.
Keep your message simple.