Writing a successful radio commercial
When you enter the copy department of a radio station you see
stress and creativity intersecting to form a radio commercial.
This is an art form that is developed over time. When I was
nineteen, there was an opening in the copy department of the
regions number one station. The commercial load was heavy. It
goes without saying, the station with the most ads is typically
the favorite station. Advertisers need to reach the perspective
consumers, and the best value for your advertising dollar is
always with the most popular stations. The real test of the
stations excellence is the copy department. Scott Radio
(www.scottradio.com) is a voice and script writing professional
with over twenty years experience has the understanding required
too write effective radio commercials. Handing copy to your
radio personalities and then saying a prayer that it "turns out"
acceptable to the advertiser is sadly a common occurrence in
many stations. Here are a few tips to help your write an
effective radio commercial. The bottom-line fact still remains,
the more talented the copywriter, the better quality of the
commercial. First, know your voice talent. Writing a script for
a "Italian accent" without having someone on your staff who can
effectively perform such an accent, renders the commercial a
failure. Second, keep it simple. Too many commercials lose the
intent with long explanations. You need to give the listener
credit that after hearing the commercial, they will catch on.
Third, never look back. Keep the commercial forward thinking.
Positive. Finally, the object of the commercial is to sell. Ask
for the sale. The commercial was sold to an advertiser by a
sales representative who had to ask for the sale. Most copy
writers spend all their time being creative with ideas. The
exceptional radio copywriters spend the bulk of their time being
creative on how to ask for the sale.