Why radio advertising could be the best thing you ever did for
your business
In the marketing world, radio has earned the reputation of being
the odd step-cousin. You know the one. No one knows quite what
to do with him. Especially at family gatherings when everyone
tries hard to avoid sitting with him. (After all, who knows WHAT
he'll start talking about.)
Much of that reputation comes from radio being tough to track.
On one hand, radio does work. Businesses do notice an increase
in sales when they add radio to the mix. However, radio doesn't
test well. In surveys and other tracking methods, radio tends to
be the one with the dismal scores.
A good friend of mine, who's also a marketing consultant but
before that she sold radio for many years, has a theory about
that. She says radio works on a subconscious or unconscious
level. People remember the ad, but not that they heard it on the
radio. So, they tend to credit a different medium for the ad,
like the yellow pages. Yellow pages gets a boost while radio
drops a few points.
Regardless, radio should not be ignored because it does work.
And many marketing consultants will probably tell you radio is
an excellent medium to reach a local market.
However, I feel there are possibilities beyond merely reaching
local customers.
Internet radio shows are starting to take off in a big way. That
means advertising and sponsorship opportunities are also taking
off. In addition, "offline" methods have been shown to be pretty
effective at driving traffic online. If increasing Web traffic
is your goal, using traditional media outlets to increase
traffic should be a part of your mix.
If people already know you (which they might in your local
market) they're more likely to be loyal. And they're more likely
to send other customers to your site. Depending on the costs of
radio in your community, radio may be a very affordable way to
get a good viral campaign going. (A viral campaign is what
happens when other people pass around your business' e-mails to
their friends and family, or send them to your Web site.)
Below are some other positive reasons to use radio:
* Affordable -- when you compare spot to spot, radio tends to be
one of the least expensive media out there. However, one spot
ain't going to do it. To reach your target market, you need to
purchase several spots. That's why radio can also turn into one
of the more expensive media. However, there are ways to keep
your costs in line yet still reap the benefits of radio -- for
instance, buying less spots but running them all in one or two
weeks, so your customers are more likely to hear your message.
* Psychological, if you voice the commercials yourself --
hearing your voice makes people feel like they "know" you.
(Hence the popularity of audio on Web sites. In fact, marketing
gurus claim just by adding audio to a site substantially
increases how many people buy.)
People tend to buy from people and businesses they know and
trust. Hearing your voice helps them feel as if they know you.
These psychological aspects may be another reason to consider
running a few radio ads in your local market even if you have an
Internet business.
* Speed -- you can get your spot up and running in no time.
* Loyalty -- listeners choose stations based on the music or
shows they like and they tend to be quite loyal to that station.
If you know what your customers enjoy listening to, it's an
excellent way to reach them. (I include both music and talk
shows in this.)
* Good support medium -- radio works really well when paired
with other marketing mediums (like print, direct mail or
television).
But for every positive, there's a negative. In the spirit of
being objective, here are a few for radio:
* Background medium -- radio tends to be on in the background,
which means it tends to be ignored. Generally, your target
market needs to be exposed to your ad more times than other
marketing media before they'll act upon your message.
* Little staying power -- the lack of visuals again keeps radio
from "sticking" with people. At least, that's what some of the
marketing gurus say. But, here again my marketing consultant
friend differs. She thinks it's that subconscious thing again.
And if you can write a spot that creates pictures in your
customers' heads, you can actually work this to your advantage.
In fact, according to my friend, if the picture is defined
enough, not only will people remember it better, but they'll
also think it was a print ad instead of a radio ad. (More on the
art of creating pictures using words in later issues.)
* Hard to track