While more expensive than print ads, radio advertising is another great marketing tool that shouldn’t be ignored. The trick is to design your radio advertisements in a way that will reach your target customer base without wasting your time or money. Here are a few things you can do to make sure you’re getting the best rates and time slots possible without breaking the bank.

Vertical Frequency

Vertical frequency is a radio advertising tactic in which you choose one or two days to play all of your ads as opposed to spreading them out over an entire week. This works best if you can find a radio station on which listeners tend to linger for a long period of time. You’ll want to try and get spots on Monday or Tuesday as the rates for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are usually higher because of weekend sales.

Haggling

Do not accept the first price your radio station salesperson offers. They might claim to be giving you the best price possible but they usually aren’t. They expect you to haggle and will give you a higher price so that they can make you happy by lowering it later. If you don’t argue, they benefit from you paying a higher rate.

Avoid Humour

Humour can be a very creative addition to any marketing campaign, but unless you have a spectacular brand of humour you’ll likely offend or bore your listeners. They will, after all, hear your advertisements day after day, week after week – especially if they’re loyal listeners of the station you choose. Either avoid humour or be prepared to revamp your radio advertising campaign on a regular basis (which will be costly).

Voice versus Paper

Make sure the copy you give your radio advertiser sounds good when read out loud. There is a huge difference between the written word and the spoken word. Not everything you write out on paper will sound as good when read out loud – it might instead sound stiff or boring. Your radio advertisements should be conversational, not readable. Know the difference.

Failure is Inevitable

Almost no one succeeds with their first radio advertising campaign. The first campaign is more of a test to make sure you have chosen the right times, messages, and markets. You’ll gain enough information from this experiment to determine what changes will make future campaigns profitable. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see top notch results right away.

Radio advertising is a great way to reach thousands of potential customers at a time, but will only be profitable if you’re willing to put in the time and work to formulate a winning plan. Are you prepared?

Sean

Sean McPheat

Telephone 0800 849 6732