Many businesses don’t believe that anyone listens to the radio anymore.
While it’s true that radio consumption has declined since 2011, radio still has the largest reach across all audiences.
As new privacy restrictions crack down on digital advertising techniques, the Harvard Business Review predicts a return to radio and other forms of traditional advertising, considering the branding opportunity and legitimacy they provide.
Local radio audiences consist of loyal listeners from various demographics, making it a powerful tool to place your business in front of your ideal and potential customers.
So If your business is looking to build its local reputation, but doesn’t know where or how to get started, here are Mean Joe Advertising’s tips for making an effective radio advertising campaign.
Building Your Radio Strategy
When building your radio advertising strategy you must keep track of three things: Audience Targeting, Performance Metrics, and Budget.
After all, as a business, you can’t pay for advertising that doesn’t work (nor should you).
The first step is to research the available stations in your market.
The local stations have information on their listener demographics, performance metrics, and the prices for various spots.
Know that the highest-ranked station (according to Nielsen Rankings) does not guarantee the best results.
A station with a loyal listenership made up of your target audience has a better chance of reaching your goals than a high-ranked station whose audience isn’t your customers.
Types of Radio Ads
There are three products you can utilize through radio advertising:
1. Sponsorships
Use this product to place your brand inside live broadcasting where people actively listen.
Sponsorships are great for businesses trying to reach many different people at once.
They’re usually packaged with live reads, live mentions, and commercials, to get your business in front of the right people. (i.e. The University Hospitals Cleveland Browns Radio Network) (Weather Update brought to you by XYZ Company, The ABC Services Sports Report, The Smith Brothers Broadcast Studio)
2. Commercials
Commercials are the most common radio advertising product.
They’re sold as 60, 30, 15, or even 5-second ads that air during breaks.
They're prerecorded and scheduled to run during specific times of the day.
You can build a strong campaign with commercials when you place the ads in high-traffic dayparts (morning drive, evening drive, etc.) to increase your brand’s reach.
3. Live Reads
Live Reads are, as the name implies, ads that are read by a host or DJ, live on air.
They consist of a host reading a script or sharing their experience with the company's product or service.
Live Reads are effective because they’re performed during a show when listenership is higher.
Since Live Reads are read by the host without interrupting the show, listeners are less likely to change the channel and more likely to hear your entire ad.
Navigating Your Competition
Due to limited stations, there can be a lot of clutter in radio advertising.
Since advertising is the main revenue source for most stations, (it keeps the content free instead of behind a paywall) many companies advertise on each local station.
As a result, you want to gain as much exclusivity on a station as possible.
Getting station-wide exclusivity takes a large investment, usually committing to a long-term order (about a year). The more you spend on that station, the more likely the station will restrict other advertisers.
But if your business can’t commit to a hefty year-long radio buy, booking an endorser is the best way to secure some exclusivity.
By booking an endorser you can secure the block of time during that host’s show, engage their audience on a daily or weekly schedule, and give your brand a spokesperson that listeners trust.
Radio Advertising – The Mean Joe Way
When building a radio advertising campaign for a client, most agencies turn to a “ranker”.
Rankers show the average quarter-hour rating for specific demographics and dayparts (the time of day the show/spot airs).
Many agencies base their radio advertising strategy around these numbers alone.
At Mean Joe Advertising we’ve cultivated close partnerships with management and media reps of your local radio stations.
We understand their goals, so we can negotiate better buys for your business than agencies that only engage with stations through a rep/vendor relationship.
Our partnerships enable us to secure preferential treatment such as bonus weight, preferred placement, special opportunities, and endorser exclusivity that you can’t get anywhere else.
By combining our exclusive media partnerships with our radio advertising expertise, we build custom campaign strategies that fit your business needs.
Radio advertising, the Mean Joe Way, reaches the right people, with the right message, the right number of times, to deliver the right results.
Interested in learning more about radio advertising with Mean Joe?
