Author: Scott Mackenzie

Hello,

When I meet new people and ask them “What kinds of advertising have you done in the past?” I get many different responses-TV, Radio, Newspaper, Blogs, Facebook, Garage Billboards etc.  The people who answer with “Radio”, I go on to ask them “If it worked?”  some say yes and some say no. I’d like them to respond “yes” 100% of the time I ask, but this isn’t always the case.  This leads me to today’s subject-“The Three ingredients needed for a succesful radio campaign”  These are:

1.  The Correct Radio Station:  (The Correct Station/Who are you talking to?): Ask yourself-Does this radio station reach my target demographic?  Does this station have enough people listening to it (Cume) for a decent amount of time (TSL)  Does the product or service I have fit the demographics and psychographics of this stations audience?  Make sure that the station you are advertising on makes sense and fits what you are selling or no matter how many commercials you purchase-your radio won’t work.

2. The Correct Message (The Creative or lack their of): Do you have a fantastic first line in your commercials creative?  Does it stand out within the set of the other advertisers? Does it include a “Call To Action?”  Will it be effective on the radio station that you have chosen to air your ad on?   we can go into good/great creative on another post. But remembering these key elements will help you craft your script.

3. The Correct Frequency (How many times your target hears your message):  This is Key for your radio advertising to work.  Radio is a frequency medium.  If you’re customers aren’t hearing the ad enough, it wont work with the best creative and the biggest and best, most highly rated radio station. The best campaigns have both vertical and horizontal freqeuncy-6a-7p/Mon-Sun. Getting your message out all day each day and throughout the week.  OES/Optimum Effective Scheduling is the recommended amount.  However, some of my clients just dont have that much money to spend.  Thus, I recommend choosing one or two specific day parts, maybe 6a-10a and 3p-7p or just 6a-10a and concentrate your commercials in that certain daypart(s).  Thus, hitting the same people enough times for your ads to work.  Some research we’ve heard over the years is that people need to hear something at least 3 times for it to stay in their minds.  But with all the messages we hear and see everyday, I suspect the research might be a bit old, probably best to hear it at least 6 times. 

 Another note:  If you do radio advertising or TV or really anything else, remember that all of your results wont happen in the weeks that you are on the air.  There can be a lag of a week or two or even a month before you see all of your results.  Just take an example from your own habits.  Say you hear something 3 or more times the week of May 30th.  And you really like the ad and what they are offering, but because it’s a short 4 day work week, you have a lot to do, then your weekend gets busy. The next week the ad may not run, but you remember that you want to buy that certain something.  And you go out and buy it on June 17th in time for Fathers Day. Well, its been two weeks since the last ad ran.  Even though the ads aren’t running anymore-they still worked! 

Today’s Websites to check out are:  Krater96.com       and     Mashable.com