Category: radio advertising

Some Do’s & a few Don’ts

Writing for Radio Tip #372

DO

Use music and sound effects: Remember you’re painting a picture in the mind of your listener. Help them with sound effects of water dripping, thunder crashing, car horns tooting,and fans rooting.

Proofread your Script: Write, read, write and read again. Take out as many words as makes sense. It’s way better to have a shorter script then a fast paced overly wordy script.

Use a CTA/Call to Action: At the end of your script make sure you write out what the listener is supposed to do. Go to a website, visit a store for a sale, go to an event this weekend. Whatever you want the listener to do, make sure you tell them. It can be early on in the script as well. But do make sure you repeat it at the end.

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DON’T

Squeeze too many words into your script: When 40 seconds of script goes into a :30 script, the listener has no chance of doing what you want them to do. Even with tons of reach and frequency, if your ad is a sped up announcer blazing through too many words, your campaign will not work.

Use trend Phrases: If I ever hear We’re in this together ever again, OMG. This saying came out in May 202o early on during the pandemic and it’s still being used 8/17/21. You can convey this same sentiment with other words. Be creative. There are many other ways to tell the listeners; We’re in this together. Use them.

Use the same voice that’s on 70% of the other commercials on the station: You want to stand out. When one person is voicing all the commercials, they tend to sound alike. Use a different voice. Try a lesser known DJ or maybe a friend or family member. The production director and the equipment used in the studio will help them sound professional.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
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Writing for Radio Tip #208

Make a specific offer-to get measurable results focus on one offer Source:  RAB’s Guide to Writing Great Radio Copy

Today/3/8/19 I’ve heard the same commercial 5x. Yes, it has the frequency to work. Yes it’s on the correct radio station to reach the target consumer. But NO, it has so many numbers in it I couldn’t tell you what the call to action would be.

It advertises 2 different events in one commercial. It tells us the dates + the Times of the 2 events.   It’s driving me crazy. Well, not really, it’s just not well written.

Sell the Sizzle or Sell the Steak: Doesn’t matter to me, just sell one of them. Not both in one :30 commercial. (You could run 2 different commercials 50% x 50% that’s a solution).

You could use “Starting at 3pm” in a commercial. But usually you don’t need the time of an event, especially not 2 dates and 2 times in one commercial. If people are interested in your event, they will check their phones for the time and/or date.  End your commercial with your web, IG or  Facebook address.  Or even easier, for more information, check Us (insert advertisers name) out on the web, IG, twitter or FB.

Use Great intro lines, Create theater of the mind, Have an enticing offer and a Call to action. All while keeping things simple without using too many numbers + dates + times. Edit your script one more time and get better results.  Have a nice Weekend.

What Makes an Effective Radio Commercial

Radio: A Powerful & Entertaining Medium

The Video below is a quick and informative splash of what makes an effective radio commercial.  Take a Look-See and find what pops back at you. If you feel you don’t have time to watch it today, Here’s what I saw when I watched it:

Engaging, Entertaining, Emotional, Simple, Be On Point, Original Thinking, Honest, Funny, Pure, Powerful and Paint A Mental Picture.

Writing for Radio Tip #204

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Radio is Theater in the Mind

Create your radio spot with descriptive words, music that matches the vibe, sound effects that affect the mind,  & pauses.  A rushed read over music is not gonna’ cut it. You want to do your best to paint a picture in your listeners mind.

Hearing a radio commercial is similar to reading a book.  Each person’s imagination hears it differently. Be Impactful. Use easy to understand terms. Utilize descriptive words to create pictures in your listeners brains. Don’t ever fill space just to fill the script form.

Next time you listen to the radio, listen to the commercials. Hear, Feel and Sense the good ones. The not so good spots, you may not even hear..ever.  Too many fast words over music usually doesn’t work out well.  Pick out the commercials you liked and notice that they created a story in your imagination. Radio Works. Take time to make your commercial Shine.

Stand out with Sound! Writing for Radio Tip #204

Writing for Radio Tip #388

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Start Swell End Well

Catch their attention in your first sentence. You don’t even have to say anything that has much to do with the rest of the commercial. You can start with a Question? Some Fun Facts, Something cute you heard at the supermarket, even a bit of Gargibly-Gook. Whatever it is, make it catch your listeners attention.  One of my favorite spots I wrote 15 years ago still stands out today. It started with Plastic or Paper?  That ever so hard to decide question at the cash register. (Many) Almost all can relate. And I bet it caught their attention. You could even use it in 2018.  In Hawaii they charge 15cents per bag no matter what your answer is, so maybe in 2018 it’s Do you want a bag with your 18 pieces of hard to carry items?   One time, they didn’t ask me and I didn’t ask them for a bag. I walked out with 9 very awkward items to carry to my car, then up to my condo. Was pretty whack!

Whatever your first sentence is, take time and make it a VERY good first sentence.

Same goes for the end of your commercial.  Give it some action.  For More information go to Advertising in Hawaii Dot Com. To Get your Fifteen Dollar Discount coupon, find us on Google. Make it something the consumer can and wants to do. Make sure it’s something worthwhile and easy to do.

The beginning and the end of your commercial is the most important portion of your whole script.  Make it Sizzle. Catch their attention at the beginning, get them to do something at the End. Start Swell and End Well.

Stand out with Sound! Writing for Radio Tip #388

 

Writing for Radio Tip #102

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Don’t Clutter the Commercial

Quick easy tip for today.  If you are a store or restaurant and your hours are 9a-10p on Weekdays and 8a-11p on Saturday and Sunday. You don’t need to mention this in your :30 radio commercial. It just clutters it up. Less is always more. Flow is key. With a strong start and end to your radio commercial.

The super easy way to have people find out what your hours are is to end your spot with:  For More information go to _____dot Com, that’s _____dot Com. Or use Find Us on Google. That also works well.

And I’m sure we don’t need to say it but we do, because I still hear spots on the radio with WWW…  Please don’t use WWW… There is absolutely no need for WWW…

For more tips or help with your radio commercial, call me anytime at (808) 275-1106

Stand out with Sound! Writing for Radio Tip #102

 

Cyber-Monday

Black Friday-Date Time and Place?

Black Friday was all about figuring out when it started and where?  Wednesday at Midnight? Thursday at 6P? Thursday at Midnight or Friday morning. Once that was done it was time to stand in line or shop at your favorite store. And according to the CEA/Consumer Electronics Association’s survey, Nearly 50% of Black Friday and the weekend bought electronics.  Black Friday also saw a nice surge in Retailers radio advertising:  Media Monitors reports that Home Depot ran 50,924 commercials and Sears ran 20,932 commercials for their Black Friday Sale-A-Brations.

Cyber-Monday Deals and Creativity

Cyber-Monday advertising seemed to have a lot to do with email marketing.  I found ALL of these deals via emails to my 3 email accounts. Some have some pretty creative ways to sell their products on this special day.  Living in Hawaii, if you want to get the best deals here, its best shop Sunday Night before going to bed, to catch all the Eastern Time Zone deadlines.

NBA.Com Cyber Monday:  Save 25% with promo code SLAMDUNK  Not really sure when this ends, the site says 3AM Eastern, is that Monday or Tuesday morning? BTW Their Black Friday sale was 15% off.

NFL.com:  20% off everything and some selected gear at up to 65% off regular prices.

Delta.com:  Here you could use your miles to buy gifts for the Holidays!  They have everything from Macy’s to Barnes and Noble to QVC.  And today your points could double,triple and even Quintuple!!  And I just thought they gave away free magazines with the points I’ve never used. Go figure.

Jeffrey Gitomers Sales Caffeine Site:  25% off everything on the entire Website.  (Except Webinars and Seminars)   The Big 25% off Everything headline was really Big and direct.

Ticketmaster.com Merchandise Store:  This was a fun one, just a little confusing.  Buy 2 get 10% off, Buy 3 Get 15% off, Buy 4 Get 20% off, and buy 5 of anything and get 25% off.  Also free shipping for purchases totally over $125.

Beyondtherack.com: Also another fun way to market the big day.  They staggered their sales with different products going on sale at 5A, 11A and 4P.  They also provide free shipping now through November 30, 2011.

Macprovideo.com:  Has the Big 50% Deal going on now

Shopnbc.com:  It’s just one big sale on everything you could imagine over there. Watches, Jewelery, Beds, lamps etc. Just too much to write about.  

LogicBox.com:  I’m a Mac person myself but this deal is really good.  Dell XPS 17 2nd Gen Intel  laptop with 8GB of RAM, 1 TERABITE of storage, 1080P and Blue Ray.  Was costing you:  $1,613.99 and today on Cyber Monday its only:  $899.99 Plus FREE shipping!

What did you buy?  Which did you prefer? Black Friday? Cyber Monday?  or maybe shopping later in the month?  LMK Have a Nice Cyber-Monday-I bet it starts on Sunday next year.  LOL

 

With APEC in Town, You Might want to skate to work?

If you need to get around Waikiki, Why not try some alternative methods from your usual car? You could walk, Bike, jog, Rollerblade, hoverboard, sail or boat, Heliport, teleport or even skateboard your way around town. Any of these modes might help you ease your stress of getting stuck in traffic in your car or truck.

Actually, Since I write a few different blogs, I run into many different trends, New gadgets, lots of modes of advertising, and many really cool new exciting things. While I was checking for something to write about on streetzblog.com I found this video. And I decided it was much better for advertising in Hawaii.First-It gave me the idea of alternative ways to get around town this week during APEC. Second and most importantly This Vimeo Video matches my advertising blog the best because, lately I’ve been seeing some GREAT video work coming out on YouTube and Vimeo. These video’s are like mini movies, they are professional looking, usually come with great music and sound effects and give the viewer a great vibe of the brand being portrayed. Like this video, one can totally breathe and feel the brands vibe in less than 3 minutes. I actually bought a pair of Jump sneakers after watching a really cool Vid done by them. I’ll try to dig it up on the net if it’s still there.

The video above is for a skateboard company in NYC called 5Boro. It has a real nice NYC vibe, plus some pretty awesome tricks and I totally love it when they show the guy skating while filming the other skater, that just plain amazes me every time I see something like that. And for once, someone actually does wipe-out in the Vid!It adds some real cool reality to the vid and Not everyone is a perfectly awesome street skater and Yes, they do fall..at least sometimes.

I’m still a big believer in using traditional media to get things done for you, to direct people to take action, promote a concert or event, and TM is especially effective as the best way to let people know that you or your website, blog, Facebook, vimeo or YouTube sites actually exist! I suggest trying a radio campaign with enough frequency on the right station to fit your brand and I will tell you right now-it will work in getting people to your other means of advertising. We recently did a campaign for Bespoke Custom Tattoo and their Facebook likes increased each day the spots ran. We also included a pretty topical Wiz Khalifa promotion to go with it, but that’s what we do and that’s another reason it worked.

As I continue to write these blog posts, I am finding that the quality on the videos are getting better and better and are quite a nice way to brand your product. The point here is it’s another great tool to use or add to your arsenal. And I like it!

Note: From a Blog I wrote a few weeks ago. I still think it makes sense to pick 3-4 modes of advertising and do them well. Like Radio, Facebook and Videos. Or TV, Facebook and twitter. Or newspaper/billboards, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. As you noticed, for now at least I have Facebook in everything-that is the one constant I would use no matter what. Last I checked 800 Million ++ people are using it, the numbers are just staggering. And at least as of today, November 8, 2011-I don’t think you want to do 11-12 different modes, unless you have a really, really big passionate staff or no life. Things change so quickly, but for now, I’d go with the 3-4 modes of advertising and do them well.

If you’re looking for some marketing ideas or want my team to work on a campaign for you, just call or text me at 808 479-9928 or email me at scott.mackenzie@coxradio.com ..Hey and if you decide to skate to work this week, wear some safety gear, I don’t want you getting hurt from something I recommended. Peace!

What Day is It?

What Day of the Week is the 24th?

In the Late 80’s, when I was first in radio, I remember writing a :10 Live event commercial for the DJ’s. It said something like “Join us on January 24th at Masquarade to see…” Well, within a couple of days I got called into the bosses office. He told me some of the best advice I’ve ever heard when writing copy and some of  the best advice that I still use to this day, but has not been passed along to enough people.Its a pretty simple, yet mostly overlooked “RULE” in copywriting. here it is:
PEOPLE DON’T THINK IN DATES, THEY THINK IN DAYS” Especially for people like me who think in pictures, I can barely remember what day it is let alone what date it is. And I am not the only one who doesn’t always know what Day a certain Date is. Thus, if a print ad, TV or Radio commercial is telling me to be somewhere on November 24th with no Day listed next to it, It’s going to be extra hard to advertise to me.  I actually just mentally tallied it up and came up with Thursday.  Not totally sure if that is correct, but pretty sure.

This poster is an example of someone who didn’t use a Day. It only says the date.  And they have been putting ads like this in my elevator for months, DATES with no DAYS listed. It’s pretty frustrating for someone like me and probably you too? It’s really not their fault, no one mentored them or called them into their office to explain this easy “trick” to better remembrance of when to be somewhere. Please use Days to help your advertising in Hawaii or around the world become more effective.

Even today which is Halloween I was listening to the radio and a couple of the commercials  didn’t say “Join us Tonight” Or even “Join us Monday October 31st”. It was playing today and just said “join us on October 31st” ugh! Yeah-I know,  it’s a bit different since most people know October 31st is Halloween, but you get the point, if it was next Monday and it said “Join us November 7..” it would have been pretty easy not to know that it was That Monday night and not some other day since Tonight nor This Monday Night were not used in the commercial.

Here’s how I take care of updates for all of my clients.

1.  A couple weeks out:   Join us Thursday November 24th

2.  The Monday before the Thursday:  “Join us This Thursday” or “Join us this Thursday November 24th”  Up to you on that one. I personally go for the simpler “Join us This Thursday”

3.  Wednesday all day:  Join us TOMORROW NIGHT ..How many radio spots do I hear on a daily basis that are still saying “join us November 24th EVEN the Day before the event!  double ugh!

4.  Thursday November 24th:  “Join us Tonight” People think in days and even simpler-use tomorrow night the day before the event and Tonight the day of the event. Totally throw your dates out the window now!

People think in days not dates and this also goes back to the KISS principle..”Keep it Simply Simple” or as us Ol’ Schoolers used to say the politically incorrect KISS principle: “Keep It Simple Stupid”..LOL

You May not want to get this involved in your copywriting, In Such a fast passed world, many get lazy on these simple updates. But it really is the right thing to do. It’s what I do to be as effective as I can for my clients. However, if you remember one thing from this blog, remember that people remember DAYS much easier than DATES. I would recommend adding in Days to all of your print, TV and Radio Commercials.  Even if you forget to all the different updates, for a better remembrance of your event ad, please add the day to your commercials, promos, and Ads.  Have a Great November!!

If you need any ideas for upcoming events or promotions, send me an at scott.mackenzie@coxradio.com and I’ll get you a bunch of free ideas for your upcoming marketing dilemma.

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