RadioActive Media : Marketing, Promotions and Advertising: Radio, Television, Magazine, Internet.

By the RadioActive Media Team

It seems like every advertiser is only interested in one of two demographic groups: those who are 25-54 or those who are 18-49. These are pretty large demo groups and cover a lot of different types of people. There are so many radio stations to choose from and their ratings  can be within tenths of each other. How do you decide?

Direct response advertising doesn’t necessarily rely just on ratings. Your focus needs to be more on the psychographics of the individual station. If you are selling lawnmowers, you don’t want to advertise on a station where the majority of listeners live in an apartment even if they have the highest ratings in the 25-54 demo. That would be a waste of money and your results would not be stellar.

Most radio stations should have available some type of psychographics for their station. The information can be syndicated like Scarborough or Media Audit or proprietary, gathered by station personnel or a third party. This data can give a better insight into the people behind the numbers. It can tell you where they fall in the 18-49 demo. Are they on the younger end or the older end? Do they have children? Do they own a home? Are they planning on buying a home, a car, a computer or a pair of eye glasses? What is their household income? Where in the metro area do they live?

This type of information is vital to you when you are deciding where to place either your short form or long form advertising. At RadioActive Media we can direct your advertising to the best station for your product.

More articles in this series

Give It Enough Time: Make a Commitment to Your DR Radio Campaign Common Mistake #1

Creating Enough Frequency – Common Mistake #3

Create engaging copy – Common Mistake #4

Tracking Results of your Radio Direct Response Campaign and Making Changes – Common Mistake #5

@radioactivemed

By the RadioActive Media Team

We live in an age of instant gratification. People want what they want and they want it NOW! We are impatient for results. If you want to make sure that your target audience hears your ad enough times to take action, don’t skimp on the length of your campaign. You should plan on a minimum of a 13 week commitment for your schedule. Anything less won’t bring you the results you are expecting and you just might miss some potential customers.

With radio direct response campaigns you will already be getting a sense of performance with great frequency at its inception that sets the benchmark for improvement as the campaign progresses.

For clarification let’s make sure we are defining radio direct response in the same way. Long Form direct response is 30 or 60 minute shows that you’ll most likely hear on the weekend or in the evenings, but can be scheduled whenever the station has airtime available. Most common show themes include mortgage, financial, home repair, real estate type shows, but Sunday morning religious shows can also be considered long form direct response. Short form is, well, shorter! They run a minute or less (:5, :10, :15 or :30) and ask you to do something – call, e-mail, text – take some kind of action.

Let’s look at long form. You can promote the heck out the show on the station you are running, but it doesn’t mean everyone will tune in the first show out of the gate. It might be 2 to 3 weeks before the public becomes aware of the show’s existence or remembers to listen to the show. Sometimes a listener will stumble upon a show and will think wow – great show, but it can take a while before it becomes a habit. Statistics show it takes any where from 4 to 6 weeks to create a habit and to tell others. Remember you are building your audience over time and allowing your expert to build a rapport with listeners.  Don’t shortchange your program by pulling it after a month because results aren’t what you wanted or expected.

What about short form?  Do you know how many times someone needs to hear your ad before they act? Some people will respond right away, but most people will take several hearings before they take action. Depending upon your product or service, it might take 6 to 8 times before someone is moved to act. With an ever evolving radio audience you want to make sure your message gets the proper exposure and you don’t want to pull your ad before that happens. When your Account Executive shows you a schedule, the frequency absolutely has to be a minimum of 2 using PPM ratings and a minimum of 3 using diary ratings. (Check your market to see what rating system is currently being used.) Any less frequency won’t work and you can bet your AE doesn’t have your best interest at heart.

The bottom line is don’t be impatient with your radio advertising campaign. Give it time to capture its audience: 13 weeks for long form and make sure your short form campaign has a good reach with a 6-8 frequency for your listening audience.

More articles in this series  

Finding the Right Radio Station for Your Product – Common Mistake #2

Creating Enough Frequency – Common Mistake #3

Create engaging copy – Common Mistake #4

Tracking Results of your Radio Direct Response Campaign and Making Changes – Common Mistake #5

@radioactivemed

By The RadioActive Media Team

Imagine listening to an expert whose topic intrigues you and during an hour on the radio. They earn your respect for their knowledge and opinions. They answer questions from callers in thoughtful, educational ways. You follow this expert week after week, learning new tips and enjoying the experience. Mightn’t the glow of your feelings pass on to sponsors of this program?

Bob Brinker is a perfect example. It is easy to fall into a pattern to listen at the same time each week to his advice and his interaction as he talks with his listeners. He gains loyalty as the audience learns more. He offers a value that creates a desire to return time and again.

What power this relationship can have! What can this loyalty mean to the sponsors?

The 5 Benefits of Long-Form Original Radio Sponsored Programming:

1)       Long creative format (30 minutes or 1 hour)
2)       Long-term relationship with an audience (13 weeks)
3)       Controlled testing and rollout
4)       Convergence with other media
5)       Measurable response

Marketing executives looking for a unique new idea to reach the mobile consumer should consider original sponsored radio programs. These programs may be 30 minutes or an hour and, over a 13-week commitment, roll out a topic at length before their audience. The sponsors provide announcers so as to not detract from the expert’s position.

Like all direct response advertising, the process starts with a test. Two such advertisers willing to use radio programming started with 1 or 2 stations. A mortgage show broadened their campaign of radio shows out to 80 stations over 4 years as they enjoyed increased success. Expedia took a travel show out to 90 stations in just 2 years.

This is not a format for those set in their ways. It offers a terrific opportunity to explore a topic creatively with great depth. It also offers the critical analytical element of response measurement. Unlike other methods of sponsorship, this one can be tied to milestones that can include audience, reactions to a call to action, and incorporation of other converging media, such as text messaging.

What more could a sponsor ask for?

RadioActive Media’s strong suit is in developing meaningful, accountable radio programming that engages, not bores the audience, for advertisers. Content drives loyalty. Loyalty builds brands. Brands measure results.