The Powerful Combination of DR Radio and Text Messaging
Monday, May 10th, 2010
800-599-RADIO | Text DR Radio to 511-511 | 714-787-0101 International
By The RadioActive Media Team
In the May 2010 issue of Response Magazine Marc Jacobs, our Vice President of Business Operations was the featured author of Radio Waves. The complete article is posted below.
The Powerful Combination of DR Radio and Text Messaging
DR radio advertising in conjunction with texting is an oilfield just waiting to be drilled and tapped. DR Radio with SMS gives companies the ability to catch the customer wherever they are. This is mobile marketing at its best! The consumers listen to radio wherever they go and their cell phones are ever-present, whether they are taking a walk in the park, at the market, the mall, driving or on a bus.
Returns are high and instantly measurable. Access is universal, clutter is minimal and conversion is tremendous. In many cases, ROI starts at 100% and tops 300%.
Text messaging lets advertisers immediately measure instant audience reaction. By doing so, the client enhances their own brand while increasing the number of advertising opportunities. A radio listener learns they can enter a contest by sending a text message to a branded text code address such “Text RADIO to 511-511.” Then the listener receives a storable sponsored verbal message, coupon or even a video.
Easier than a lengthy URL to a website, selecting a simple, memorable short code, such as 511-511 with an easy call-to-action code, such as PILLOW (“text PILLOW to 511-511”) makes the process better for the consumer and secures more responses.
The big added bonus is now the consumer is automatically opted-in for future messages and calls from the advertiser. Capturing the affluent consumer gets easier as well: satellite listeners, early adopters, provide the greatest response rates.
An online advertiser running a :60 radio text messaging campaign with spots every hour had 350-450 text message responses after 24 hours. Another hit the list of Top 10 Paid Apps on iTunes with this mobile media 1-2 punch of radio with SMS.
Results reporting is instantaneous. Real-Time Measurements include:
- Time and Programming
- User area codes
- Number of occurrences
- Coming soon: GPS Location
Real-time reporting means quick analysis and campaign refinement to constantly improve results. For example, when we learned that Thursday had the best results, we moved live reads to that day to further enhance those results. Campaigns continue to receive text messages even when the spots aren’t running. This shows that people would follow up days, if not weeks after they heard the spot.
The text message can be changed frequently to fine tune offers, discounts, coupons and even extend the promotion due to its success. SMS is less expensive and more effective than phone routing for finding a franchise location nearest the mobile customer. Text messaging adds the flexibility of a dynamic promotional element where an offer and creative can quickly be changed without having to recreate a spot or reprint an ad.
Voting is another use and excellent way to engage an audience and for an advertiser to have a “personality” with potential consumers. Each respondent receives a sponsored confirmation message.
Of course, it is not just text. Pictures of the product, an audio message, a link to a website and/or a barcode for couponing can be part of the campaign. Using video to describe the product, service or event adds a visual element to a radio campaign.
The growth of text messaging is explosive. Wireless penetration in the US has topped 89% according to CTIA.org; messages are over 3.5 billion/day (3x greater than 2007). Now that text messaging is gaining on email as the preferred means of daily international communication, according to a survey by Tekelec, the SMS option is one to add to every campaign.
Advertisers using mobile marketing today enjoy the benefits of low message and spam clutter and 97% response rates. What Adam Cahill, Hill Holiday, says make sense: “For years, the argument has been used that online ad spend should bear some close relationship to the amount of time consumers spend with the channel. The same logic would dictate that at some point in the next couple of years, 50 percent or more of all online spend should be targeted to mobile devices.” I agree it may not be practical to expect 50% budgets, but the growth and performance are here now.
The power of joining these two mobile media methods together to get traditional and instant direct response measurement for analysis and campaign refinement makes radio with text messaging a perfect pairing.
@radioactivemed
