As a business owner, radio is probably not on the top of your list for cost effective advertising. Most people think that radio advertising is simply too expensive or isn’t’ targeted enough for your market. Whilst for many small businesses this can be true, but it doesn’t have to be. Many stations have plenty of open spots in the current economy and they’re letting them go for a steal!

Here is a brief list of why you should advertise on the radio.

– Targeting – If you’re a small business serving only one particular market, radio is a great way to have your ads play only to potential customers. In addition, you can choose a radio format that matches your most likely clientele.

– Effective. Everyone listens to the radio when they drive their cars to work in the morning and most listen at work throughout the day. Whith this in mind, you are nearly guaranteed that your potential customers will hear your ad multiple times per day. Eventually, if you have a good advertisement your message will really sink in.

– Cost. A radio spot is definitely cheaper than television and often can be cheaper than the marketing you are already doing. Even direct mail that has traditionally been the cheapest way to market a product or service can be more expensive!

– Help. These days it is no longer necessary to hire secondary advertising agency to create your ad. Most stations have a staff of people that work with you to create the perfect ad for your product and their demographics.
Why you shouldn’t advertise on the radio.

– Message lost – The biggest reason to not advertise on the radio is your message can be lost from the time the customer hears it until it is time to act. This is necessarily a problem if you own a deli for example. Just a simple “I have the best sandwich in town and I’m located on the corner of street A and street B” will not be lost. The customer will simply remember there is a new restaurant in town or “I haven’t been to Joe’s deli in a while”. Either way, you made a sale. However, if you have a product or service that requires the customer to call you, it can get pretty tricky. Say for example you have a landscaping company and you offer first time customers a deep discount on their first service. The customer may absolutely want to take advantage of your sale, but simply forget your phone number. Or worse, forget about it and hire a guy that stops by their home. This is why to advertise on the radio it is a must to have a memorable website address and phone number.

– Hours – It can get very expensive to advertise on the radio during the popular drive times. Everyone wants their ads to be played between 6am-9am and again from 4pm-6pm. This means that the stations slots will fill up and they can charge a premium to allow more ads. They sometimes also try to sell you on the idea of their major discounts to advertise on the weekends. This is often not worth the money; the amount of people your ad will reach drops significantly when you advertise out-of-hours. To combat this, most stations have a package deal that allows your ads to play at all hours. You get stuck with some bad times (3am on a Wed.), but also get your ads played during the popular drive time.

Radio can be an excellent tool to convey your message to your customers. Always remember to keep your ad simple, give the customer a reason to try you and have a memorable phone number and website address.

Author Bio: -Sara James Sara writes extensively about advertising and marketing related issues and concerns. Follow the link for an excellent list of the top ad agencies.

Category: Marketing
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