Are Custom Radio Ads Still Effective in 2022?

radio ads

Despite claims to the contrary, radio remains a dominant form of media, entertainment, and information in the digital age. On World Radio Day in 2016, 44,000 radio stations worldwide were able to reach approximately 70% of the entire global population.

Since that day, the number of stations and radio shows has only continued to grow. With that in mind, where do radio ads fit into the mix?

Custom radio ads for business can be an excellent way to advertise your company to a huge number of people at once. Read on to find out more about radio ad production and why you should be investing today.

Just How Effective Are Radio Ads in the Digital Age?

First, we’ll answer the main question posed by this article; are radio ads still effective?

The short answer is yes, radio production is still a viable way to advertise your company in 2022. Not only is it viable, but it can also be superior to other forms of advertising available to companies today.

Studies have shown that radio adverts are, in fact, 20% more effective at building brands than other mediums.

This was the result of a comprehensive study pitting televised adverts against radio ads. Not only were radio ads found to work better in the study, but they were also found to be a far more cost-effective solution.

This is because creating TV ads today can be expensive. You need to think about filming locations, actors, scripts, lighting, and considerably more. This is even before you think about trying to get your TV advert syndicated.

Radio adverts are a far cheaper solution, which makes them more attractive for many SMEs in 2022.

But how exactly can you produce a successful radio advertisement?

How Can You Produce a Radio Advert to Ensure Success?

Producing a radio advert might be cheaper than TV, but that doesn’t mean it’s entirely easy. There are a lot of areas to bear in mind to ensure your advert works as well as it possibly can.

The first thing to bear in mind is the brand voice you are attempting to portray in your advert. Per the study above, radio adverts are at their best when they’re used to build a particular brand.

That means you need to research beforehand to ensure you know what kind of brand voice your company should be broadcasting. To do this, you should first assess your target demographics.

Think about your ideal customer and what they like to do on a day-to-day basis. Then, you need to consider how your branding can appeal to this particular person.

As radio is an audio-focused medium, you need to consider also how your advert is going to sound. It’s advisable to work with a professional radio advert producer to get the highest quality sound possible.

But you should also consider whether or not to create a jingle. These can make your business more memorable for consumers if they’re designed appropriately.

Are Scripted Radio Adverts Effective in 2022?

Some companies may want to create adverts off the cuff. But for the vast majority, scripting a radio advert is a preferable option.

With scripting, you can set out everything you need to say in a radio ad ahead of time. Since radio adverts work best as short snippets, this is an essential task.

Scripting a radio advert can be easier if you’ve seen some radio advert script examples ahead of time. Read through successful adverts, and figure out how exactly they achieve that success.

Then, it’s a case of modifying that layout or design and fitting it in with your own brand. Sometimes humor can be a reliable approach to take with radio ads.

Humor is hard to achieve, but when you’ve written something funny, it’ll ultimately become more memorable to listeners. 

Another common approach is to create a hypothetical scenario built around your brand. For example, if you’re managing a restaurant, you could simulate a conversation between a waiter and a family of diners.

This makes the listener feel like they’re already a part of your brand by listening to a dining scenario. 

The only barrier to a successful radio advert script is your imagination. Understand what makes your company different from others, and use that to your advantage.

What Else Should You Consider When Creating a Radio Advert?

Production value really matters when you’re working with radio commercial production. This is why, as mentioned above, you should work with a professional company where possible.

Make sure to record your adverts in a designated studio space with the right equipment. 

A good trick to bear in mind is thinking about how your radio advert stands out from others. Making a unique radio advert will make it stick in your customer’s minds for a longer period of time.

This can then hopefully convert them to paying customers later down the line. But uniqueness isn’t easy. First, really take the time to listen to your competition’s radio adverts.

If they don’t have any of their own, you’re already at an advantage. But think about using sounds or scripts that surprise and engage the listener.

The last thing you want to do is create a radio advert that sounds like everything else on the radio that day.

Finally, make sure to do a trial run. Create a target group of customers who can listen to your advert ahead of time. Then, listen to the feedback they have, and tweak your advert where necessary.

As long as you believe in your business and your customers, you can create a successful radio advert in 2022.

Where Can I Find Out More About Radio Advertising in 2022?

You should now know that radio ads are hugely successful in 2022. You should also know how to create your own, and what to bear in mind if you’re doing so.

We provide radio advert production assistance as well a host of other services for digital marketing. If you’re interested in recording an advert of your own, make sure to contact our experienced team directly.

Radio Commercial : Benefits of Advertising Your Business on Radio

radio commercial

Even with so many modern-day competitors, radio is still a popular medium. A 2021 NPR study reported that 63% of American adults listen to the radio daily. Therefore, a radio commercial is still a viable marketing strategy. 

In addition, there are many other ways that your business can benefit from radio ads. This article will cover a good number of them. In case you need more convincing, read on. 

Radio Advertising ROI Is Higher

Radio commercial production is one of the cheapest marketing methods. Producing a radio commercial only costs $1K to $2.5K. Airing a commercial on the radio costs $200 to $5K per week. 

In comparison, a TV advertising campaign can cost a lot more. The entire production of TV advertisements can cost up to $50K. Broadcasting a 30-second ad on a national network can cost up to $1M. 

Radio Commercial Production Is Less Complex

It’s also easier to create a radio commercial than it is to create a TV one. To create a TV commercial, a TV production company needs actors, a set, makeup, costumes, cameras, microphones, and more. All a radio commercial production company needs are voice talents, microphones, soundproofing equipment, and audio mixing software. 

Because of this, a radio commercial can be written, recorded, and mixed quickly. In addition, recording companies can make necessary changes without losing much time. 

In contrast, a television commercial will take longer to complete. Any missing element can lead to production delays. 

Radio Is More Trustworthy

Surveys taken over the years have asked consumers which media format they trusted more. In many of these, including this one, radio had a higher trust ranking. This is in contrast to media like television or social media, which ranked lower. 

This trustworthiness is also present with radio advertisements as well. Surveys such as this one prove as much. As a result, consumers will see your brand as more trustworthy when you advertise on the radio. 

Radio Data Appears Faster

It can take months for you to learn the results of a print, internet, or television campaign. In contrast, you can get radio marketing campaign results almost instantly. 

There are many ways that you can measure radio advertisement interaction. One of these is how much customers spend after hearing a commercial. Another is how many of them visit your website or business location.

In addition, receiving information faster can help you change your campaign faster. If the metrics aren’t what you want, you can pull the current ad. Then you can make a new advertisement or cancel the campaign altogether.

Such flexibility isn’t possible with most other advertisement types.

Radio Personalities Can Be Effective Influencers 

It’s no secret that celebrity endorsements can boost a product or service’s profits. Brands have been using music, movie, and sports celebrities to promote their products for ages. In fact, a recent study showed that 66% of brands were going to increase their influencer-based marketing budget. 

The popularity of this advertising method is no accident. Studies have shown that the ROI of these campaigns can be as high as 11%. Also, this type of advertisement is very effective with younger consumers. 

You may believe that this form of advertisement won’t work with radio personalities. It may appear that their popularity level is less than that of TV and/or social media influencers. 

This isn’t true. According to this survey, radio listeners know a lot of personal information about their favorite DJs. Therefore, a DJ endorsement can be as effective as one from other influencer types.  

Radio Listening Happens Everywhere

Television and the internet are not very portable forms of entertainment. Even if consumers can access either of them with a phone or tablet, Wi-Fi is difficult to get. Consumers need to stay in an area with free Wi-Fi or pay a lot for wireless data. 

Radio is different. All that a consumer needs is a good quality radio. Then, they can mostly access stations whenever and wherever they want. 

In addition, less focus is required to listen to the radio. Listeners don’t need to focus on radio visually as they would on television and the internet. They can easily do any other activity, such as driving, working, and so on. 

Therefore, your company’s radio ad will probably get a lot more attention than those in other mediums. 

Radio Marketing Is Targeted Well

Each form of radio content has a specific demographic. These data points include age ranges, locations, and so on.

For example, younger generations more often listen to newer music. On the other hand, older individuals lean towards the music of their youth.  

All of this is available to radio stations. When you purchase airtime, they can match your ad with your preferred demographic. Then, they will air it at the appropriate time. 

Radio Stations Can Also Host Events

Along with hosting your ad, radio stations can also offer your business marketing with events. Radio personalities or guests can test your products on air. A contest where winners receive your products or services is another option. 

These sorts of events are more difficult to do on social media or tv. A consumer can easily turn away from these campaigns to do something else.

However, a radio listener may be stuck in their car. Therefore, your audience can be partially captive. 

Make a Radio Commercial With Us

Of course, even with the best medium, a poor commercial can make your marketing campaign fail. Therefore, it’s also important to create an effective radio commercial. With this, your business is more likely to profit from the benefits of the radio medium.

If you need help with creating an effective radio commercial, we can help. Our radio ad production process can offer your business everything it needs. This includes incredible voice talent, persuasive scriptwriting, and attractive sound effects and music. 

What are you waiting for? Hire our services ASAP. 

Radio Ad Production: Brand Voice Vs Tone

Radio Ad Production

The radio advertising industry expects a $19.58 billion global market size in 2022. This value grew from about $18.34 billion in the previous year. With this is the projection of the industry’s recovery from the impact of Covid-19.

Covid-19 caused a massive loss in every industry there is. With more businesses trying to recuperate, the demand for advertising services is increasing.

The radio ad is one way to introduce and create retention for your brand. Radio is perfect for promoting strategic advertising messages at a moment’s notice. And it comes with cost-effectiveness as a bonus!

There are things to do before working with a radio station for your advertisement. Before anything else, you should introduce who you are as a brand. Be clear in identifying your brand voice and your brand tone.

Do you want to know more about brand voice vs tone?This article will help you differentiate the two and lead you on how to use both in crafting your content.

What Is Brand Voice?

The brand voice always reflects the personality of your brand. It means that your brand voice reflects your principles and goals as a company. Because of this, it should remain the same over time unless you opt for rebranding.

Brand voice is how you communicate your distinct perspective to your target market. It incorporates all your communication techniques, including your spoken and written language. It also reflects your brand image, including trademarks, banners, and marketing strategies.

What Is Brand Tone?

The brand tone is how you use your brand voice to reflect your brand personality. It makes use of your brand voice to create a strong connection with your market. Your brand voice remains consistent throughout all your communications, while brand tone changes.

The brand tone you choose depends on circumstances and the potential audience. It reflects the ad context’s uniqueness while being consistent with the brand.

Brand Voice Combined With Brand Tone

Always consider your brand’s voice when drafting content for your company’s advertisement. The range of communications you develop for your company must represent this voice.

The voice could be serious or humorous, or classy. The sky is the limit, but it should still represent the brand.

With this in mind, your brand tone must be consistent with the type of communication you wish to create. The circumstances will define whether the brand tone will be light or otherwise.

Brand voice vs tone shouldn’t be your focus. Instead, incorporate the two together to make your marketing strategy more effective.

Know the distinctions and focus on establishing your company’s voice. Until then, come up with various tones that you may use in different scenarios.

How to Find Your Brand Voice

Establishing your brand voice is the foundation of all your communications. Your brand tones will also rely on this. Thus, your campaign materials, video, and audio advertisements must adhere to your voice.

To find your brand voice, here are tips you should consider:

Analyze Your Mission and Vision Statements

Again, brand personality should reflect your values. And where can you find your company’s core values? You can find them within your mission and vision statement.

It will help determine how your marketing efforts relate your values to your brand.

Assess Available Content and Messaging

It’s time to undertake a quick assessment if you already have material or copy that you’ve created. Take a look at your advertising strategies.

Then, take notice of any messaging or tone patterns that are consistent. Check to see if your present tone of voice reflects your brand’s beliefs and mission.

Pay great attention to the elements that have the most satisfactory results. These could tell you the most about your target audience’s preferences.

Audience Feedback

Create a simple survey to see how your audience perceives your brand if you already have an audience. It will help you gather more ideas to establish your brand voice faster.

Consistency Is Key

Establish clear guidelines for your employees to refer to while creating content. It maintains your company’s brand standard. It also ensures that every asset you develop is consistent with the brand.

Achieve consistency even if several different people are creating content for your brand.

How to Find Brand Tone

Once you have established your brand voice, it will be easier to identify your brand tone. Consider the following tips when crafting your content:

Know Your Audience

It all depends on who you’re trying to reach. You can then create a voice tone that’s appropriate and well-received by the target audience.

For example, you wouldn’t associate a humorous tone with a business-oriented company. Likewise, you wouldn’t make serious content for companies with children as its market.

Message Channel

The adoption of particular speech tones varies depending on the communication channel. Lighter and friendlier tones are more popular on social media platforms. You can apply these tones in venues such as Instagram and Twitter.

Email, phone, and online conversations, for example, need serious and heavyweight engagement. For reliable and engaging content, it’s critical to know how to use the proper tone in each medium.

Know Your Material

It covers what kind of material will communicate your tone and message. Types of communication materials include advertisement posters, TV ads, and radio ads, among others.

For instance, a radio Christmas jingle works well at grocery stores. However, it’s inappropriate for some establishments where you can only pin poster ads.

Produce the Best Radio Ad Your Brand Has Ever Had

Knowing the difference between your brand voice and brand tone is essential. But knowing how to incorporate these will produce your perfect radio advertisement!

Brand tone and voice are different, but you need both to communicate your brand’s message.

Above are the things you should note when considering radio ads as a marketing strategy. We hope this article helped you differentiate a brand voice from a brand tone.

Radio ad production may seem a little burdensome but not as hard with our guidance. Work with us! We do radio ad production, jingles for business, studio rental, graphic design, and more!

Maintaining Brand Voice In Radio Ads: Key Tips & Tricks

Maintaining Brand Voice in Radio Ads

Since the 1890s inventors and creators alike have been experimenting with the radio and how to get the best performance out of this piece of technology. In recent times, radio is used to promote advertisements.

But, building a brand voice on this medium can be tricky. For example, how can you create a script that highlights all the positives of your business and also convey empathy, connection, and understanding to your target audience? 

Well, thankfully, this article will give you everything you need to write a radio Ad that makes your brand voice shine! 

Grab a cup of coffee and let’s begin…

Tips for Nailing Your Brand Voice in Radio Ads

Before you spend hours Googling good ad examples, you should know the benefits that business radio ads can bring to your company. From raising awareness of your brand to boosting traffic to your website. 

Think of radio as your secret weapon in the modern marketing world. If done correctly, you could start seeing incredible results in no time! 

So, how do you make radio ads that fit your brand voice?

1. Write for Your Audience

Everyone knows that having a strong brand voice is one of the most important parts of any business. It can help you reach more people and build a better company reputation, especially if you are just starting out. 

So, when you’re brainstorming ideas for radio ads examples, make sure you take into consideration your target audience. You’ll have to think about all the details including language, tone, and personality. 

2. Make It Imaginative

Even though radio is about listening, that doesn’t mean that you can conjure up some imaginative visuals in your audience’s mind. Stories have the power to persuade, entice, and take someone on a journey. 

If you craft a compelling script, it can be just as convincing as watching an Oscar-nominated film. Plus, stories give you the perfect opportunity to highlight your brand voice!

3. Sympathize and Connect

Some of the most successful custom radio ads for businesses aim to sympathize with the target audience. If you show an understanding of the struggles and pain of your consumers, they will want to listen. 

Half the battle of creating the best radio ads is making the listener feel understood. Once you’ve managed to offer a solution to their problems, there is a higher chance that people will want to reach out for your services. 

Therefore, sympathizing and connecting with your audience is essential when writing the script. 

4. End With a Call-to-Action

The best content ends with a call-to-action that will direct people towards your business. In radio, it’s no different. You want to end the script with a memorable call-to-action that will drive traffic to your website. 

As the listeners will be driving you should make this part short and snappy. The more concise and clear, the better! 

5. Provide Rewards

Who doesn’t love a reward, right? Offering a free trial, a discount, or another special offer could seal the deal with your audience and motivate them to use your business. 

If you make the reward time-limited, this could encourage people to act fast and reach out quickly. A little incentive could be the finishing piece to a great radio script. 

6. Less Is More

When it comes to time, a radio ad is one of the shortest timeframes available for advertising. You only have around 30 seconds to relay information and grab the attention of your audience. 

Try not to overcomplicate your message and make it as simple as possible without losing any important meaning or information. Determine your goal and write every word towards it.

If you start feeling frustrated, just bear in mind that the ROI on radio advertising is huge, so it’s worth every minute! 

How to Keep Your Brand Voice Consistent 

Once you’ve created your brand, the next part is about keeping your message consistent. If your consumers buy into a brand, they expect it to stay the same.

The first way to keep consistency is to be clear on your mission, values, and goals. Transparency goes a long way when building a brand, so make sure your audience knows exactly who you are and what you want to achieve.

Decide What You’re Not

As well as being transparent, it’s important to determine what you don’t want to be. You can even contrast your brand against others that you want to avoid to make your message clearer. 

For example, if you’re an SEO agency, you want to provide clients with in-depth research and not fluff. So, you could write something like, “Unlike other SEO agencies, we focus on research, not fluff…” Get the picture?

Make a Brand Style Guide 

During the creation process, you should take notes of the different aspects of your brand. It’s a good idea to create a guide for copywriting, graphics, fonts, images, colors, and other branding material. 

If you have all this information in one place, it will be easy to brief your team or introduce a new client to your brand. Plus, it helps keep everything consistent. 

When you work with an agency, a style guide will be a lifesaver when you need to explain your business. If you work with Killerspots for your radio ads you will save lots of time discussing your brand voice if it’s all on paper. 

Killerspots have been creating radio ads since 1999 so they know what they’re talking about. 

Make Your Brand Voice Shine With Radio Ads

Listening to the radio when you’re driving down a long road surrounded by nature is one of the few times in life that you can relax. The last thing you want during those moments is a loud, forceful radio Ad to ruin it. 

That’s why spending time getting your brand voice the best it can be and creating a pleasant-sounding radio Ad is crucial. It could make or break the future of your business. 

Therefore, Killerspots is the only place to go for high-quality content creation that will give your listeners something wonderful to listen to. 

Ready to find out more? Get in touch today!

Top 10 Radio Ad Script Examples

radio ad script examples

While some question radio’s influence on the market, it remains a powerful communication and marketing medium. According to statistics from a recent survey, 244.5 million people listen to radio stations each month. 

Out of these, 92% listen over airwaves live while the rest use online radio. Seeing as the radio will continue to dominate the years to come, it seems automatic to advertise through the platform.

Well, not so fast because there are thousands of brands all competing for the same consumer attention. To stand out, you’ll not only need a consistent campaign but a perfect radio ad script as well.

Below is a run-down of the top radio ad script examples that produced incredible results for their companies.

1. Marmite, “The Mondays”

Adam & Eve/ DDB went over and beyond to provide one of the best radio ads of all time. The script? It was written by the two talented creatives Ben Stilitz and Colin Booth, in early 2016 before the campaign aired later that year.

Unlike most radio ad script examples, this one uniquely highlights the consumers’ problem and then presents the advertiser as an instant solution. This is all through an empathetic tone to tell the listener they’re together with them. The radio ad script example goes like this: 

“Are you having a case of the Mondays? Do you experience a once-a-week sore personality, swollen mood, or inflamed temper? The Maritime on toast for breakfast could be what you need. Its anecdotally proven to help families smash through the start of their week. To report a case of Monday’s call the Maritime helpline. Hate Mondays, Love Marmite.”

Regardless of public opinion, Marmite “The Monday’s” will go down as one of the best radio ads. Because of the excellent work, the script won the Ariel Awards for best radio ad in 2016.

2. Dove “Self Conscious”

In 2005, Dove, one of America’s pioneer personal care brands, launched a radio advertising campaign to improve how women see themselves. The results were spectacular since many women became more confident in their natural look after.

The brains behind this successful radio ad script example are Samuel Lotze and Miguel Nunes, who put it this way:

“The more someone makes you think about your body, the harder it becomes to ignore. Your tongue, for example. Normally, you hardly notice it’s there, but now I’ve mentioned it, you can feel your tongue pushing against your lower front teeth. You notice your tongue feels a little too long for your mouth, and then you constantly move it about.”

“A few seconds ago, you hardly noticed your tongue, and now you can’t stop thinking about it. Now imagine the hundreds of messages girls are exposed to daily, subtly changing how they think about their bodies.

See how you can help at selfesteem.dove.co.uk. Dove. Be your beautiful self.”

The sub-conscious tour of this radio, as the script takes you through, is well-thought. Plus, the call to action at the end is clear, which makes it one of the greats.

3. Radio Center “See Radio Differently”

Radio-center released the “see radio differently” campaign in 2016. Created by Yan Elliot, this radio script changed people’s perception of radio and its marketing potential.

While there have been different ads to date, all with different scripts, this is an example of the script that stood out most:

“Announcing a technological breakthrough. A marketing tool so immediate that your message could reach the nation at the speed of sound. Okay, look, it’s radio. Yes, radio. And because it’s so simple to make, you can write a brilliant ad today, record it in the morning and be on air by the evening. Don’t worry, you can still sound fussy. See radio differently at radiocenter.org.”

This is one of the high-performing radio ad scripts to date. It has everything from humor to sarcasm that brings out the fun side of the radio.

4. McDonald’s “Driver”

McDonald’s is one of the heavy radio advertising brands today, with each ad not beyond a 15-second radio script. But, in their latest radio script, by Graham Lakeland and Richard Robinson, McDonald’s use the power of curiosity in their ad.

The script goes this way: Background voice:” Okay, Sophie, if you could turn left here, please. Mirror, signal, and maneuver. Now slow down and come to a complete stop.”

Girl voice: “Is this okay?” Background voice: “Good and apply the handbrake, now window down.” McDonald’s representative: “Morning, can I take your order?” Background voice: “I’ll have a bacon roll, please.

Give in the delicious bacon roll from McDonald’s. Three rations of delicious bacon in a soft white roll with either ketchup or sauce.”

While it’s purely a promotional ad, they put it in such a way as to hook and keep your mind till the end.

5. Waitrose “We’re Leaving”

Radio advertising isn’t all about marketing. In some cases, like with Waitrose’s “We’re Leaving” campaign, it’s to send a message.

After Waitrose and Ocado ended their nine-year working relationship, Waitrose used a radio ad to inform its consumers of the break. Here’s how the 10-minute radio ad script example looked like:

“Hi Ocado, it’s Waitrose. Listen, it’s been fun, but we’re leaving, and we’re taking the Kiowa. You know, the love-life multi-seeded Kiowa and our essential extra Macheda number one fair trade coffee and dutchy organic broccoli.

We should probably throw in our avocados cherry and smoked salmon and Scottish fish fingers. Oh!, and we mustn’t forget our fresh essentials. Voicemail full.”

“On the first of September, we’re partying ways with Ocado. So if you’re looking for Waitrose branded products, the only place to find them is in our stores or Waitrose.com”

6. 2 Hiscox Business Insurance ‘Synth’

This ad script by Alex Grieve and Adrian Rossi produced great results and was among the best in 2018. Hiscox highlighted the problems in the cyber world and how it can provide a solution for them through live tracking.

This is how the radio ad script sounds:

“Malware, phishing, identity theft. Every day, cybercrime is getting cleverer, with criminals deploying new techniques that could damage your business.  For example, this ad has been voiced by me, a professional actress, and a synthesized AI copy. Could you tell who was which?”

“At Hiscox, it’s this type of threat we make it our business to know. That’s why our Specialist Business Insurance helps you stay one step ahead of cybercrime. To find out more and to see what lines were real, go to Hiscox.co.uk/onestepahead. Hiscox. Ever onwards.”

7. Morrisons “Feeding the Nation

The fourth-largest supermarket chain in the United States of America did an excellent job in reassuring all citizens during a confusing and stressful time. The script narrated how the supermarket services were to occur in chronological order.

To be precise, the radio ad script read something like:

“At Morrisons, on Tuesday the fourteenth of April, our stores will open earlier. Some days won’t change, but Monday to Saturday it’ll be 6 am – 7 am for NHS workers, 7 am – 8 pm for everyone else.

A whole extra hour! Morrisons feeding the nation. It’s more than our job. Majority of stores, check Morrisons.com/storefiner for your local hours.”

8. Disney+

As more and more people spent more time indoors, Disney took the opportunity to advocate for entertainment as a way to keep busy or distracted. Last year, this radio ad launched back in March had Disney make a big comeback in the entertainment scene.

The short adscript read: 

“Disney invites you to test your Disney and Pixar knowledge. See how many of these iconic movies you can name” (a list of movie trailers appears for you to name). Whatever your score, now you can relive those moments and discover many more. With all the best Disney and Pixar movies. All these at $5.99 a month. Disney+. 18+ subscription required T & Cs apply.”

9. Just Eat

Just Eat, the global online food delivery marketplace that connects consumers to restaurants, revamped its identity via radio advertisement. The campaign dubbed “Just Eat” was popularized by Snoop Dog doing a jingle of the slogan.

While much of the ad is a song, Snoop does an excellent job of mentioning some of the food products Just Eat deal with. For this reason, it’s one of the top radio ad script examples in 2021.

10. Government Coronavirus Message

The Federal government, through radio stations, issued public awareness campaigns throughout 2020. These carefully written ad scripts helped the nation keep up with ever-changing policies and regulations. It went like this:

“This is an important update from the government about Coronavirus. We all need to stay alert to control the virus and reduce the risk of infection. Staying late means you must stay at home as much as possible, work from home if you can.

Besides, limit contact with others. Keep your distance if you go out. Wash your hands regularly. Do not leave home if you or anyone in your house has symptoms. Stay alert. Control the virus. Save lives.”

Best Radio ad Scripts 2021

This is the list of top 10 radio ad script examples. While it’s not definitive, as others could potentially make a list as well, it summarizes which radio ads have had the most impact. 

If you’d like to book an ad slot for your campaign or just need help writing an ad script, contact us by visiting our website for more information.

8 Radio Advertisement Script Examples

radio advertisement

Marketers always seem ready to hail the death of an old medium. For instance, how many headlines have you seen heralding the death of print media, or the death of email?

The same thing is true if you want to write a radio advertisement. You may be greeted with scorn—who listens to the radio anymore?

Turns out, quite a lot of people do! Everyone hasn’t turned to streaming services for their favorite car ride jams. 

That’s why high-quality radio advertisement scripts are so important. You need something that sticks in the listener’s brain. However, you want to make sure your ad isn’t cheesy or annoying—that could ensure your listener will remember you for all the wrong reasons! 

1. Make it Empathetic 

There are a few tenets of copywriting that make a good radio advertisement script. We’ve all heard it said—people won’t remember what you do. Instead, they’ll remember how you made them feel.

The same is true for radio advertisements. When crafting copy for a radio ad script, you’re working at an automatic disadvantage. When someone’s driving, they can’t stop to scribble down your company name. 

They can’t take notes on their phone or Google you immediately. You’re relying on their memory. 

What does that mean for you? Your radio ad script has to make them feel something. 

Take this example, for instance. “My child was diagnosed with brain cancer. Thanks to generous donations made to Shriner’s Hospital, she gets to start school today.” 

No one likes to picture a child with brain cancer. It’s horrible for anyone, but especially for someone so young. You’re likely to remember that ad, even if you don’t know anyone with brain cancer, or have never heard of Shriner’s.

2. Keep It Simple 

As mentioned above, you’re working with a time crunch. You’re paying for every second of air time that you get, and you need to cram your message into a short time slot. 

This requires crystal-clear messaging. There’s no room for fluff or vague verbiage. Picture this example. 

“If you’re craving that childhood nostalgia with a fun fall flavor, stop by our San Francisco location on 25th and Elm, and pick up a pumpkin pie for 25% during the month of October. 

There’s no room for confusion. The product being sold, the location, and the duration of the offer are clear. This ensures that people know exactly what they have to do. This leads to our next tip, which is clarifying the CTA.

3. Polish Your CTA 

People need a few pieces of information to take action on an offer. They need to know what the offer is, why it matters/why it’s such a good deal, and how to access this deal. 

That’s why the voice on the radio tends to repeat links, phone numbers, and addresses more than once. It’s a way to clarify the CTA and make it settle in your brain so you can look it up later. 

Make sure your CTA is as clear as possible. In the above example, the example could be trimmed. “Want a pumpkin pie for 25% off? Stop by our San Francisco location during the month of October.” 

This streamlined option helps people remember the facts, and nothing else.

4. Pick the Mood 

Do you have music playing in the background? What tone does the announcer take when reading your radio ad script? What is the verbiage?

Marketing is all about making people feel a certain way. Manipulating their emotions to a certain end is what advertising is all about. 

When writing your radio advertisement, it’s not enough to just make people feel something. You need to know what mood you’re aiming for

For instance, if you write an ad for Christmas decorations, you may want to use nostalgic music and slower speech. Many people hate the rushed commercialism that Christmas centers around, and taking the alternate approach will help you stand out. 

“Making memories with the kids is what the holidays are all about. Stop by with your little one to check out our sled sale.” 

This type of verbiage evokes nostalgia, puts the focus on family, and sets a peaceful mood that may work amid the rush of holiday advertising. 

5. Avoid Boilerplate 

At this point, listeners have heard it all. They see millions of advertisements in a given year. From their Instagram feed to TV commercials, they have layers upon layers of marketing jargon packed into their brains. 

This means they can spot fake boilerplate from a mile away. Our brains are so used to the patterns of advertising jargon that your advertisement will slip through the cracks if it’s not unique. It will just become more white noise within the brain. 

That’s not what you want. Take the time to work through many iterations of your radio ad script. Use all the tools in the English language, such as alliteration, repetition, and onomatopoeia, to make your words stick. 

Here’s an example: “Struggling to get home for the holidays? Our cheap flights get you home while giving your wallet a break.” 

This version is more creative than another iteration, which might read like: “Looking for flights? Visit us online.” That terminology could apply to any airline these days.

6. Tell A Story 

When you’re looking at radio ad script examples, you may think there’s no room for storytelling. A radio advertisement is bare-bones copy, without time for much more. 

However, humans are hardwired to pay attention to stories. Remember the above example, about donating to Shriner’s to help children with brain cancer? That was a two-sentence story. 

It has all the primary elements of a story. There’s tragedy and an inciting incident of a child developing brain cancer. There’s an implied problem–a lack of affordable healthcare. There’s a challenge–finding healthcare for a child with brain cancer.

The solution is donations and the kindness of Shriner’s hospital. And the happy ending is a child growing up to do normal activities, like ride a bike or go to school.

Here’s another example with an extended story. “At Shriner’s Hospital, we take care of anyone who needs it. One of our patients, Jane Doe, needed help when she received a diagnosis for Scheuermann’s kyphosis. Her parents couldn’t afford treatment, but she needed help. Shriner’s stepped in—and now Jane is able to move pain-free.”

This provides a very brief storyline for the listener’s brain to follow.

7. Embrace the Jingle 

Radio jingles often get a bad rap. It’s because they’re usually cheesy and inherently easy to make fun of. 

These days, a radio jingle can turn into a viral meme within a day. That’s a lot of pressure when you’re sitting down to write a jingle!

Focus on the mood you’re going for, and take the time to listen to other jingles. How do they sound, and how does that sound change depending on the demographic they’re trying to target?

If you’re trying to sell your product to teenagers, try to evoke the sounds of what they’re listening to anyway. Of course, you should never plagiarize or try to sound like another artist!

You’re not trying to sound like Taylor Swift, or Billie Eilish, or any other global superstar. You’re trying to nail the same emotion they capture in their songs if that’s what your target demographic is listening to.

When writing a jingle, you should also know that you aren’t writing an opera. This is not the place for grand emotion or musical swells. 

Instead, you should embrace the nature of the genre. Go with cheesy alliteration and fun verbiage. That’s what makes it a jingle! 

Repetition is also a big part of the jingle. That’s what makes it an earworm that sticks in people’s minds, even when they would rather it didn’t. 

“Just keep running and running and running …  ” Did you recognize the similarities to the Energizer Bunny jingle? This iteration is a callback to a famous jingle, but unique enough to fit an ad for a pair of running shoes, for instance. 

8. Utilize Customer Testimonials 

Like we’ve emphasized before in these radio ad script examples, this is precious little time to waste. You won’t be able to read full testimonials on-air, in most cases. And you won’t want to waste your air time like that either. 

Instead, make references. “We’ve received five thousand five star reviews in the past ten years.” This type of track record should always be included in any radio ad that wants to establish your credibility as a company. 

Writing A Radio Advertisement

As evidenced in these radio advertisement examples, a lot of time and effort goes into a simple radio ad script! However, when the calls, purchases, and visits start rolling in, all that effort will eventually pay off. 

If you want help with voiceovers, radio ad production, jingle production, or other production elements, we can help! Contact us today. We’re excited to get started on your project. 

Radio Marketing: Is It Still Relevant?

radio marketing

It’s easy to conclude that modern marketing is all about social media and guerilla marketing. Actually, this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Radio marketing might have been around for almost 100 years, but that doesn’t mean its days are over. There are several reasons why any marketer should definitely include radio as part of their marketing strategy.

Let’s take a closer look at why it’s relevant, and how to crush it in this field.

The Massive Reach of Radio

According to the latest research by the Pew Research Center, 83% of Americans over 12 listen to radio on a given week. Online radio is also big, with 62% of adults surveyed listening in the last week.

Why Radio Reaches People

Terrestrial radio, broadcast to a local area using an AM or FM signal, still reaches people for several reasons.

The first is the daily commute. Millions of Americans spend time going to and from work listening to the radio each day. Many have it on when picking the kids up from school and running errands. 

There are also people who have the radio on the whole day while working. All this means that potentially millions of people hear the ad, and they don’t just hear it once. The longer they listen, the more times they hear it, and the greater the impact.

Many stations also broadcast over the internet, allowing them to reach wider audiences on the go. Listeners can download podcasts that include advertising content.

Radio Ads Reach the Target Audience

Radio is a highly segmented market. For example, in Cincinnati alone, people can access well over 50 different radio stations. 

These cover interests as wide-ranging as hip-hop, classic country, and adult contemporary. This might seem overwhelming, but it actually gives marketers an opportunity.

No marketer targets everyone with their product or message. This pre-segmented marketplace gives the marketer an advantage.

It allows the team to create custom radio advertising to reach the target audience. They can also target the ads at different times of the day to reach different people.

Reach All Sectors of Society

Radio listeners are made up of a nearly 50/50 split between men and women. Teens also tune in, with contemporary hit radio their most popular choice.

Radio remains popular across different ethnic groups. 98% of Black and Hispanic people listen to the radio each month.

This data goes to show that whatever demographic marketers are trying to reach, there’s a radio station out there serving them.

Reach Those Not Online

We may think everyone and his dog is online these days. But actually, 7% of Americans do not use the internet. This is pretty evenly balanced across men and women, and different ethnic groups.

The fact is, if a company’s advertising is online-only, they’re not reaching those people. They’re keeping up to date somehow, and many of them are probably accessing that info through radio.

Radio Ads Reach People Naturally

Everyone knows that radio includes advertisements. We’re used to them, and they blend naturally with the content. The fact that they sit naturally within the context of the medium gives marketers an opportunity.

A visual ad online is just begging to be fast-forwarded. Most people’s fingers are hovering over the skip ads button. Unless it’s amazing, they count every second until they can click ‘skip ad’.

With radio advertising, marketers have the upper hand. Spots are typically very brief, and the listener can’t fast forward them. They also sit naturally within the broadcast and are accepted.

They also sit alongside content that the audience enjoys. That might be the talk radio style of a particular DJ. For most listeners, it’s their preferred type of music, with Country music stations the most popular across the US.

This relaxed audience is perfect for marketers. They have a good idea of the demographic that is listening. Get the spot right and people will call or look up the website as soon as it ends.

Leverage DJ Relationship with Audience

Before the term influencer was a thing, there were radio DJs. Now marketers understand the power of a recommendation from a ‘trusted friend’ such as a celebrity. A popular radio DJ could be a powerful ally in a marketing campaign. 

They frequently drive conversation and are able to bring people around to their way of thinking. If they come on board as a celebrity endorser, they can give the brand a shot in the arm.

This is because word of mouth remains the most successful form of advertising out there. Although they may really be strangers to their audience, successful jocks make them feel they are their close friends. The messages they communicate have a real influence on their listeners.

Reaches the Online Market

The online radio segment gives marketers an opportunity. Listeners access online radio while actively engaging with a device. Whether this is a tablet, phone, or computer, they have a way of immediately responding by visiting a website or social media account.

Internet radio can also provide insights into the audience that traditional radio cannot.

Radio Works Alongside Other Media

Radio gives marketers an opportunity to consolidate the message they’re putting out on other platforms.

The company may have invested heavily in a TV or social media ad campaign. Could they complement this with a radio ad? Brands that harness this power of radio find a higher level of brand awareness.

Radio Marketing Offers Value for Money

Bang for buck matters to marketers. Radio advertising may not be the most expensive form, but it’s also not cheap. There are production costs to consider, and additionally the cost of airing the spot time and time again. 

Nielsen research again highlights the value for money radio provides. Store visits increased by 20% in those who heard radio ads and visits to the retailer’s website also shot up by 75%. 

This highlights the power of radio in bringing business to both traditional and online businesses. 

Return on Ad Spend

Return on ad spend shows how hard those marketing dollars are working for businesses. 

Here, the power of radio really shines through.

For fast food retailers, the return on ad spend was $3 for every $1. For department stores, it was £17 for every $1 spent, and for the home improvement sector, it was $9 for every $1 spent.

How to Make a Radio Ad

The expression ‘theatre of the mind’ is often used in connection with radio advertising. This represents the radio advertiser’s goal. To put together an advert that is so successful, the listener’s mind is fully engaged.

The mind is so entranced that the listener creates an imaginary scene in their mind. This then connects with their emotions and makes them much more likely to follow through. 

Script is King

In a radio ad, the marketer has between 30 and 60 seconds to connect with your audience. To make the impact they want, not a word of the script can be wasted. To make it stand out from the crowd, they need to deliver something memorable.

Their script gives them an opportunity to deliver their message in a crisp and clear way. Also, because of the highly segmented nature of radio, it also gives them a chance to target a very specific audience.

Humor can be effective, as long as it’s easy to understand and is not offensive. Whatever style they choose, make sure at the end there is no doubt what they are advertising and what they need to do next.

Consider a Jingle

This might sound corny but stay with us. 

A jingle can be highly effective because they stick in the mind. The more they’re repeated, the greater the impact. There’s a reason people still hum jingles from the nineties – because they work. 

If they get them right, they ensure that their ad is not just white noise that people filter out. Make it catchy, and people are happy to hear it.

Getting Production Right

Once the script is ready, the advertiser needs to work with a production team to nail the production. It’s about more than hiring an actor to read the script and adding a few bells and whistles.

A production team will help take the spot or jingle and set it apart from the crowd. If you skimp on this, the audience will be able to tell. 

Don’t stand out from the crowd by sounding amateurish. Stand out for the right reasons by making a spot that grabs their interest and holds it for the full time. 

Radio Marketing: It’s the Future

Radio marketing may have been around for 99 years, but it’s far from a thing of the past. Radio continues to engage consumers – from teens to seniors. Marketers ignore it at their peril – it’s a serious tool for every marketer out there.

Are you ready to make a radio ad? Make sure you’re working with the best.

Killerspots is the industry leader in radio ad production. We’ve created award-winning spots for an array of clients, and are ready and waiting to create your ad!

Click here to learn more about what we can do for your business.

Tune In: Breaking Down What Makes an Effective Radio Commercial

radio commercial

After the newspaper, media began with radio. Radio shows used to be the number one form of entertainment. Families used to tune in weekly to consume media this way. 

Believe it or not, radio is still the number one form of advertisement. Tuning in to the radio in the car, at home, at work, it doesn’t go out of style. This is the reason that those radio commercials tend to sit in audience heads for days. 

What is a radio commercial? Other than a 60-second break in your music. How is a great one made? 

These are concerns good business entrepreneurs have. Lucky here is help with that. Here is all you need to know to make an effective radio commercial.

What Is a Radio Commercial  

A radio commercial is an advertisement for one service or business. They are about 30 seconds to 60 seconds in length. They also must capture the listener without visual aids. 

The very first radio commercial played on the air on August 22nd, 1922. This was a 15-minute ad for a real estate company. Advertising like this was a jump for listeners.  

Afraid to offend the masses, radio wasn’t quick to pick up advertisements. It actually took a little bit for radio commercials to catch on. Once they did, it became a means of advertising. 

Even today, radio commercials ads are a great form of advertising. Many companies bring in much of their clientele this way. There is quite a bit that does go into creating that perfect commercial. 

The following are several of the areas that go into making a radio commercial great. These are the guidelines to make your commercial a memorable one.

Production Value Matters

The thought may be that this isn’t going on camera. Why does it actually matter what the production value is?

Radio commercials aren’t as simple as hitting record and playing the commercial. You need to be able to have a great advertisement in order to bring in consumers. Production value is one of the ways to do this. 

Music and sound effects are two of the things that make the radio commercial. For a commercial to really pop. It also cannot sound like every other commercial on the radio.

By having a budget, the commercial will be unique. Be able to afford the right talent for your production. Add music and sound clips that will enhance your audio. 

Not only the sounds and talent, but editing is also important. The production is professional. It doesn’t go from the recording stage straight to the radio.

Production value can be heard in a radio commercial. It’s the difference between sounding like an amateur production and a real advertisement. 

Articulated Script

Believe it or not, radio commercial scripts can make or break the production. This dictates what the audience is going to hear and get out of the ad. When there is only have 60 seconds to get the point across, it needs to make every second count.

The radio commercial needs to have a hook that counts. Within the first few seconds, the listener needs to have something to remember. Be sure that the script begins with something that will capture the listener. 

If it can grab them at the hook it will occupy their attention. This will mean that they follow along with the rest of the ad. The hook is the most important part of the commercial.

Don’t forget to leave them with a closing statement that they will hold onto. Give the listener something to think about. This will assure that they want to revisit the ad or find out more about the provided information. 

The call to action at the end of the advertisement is just as important as the hook. Be sure that it is clear and concise. 

The entire radio commercial needs to be calculated. A great script is where the production begins. 

Simplicity Does Wonders

Believe it or not, the simpler the advertisement is, the more it will be remembered. Don’t overcomplicate the commercial. That will make it so that the listeners don’t remember anything from the ad. 

The ad needs to be a direct message. The listener doesn’t want to have to decipher the message. When there is too much going on it doesn’t stick very well. 

Remember that the audience only has a couple of seconds to grasp what is being said. Oversaturating the commercial with sounds can lead them away from the point. Be as straightforward and persuasive as possible.

Make sure that everything that needs to be said is heard loud and clear. The commercial doesn’t need an overwhelming amount of sound. It does need to be able to support the business and resonate with the listener. 

The whole goal of your advertisement is to bring in the consumer. Capture them with something simple they’ll be able to remember. 

Let It Stand Out

Not to contradict simplicity, but the commercial needs to be able to stick in the minds of the listener. It should get them to think about it even after the 60 seconds have passed. It needs to be stuck in their heads. 

A commercial shouldn’t sound like every other thing on the radio. It needs to have something distinctive that sets it apart. Aim to be able to captivate the audience and allow them to remember what has been said. 

Find something to include that reflects the brand. Hook into an area that the listener will cling to. This could be done in multiple ways. By catering to this, the audience will follow.

Maybe it’s a jingle. It could even just be a phrase that they can’t seem to stop thinking about. What sets the commercial apart from all of the others is beneficial. 

Aim for relatable content in the advertisement. Reach the audience by finding a level that strikes a chord with them. This is the best way to make them remember what is being advertised.

By doing this it calls the audience to your business. They remember why they wanted to find out more about it to begin with. 

Knowledge of Your Audience

Know who the advertisement is targeting. The commercial needs to cater to the listener. It shouldn’t fall flat and not make a difference to the directed audience. 

Consider who is going to be listening to the radio. Don’t try to pull in an audience that isn’t there. That wouldn’t be helpful to the cause. Nor would it bring any new clientele. 

Do the research prior to recording the commercial. Find out what has worked for other businesses and what to avoid. Don’t go into the recording studio without a formulated plan in mind. 

The script should reflect who is being reached out to. When writing the script, form a plan that’s going to appeal to them while keeping in mind the rules of the radio.

Knowing what is going to target the audience is important. Meet them on their level and entice them to find out more about the business. Be sure that the ad is something that resonates.

Catering to the audience will give them the chance to want to listen. They will find themselves intrigued by what is being said. This is the best way to make them want to find out more.

Listen to Feedback

Getting outside opinions will help to know if it’s going to be the right fit. Don’t be afraid to play the commercial for others before okaying the final product. This gives an indication of if it’s presented correctly. 

Ask the test audience what works for them. Find out what they think there should be anything included or cut. By doing this, there is a second opinion. 

An unbiased party is the best way to go. They are the consumers who will be getting the most from the commercial. Work with the feedback that is received from them. 

Be sure to ask deliberate questions. Find out if they believe anything in the commercial should be rewritten or changed. Follow this feedback in a way that is genuine to the ad and the company. 

A Radio Commercial Is a Great Business Tool

It allows for a wide range of audiences to engage. Keeping in mind these helpful tips will make the ad more efficient. A clean and concise script will do wonders sticking in the minds of the audience. 

The radio commercial will provide the audience with intrigue. The proper voice actors, a great script, and professional sound are beneficial. The products will sell themselves when the correct attention is paid. 

Looking to record that radio commercial? There is help in making it the type that an audience will listen to. Contact us regarding the production of your radio advertisement. 

8 Tips for Making a Wildly Successful Radio Ad

radio advertising

When a company launches an advertising campaign, it shouldn’t focus specifically on digital marketing, or specifically on TV. It should put efforts toward all forms of marketing, as doing so will allow it to obtain the biggest reach possible.

Radio advertising should not be exempt from a company’s marketing campaign. In fact, it should be a central part of it. 

But what if a company needs help making custom radio ads for business marketing purposes? Where should it get started? Right here with this article!

Without further ado, here are the keys to quality radio advertising. 

1. Create a Jingle

Regardless of the concept of a business’s ad, it needs to be accompanied by a jingle. A jingle is a short and catchy musical motif that’s meant to catch the ear of the listener and hang around for a while.

A good jingle will be remembered by hundreds or even thousands of people and will become a small part of the local culture. This bodes well for the business to whom that jingle belongs, as it ensures that said business is being thought of on a regular basis. 

The question is: how does one go about writing a good jingle? In truth, it’s not all that easy. It requires not only a catchy melody but memorable lyrics as well. 

For those unaccustomed to writing music, this can be a serious challenge. This is why it’s often wise to turn to a professional jingle writer. These individuals have written tons of jingles and know exactly how to make them successful. 

Finding a jingle writer is as simple as searching “jingle writing [name of location]” in Google. This should return the websites of a variety of local jingle writers. These websites should provide all of the information that an interested party needs. 

In the Cincinnati, Ohio area, the Killer Spots Agency is the premier jingle house. Contact Killer Spots today! 

2. Cater to the Customer Base

Whether it’s a product or a service, it has a specific type of customer that wants it more than the others. This customer is part of the product or service’s customer base, and he or she is the one to whom the product or service’s ad should be targeted. 

For instance, let’s take sporting goods. In the case of sporting goods, the customer base would be, well, athletes. As such, the radio ad should contain elements that appeal to athletes. 

These elements could be anything from crowd noises to impersonations of popular sports icons and more. In any case, it should include elements that appeal to athletes.

The same goes for any other customer base as well. A music shop shouldn’t make a sports-themed radio ad, for instance. It should try to come up with an idea that will pique the interest of musicians instead. 

3. Use Slogans

Slogans might come across as a little hokey from time to time, but the fact of the matter is that they’re effective.

After all, think of all of the famous advertising slogans that have been rolled out over time: “I’m Lovin’ It”, “Just Do It”, “Where’s the Beef?”, “The Breakfast of Champions”. 

On their own, these are just simple 3 or 4 letter phrases. But because they’ve been uttered so many times, they are almost 100% representative of their respective brands. As such, every time those slogans are said, those brands come to the listener’s mind. 

What’s the point of all of this? The point is that, when creating a radio ad, a company needs to use slogans within that ad. It needs to come up with something short and catchy and then sprinkle it into the advertisement 2 to 5 times. 

If a company isn’t able to come up with its own catchphrase or slogan, it can turn to the services of a marketing company. 

4. Write a Good Script

There are some radio ads that are just flat-out bad. What’s the primary purpose for this? In most cases, it’s the weakness of the script. 

The trouble is that a lot of small business owners lack creative writing skills. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just the way it is. 

As a result, when they create radio ads for their businesses, they come up with absurd premises, lazy dialogue, and, well, some of the most cheesy situations known to humankind. 

Unfortunately, most listeners don’t respond to these types of scripts. At worst, they make fun of them, which turns the company in question into something of a local joke. 

In essence, when creating a radio ad, companies must spend tons of time on the script and make sure that it’s of high quality. If the company can’t produce a good script on its own, it should call up its local marketing company. 

5. Hook Them At the Beginning

Perhaps the biggest key to a good radio ad is to hook the listeners from the beginning. If it’s 5 to 10 seconds into an ad before something attention-grabbing happens, listeners will likely miss out on the beginning of the ad entirely, rendering it ineffective. 

It’s important to get the listener’s attention from the start. One way to do this is with volume. A loud slogan or jingle will almost certainly get the listener’s attention from the start. 

This can be enhanced with the telling of a story, or a special offer, and maybe even a joke (of course, it has to actually be funny). In any case, it’s important to grab the listener’s attention from the word go.

Getting the listener to take notice of the beginning of the ad renders the best chance of getting him or her to listen to the entirety of the ad. And when that happens, sales are made. 

6. Get Good Actors

Not everyone is cut out for acting, even on radio adverts for their business. So, while a business owner might want to appear on his or her own radio ad, he or she might not possess the acting chops needed to do so. 

There are plenty of radio ads that do feature bad acting. At best, they’re passable and might turn a few sales. At worst, they’re detrimental to the company that created them, as they turn off potential customers forever. 

Good acting is not a plus; it’s a requirement. It’s worth hiring skilled actors in order to create a quality ad. And while it’s possible to cut corners in some areas, businesses should never cut corners in this area. 

7. Play It for Others First 

One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make with a radio ad is having it broadcasted before it’s been listened to by others.

A company could think that it has the greatest ad of all time. However, just because that company perceives it that way doesn’t mean that anybody else will. 

In short, radio ads need to be tested. They need to be played for several people so that they can deliver honest feedback; “honest” being the keyword here. 

Every business owner is sure to have an honest friend or family member that he or she can turn to; someone who can be blunt and merciless. That’s the type of person who should test each ad. 

8. Include a Call to Action

The entire point of a company broadcasting a radio ad is to get listeners to do business with that company. If listeners don’t know how to get a hold of the company, they’re not going to be able to do that. 

This is why it’s imperative for radio ads to include calls to action. A call to action is an instruction to the listener.

It tells the listeners to, say, call for a free consultation at a specific number. It might also tell listeners to visit a specific website. 

The call to action is what drives sales. All of the other stuff can work to get the listener’s attention, but this is what turns that listener into a customer. 

Calls to action should be repeated several times throughout each ad, with special priority on the end of the ad (during which it should be repeated 2 to 3 times). This might feel like overkill, but it’s necessary to get the listener to perform the desired action (ie. make a purchase). 

Providing a Range of Radio Advertising Services 

If ever a company needs radio advertising services, it should turn to a radio marketing agency. If that company is based in the Cincinnati area, the best radio marketing agency for it to turn to is The Killer Spots Agency.  

Our company assists in all aspects of radio advertising strategy. Not only do we create radio jingles but voiceovers and more. We also offer recording studio time. 

Contact the Killer Spots Agency now! 

10 Reasons to Advertise Your Business on the Radio

radio advertising

Do you think radio advertising is outdated? Radios have been used for personal use since the 1920s, but the radio advertising possibilities constantly evolve to keep up with technology and trends.

Radio ads are just as relevant and effective as digital marketing when used correctly. A strategically created ad can reach and resonate with your target audience, giving you a huge return on investment.

Keep reading to learn some of the many benefits of radio advertising.

1. Remote Reach

Radio makes your advertising available to consumers wherever they go. Unlike TV ads, which are limited to people who are sitting in front of a TV, your radio ads follow your target audience when they’re on the go. That versatile reach makes radio comparable to mobile ads.

People most often listen to the radio while they’re in the vehicle. That means they might hear your commercial when they’re already out and ready to shop, which could persuade them to visit your business. Radio reaches people when they’re closer to the point of sale since they’re more likely to listen when they’re away from home.

With options to listen to radio stations online, people can also hear your ads from anywhere when they listen from their mobile devices. These mobile options often make it easy to combine your radio ad with banners that listeners can easily click and reach your website or social media pages.

2. Both Wide and Targeted Audiences

Radio is the widest reaching platform for adults with 92% of Americans listening to the radio each week. TV comes in next, reaching 87% of adults with smartphones following closely at 81%. Every month, radio reaches 244.5 million adults. 

It’s also a diverse audience that listens to the radio. People of all ethnicities and ages listen to the radio, often in large numbers.

With so many people listening to the radio, it’s safe to say your company’s target audience is listening, too. When you advertise on the radio, your potential audience has a good chance of hearing about your company.

While a wide reach is good, a targeted audience is even better. Having a good idea of the type of music and the local radio stations that your audience listens to helps you choose where to place your local radio advertising.

Ad a local business, putting your ad on local radio stations helps you reach people in close physical proximity, which also helps narrow your target audience.

3. Targeted Ad Timing

Radio ad spots are available 24/7, which means you can target when your ads air based on when your audience listens. Timing your ads right can make them more effective and improve your ROI.

Daytime hours often have the highest number of listeners. However, your specific audience might stay up late or get up in the wee hours for an early-bird commute. Knowing this helps you choose those time slots to maximize reach for your specific audience.

Repeating your ads at these target times helps get potential customers to take notice. Most people need to hear your message three times before they start noticing you. They’ll like need to hear the ad even more to really remember you or go beyond just listening to take action or interact with your brand.

4. Lower Ad Avoidance

DVRs make it possible for consumers to skip TV ads easily. If they don’t, they often get up during those ad times and do other things. Online ads are easy to dismiss, block with ad-blocker programs, or skip on videos. 

Radio has a lower ad avoidance rate than many other platforms. You often have a captive audience in vehicles. Listeners can’t simply skip an ad like they can online or when watching a TV show on a DVR.

Some people might change to a different radio station, but many stick around and listen to the ads. People tend to be loyal to radio stations, waiting through the commercials for the music or talk show to resume.

5. Time-Tested Yet Modern

When creating a marketing strategy that keeps up with your modern business and target audience, you might think older methods such as radio won’t work. However, it’s time-tested longevity shows that radio advertising still works. Radios are still added to new vehicles, and people are still listening, which means this proven advertising method is still relevant.

Despite its long history, radio advertising isn’t stuck in the past. New research and technology makes it possible to create radio ads that are relevant and engaging to your modern audience. Online streaming options for radio stations also keep this platform current and relevant.

6. Creative, Memorable Options

How many business jingles do you find yourself singing randomly? Audio advertisements, when produced well, can be very powerful and memorable.

These ear worms keep your audience thinking about your business long after they hear your radio spot. Someone who hears your ad might not need your services or products immediately. However, if they do encounter a situation that matches your business offerings, recalling that catchy radio ad could encourage them to reach out to you.

Advertising on the radio gives you a wide range of creative options. First up, you can decide if you want to go the humorous route, get sentimental with listeners, or make a dramatic point based on what you’re trying to do and what feelings you want to evoke.

Audio options can include voices, music, and sound effects to guide listeners. Various voice actors, or even your own staff, can provide a voice that appeals to your target audience and helps set the tone.

Radio stations often offer other opportunities for advertising your business as well. Endorsement ads are paid endorsements where radio personalities talk about your business. Since many people listen to radio stations loyally due to trusting their favorite radio personalities, they might pay more attention to those ads.

7. Theater of Mind Effect

A great radio ad uses what’s often referred to as theater of mind. Because radio ads are heard and not seen, listeners have to use their imaginations to create pictures in their minds based on what they hear. All other ad types have a visual component that spoon feeds the message and doesn’t require users to engage their brains as much.

This actively engages the listener with your ad. When someone hears your ad, they’re thinking about what they’re hearing instead of just staring at a screen. That engagement can make the ads more memorable and appealing to listeners.

8. Personal Experience

It might seem difficult to connect to potential customers via radio ads. After all, listeners simply hear an ad you recorded previously.

But a well-crafted ad helps develop brand awareness and helps listeners feel connected to you. That’s especially true if your voice is heard in the ad. Your radio ad is your chance to express your branding, share your values, and help listeners get to know your brand.

You can also add an emotional side to your radio ad to get listeners personally invested. It’s much easier to convey that emotional feeling with sound than it is with a print ad or online ad that has no audio or video.

9. Quick Turnaround and Cost Effective

Creating radio advertising is relatively quick compared to producing a TV commercial. It’s often much easier to record and edit the audio than it is with video, which means your ad is ready to go much faster. Once produced, you can often get it onto the radio with days.

Radio advertising costs are also budget-friendly compared to some other options. A local radio ad can cost anywhere from $200 to $5,000 weekly. The exact cost depends largely on where you are with larger cities costing significantly more than smaller markets. 

The cost is usually calculated based on a CPM rate, or the cost per 1,000 people listening. That rate is multiplied by the number of people listening to determine the total cost of the spot.

Some radio stations offer per-spot pricing, which means you’ll pay less for times when not as many people listen. This can make your radio advertising costs lower.

Since marketing is an investment, it’s important to look not only at the cost but also at the return on investment. Studies show that on average, every dollar spent on radio advertising yields $12 in sales.

10. Compatible With Social Media

The great thing about most advertising methods is you don’t have to use them in a vacuum. It doesn’t have to be radio or social media; radio or print ads; radio or TV spots. Depending on your marketing budget, you can and should incorporate multiple advertising avenues to expand your reach.

Radio might not seem compatible with social media, but you can easily use the two methods to promote one another. By combining radio and social media, you can meet people where they are and give them options that fit how they prefer to interact.

Some radio advertising examples that incorporate social media include promoting your social media accounts in your ads or hosting a social media contest that you encourage people to enter via radio ads. 

You can also go the other way, promoting your radio ads through social media. Include the audio of your radio ad on your social media accounts, for example.

Take Advantage of Radio Advertising

If you’re still waiting to jump on radio advertising, stop waiting. Creating a radio ad can expand your current marketing plan with a broad reach, boosted brand awareness, excellent ROI, and many other benefits.

Not sure how to get started? Instead of searching for radio advertising near me and taking your chances, contact us to get a quote. We can help with a variety of marketing services, from radio ad production and video production to social media marketing and SEO.

How to Make a Great Radio Ad For the Airwaves

great radio ad

Is there a business looking to make a great radio ad but they don’t know where to start? If so, this posts is here to give a few pointers on how to make a great radio ad that will have listeners flocking to the business or buying the product in no time. To see what is recommended for making a great radio ad keep reading below.

Make Sure the Ad Is Tailored to the Audience

The first step to making a great radio ad is to make sure that the message of the ad is tailored to your customers. The ad’s script should have the right tone, personality, and language for the target audience.

For example, if marketing to a younger generation then the ad can make it fun and use slang. If marketing the ad to an older audience a straightforward tone may speak to them better than what would be used for the younger audience.

No matter who the ad is made for, the script should connect with them and make sure not to offend them. If an ad is created that has the wrong tone or language for your audience it can end up pushing them away from your message. 

Make Sure It’s Distinctive

What makes the ad stand out? What makes the products and services offered unique and truly one of a kind? What can be offered to the clients that no one else can?

These are questions that should be answered to help make the ads distinctive from other ads on the airwaves. Establishing this distinctiveness will help listeners recognize the business’ ads and become more attracted to the brand.

Production Value and Voice Talent Matters

When it comes to direct response and brand marketing they must work together to drive sales. Listeners will expect a sense of maturity from the radio ad. This isn’t as bad as it sounds, usually, ads that are produced with sophistication will help build trust and credibility around the brand.

This will eventually lead to greater sales due to the positivity built around well-produced ads. To bring up the production value of the ads try adding some sound effects and music when appropriate.

When adding music it should be thought of it as a carefully constructed top 40 song. The music behind lyrics usually helps to enhance the song overall, this is the same thing music will be doing for your ad. Music and the message will work together to help make the message more effective. 

Show Empathy

When it comes to the majority of advertising the ads are trying to show customers the product or service and how it will address their needs or wants. The ad shouldn’t be any different.

When the radio ad strategy shows empathy towards the customers and their wants or needs it will make the potential customer feel like they are cared about. It can effectively show empathy by using certain verbiage that indicates the business understands their feelings pretty well.

This ad can also acknowledge their pain points such as things that make everyday life hard and how your product or service will help to simplify daily life. Even try to add a review or customer testimonial into the radio ad and how the product helped to address their needs.

Make Sure There’s a Strong Call to Action

The ultimate goal of the radio ad is to get the listener to do something, this is also known as a call to action. This will want to drive the listeners and new customers to do an action from purchasing from the company to giving the business a call.

Because the call to action will get listeners to make an action towards the business and to hopefully land a sale it’s safe to say this is one of the most important things the radio ad should include. To be entirely effective, the call to action should tell the customers what you want them to do and be straightforward.

This should also be easy to remember. For example, if the customer needs to call a number try placing it to music to make it more memorable so the listener isn’t easy to forget the number they should be calling. Even if the listener should go to a website make sure that the URL is simple and easy to remember also.

Make Sure The Ad Is Simple

Radio ads are usually a few seconds, so it will need to be effective in a short time. It will also need to take into account the type of listeners that will be listening to the radio, most of the time they will be busy driving or working. 

Knowing that the listener may be busy is key to making the ad memorable to them. The business doesn’t want to pack too much in so they can’t remember, instead make it simple and straight to the point so the busy listener can easily remember the products and services. Remember that a single good point made in your ad is enough to stick with the listener, especially if they can relate to it easily.

Articulation

What’s written on the script isn’t what the radio ad is going to sound like in articulation. With this said, when producing an ad even a small change in the script or adding a small sound effect can change the entire radio ad in a big way.

Making small changes to the ad during production will happen again and again until the best ad is created for the audience. Even when it comes to having voiceovers in the ad the way the actor says something or pronounces it can have a big effect on the ad also.

This is why articulation matters. The more direct the ad is the better. Using statements or voice-overs that are statements, monotone, and cliches don’t work. The ad should be using specific language and the voiceover should be showing emotion to make it stick to the listener.

Add an Incentive

To make the radio ad as strong as possible it should add an incentive. This radio ad incentive can be things such as giving the listener a special discount or offer for listening to the ad. This can be done by giving them a special code or saying through the ad that they can enter online or tell a representative so they can receive their incentive after giving their business to the company.

Incentives will help to motivate the listeners to take action as soon as possible. This will help them to remember the radio ad too because they won’t want to forget that special code or saying so they can save or get a gift. 

Have an Attention Grabber in the Begining

We’ve discussed that having a call to action at the end of the ad is really important when it comes to getting customers to take action, but what about the beginning of the ad? When it comes to the start of the radio ad it’ll want to grab the attention of your audience with an attention grabber.

There is one chance to grab the listener. When it comes to radio advertising this is also known as the hook. This hook is what helps to sell the ad which is important because it’ll have to sell your ad to sell your product.

This may sound easy but in truth, it’s one of the hardest parts about creating the radio ad. It can be effective in creating a great hook by starting your ad with a question or statistic. It’ll want to pique the listener’s curiosity and make them want to listen to the rest of the ad.

Remember That Comedy Can Win Audiences

Comedy is something that everyone loves, and because of this including comedy in the ad can help to win over audiences. Comedy can be added to the ad by throwing in some jokes or having a funny voice over. 

A funny ad will create a memorable listening experience for the audience and make it really easy for them to remember long after your ad has stopped playing. Just remember that if there’s a long campaign to tweak the jokes, listeners don’t want the same joke playing 30 times in a row.

Now People Know How to Make a Great Radio Ad

It’s now know how to make a great radio ad. From creating a great hook and call to action to adding music to the ad to make it more appealing to the listener, readers will be making the best radio ads in no time. For more advertising information and tips be sure to check out the rest of the website here.

8 Common Radio Ad Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

radio ad mistakes

More than 90 percent of American adults still listen to the radio on a weekly basis. That’s a lot of ears for a business to be missing out on.

As the numbers show, radio is a powerful tool for reaching listeners. Whether a business wants to reach listeners countrywide or prefers a more local approach, radio could be the right tool.

That said, some business owners have discounted radio as an effective advertising tool for their organizations. That could be because they’ve made some radio ad mistakes with previous campaigns.

To be successful, advertisers should watch out for these eight common pitfalls. This guide can help the savvy advertiser not only avoid them but build a better campaign too.

1. Talking in Cliches

One of the most common radio ad mistakes is using clichés in the ad copy. Almost nothing gets listeners to tune out faster than turns of phrase they’ve heard dozens of times.

Why are so clichés so ineffective? They’re common phrases that many other radio advertisers are drawing on too. When all used car lots are advertising themselves as “the #1 choice to get a car!”, the words stop having meaning. If everyone is the top pick, how are listeners supposed to choose?

The same is true of many other common phrases:

  • “We won’t be undersold”
  • “#1 in Customer Service!”
  • “Storewide savings”

The best bet here is to avoid these phrases altogether. Is there another, better way to say that customers can get great service?

Avoiding clichés helps a business stand out. Listeners perk up when they hear something different. The uniqueness of the phrasing is more likely to stick with them.

As an added bonus, the advertiser now sounds different than their competitors. They stand out, which makes them more memorable. The next time a customer is looking for a service or product, they’re likely to look up this business.

2. Too Much or Complex Information

Another very common misstep with radio advertising is trying to cram in every minor detail. A 30-second spot may seem like a lot of time, but trying to list every single product that’s on sale is probably a poor tactic.

Complex information is also a problem. Keep in mind that people are listening to the radio, which means they have to retain information in their heads. They may not have a pen and paper handy to jot something down.

What’s a radio advertiser to do? Focus on the highlights. What are the best deals in the store right now?

Highlight a couple of products or deals, then entice the listener to get in touch or pop into the shop to check out more great savings.

If there are complex details, like legal copy, it might help to consider a line like “see store for details” or “visit us online for full contest rules.” That offloads the work the ad has to do, and it makes it easier for potential customers to remember.

What about details like contact information or driving directions? Again, simplifying is the best bet. Try to think of the easiest way to describe directions to the business location.

If that can’t be done, directing listeners to another resource, like a website, could be a good option. This may be especially helpful if the business has several locations. It allows people to find the location nearest to them.

3. Radio Ad Mistakes with Airtime

Many radio advertising campaigns also make mistakes with airtime. There are a few different factors to consider in this arena.

Many advertisers think they need to get their ads on during what’s known as “drive time.” This window usually includes the morning and afternoon commutes, when people are most likely to be in their cars. They’re typically listening to the radio.

The problem is that radio stations will usually charge a premium for what’s considered “prime time” in the industry. Advertisers will pay more to get one of these slots.

Research indicates this may not always be the right choice. Running an ad at an off-peak time could be just as effective, if not more effective. Many people who are listening during drive time also listen at other times of day.

Some groups may not listen during drive time at all. Retired people may not have a commute, so they may be listening at off-peak hours in the morning or early afternoon.

Office workers may actually listen to the radio all day, and many stores and professional offices have the radio on to entertain clients.

Another common issue is ad frequency. Even if an advertiser chooses an effective slot, they may decide only to run their ad at one time in the morning. They might also not run the ad campaign long enough.

The end result is that the listener doesn’t hear the ad often enough to take action. As a general rule of thumb, a listener needs to hear an ad at least a few times per day over a couple days. If a business only runs their campaign for one week with one slot per day, even listeners who tune in every day may not hear the ad enough to act.

4. Using the Wrong Budget

Budget is a big concern when it comes to radio advertising. Using the wrong budget can cause problems for a campaign. Too small a budget may mean an advertiser runs a shorter campaign, which can lead to ineffectiveness.

There’s also a question of how to spend the budget. Many advertisers make the mistake of overspending on drive-time ads, as mentioned. Effective ad spend, though, might mean choosing slots outside the premium times.

In turn, the budget can go farther. That may mean advertisers can keep the campaign running longer, while also optimizing ad spend and improving returns.

5. Not Knowing the Audience

Another very common stumbling block with radio advertising is not knowing the audience. This can factor into choosing the wrong time slots, but it can also mean making mistakes like choosing the wrong stations altogether.

Advertisers should always consider their customer personas. Who actually buys this product or this service? Who is this ad trying to reach?

If a dentist’s office is trying to advertise a deal on dentures, choosing the local pop station playing all the latest hits may not be the right choice. Just as the audience might be older people listening outside “drive time,” they might also be listening to a different channel altogether.

6. Overwhelming Listeners with Numbers

Advertisers often have lots of numbers they want to include in their radio spots. Think price lists, phone numbers, or discounts.

Yet including too many numbers can make the ad overwhelming for listeners.

Why? Remember that most people are listening and don’t have a handy place to take down information. They might be driving or away from their desks.

That means they need to keep all the information they hear in the ad in their short-term memory. If they hear too many numbers, they may mix them up or get confused. When they try to call the business later, they find they have the wrong number.

Stick to fewer numbers whenever possible. Instead of advertising every individual price, include a range or “starting at.” Repeat the same numbers to help listeners remember them.

7. Falling Short of Amusing

Many advertisers wonder what types of ads are most engaging for radio listeners. Lots of people assume humorous ads get the best results.

It’s true that an amusing ad is likely to bring a smile to a listener’s face, and they’re likely to remember it. Many advertisers try too hard to be funny or quirky, though. The result often falls flat.

Trying too hard to be amusing can be more annoying than anything. It may have listeners reaching for the dial and switching stations.

It can also work against delivering important information in a clear way that’s easy to remember. If the ad isn’t amusing in a naturalistic way, it might be better to try a different angle. In fact, ads that pull off “funny” or “amusing” are few and far between, but plenty of radio spots are successful anyway.

8. Not Working with the Professionals

Perhaps the biggest mistake in any radio ad strategy is not working with the professionals. Many business owners decide to go it alone for a number of reasons.

One may be that they think it will cost too much to hire a script writer, head to a recording studio, or hire a voice-over artist.

The result may be an ad that doesn’t sound natural. The script might be clunky or fail to deliver key information.

Even deciding not to work with an agency to get the right placements or develop campaign strategy can be a big misstep. It leads to misspent budgets, ineffective placements, and ads that don’t perform.

Instead, look to get the professionals on the ad team. With their help, better ads and improved performance are guaranteed.

Radio Can Work for Any Business

Radio ad mistakes like these can really trip up a business strategy. By working to avoid them, advertisers can create more successful campaigns.

Radio is a tool that can work for businesses of every size, all across America. Get in touch with an expert team now and discover the difference a great radio ad campaign can make.

Holiday Radio Commercial Ads: How to Sell Your Business This Holiday Season

commercial ads

This holiday season, making sure their business is ready to drive more traffic to their online or brick-and-mortar store to help people check off their gift lists, take planning and preparation. As with most businesses across the country, they’ve probably been planning for months on what to stock their shelves (real or metaphorical) with to ensure the greatest shopping experience possible! How are they planning on telling the world what they have available this holiday season? With consumer behavior regularly changing and entertainment options fluctuating just as often, what is the best way to reach the most people possible? Radio is still the most used platform on the market in the United States, and radio commercial ads are generating more revenue than ever!

That means they get more bang for each advertisement they place during the holiday season! But don’t go into the process without a proper understanding of what makes a great holiday radio ad! This comprehensive radio ad review will ensure they know how to create a great ad and how to sell their business this holiday season and any other day. Read on to learn more!

Is Radio Still Relevant?

In short, yes, radio is still incredibly relevant! On average, radio reaches more Americans every week than any other platform available. Radio isn’t generally age-specific, and it’s something that most people utilize anytime they’re in their vehicles.

It doesn’t matter what type of music the user prefers; there are generally a few radio stations in their area that they can program for regular use. Then, as they move from one broadcasting area to another, they can scan to discover new options! 

The four most common benefits of radio are:

  1. Radio is a portable medium that people can utilize almost anytime and almost anyplace
  2. Radio is a FREE, advertiser-funded, media service where people can listen to music, stay up-to-date with current events, and learn about their local area
  3. Radio continues to adapt to changes in technology and user trends
  4. Radio is inclusive of age, gender, race, and any other demographic to provide numerous options for individuals across the country

The Elements of Great Holiday Radio Commercial Ads

Creating holiday radio ads for business requires strategy, professional production services, and an engaging but creative message. To create the right type of story for radio, take some time to understand what they’re trying to advertise and then consider their target audience would want to know about their product or service. Whether their goal is to drive more traffic to their website or in their store, they can achieve them with expertly crafted holiday commercials!

Finding the right way to send our message is a process of creative teamwork, testing different approaches, and analyzing the data. But when it comes to improved performance for the holidays specifically, they need to bump up the whole process to stand out amongst their competition! Check out these ten tips for creating a killer radio ads campaign this holiday season!

Tip 1: Don’t Skimp on Production Value and Voiceover Talent

One of the first places many businesses want to cut costs is professional production quality and voiceover talents. However, it’s important to remember that a sophisticated radio ad will build credibility with new potential customers. From subtly placed music and sound effects to accurately annunciated business names and offerings, these are the professionals in their industry for a reason!

Tip 2: Highlight What Makes Them Special

A holiday radio ad isn’t the place to play things humble or subtle. Take some time to shine the light on what makes their business different from the others and find a way to tell a story that will connect with the audience. The holiday season is a great time to focus on sentimentality, so don’t shy away from going for a heart-to-heart reaction,

Tip 3: Walk the Line Between Emotion and Logic

While it’s essential to create an emotional reaction, they also need to appeal to the logical audiences to ensure they cover all of their bases. Few people make a purchase based solely on an emotional response, but it is an excellent way to catch their attention! Highlight why they need their product or service specifically, and marry their logic and emotion seamlessly.

Tip 4: The Value of Articulation

Next time they listen to the radio, take a moment to focus on the commercial voice actors’ delivery of their message. The more articulate and well-timed their delivery is, the more appealing the messaging will be to listeners. Ensure their ad is clear, concise, and precise because they only get a set time to deliver their message.

Tip 5: Keep it Simple

They only have 60-seconds or less to make a connection, advertise their business, and keep their listeners attention. If they stuff too much in, the listener will be overwhelmed, but if they don’t give them enough information, they will be confused! Focus on making one good point in their ad and then build the dialogue around that point.

Tip 6: Use Music to Enhance the Message

While visual mediums can use emotionally moving pictures or videos to connect with their viewer, radio requires a different technique. The listener must build a visual in their mind while they listen to their ad, so make things easier by setting the tone with carefully selected audio. A catchy jingle or sound specific to their business is a great way to connect all of their holiday radio ad campaigns.

Tip 7: Understand Their Audience

They need to understand their customer to connect with them in a truly authentic way. Too often, people cast a wide net in an attempt to catch as many people as possible, but with broad advertisements, they’re less likely to grab anyone! Authentic, personalized messaging is the best way to create the best promotions.

Tip 8: Mention Their Offer

Whatever their call to action, or purpose, for their ad is, make sure they mention it in their ad! A simple, compelling call to action that tells the listener what they want them to do is the best course of action. Don’t use confusing language, and ensure the offer they make is backed up when it matters most.

Tip 9: Grab the Listeners Attention

They only get one chance to grab their listeners’ attention, so they need to create a hook that sells the ad, and ultimately their business! Their audience is bombarded with advertisements during every commercial break, so they need to immediately grab their attention and provoke their interest, curiosity, or imagination. The first 5-seconds of their ad are the most important so use them wisely!

Tip 10: Answer the Right Questions

An expert advertiser’s tool is always to make sure the ad answers the listener’s question in the simplest way possible. It’s vital to always advertise to the broadest audience possible while still focusing on their targeted group to increase conversions. 

An expert ad will answer the following questions:

  • What’s in it for them?
  • How will it make their life better, happier, or easier?
  • Why should they buy from them instead of their competition?

Why Should They Advertise on the Radio

In a world where digital marketing and social media are seemingly everywhere, many businesses are missing out on the importance of radio commercial ads. This holiday season, radio advertising is an affordable, quick, and targeted way to reach the masses.

With people utilizing radio more than ever, it’s an easy way to remind past customers that they’re still around and introduce themselves to new ones! Identify the best times to play their ads and focus on when their audience is most likely to hear what they have to offer, leaving the other time slots to other advertisements.

Where to Start

Are they ready to create a killer ad for this holiday season? Start by identifying which specific item or service they want to promote, then build the ads around that. Create a hook that will grab the listener’s attention and remember to find a way to include the holiday for an emotional connection. 

Don’t forget about the accurate annunciation, the inclusion of rightly-timed music or sound effects, and keeping things simple. They only have 60-seconds or less to get their message across, so they should keep things simple and focus on delivering the message to someone who isn’t an expert in their field.

If they need additional guidance or are curious about obtaining expert assistance in creating their ad, have them contact us for more information! For more details on advertising their business and how these different marketing approaches can help, check out our blog for more insightful articles.

5 Surprising Ways Radio Advertising Can Boost Business

radio advertising

Radio advertising has been around for a long time, but it has not lost its potency. If anything, radio ads have become more helpful to businesses in recent years due to the advent of online radio advertising.

92% of Americans listen to the radio each week. And 25% of listeners become more interested in a brand after hearing an advertisement for it. This can make a huge difference for your brand.

Radio ads can be critically helpful to the success of your business. But some of the ways radio advertising can help you might surprise you. If you have not considered radio advertising for your business, you might be missing out on the ways it can benefit your brand.

Keep reading to find out the five surprising ways that radio advertising can help your business.

1. It Helps You Reach Your Target Audience

Radio advertising is one of the most effective ways of reaching your target audience. You already know who your potential customers are. Radio lets you reach them directly. 

Not all radio stations are created equal. Every station will have a target demographic of listeners. You can discern what that target demographic is by the type of radio program the station produces. By choosing which radio station to advertise on, you are targeting your potential customers directly.

Additionally, radio stations have a local focus. On-air radio will target a specific city or region. This is truer for radio than it is for television.

If your brand has a local focus, you stand to benefit substantially from radio advertising. This is because your ad will be geographically relevant to every listener you reach.

If your brand has locally based locations or events, on-air advertising is very effective for publicizing them. You know that the listeners live in the vicinity of your brand, and can attend your events.

At the same time, radio has a wider reach than some other modes of targeted ads. Radio ads can reach anyone in the region with interests related to your brand.

In summary, radio advertising can be incredibly beneficial to your business because of its wide reach with a targeted focus.

2. It Induces Cognitive Thinking

Watching television can be a passive experience. Same with scrolling through your phone. But really listening to a radio program requires active listening.

This engages the cognitive part of your brain.

Cognitive skills help you do things like think, learn, reason, and remember. You want listeners to be engaging in these activities when listening to your ad.

Active listening means that listeners are actually engaging with your advertisement. This does a few things that can be helpful for your brand.

First, it creates better retention. Even if listeners don’t immediately seek out your brand, they remember your advertisement. When they need a product or service like yours, they are more likely to seek you out, because they have heard of you.

For more information on how to make your advertisement memorable or unique, click here.

Second, listeners are more likely to think about your service or product and whether they need it. Even if it hadn’t occurred to them to seek out that service before, they might now.

Radio has traditionally been called the “Cinderella medium.” This is because when things go right, the results can be incredible.

One of the reasons it can be so incredible is that the radio can be heard from pretty much anywhere. Think about it: most people listen to the radio when they are in their cars, traveling from place to place.

This can be beneficial in its own right. If your target customers are listening to the radio while they are out running errands, they are already in the buying headspace. If they are thinking about shopping when they hear your ad, they are more likely to seek out your product or service.

3. It Can Bolster Your Online Presence

Radio as the “Cinderella medium” has never been truer than it is now.

In addition to listening to the radio in the car, you can now stream radio programs and stations on the internet.

Some people think the radio is outdated because many people don’t have traditional radios in their homes anymore. But they are wrong.

Even though many people don’t have a traditional radio anymore outside of their car, many people have a smartphone. And if you have a smartphone, you have radio access.

This is great news for online brands. When your ad plays via online streaming, it can be paired with an advertisement banner. When listeners want to know more about your product or service when they hear your advertisement, they can click on the banner. From there, they will be led to your product site.

This can help you make a sale, or even gain social media followers if you link your banner to an Instagram or Facebook page. Before long, you will be able to advertise to your target customers from multiple platforms.

It also allows your brand to engage with listeners in multiple mediums. By listening to the audio advertisement and then seeing your graphic banner, they are engaging two of their senses with your brand. This means that they are more likely to remember you.

4. It Personalizes Your Brand

Given the choice, consumers will always opt to support a brand that they have a personal connection with. Radio advertising gives you the chance to form that personal connection.

It gives them a chance to know you, and to know your voice. This is why it is helpful to have consistency amongst your ads in terms of whose voice the consumer hears.

It might be your voice, as the business owner, or it might be a voice actor, standing in. Either way, it gives your brand a personal touch. Before long, consumers feel like they know you.

By introducing a voice to your audience, it helps you create an identity for your brand. Consider producing your advertisement with professionals who can help you craft that identity for your target customer.

This is the best thing that could possibly happen to your business. Consumers are more likely to go with brands they trust. By offering up a human side to your brand, you are inviting them to trust you. 

We know by now that advertising is more effective when it engages emotions. By triggering memories or images or by telling a story, effective advertising can speak to people on a human level.

Radio advertising will allow you to do that with the sound of your voice. Never pass on an opportunity to connect emotionally with your audience.

5. It Maximizes Your ROI

Maximizing your ROI, or Return on Investment is crucial to any advertisement. Radio advertising helps you do this in a couple of different ways.

First, radio advertising can be a decently affordable way to get your message out there. Combined with the fact that you are almost definitely reaching your target audience, you are getting the most bang for your buck.

Secondly, the effectiveness of advertisements is maximized when they are repeated. Repetition will drastically affect your ROI. The more times a listener hears and engages with your advertisement, the more they are likely to remember it and act on it.

Repetition will drive home the point that your product or service is available and preferable to other similar services. This is also why it is productive to use a repeated tagline or phrase in your advertisement.

Thirdly, if your advertisement plays over online streaming, it is ultimately easier to track and measure your ROI. That’s because you get real-time results. This can help you figure out what works about your ad and what doesn’t.

Knowing how effective your ad is ultimately does two things for you. It tells you what you should change or keep the same for next time. As a result, it increases your ROI because you won’t make the same mistakes twice.

In this case, you are looking at radio advertising as a long-term investment. Your second ad will be better than your first, and your third will be better than your second.

If your radio ads are effective, you’ll want to keep producing them. Repetition over a long period of time will turn your voice and brand into a household name.

Radio Advertising Can Bolster Your Brand

Radio advertising may be one of the oldest forms of advertising, but it is just as relevant now as ever. Perhaps it is even more effective today, since the advent of online streaming. Radio advertising can bolster your brand by inducing cognitive thinking, adding personality to your brand, reaching your target audience, maximizing your online presence, and ultimately boosting your ROI.

To start planning your radio advertisement today, click here.

What Characterizes an Outstanding On-Air Broadcaster?

broadcaster

With all the different media options available, there is still something incredibly appealing to the radio. Radio is an intimate form of media that has been a staple of American homes for many generations

Have you ever dreamt about becoming a radio host? Have you ever wanted to be part of the great American radio show tradition?

Well, if you want to – then you have to have what it takes to be a great radio broadcaster.

Audio is an effective medium. Whether for entertaining, informing, or advertising it’s a great medium for reaching others.

But, it’s not as easy as it may look. Here’s what you need to know:

Be a Great Speaker

This may sound obvious, but being a great speaker is challenging. You might be the center of attention at the dinner table or a party, but that doesn’t mean you have a knack for broadcasting.

So how do you improve your speaking skills? We suggest practicing public speaking. While a broadcast might be by themselves in a studio, they are speaking to a large audience. Public speaking will teach you how to enunciate, persuade, entertain, and address a large audience.

You will also learn the importance of expanding your vocabulary. You’ll learn how to form your sentences to say as much as you can with a limited time frame.

Have a Great Personality

To be a great on-air personality, you need to think about what you want your style to be. Take a moment to think about famous talk show hosts – whether they are on the radio or television/video.

Do you want to be direct and matter of fact like Brian Lamb? Do you want to be confrontational like Joe Pyne? Easy-going like Bill Boggs or Dick Cavett? Or abrasive like Alex Jones?

Your on-air personality should be best-suited to what you are as a person. Your personality should be one that appeals to your listeners. The main theme, regardless of the personality you choose, is that you should be relatable.

Have a Sense of Curiosity

Regardless of what type of show you host, every broadcaster must have a sense of curiosity. If you are advertising a product, you must convey to the audience that you are interested in the product.

If you are telling a story or reporting the news, the listeners must be able to hear the interest in your voice. If you are interviewing someone, you should be curious about what they have to say.

You want to arouse an interest in your listeners. This can only happen if you show any interest in your subject.

You Must Know How to Listen

Being a broadcaster is not just about talking. You also have to give importance to listening. You can tell that a broadcaster is mediocre if they don’t listen to others. No one wants to listen to a broadcaster who only likes the sound of their own voice.

For example, when you are interviewing someone on the radio you want to make sure that you don’t constantly interrupt them. You want to make sure that you are actively listening to them. If you don’t have great follow-up questions and your interview doesn’t have a conversational style, your listeners will realize that you don’t give importance to listening.

Learn the Technical Aspects

While you may not need to ever handle the technical aspects of radio, it’s always important to understand them. Watch the sound engineers at work and ask them about what they specifically do.

You should be aware of the latest technologies so that you can adapt. You should know which are the best microphones and headphones for broadcasting audio.

If you ever decide to branch out into starting your own radio station or hosting a podcast, now is the time to learn the technical aspects.

Work Under Pressure

Any job in the media is demanding and requires you to work under pressure. This is an important skill to cultivate if you wish to work as a radio broadcaster.

You will have to know how to complete an interview or a news report in a short amount of time. If you are asked to advertise a product, you’ll have 60 seconds maximum – sometimes you’ll barely have 30 seconds.

If you have to report the news, you may only have a moment’s notice to broadcast breaking news.

The time limit and urgency are what makes the radio industry exciting. It’s also what adds tremendous pressure on broadcasters. Make sure you cultivate the habit of being calm and professional under pressure.

Work Well With Others

While you may be the solo host of your own radio show, working as a broadcaster is not a one-man job. It is a team effort and you will have to learn to work well with others.

Make sure you know how to work alongside your producer, sound engineer, etc. If you have a co-host or are interviewing a guest, you will need to know how to accommodate them.

Be Accurate

When you say something on the air it has the potential to be heard by millions of people. You want to make sure that you are responsible for what you broadcast. If you are broadcasting the news, make sure that you don’t twist the facts.

You want to make sure that you adhere to any guidelines or protocols that your producer has decided. You want to make sure that you maintain a high level of integrity.

Respect Your Audience

Finally, as you continue broadcasting you will build a loyal audience. It’s imperative to always show them respect.

Your audience is your lifeline. Make sure that you treat them with respect and that you always keep them in mind while broadcasting. They are always going to expect a high-quality broadcast. If you are consistent with your quality, the audience will remain loyal and will continue to grow.

Become an On-Air Broadcaster

Now that you know how to be a successful on-air broadcaster, we wish you good luck as you start your journey. Follow the steps in this guide and you are sure to have a successful career in radio.

Part of being a successful broadcaster is to have a great brand. Check out what we offer to see how we can help you with your brand.

How to Develop an Audio Marketing Strategy in 2020

audio marketing

With so many different mediums out there, it is hard to identify and plan the right marketing strategy for your business. What you have to remember about marketing strategies is that the ultimate goal is to connect with your target audience. 

While audio marketing was briefly eclipsed by visual media, the number of individuals engaging with audio media like podcasts and the radio is actually on the rise!

Many businesses have been out of the audio marketing game for a while now, which is why we are going to show you how to develop a successful audio marketing strategy in 2020!

Why You Should Choose Audio Marketing

Audio Marketing is a great tool to connect to your target audience! In recent years, it is shown that audio content has the highest retention rate. 

The nature of audio allows listeners to engage at any time, unlike visual or written content. Millions of people are now listening to the radio on their way to work, streaming music or books in the background at work, or listening to a podcast while they work out at the gym. 

Due to the fact that most audio content can be enjoyed while a person is doing another specific activity, many listeners tune in to their favorite audio media for a dedicated amount of time. 

Think about it, you can’t read a book on your drive to work, but you can listen to one. You can’t dedicate time to watch an hour-long TV episode if you are on a run outdoors, but you can definitely tune into a podcast! 

People in all age ranges, genders, socioeconomic status and backgrounds are listening to audio media! This is a market that still is under-saturated and any business can weave their audio marketing content seamlessly into it. Now is your chance to try it out!

Identify Your Target Audience

The most important aspect of any marketing strategy is to identify your target audience. Many businesses make the mistake of not being specific enough in regards to this!

A business that sells active wear might say, “We want to target women that go to the gym.” This leaves out a ton of factors like location, age, and socioeconomic status. All of these factors play a huge role in how you can effectively advertise to your specific audience!

Your target audience is going to affect the type of audio content you put out, and where you are hosting your audio content!

If you are advertising a product towards the elderly, it may not make sense to host your audio content on Spotify or YouTube, because the likelihood of it reaching your audience is slim. In contrast, if you want to market a product to teenagers, you might not want to use the radio to market to them because individuals that don’t drive usually do not listen to the radio. 

Take time to identify your target audience and then do background research on where your target audience is consuming their audio content!

Different Types of Audio Content

Once you select your target audience, you will be able to choose the type of audio marketing you want to create and where you want to host your content!

There are a few different types of audio marketing you can try out:

  • Podcasts
  • Audio Commercials
  • Audio books
  • Voice Search

Most people are familiar with audio commercials already, however, this type of marketing strategy can cost a lot of money if you want your commercial to air on a big radio station during the prime listening time! 

However, you can try creating a podcast about the product or service you are trying to market by creating your own material and hosting your content for free! 

Whatever type of medium you choose, there are several things to keep in mind to make sure your target audience is hooked to the content your producing and driven to check out more information about your business. 

1) Build the Sound of Your Brand

We can still recall radio jingles or funny commercials years later! Companies that are successful at marketing take time to build the sound of their brand so that when their content is consumed, the listener knows exactly who that content belongs to! 

Take time to choose the voice behind your audio marketing plan and create a hook that draws your listener in every time. 

2) Provide a Service or Offer Help

The second thing to keep in mind when creating your audio marketing strategy is that your audio content needs to address a need! If your commercial is just explaining a product without explaining how it can help improve the lives of your listeners, you can guarantee that no one is actually listening. 

The purpose of the product or service you are trying to promote needs to be crystal clear. Following up on this, the listener needs to know where they can go to learn more about the product or service if they want! 

3) Captivate Your Audience

The last thing you need to remember is to dazzle your audience through your audio marketing strategy! There are millions upon millions of pieces of content that an individual can choose to listen to. 

What makes your content different? Is it hilarious to listen to? Is it the most informative? Is it shocking? Does it build upon itself? 

Choose an angle and stick to it! The growing number of podcast and podcast listeners show us that people are truly interested in all sorts of things! Make what you have to say engaging and you will surely be able to connect to your target audience. 

Don’t Wait, Start Your Audio Marketing Strategy Today!

Now you can see that audio marketing is more relevant than ever before in our society. While some strategies like radio commercials do still cost a pretty penny, there are lots of other affordable avenues to try to make sure your company’s voice is heard!

Narrowing down your target audience and choosing a platform to market your business are the first steps to success. To really drive this strategy home, remember to create a sound brand, share your purpose, and enthrall your audience! 

Have more questions on the best audio marketing strategy for 2020 and how to get started? Feel free to contact us! We’re here to help you succeed. 

7 Simple Ways to Make Killer Radio Commercials

radio commercials

The startling fact is that 92% of Americans still listen to AM/FM radio, despite the plethora of digital platforms available. That’s higher than TV viewership (87%), or the use of PCs (54%), smartphones (81%), and tablets (46%). Most people use the radio to listen to the latest music, popular talk shows, or their favorite sports broadcast. From a marketing perspective, radio is still an effective way to reach your target audience. We’ve compiled a list of nine simple ways to make the most of those radio commercials, lasting a mere 10, 15, 30, or 60 seconds. Check it out!

1. Create Attention-Grabbing Radio Commercials

With a 60-second commercial, you’ve got 15 seconds at most to grab the attention of your audience. Your ad needs to answer the following listener questions quickly:

  • What’s in it for me?
  • How will this product/service make my life or the life of someone I know easier, happier, or better?

Remember that most people are not interested in the detail of innovative products. They simply want to know if it is better in some way than what came before. Once they get that message, you’re half-way to winning them over as a buyer, because they will listen more attentively to the rest of the ad.

2. Good Sound Quality

Unlike television or online ads, radio has no visuals. This means that it’s critical to get the sound production right. Poor sound quality, annoying voices, and other glitches will not endear the audience to your product or service! While the wording of your advert is important, how it is heard is paramount.

The best adverts are those with a clever script that sounds good too. Employing professional sound technicians, and voice-over professionals, is well worth the investment. It could be the difference between an ad campaign bombing out or being a run-away success.

3. Invest In a Good Jingle

Jingles are one area where opinion is divided. That’s because we have all heard bad, corny jingles.

The hallmark of a good, catchy jingle is that it can easily be sung by a wide range of people. Besides that, the lyrics of the jingle need to be clearly enunciated and include the name of your brand or product. Jingles can also include useful information, such as a telephone number or web address.

It is a well-known fact that people find it easier to remember songs than plain old prose. If you want your product ad to feature a brand jingle that millions of people will remember for decades, then invest in a good jingle.

Just as with the rest of your advertising copy, your jingle should include a call to action. Both the jingle and your copy provide ample opportunity for creativity. Use it!

4. Get The Right Time Slots

Most radio stations have a scale of fees depending on the time slots you choose for the airing of your radio commercials. Don’t fall for the trap of selecting the cheapest time slots.  They are the cheapest because very few people are listening during those hours.

You need to tailor your time slot to your target audience. For example, if you manufacture breakfast cereals for children, the best time to air the radio commercial is at breakfast time, when kids will be listening. They will nag their parents to purchase the cereal in question they next time they are at the supermarket!

Similarly, advertising sportswear is best done in the commercial breaks during a sports broadcast. Advertising sportswear at breakfast time, or breakfast cereals during the live broadcast of an evening basketball match just doesn’t make sense.

As well as tailoring your time slot to the most appropriate target audience, you also need to tailor your budget to produce a full-length ad campaign.

5. Get Your Ad Frequency Right

You need to build recognition of your brand or product.  It is said that someone has to hear an ad three times before they recognize it.  Most advertising agencies will recommend that your ad is aired 21 times per week for 52 weeks in succession so that you gain optimum frequency and recognition.

Too many ads in one time period and your listeners will get sick of hearing your ad and zone out.  Too infrequent an airing and no one will even remember you advertised in the first place.

Rely on your public relations and marketing consultants to interpret your marketing data for you, and recommend the best way forward on the frequency of your radio commercials.

6. Keep Them Nibbling At Those Sound Bites

Everything is a process. Once your listening audience gets used to hearing (and liking) your radio advertisements, you need to start an ancillary or follow-up campaign.

Big-brand advertising is very careful about phasing out the old ad and introducing the new one. You don’t want to upset the listeners too much by suddenly depriving them of their favorite ad!

7. Get the Right Radio Station

Consider the location of your business and the reach of your product based on reliable target audience data. For instance, there is no point in creating a radio advertisement that’s played exclusively on East Coast radio stations when your business and most of your customers are on the West Coast. There are three things you can do to find what you need. 

Search for US radio stations by State. Alternatively, check out surveys to find out which are the most popular radio stations.

The third option, and perhaps most viable if you want to link your radio commercials to your other online platforms, is to choose to sponsor a local online radio station.

Online radio broadcasting has the advantage of being both national and global in its reach and can be a particularly good choice for those of you who have niche products or services. 

Engage Marketing Consultants

A PR company like Killer Spots Agency knows what they are doing.  We have made it our business to develop in-depth knowledge of all aspects of audio production.

As an award-winning marketing company, we invite you to listen to the countless samples of radio commercials that we have produced  Contact us via live chat or get a quick quote via virtually any page on our website.  We can certainly point you in the right direction, and soon have you coming out sounding like a symphony!

10 Commandments for Crafting Compelling Radio Ads

radio ads

Radio is an old-fashioned medium that has both retained and grown its reach. Public station revenue has leaped from 624 million to 900 million in the last ten years. The popularity of online streaming means the numbers will only increase.

The radio audience is a devoted one, listening for an average of 106 minutes a day, but the vast majority of this time is spent during commutes.

How can a business make sure that no one changes the channel while their ad is on? A carefully crafted message is all it takes.

Discover the 10 commandments for crafting compelling radio ads below. Obey them to create something listeners will never be able to forget.

First Commandment: Thou Shalt Choose the Right Person for Thy Radio Ads

Unlike television, radio doesn’t have the benefit of visual elements to add interest. It’s all about the audio, which makes choosing the correct people to voice the ad an essential part of the planning process.

It is common for a company leader to provide the voice talent, and doing so has numerous benefits. It creates a sense of authority while increasing trust. 

At the same time, it can be dangerous not to hire a professional. There is a risk of ending up with dialogue that sounds artificial or fails to portray a character effectively.

In the end, deciding who should voice a radio ad is one of the most important choices to make. It is also dependent on other elements such as content and audience. 

Second Commandment: Thou Shalt Record Thy Audio Well

The best radio ad in the world will be ineffective if the sound quality is subpar. A poorly recorded ad will quickly make listeners change the channel.

Using effective equipment and taking your time are two ways to ensure the ad sounds great. Check out our article on best audio recording practices for more tips.

Third Commandment: Thou Shalt Use Appropriate Timing

Time is at a premium in the oversaturated world of radio advertising. This doesn’t just mean to keep ads short; it’s also important to consider when to air it.

Radio stations measure success in terms of listener numbers like television stations measure viewers. However, a radio listener must listen for at least 5 minutes in a quarter-hour period for their contribution to count. An effective radio ad must air during a time when the station’s audience will be listening. It must also keep them from changing the channel for as long as possible.

Fourth Commandment: Thou Shalt Elicit the Necessary Emotion

Many of the most effective ads in any format work so well because they manage to make their audience feel something. Touching the heart of an audience is wonderful, but it is also important to create the correct emotion. Determine what listeners should feel before creating the ad or risk sending the wrong message. 

Fifth Commandment: Thou Shalt Cater to Thy Audience

Increasing listener numbers is great, but it is also important to ensure that the right people are tuning in. Getting someone with no interest in the product or service being advertised to listen is not a great way to encourage sales.

The first step of catering any message is to determine who the audience is. This is done by analyzing their demographics, habits, and other identifying factors. The next is to find out what they want or need, which is as simple as sending out a survey or poll. Lastly, figure out how to make an ad that speaks to both these elements and is relevant to the right people.

Sixth Commandment: Thou Shalt Mention the Product (But Not Too Often)

A commercial that doesn’t showcase a product or service won’t translate into profit. It’s important to clearly indicate what is being offered but not overwhelm listeners with branding.

A study on radio commercial retention showed that while mentioning a brand does help listeners remember an ad, doing so too often can have the opposite effect. Work the product naturally into the message of the ad to achieve the right balance.  

Seventh Commandment: Thou Shalt Maintain Attention

There are thousands of radio stations available to listeners today. Keeping them from tuning to another channel while a radio ad is on is a matter of holding their attention.

There are numerous effective methods to keep listeners. An attention-grabbing opening line, relevant message, appropriate emotional appeal, limited-time offer, and other hallmarks of effective content will help ensure potential customers don’t touch that dial.

Eighth Commandment: Thou Shalt Provide an Enticing Offer

Radio commercials usually only have 15-30 seconds to grab a listener’s attention and prevent them from turning the channel. It’s essential to get to the point quickly and show listeners why they should care about the message being conveyed.

A sale or special promotion is a great time to run radio ads, as they entice customers to buy before the offer goes away. However, there are other ways to turn listeners into customers, such as appealing to their emotions or telling an entertaining story in the ad. 

Ninth Commandment: Thou Shalt Use the Correct Format

Researchers found that, while the old-fashioned announcer-style ad is the most common, a more relatable, slice-of-life story is usually more effective. Just like a picture looks better in a beautiful frame, a radio ad becomes more effective when it uses the appropriate format.

Tenth Commandment: Thou Shalt Write Effective Scripts 

All the commandments come together when it is time to create a script for a radio ad. A script serves as the blueprint for a story, and if it doesn’t convey the right message, the ad will fail.

See an example of how to format radio commercial scripts and more tips on how to write them effectively here.

Are You Ready to Start?

Has learning how to make a radio ad inspired you to use this effective outreach method in your own business? Ready to air radio ads that increase your profit and customer base?

Then check out our radio advertising services and contact us to request a quote today!

Reach of Radio

reach of radio

Radio is a timeless source of entertainment for all ages in the United States. As such, radio is also an important vehicle for advertising. Earlier I’ve written about some tips to get your message to the largest amount of people. Now I’m going to write about the commercial reach of radio.

Who’s Listening?:

Radio reaches more than 243 million American adults each month. That’s about 96% of US adults listening to the radio at some point each month. Every week, 94% of adults listen to the radio. This has been true for a number of the past few years and is comparable to the 94.9% that listen to the radio in 2001. These numbers haven’t changed much over the years, even with the introduction of iPods and music streaming. So it’s reasonable to assume they won’t change anytime soon.

If we break it down further by generations, we can see some of the specifics of demographics. 95% of Millennials listen every month. 97% of Gen Xers and 98% of Boomers listen to the radio weekly. 44.6 million Hispanics and 34.5 million African Americans listen to the radio each month (96% and 97% respectively). Radio reaches most Americans regularly, whether it be driving in the car, listening at work, or having it on at home.

According to reports, those who are more educated and have a higher annual income, listen to radio more often. As you move from not working to working, levels of education, and average annual income, the higher percentage of people listen. For example, 71% of working people in the survey listen to the radio, compared to 61% of non-workers. 74% of degree-holding people listen to the radio, 62% of those with some college, and 56% of those with no college.  On the salary side of things, people who make less than 25k have about a 50% listening rate in that demographic. 61% of those in the 25k-$44.9k range, 68% of those in the $45k-$74.9k range, and 75% of those in the $75k+ range.

Why do people listen to the radio?

Finding why people listen to the radio is helpful information when you begin crafting your ad campaign, but the answers tend to be less than helpful. Targeting a popular DJ is always a good shout for a consistent audience but surveys show that only about 24.5% of people listen to the radio for its DJs or show hosts. Most people listen to the radio because it’s free and convenient to listen to in the car. About 57% of the 18-34 demographic listen because it is free. That number rises as you get older with 61% and 66% in the 35-54 and 55-75 age groups respectively.  There’s no single reason why people listen to the radio. 200 million people listen to the radio every month for a variety of reasons. Here’s the full list from Deloitte.

Conclusion:

TV and Newspapers have struggled in recent years, but Radio has stayed relatively consistent. The TV has seen a 50% decline in viewership from the younger demographics in the past few years, and newspapers as a medium are struggling. Radio doesn’t have these problems, and it’s just as relevant now as it was 20 years ago. That means it’s still a viable platform for advertising and marketing. Any more questions? You can contact us here!

Radio Marketing: The Pros and Cons

radio marketing

Radio is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you are thinking of ways to advertise your business. Especially in these days of social media and Facebook pages, radio might seem old-school. But radio marketing can be an important part of your media strategy. To do it right, you need to know the pros and cons.

Pros of Radio Marketing

The primary advantage of radio marketing is that it allows a brand and business to target a specific core demographic. Because radio stations have different formats, you can reach a specific group of consumers to raise brand awareness.

It’s affordable

If a brand and business is willing to advertise during low listener times, then getting their advertisement on the radio can be highly affordable. This is why it is so important to explore when a core demographic listens to the radio. The cost per customer, if core demographics can be targeted during off-times, can be incredibly low.

Reach

Radio doesn’t just reach a large number of consumers specifically, it reaches 93% of Americans, and radio is actually the number one in mass reach for adults 18 to 34. It also reaches people throughout the day, even when they’re at work, reaching 41% of listeners between 3 and 7 pm.

Repetition

In the world of radio, an advertisement can be repeated every few minutes and still feel fresh to the listener. If you imagine radio listeners are always spinning the dial and skipping commercials, you’re simply wrong. Nearly two-thirds of all radio listening occasions involve staying on the same station, and that jumps to a hearty 90% when looking at listeners who are loyal to the station. Coupled with the amount of time regularly spent with radio, that means listeners are sure to hear your ad sets. That also means it’s easy to build frequency and help lift brand and ad recall.

Target to a radio audience

There’s a lot of geographic, demographic and psychographic data out there to help brands reach the right audience, especially thanks to their loyalty. This means you can not only select the right station, but you can also select the right daypart based on the genres and shows they love most.

Cons

The primary disadvantage of radio marketing is that the information contained within the ad can be difficult to remember. There is no way for a potential customer to store a phone number, address, or brand name for later like they can with emails, print ads, and other forms of direct marketing. You have to rely on the consumer’s memory to write down key information.

No visual appeal

Humans are incredibly visual creatures, and that can help strengthen the impact advertising has on consumer recall. It can be easier to express certain complex ideas, like how to use a new kind of product, by showing the audience. That being said, the theater of the mind is still incredibly powerful. The right creative can paint a vivid picture in a listener’s mind.

Poor attentiveness and Fragmentation

A primary drawback to radio marketing is that people listening to it are often engaged in other activities, such as driving. Therefore, you don’t get the same level of attention with your ad as you might through other media. It can take many impressions before a listener actually hears your message.

Key times can get expensive

Many brands and businesses like to target key commuting times in their communities for their advertising. This creates a high demand for those times, which allows them to charge more for every spot. The best times often go to those who are willing to pay the most.

Have any questions about radio marketing? Contact us here.