It is a known fact that advertising on mass media in radio and television can be effective if one knows how and when to do so. There are certain elements that make planning of these campaigns all the more important and significant for radio advertising to be effective.
Advertising in Radio requires good planning to be effective
Below are some of the guidelines that you could adopt in using radio.
Planning is the starting point
Before you start launching your radio advertisements, the first thing that you need to do is plan. There is no better way to fail than not to plan because it means that you do not have a system in place. Planning is a lot of work and involves a lot of people. It will be best if you have a team of professionals to help you with this.
The easiest way is to engage an agency to help you although you can actually do it yourself. The agency will have the expertise and the pricing of all the different spots in the respective radio stations to help you.
Planning involves not only the timeline but in terms of frequency and other related issues as well. Once you have a plan in place, you can then execute
Make a sound decision
At this stage, it is very important to make firm decisions. To begin with, you have to decide what you want to achieve. The objective is very important because it will determine the next decisions. This includes issues like your target market, customers and such. Decision making includes determining which radio station to place your ads in.
Malaysia has a very vibrant radio industry which is made up of Free-To-Air (FTA) and format radio stations. The former encompasses the likes of Trax FM (formerly Radio 4), Red FM and Fly FM while the latter includes those operated by AMP like Hitz.FM, Mix.FM, Lite FM and such. This makes knowing beforehand who your target audience are very important because each radio station caters to a different set of listeners.
Budget and frequency
This is a tricky situation because you need to work around your budget. Take note that radio advertising differs from television because there are no visuals involved. Listeners can only imagine and visualize your ads which means that the more times your ad is aired, the more lasting they remain in memory.
Be creative and innovate
Since there are no visuals in radio advertising, you will need to have an extremely creative message which leaves a lasting impression on the listeners. The more creative and unique your ad is, the higher the impact will be for the listeners and your target audience.
What you want to achieve in your radio ads is to have your
audience visualize together with what you are speaking about. In that short 20or 30-second spot, you want to at least invoke the interest with yourlisteners, to set a connection and ultimately to achieve better brand recall.
What would then make a good radio ad? Below are some pointers.
The opening – On average, every hour on the radio has about 15minutes of advertising (both direct and indirect). If every ad goes for about30 seconds, that would constitute about 30 ads being aired hourly. So what makes your ad stand out? If you do not want to get lost within that crowd, your opening must grab as much attention as possible. Remember that most of your listeners could be driving or walking so they just want to listen. Your ad must capture their attention enough like how your product is going to solve their life’s problems, etc.
The connection – You want your ad to have genuine and authentic communication with your listeners. Since your time is limited, you should not aim to target everyone tuning in. What you can do here is to establish a connection to a certain group who could well be needing your product.
Always talk about value and that you are providing more that will make their lives better.
The Solution – These days, marketing is all about finding answers to questions that your audience might have. When your time is limited, don’t go on and about how good your product is. It might sound like you are bragging. You want your customers to know that your product is good for them.
Talk about it from their perspectives, not yours.
The Offer – Within that 30-second timeframe, you need to have an offer on the table that your customers might think ‘This is just what I needed!’. Now, you need to close the deal. Use Call-to-Action (CTA) sparingly and make sure you do this with the easiest of methods. They might not have a pen and paper, so there is no way they can remember your telephone number. Use a short-code. Your offer must be irresistible and one they cannot refuse.
The Style – In your radio ads, always practice simplicity.
You could have done wonders grabbing the attention of your listeners but they will get distracted as easily. So, what you want is to be direct in your ad with very straightforward CTAs. Don’t give out too many options. They can visit your website, download your app or text to your shortcode. Either one will do.
Once you confuse them, you risk losing them forever.
The Results – Once your ads are out there, you should track them to see how well they have achieved your marketing objectives. With digital radio today, this is commonly offered by the media owners and that should give you enough indication as to whether your radio ads are delivering the results that you have set them out to do.
