3 Things You Should Know About Radio Advertising

With Radio advertising still being one of the strongest mediums out there for connecting with your customers. We want you to get more from your next campaign, so we’ve compiled a list of some things you need to know about radio advertising.

1. Voice Overs Matter

In my blog about how to reduce radio advertising costs, I suggested voicing your own radio advertisement as a way to reduce costs. However in an ideal situation, it’s best to get a professional voice over artist – and here’s why:

Radio advertising is aired in blocks in-between songs, similarly to how TV advertisements are aired in-between clips of shows. Although you probably know this, it’s worth mentioning because it lays the foundation for how listeners (or viewers) hear ads. They see them one after the other in groups. They are all in competition with one another – and 99% of radio ads are voiced by professionals.

If you’re one of the few that have a bad voice over, it will get tuned out. This is because when people listen to the radio, they are normally doing other things at the same time (driving, working etc). They are already distracted, so they need the most compelling voice possible to grab their attention.

2. Targeting Is Very Important

Everyone knows that a bad radio ad won’t get any traction, no matter how many people it’s played to. However, even a great radio ad can be wasted if it gets played to the wrong people. This is something you should keep in mind when you’re trying to plan the media schedule, because you might be tempted to go for lower-cost options that promise a wide coverage for your ad.

I urge you not to go for options that seem too good to be true price-wise, because often they are. For example, you might be promised slots on a radio station that claims to receive 50% of your target audience – only to discover that your ad will be played in the hours of the day where very few of them actually listen. Find out all of the finer details of scheduling before you begin. Check out our blog “A Breakdown Of Advertising On Perth Radio Stations” for more.

You should opt for timeslots that will reach your target audience. Normally you can offset some of the cost by signing up for 6-12 month contract. Radio stations will offer discounts to companies that promise to do longer contracts up front.

3. Reach vs Frequency = Branding vs Tactical

One of the common questions that almost every advertiser wonders while creating their radio advertising campaign, is whether to opt for reach or frequency. ‘Reach’ refers to how many people an ad will be hear by and ‘frequency’ refers to how many times the ad will be heard by the same people.

Unless you have a godly budget, it’s impossible to do both. So which one you choose will be determined by whether you want your campaign to be branding or tactically focused.

For branding campaigns, the ads need to get more frequency. This is because branding is about getting a customer to believe something about a product or service. Changing people’s beliefs requires more than just being told a contrary opinion once, so frequency is the way to go.

For tactical campaigns, for example a special weekend sale, reach is where it’s at. This is because there isn’t much of a belief shift that needs to happen in order for the customer to be driven to action. If an ad is giving out a bunch of prices for products, people don’t need to hear it many times to make a decision. Either they want to pay those prices or they don’t.

If you would like a more in-depth look at radio advertising in Perth, download our free checklist below: