Radio Advertising
Radio Advertising Mistakes to Avoid
It's a shame to spend money on radio advertising and receive a poor return for your efforts. But unfortunately, that's what thousands of businesses do everyday. Avoid these common radio advertising mistakes and get on the path to radio advertising success.
Although radio advertising isn't quite as popular as it once was, it's still a potentially effective medium for reaching your customer base.
Home-based listening is down, but millions of listeners still tune into their favorite stations as they drive to work or sit at their desk. Some even take advantage of online streaming to enjoy their station's program lineup in their workspace.
One of the reasons radio advertising is effective is because it has the unique ability to reach a targeted, local consumer base. Each station appeals to a different type of local listener, creating a ready-made platform for reaching a segmented audience with your messaging. As a small business owner, you need to do everything you can to make sure your radio ads connect with your customers – and that starts by avoiding a handful of common radio advertising mistakes.
Wrong connection method.
One of the key elements of radio advertising is giving your listeners a way to connect with your business. Many advertisers make the mistake of focusing on their phone number instead of directing the listener to a website or store location. Since most listeners are occupied with driving or working, a phone number is probably the worst way to invite them to connect.
Complex pricing.Radio listeners tune out ads that describe complex pricing schemes or multiple price levels. Across the board, ads that feature numbers are less effective than ones that focus on conversational vocabulary.
Poor directions.It's not uncommon for radio ads to give listeners directions to their store or retail location. Ineffective ads waste airtime on complicated directions rather than giving a simple location description or directing the listener to a website with more detailed directions.
Unoriginal content.Radio ads sometimes have a reputation for being bland, trite and unoriginal. Listeners loathe ads that contain overused phrases and marketing messages. "Our prices can't be beat", "best prices in town" and other clichés don't make for effective ad content. Focus on creating ads that describe your brand and your product in original terms.
Response barriers.
The most effective radio ads make it easy for listeners to respond. For example, although it might be helpful to give a discount to listeners who mention your ad, the additional hoop they have to jump through to receive the discount is a disincentive for a positive response.
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs
Conversation Board
We greatly appreciate any advice you can provide on this topic. Please contribute your insights on this topic so others can benefit.