In our 20+ years in radio advertising, we've heard these comments a few times. But we've always found it hard to believe that a medium which reaches just about everybody - "wouldn't work." After all, most people spend hours with the radio every day. For most of us, it's our first and fastest source of news, weather, and entertainment. Across the dial and on most every station, radio commercials abound. They must be working for somebody. And if they can work for somebody, they should be able to work for anybody.
The thing is, advertising is an inexact science. It's impossible to guarantee success and remain ethical. Because, quite honestly, it's somewhat of a gamble.
There are, however, steps that we can take to improve your odds of success. Certain elements which, if they're present, can increase the likelihood of a successful campaign and decrease the likelihood of "I tried radio but it didn't work." We call these the...
Frequency
People are bombarded by thousands of advertising messages every day. They’ll forget if you don’t remind them. Nag them!
Consistency
Keep Nagging Them. “Like A Good Neighbor…” “The Best Part Of Waking Up…” “You’re In Good Hands…” All are slogans that have carved their respective companies permanently into the American psyche. It didn’t happen overnight. Neither will it for you. So think in terms of the long haul. Be patient.
Creativity
Stand Out! Be Different! Be Good! Be interesting! Creativity allows you to punch through the advertising clutter and make a personal connection with your target market.
Sometimes that's the tricky part - getting it to even be heard. Don't you, whether at work, or at a party, or watching TV, or listening to the radio, tune out uninteresting stuff? So do your target customers. After all, your message is competing with thousands of others in the battle for attention. It will lose that battle if it isn't the very best it can be.
And why shouldn’t it be? If you're going to spend thousands of dollars of your valuable dollars buying air time - to try to get the attention of people you want to do business with, shouldn’t you do something special with that air time? Shouldn't your short visit to your target customer's attention span leave that person wanting to do business with you? The next time you see or hear an ad ask yourself "Do the ads leave you with the desire to do business with that company? Or do they leave you with the desire to change stations?"
Maybe it's not radio that doesn't work after all. Maybe it's the ad that isn't working, because it's uninteresting, or annoying, or just plain dumb. Maybe, it's just not being heard.
CreativeCom specializes in creative ad campaigns that get turned up – not off. Our ad campaigns are different - and they're good. Many have won local, national, even international acclaim. If your company’s ads are beginning to sound just like everybody else’s, and you want something that will set you apart from your competition, call us and let’s talk. We’ll even share with you a little bonus secret: why it’s not always a good idea to buy what the local radio station is selling. And why this simple oversight can make your advertising far less effective than it should be.
