Radio Advertising Facts

Tag: sales

  • 12 Causes of Advertising Failure

    12 Causes of Advertising Failure

    1) The desire for instant gratification. The ad which creates sufficient urgency to cause people to respond immediately is also the ad most likely to be forgotten immediately following the “expiration” of the offer. Such ads are of little use in establishing an identity for the advertiser in the mind of the consumer.

    2)  Attempting to reach more people than the budget will allow. For a “media mix” to be effective, each element in the mix must have sufficient repetition to establish “retention” in the mind of the prospect. Too often, however, the result of a media mix is too much reach, not enough frequency. Will you reach 100% of the people and convince them 10% of the way? Or will you reach 10% of the people and convince them 100% of the way? The cost is the same.

    3)  Assuming the business owner knows best. The business owner is uniquely unqualified to see his company or his product objectively. He is on the inside, looking out, trying to describe himself to a person on the outside looking in. It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle. Too much product knowledge causes the business owner to answer questions that no one is asking. This makes for extremely ineffective advertising.

    4)  Unsubstantiated claims such as, “Highest quality at the lowest price. Advertisers will often have what the customer wants, but fail to offer any evidence. A cliché is nothing less than as unsubstantiated claim to the public is tired of hearing. You must prove what you say in every ad. The prospect will not make a new decision about your product until you have given him new information and a new perspective. Do your ads supply new information? Do they provide a new perspective? If not, prepare to be disappointed with the results.

    5)  Improper use of passive media. Non-intrusive media, such as newspaper and yellow pages, require the use of a reticular activator (such as a photo or illustration) because passive media tends to reach only those buyers who are actively in the market for the product. Passive media is very poor at reaching prospects prior to their need, which means it is extremely difficult for passive media to create a predisposition toward your company. With patience, the consistent use of intrusive media (such as radio and television) will win the heart of the customer before he is in the market for the product.

    6)  Creating ads instead of campaigns.  It is foolish to believe a single ad can ever tell the entire story.  The most effective, persuasive and memorable ads are those most like a rhinoceros. They will each make a single point very powerfully.  An advertiser with seventeen different things to say should commit to a campaign of at least seventeen different ads, with each ad being given sufficient repetition to accomplish retention in the mind of the prospect.

    7)  Obedience to unwritten rules.   For some insane reason, advertisers want their ads to look and sound like ads.  Why is this?

    8)  Late week schedules.  Advertisers justify their unreasonable focus on Thursday and Friday advertising with the statement, “We need to reach the customer just before he goes shopping.” Why do these advertisers choose to compete for the prospect’s attention each Thursday and Friday when they can have a nice, quiet chat all alone with the prospect each Sunday, Monday and Tuesday?

    9)  Overconfidence in qualitative targeting.  The importance of qualitative data has been grossly overestimated by many advertisers and media professionals.  In reality, Saying The Wrong Thing has killed far more ad campaigns than Reaching The Wrong People.  It is amazing how many people become “the right people,” when you are saying the right thing.

    10)  Event driven marketing.  A special event should be judged only by its ability to help you more clearly define your market position and substantiate your claims.  If one percent of the people who hear your ad for a special event actually choose to come, you will be in desperate need of a traffic cop and a bus to shuttle people from remote parking lots.  Yet your real investment will be in the 99% who did not come to the event!  What did your ad say to them?

    11)  Great production without great copy.  Too many ads today are creative without being persuasive.  “Slick, clever, funny, creative, and different”, are poor substitutes for, “informative, believable, memorable and persuasive.”

    12)  Confusing “response” with “results.”   The goal of advertising is to create a clear awareness of your company and its Unique Selling Proposition.   Unfortunately, most advertisers evaluate their ads by the comments they hear from the people around them.  The slickest, clearest, funniest, most creative and most different ads are the ones most likely to generate these comments.  See the problem?  When we confuse “response” with “results” we create “attention getting ads” which say absolutely nothing.

    Article Compliments of Roy H. Williams Marketing in Austin, Texas. 

  • 10 Good Reasons to Advertise on Radio

    10 Good Reasons to Advertise on Radio

    If you’re going to advertise (and you should), it makes sense to spend your advertising money where you get the most results… Radio!

    Here are ten reasons why radio is your best choice (courtesy of the Radio Advertising Bureau).

    1) Radio sells with immediacy.

    Research proves that radio regularly reaches consumers within two hours of their largest purchase of the day.Can there be a better time to reach customers than on their car radio while they are driving to do today’s shopping?

    2) Radio sells everywhere.

    Radio is the only true mobile medium. In the car, at work, and at play, radio is there…the companion and the advertising force your customers take with them wherever they go.

    3) Radio sells with intimacy.

    In your personal life, when you have something very important to communicate to someone, which would you prefer – to show them a picture, to write to them, or to talk with the intimacy and emotion of the human voice?Radio sells with intimacy.

    4) Radio stars in the theater of the mind.

    Want a 100-piece symphony orchestra in your ad, an elephant, a chorus, a laughing child, a love song?With word pictures and emotion-evoking sounds, radio’s theatre of the mind stimulates the most emotion-filled pictures the mind can comprehend.

    5) Radio escapes advertising’s clutter.

    Today’s newspapers average 2/3 ad copy to 1/3 editorial copy. TV spends about 1/3 of its time on advertising. Today’s radio, at about 10 minutes of advertising per hour, devotes less than 1/5 of its time to ads.Radio is the uncluttered medium.

    6) Radio is the cost effective medium.

    Newspaper rates are up (even though circulation is down). TV ad rates are up (even though viewership is down).Radio advertising costs grew less than any other major form of advertising.

    7) Reach is nice, but frequency sells.

    Newspaper and TV are reach media – they reach varying numbers of people. Psychologists tell us that consumers need to be exposed to an advertising message at least three times before it begins to penetrate. Most local businesses cannot afford the necessary three-times-plus frequency that effective advertising demands – except on radio. Radio is the reach and frequency medium you can afford.

    8) Radio’s targeted advertising sells.

    Radio’s variety of formats allows you to pinpoint your advertising on the station or stations that best match your customer’s interests. You cannot pinpoint advertising in the broad-reach, scattershot newspaper and TV media forms. Radio’s unique targeting ability saves you money.

    9) You’re always on the front page with radio.

    With radio advertising you are front and center in the listener’s attention span when your ad is on the air. You’re never buried on page 42 and you’re never surrounded by your competitor’s ads. With radio, you are always on the front page.

    10) Radio is an active medium in an active society.

    Passive forms of advertising simply list merchandise or tell you where a product is available. Radio is an active medium capable of stirring emotion, creating demand, and selling your product or service. Today’s hotly competitive marketplace demands an active medium. That’s radio!

  • 10 Reasons to Advertise

    10 Reasons to Advertise

    Why Should You Advertise? Here are 10 Good Reasons…

    My store has been here forever…  Everybody knows about us…  We’re doing just fine without advertising…  I have such a great location, I don’t need to advertise…  Don’t kid yourself.  It’s virtually impossible to build a successful businesses without advertising.  There are many good reasons to advertise, including attracting new customers, increasing sales and business growth.  Below we present 10 of the best (courtesy of the Radio Advertising Bureau).

    1)  You must advertise to reach new customers.

     The market changes constantly.  New families moving into the area mean new potential customers for you, or for your competition.  Customer’s income levels are constantly changing, which means changes in lifestyles, needs and buying habits.

    2)  You must advertise continuously.

    Shoppers don’t have the same store loyalty they once had.  Automobiles give shoppers mobility and freedom.  The National Retail Merchants Association says “mobility and non-loyalty are rampant.  Stores must promote to get former customers to return and to attract new ones.”

    3)  You must advertise to influence shoppers throughout the buying cycle.

    People often go from store to store comparing prices, quality and service.  Advertising must reach them consistently through the entire decision-making process.  For example, the average new car purchase is a 13-week cycle.  Your name must be fresh in their ears and minds when they ultimately decide to buy.

    4)  You must advertise because it pays off over a long period.

    Your advertising today is selling customers whose buying decision may be weeks away.  Advertising gives you a long-term advantage over competitors who cut back or cancel advertising.  A 5-year study of more than 3,000 companies found that advertisers who maintained or expanded advertising over the five years saw their sales increase an average of 100%.

    5)  You must advertise to generate more store traffic.

    Continuous store traffic is the first step toward sales increases and expanding your base of shoppers.  For every 100 items shoppers plan to buy, they make at least 30 unanticipated “in-store” purchases.

    6)  You must advertise to make more sales.

    Advertising works!  Businesses that succeed are almost always strong, steady advertisers.  Look around – you’ll find the most aggressive and consistent advertisers are almost always the most successful.

    7)  You must advertise because there is always business to generate.

    As long as you’re open for business, you’re got overhead to meet and new people to reach.  Advertising will generate customers now, and in the future.  Your doors are open.  Even the slowest days produce some sales.

    8)  You must advertise to keep a healthy positive image.

    In today’s competitive marketplace, rumors and bad news travel fast.  Advertising corrects misleading gossip and punctures “overstated” bad news.  Advertising that is vigorous and positive can bring shoppers into your store regardless of the economy.

    9)  You must advertise to maintain store morale.

    When advertising and promotion budgets are suddenly cut or cancelled, salespeople may become alarmed or demoralized.  Positive advertising boots morale.  It gives your staff strong, positive, motivational support.

    10)  You must advertise because your competition is advertising.

    There are only so many consumers in the market ready to buy at one time.  You must advertise to keep your share of customers or you will lose them to the more aggressive competitors.