The Truth about Radio Advertising

Aloha Fellow Rainers,

If the title of this blog sounds familiar, it's because I recently wrote a blog about The Truth about Yellow Page Advertising and had decent response to it, so I thought I'd share with you another form of advertising:  Radio. 

While sometimes I wish I've been in Mortgage since I started my first job, working in a variety of industries has given me some valuable knowledge.  Especially from a marketing standpoint.  I will share with you what I know as a former Radio Advertising Rep to help you folks who thought about pursuing this form of advertising for your business.

With Radio Advertising, the first thing to consider is:

1) Who is your target audience?

AGE - In any city, there will be several radio stations to choose from.  Each station has their own type of music.  The music they play will attract a certain audience.  Your Hip-Hip/Rap stations will attract the younger generation.  News and Oldies, well, the older generation.  Light/Soft Rock, somewhere in the middle.  This is not written in stone as I am in my mid 30's and listen to almost everything, but this is a good start.

CULTURE/ETHNICITY - In Hawaii, the hard rock stations has a big military following, hence companies who wanted to target this demographic would advertise in these stations.  We also have Island-type music featuring local artists who play Classic or Contemporary Hawaiian Music.  This, of course, appeals to a lot of locals.  I'm sure most states will have a Spanish speaking or other ethnic station.  You get the point...

SEX - Yes, some stations have a stronger female following than a male following, and vice versa.  Ask your local Radio Rep for demographic information.

Depending on the Radio Personalities/DJ's, some stations will appeal to a higher class audience, some middle class, etc.  Talk to your local Radio Rep.

2)  What is your budget?

The more listeners a station has, the more they will charge you per 30 second commercial or "spot".  I've seen them anywhere between $75 - $400 for one commercial.  Also consider WHEN the spot will be running.  The morning rush to work and the afternoon rush back home are when most people are in their cars, and are the most affective times to advertise.  Hence, these times will be the most expensive.    It may be cheaper to run an ad at 3am, but fewer people will hear it.

FREQUENCY is probably the most important factor for a radio ad.  As a consumer, if you hear a Pizza Hut special on the way to work, you hear it again during the day, and you hear it one more time on the way home, somewhere in the back of your head you are thinking about pizza for dinner!  But if you have 1 ad once a week, it will be forgotten. 

Unless you can afford at least 3 commercials a day, or at least 1 during the morning rush, and 1 in the afternoon, and track it for at least a couple of weeks to a month, Radio Advertising may not be an option for you.   But if you have a big budget, Radio advertising is great "Top of Mind" advertising. 

Radio Pros:

• You can target a specific audience
• Top of Mind advertising
• Target people at work, in their car, at the beach, etc.
• Image - they must be "Big Time" if they're on the radio!

Radio Cons:

• Expensive - if you can't afford to have numerous ads in a week, it won't work
• Most people won't write your phone number down as their driving
• Hard to track if the ad is working.  Make sure you ask how they heard of you.

I hope this helps as you consider different forms of media to promote yourselves and your company.  Please share whether or not you've had success in radio advertising.

Aloha,

Pete Castillejos

Specializing in:

Hawaii Mortgage Refinance, Hawaii Real Estate Mortgage Loans