09 Feb 5 Amazing Facts Small Businesses Don’t Know About Radio Advertising
5 Amazing Facts Small Businesses Don’t Know About Radio Advertising
In this day of social media, tablets, phablets and the internet, sometimes it’s easy to forget the tried and true methods of promoting your business. And yes they still work, some would say, better than ever.
One of the best and most productive forms of advertising for small businesses today is radio. Radio has a lot of benefits for small businesses who are looking to get some exposure for them.
Here are 5 amazing facts about radio advertising that you probably don’t know about.
Radio still has a huge audience. So you can reach your audience by advertising on radio.
Over 90% of all Americans, 243 million people, listen to radio each week. That includes every generation. 94% of Baby Boomers, 95% of Generation X and 94% of Millennials listen to radio. That means that you can reach pretty much anyone, regardless of your target audience, with radio.
The best strategy is to spend some time defining your target audience for your business. Focusing your advertising message to your ideal customer will result in advertising that is heard and responded to. Targeting is so rarely done that it will make your business stand head and shoulders above the competition and make a world of difference in your results.
Radio has a big advantage over other advertising media….Frequency.
It has been said that reach is nice, but frequency sells. Radio is all about the frequency.When you look at other media you don’t have the ideal combination of frequency and affordability.
Print media like magazines offer you a chance to reach your audience but only on a monthly basis, so you don’t get the frequency you need to be effective. Daily newspapers give you more frequency than magazines, but still don’t give you the frequency of radio.
Radio gives you the chance to reach your audience multiple times a day. You can run your ad during morning drive time, midday, afternoon drive and also at night. This is something that no other media lets you do.
The opportunity to give your marketing message so many impressions on your audience is one factor that makes radio advertising so powerful.
Radio engages emotions.
When you can engage emotions you engage people. When you engage people they remember you and they frequent your business.There was a study done by Gallup & Robinson called “Engaging Emotions Through Effective Radio Ads” it was designed to assess how well radio ads generate emotional responses and engage with consumers, compared to television ads.That study showed the following:
- Strong beginnings make a big difference. A point of entry that engages the listener was present in most of the successful radio ads.
- Word selection matters. Words that are sensory-laden, emotional, or empowering have a demonstrable impact on the emotional reactions of consumers.
- Audio can be powerful. Audio can generate stronger emotions than visuals, especially when the tonality in the ad is used effectively.
- Brand mentions have an impact. The best Radio ads mention the advertiser’s brand multiple times, strategically placed to correlate with moments of high consumer engagement.
Radio is everywhere.
Most people realize that you can listen to the radio everywhere. But not all realize that most people do listen everywhere.Wherever they are, Americans tune in to radio!
This truly mobile medium reaches people at home, on the road, in the workplace, and in numerous other spots where they gather for recreation or for services or shopping – making it an ideal vehicle to deliver your message to on-the-go consumers.
A study shows that 60% of adults 18+ do listen to radio in their cars on a typical weekday. But they also listen at home work and often hear the radio when they’re shopping.
The interesting thing is that the numbers are similar on the weekend, of course without the work numbers.
Radio is closest to point of purchase.
Radio is the most-used medium just prior to shopping. 62% of shoppers listen to Radio just 13 minutes prior to making a purchase. 90% of consumers are in their car less than 6 minutes before shopping. Audio captures 90% of in-car media time. That means that your advertising message will often be heard when someone is closest to making a buying decision. That can be a huge marketing advantage for your business.
The return on investment on radio advertising is HUGE.
According to a study by Nielsen, each dollar of ad spend on radio generates an average sales return of $6. For some retailers each dollar of ad spend on radio returned an average sale of $23. Those are some impressive numbers. Advertising of any kind is an investment.
As with any investment sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But why not hedge your bet by using the medium that has shown time and time again that it delivers for advertisers? When you can get the kind of return on your advertising spend investment that radio can deliver, you can make a major impact on your business’ bottom line.
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