Radio Scheduling

Radio Advertising Questions and Answers

/ Duane Christensen

I was emailed these questions about radio advertising the other day the other day…

  • Do you write the promotions?
  • Do you research the reach? Or, have suggestions on where we could push our product?
  • How many ads is good to have in rotation?
  • How many people can we reach?
  • What time of the day is best to run our ads?
  • Cost/per ad during the week?
  • How many times will this run throughout the week and/or on weekends?

All great questions. And usually the answers to those questions are the core materials in any media rep’s presentation. Which is why their ad campaigns will probably fail. At Results Radio, our “presentations” are a bit different. We focus on figuring out how we’re going to make your advertising actually work.

So, let’s add a couple questions to that list above that are more important…

  1. How will we make it work? (what’s our strategy?)
  2. How will we measure success?

These are more important because the other questions above won’t matter, if we’re not going into this campaign with the expectations of making it work… and knowing that it’s working. Right?

Let’s answer those questions up top first though…

Do you write the promotions? Yes we do. At Results Radio, that’s what we train on most heavily. The words that are written and then spoken that go into people’s ears are what makes or breaks an ad campaign. And that is why we spend so much time figuring out what to say in your ads. Because that’s the core of making your ads work for you.

Do you research the reach or have suggestions on where to push our product? I’ll have to clarify this question with the business, but I think they’re asking something about demographics. Yes, I suggest the stations that will work best based on the people you’re looking for. But you need to understand that particular stations don’t own an audience. Meaning, most people listen to an average of 2.5 stations. For example, if you’re looking for “car parts type of people”, aka motorheads or “truck people”… can you imagine the different types of radio stations they could be listening to? Sports, Classic Rock, Modern Rock, Top 40, 80s, 90s, Modern Country, Classic Country, Talk Radio, etc., etc., etc.!

So, you pick a couple that seem like a good fit, and you start there. Or whatever works with your budget. And if you can’t afford to buy enough ads to run each month on the biggest of the stations, then you pick a station with a smaller audience that you can afford to talk to month-in and month-out. You’re trying to win a group of people over, one station at a time. Once you start seeing growth, then you can afford to add another radio station to your mix.

How many ads is good to have in rotation? You can air multiple ads that rotate at whatever percentage you wish. Most businesses don’t need to rotate different ads at the same time, but if you have a few different products to push… maybe you rotate 2 or 3 at once. But you also have to make sure you have enough ads airing each week in order for everyone to hear each of those ads enough times.

How many people can we reach? You can reach about 90% of the adults in the radio stations’ coverage areas if you’re advertising on enough stations. But that doesn’t mean you have to be on all of them. Remember when I said the average listener listens to 2.5 radio stations? Well, that means if you advertise on 2 radio stations, you’re theoretically advertising on about 5 stations. Cool, right? When it comes to actual numbers… there are some ratings out there on most stations. But the thing is… the number of people that are surveyed for radio station ratings is very low. Like, grossly low. So, the level of accuracy is low. So, one year a station can be listed as the #2 rock station, and the next it’s #8. How does that work when nothing else changed in the radio market in the last year? Radio rankings are hit or miss. There’s a disclaimer on those rankings that mentions something like, “use these ratings at your own risk”.

How many people are we reaching? It all depends on the popularity of the station. It could be anywhere between 5000 people to 40 or 50,000 people depending on the station… and the time frames in which you’re running those ads. If you’re only running ads during a morning “drive time”… you’re only reaching a fraction of that total audience.

What time of the day is best to run our ads? You want to reach the entire audience if you can afford it. And it costs less per ad to run ads all throughout the day. You can never predict when someone is listening. We all have different habits when it comes to radio listening. Some listen from 6 to 7:30 every morning. And then not again until 2pm or 5pm. Others listen periodically throughout the day, some all day long at work. Others only when in their cars. That’s why it’s a fool’s errand to only want to run ads during certain times of the day. You’ll pay more for the ads, and you’re hitting a smaller audience in the end.

Cost per ad during the week? This depends on the popularity of the radio station, the length of the ad, and the time frame they are airing. We’ll have a discussion about actual prices face-to-face.

But let me drop this little nugget on you… It doesn’t matter how much an ad costs if it doesn’t work. Even the cheapest ads are still expensive if you don’t see any results.

How many times will this run throughout the week and/or on weekends? My recommendation for “ad frequency” depends on your competition and your “share of marketing voice” within your industry. If you’re placing ads all throughout the day (let’s say 6am to 8pm), then you’ll need anywhere from 19 to 25 ads per week… at least 3 weeks per month if we’re trying to brand your business (make you the business people think of first in your category). But if your business category has a lot of competition advertising, then you need to adjust your ad load a bit higher to make sure your “share of voice” is high enough to make an impact on the radio listeners. You don’t want to be “drowned out” by your competitor’s ads.

So, those are my basic answers to those questions… but they aren’t comprehensive by any means. The questions asked in a face-to-face meeting and extra research on how much local marketing their competition is doing, gives much more insight into the radio scheduling tactics that would need to be implemented.

But you must know… the actual MESSAGE that we put into the ears of the radio listeners is what will ultimately determine the success of a radio advertising campaign. If the radio script that is written is just an afterthought… your radio marketing plan will fail. No doubt about it. But if enough time, research, and thought is put into the writing… “mountains” can be moved.

And… I’ll address those two questions I added to the list…… next time. 🙂

Thanks for reading. Have a groovy day!

Duane Christensen

9 Yards Marketing

605-940-7984

duane@9yards-marketing.com

Contact Me

How and Where to Schedule Your Radio Advertising | Stop! You are Doing It Wrong!

/ Duane Christensen

 

how to schedule radio ads

You want control.  You want the best bang for your buck.  And you think that radio listeners have the same habits that you do, or that more people listen to the radio at 7:45 AM than they do at 3:17 PM.  Because of that belief, you may think that you want your radio ads placed in specific times throughout the day.  And I’m here to tell you it’s a waste of money.  You’re going to be paying a lot more for those “specific time frames” when scheduling radio advertising… and it won’t put your ads in front of more people.  Possibly less.  

Don’t confuse how to place ads on television with how to place ads on radio.  It’s not the same. Don’t believe that everyone has the same radio listening habits. They’re listening all throughout the day when their unique schedule allows because they want to be entertained and feel good.

Radio listeners are habitual with their listening in most cases. Meaning, they tend to listen during the same times each day based on their work / life schedules.  But everybody’s daily lives are different.

Some people listen for 15 minutes on the way to work, 15 minutes on the way home, and any other time they’re in their car.  Others listen for 3 hours each morning to their favorite morning show… then, might switch to another station or two or three for the rest of the day.  Some are in LOVE with their radio station and would never change the dial – and listen for 6+ hours a day.  Some listen to satellite, pandora, music on their phone, spotify, AND local Radio.  Some listen to our stations online.

(But guess what? 90+% of adults listen to local radio every week.)

You can’t predict when someone is listening.  Just like you can’t predict what day someone is more likely to be ready to buy your product or service.  Sure, there may be some hours that might get a few more listeners here and there.  But we’re not talking about huge swings throughout the day.

If you want to advertise during specific times of the day, you’re only reaching those who habitually listen at THAT time of day.  You’re missing the others, who can’t tune in at that specific time.  A lot of others.  So, you’re shrinking your audience.

The same goes for the question, “Which days should I advertise?”

You may want to place your ads on Thursdays and Saturdays because those 2 days are your highest sales days.  Sure, if you’re a convenience store and have a sale on milk on those days.  But not if you’re selling something with a longer purchase cycle.

Usually, only a couple percent of people are in the market to buy what you sell at any given moment.  So, your best use of advertising is to advertise to those who will need you months from now.  It’s a MUCH bigger group of people.

The goal is to win people’s hearts long before they’re in the need for what you sell.  Then, when they NEED what you sell, they automatically make YOU one of their top choices because you made them feel good about your company.  Because you gave them confidence that their money will be well spent.

And that didn’t happen because of the Radio Ad you placed between the Noon and 1pm hour on Friday.  It’s because of the ads they heard at all times of the day for the past 3 to 6 months!

I don’t care if they came to your store and said I heard your latest radio ad.  They also heard the last 5 or 6 ads you aired that led them to this moment of choosing YOU.  You won their hearts and trust with multiple ads and stories.  Not just ONE.

They may have also seen an online ad, newspaper ad, or Facebook post, and told you THAT is why they came in your store.  But they didn’t tell you about the dozen radio ads that were subtly telling them why YOU would treat them right and be their friend in the business.

They may have decided to even Google your business name because they heard about you and wanted to know more.  So, they went to your website and saw that you were legit and seemed like a worthy local business they could trust.  And when you asked them how they heard about you, they say they “Googled you” or “visited your website”. But they didn’t tell you about your Radio Ads they had been consciously or subconsciously hearing for the past 17 weeks.

Don’t try to predict when someone will be listening to the radio or when they will be ready to buy.  Just place your ads all throughout the day, every day, every week, and they will remember you when they need you. That is IF… if if if if… you’ve been telling them about yourself in ways that invoke trust and a good feeling about your business – not just a laundry list of what you do or by telling them you have the best products and service.

Your ads need to entertain and persuade at the same time.  It’s not easy to do.  But when you DO… good things happen.

The SECRET SAUCE is in the ADS themselves.  Not the times that you place your ad.  You want an ad schedule that reaches people all throughout the day at all different times.  THEN… you’re reaching the entire audience – not just a little sliver.  THEN… you can worry about more important things… like making sure your advertising message doesn’t go in one ear and out the other without making an impact with that listener.

Radio is the ultimate social media.  People listen to learn about what’s going on in their community and be entertained.  So, do the same in your radio ads (teach them and entertain them), and they won’t even feel like “ads” to the listeners.  THAT is when you WIN.

Give me a call and let’s discuss how to finally make your advertising budget start working for you.  Can’t wait to meet you and learn about your business.

Duane Christensen

Results Radio-Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

duane.christensen@results-radio.com

Sioux Falls Radio Advertising - Duane ChristensenRadio stations in sioux falls

Local Marketing When You Have Ample Competition

/ Duane Christensen / 1 Comment

advertising and marketing sioux falls

It’s the week that two more Sioux Falls restaurants are closing.  It’s possibly some evidence that they could have used a good radio advertising campaign, eh?  I never heard one from either of them.  Actually, they needed a good marketing consultant.  Someone who could be trusted to give them the honest truth – good or bad.  The truth that their customer service or their menus needed a bit of improving.  They needed someone to consistently be their 2nd set of eyes.  Every business needs that. 

First of all, there are about 17 billion restaurants in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  You almost need an act of God to make it last.  But I don’t want this blog post to be specifically about restaurants.  It’s about those who have a pack of wild dog competitors… all fighting over the same pie.  

ANY BUSINESS with ample competition, could benefit greatly from a long-term, consistent radio campaign.

I think of the dentist that I’m working with to eventually get them advertising on the Radio.  (There are almost as many dentists as restaurants, I think.)  As I was gathering some information and doing my research, I noticed this dentist had about 10 Google reviews.  4 of those reviews were terrible. Like BAD BAD.  I brought it up to them.  I advised that they fixed whatever issue was going on, and start burying those bad reviews with good reviews before they started their radio advertising.  I didn’t want people who heard the radio ads to then find their phone number and location on Google, and have their poor “review star average” sabotage the radio campaign right from the start. 

When you have a lot of competition, everything needs to be pumping on all cylinders, otherwise you’ll fall hard and fast.  If we had started their radio ads too soon, it would have only brought more eyeballs to their bad reviews, helping them to eventually go out of business.

Let’s pretend you have all your ducks in a row, and are ready to get going with a better marketing plan…

The easy part is to set your budget annually for your radio campaign.  Radio’s superpower is unleashed when you schedule your ads 36 to 52 weeks per year.  We’re BRANDING here.  We want to stamp your business name onto the brains of consumers.  When they need what you sell… we want them to think of YOU.

I can make this work for you.  Period.  If you’ll give me the time to do some digging and get to the bottom of what you do best, how you do it best, and how your best customers feel about you… I can help you make the next year and beyond… better than you’ve ever experienced.  Especially, if you’re frustrated with marketing and advertising.  There are so many choices out there!  And they all try to make you believe that you MUST buy advertising on their medium.  It’s not true.  You can’t do it all.  You can’t afford it.  Especially, when most of it doesn’t work.

When you focus your advertising efforts on just a couple of things (instead of dozens), then you give yourself a chance to succeed.  When you run a business that sells products or services to the masses… then, mass media is where you should put the big part of your budget.  And when Radio reaches 90%+ of people, doesn’t that sound like a great place to start?

I mentioned the easy part was setting your ad budget annually, and starting a 36 to 52-week radio campaign (depending on the competitive landscape).  The harder part of your “advertising success equation” is the creation of Ads that actually work.  It’s the harder part because it’s the most important part.

Your ads can’t sound like every other ad.  Your ads can’t sound like a newspaper ad read into a microphone.  There are a bunch of ways to do advertising the wrong way, but only a few ways to do it the RIGHT WAY.  Radio is for entertainment.  So, your ads need to have an “entertainment factor” included in them.  They also need to hit the emotional hot buttons of your potential new customers.  If you remember that your ads are NOT ABOUT YOU, but about your customers… that’s one of the most valuable lessons you can learn about marketing.

Whether you’re a restaurant, a plumber, a mattress store, an auto dealer, a roofer, a medical center, etc., you need to talk to the needs of your potential new customer.  Make them feel something.  Make them feel comfortable with you before they even meet you.  Increase their trust in you.  Decrease their risk of doing business with you.  Make them feel at ease.  Cause them to LIKE you.  Cause their eyebrows to raise a bit by something you share with them.  All you’re trying to do is make friends with new people.  And one of the best ways to do that in your radio ads, is to tell them stories, be vulnerable, be transparent, be funny, be honest, and talk to them about the things they care about.  Most importantly, be human.  Don’t be an annoying salesperson in your ads.

Because when your ads sound like “ads”… people ignore them.  They don’t even know they’re doing it.  Our brains do it for us.  Automatically.  

Another way to break down some barriers and increase the “trust factor” is to have someone from your business be the “voice” in your ads.  Either the business owner or manager, preferably.  Let me explain something first about how our brains interact with “ads”.  Your brain filters out things that you don’t need.  It scans your environment for relevant items.  It tells you to ignore irrelevant ones.  And advertising is usually in the irrelevant category.  But your advertising can sidestep a brain’s “gatekeeper” by not sounding like typical advertising. 

By voicing parts of your own radio ads, it provides a built-in level of trust that will speed up your radio advertising success.  Wouldn’t you agree?  Who would a consumer potentially trust more?  A “radio voiceover person” who has nothing to do with your business and is just reading the script that they were given… or someone from your business?

Are you thinking… who the heck is going to write my radio ads?!

I am.  It’s what I’m trained to do here at Results Radio. 

We’re constantly learning and training on how to make your advertising work.  And the #1 “making it work” factor is the writing of your radio scripts.  It’s what I love to do.  Once we have the strategy figured out… and the direction you’d like to go… then we grease up the wheels and hit the Start button.

It’s exciting.  And then, it’s not.  Because you want your advertising to be like a switch you flip On and Off.  But remember… you’re branding.  Radio’s superpower is getting people to remember you first when they need what you sell.  And getting your business name (and what you stand for) stamped onto consumers’ brains… takes some time.

You need to give your radio advertising campaign at least 3 to 6 months for the ball to start rolling a little easier (Depending on the purchase cycle time for your product or service).  Not that you won’t get some people acting right away because of the ads that they heard… but the majority of your new customers will come later.  Building trust takes time.  Making new friends takes some time.  You’re planting seeds.  And that seed needs a time to mature.  And then, once harvest time comes… it gets exciting again. 

When you do this right, your competition will know something is happening.  You’ll be taking a bigger slice of the pie.  Their slice.  And that’s good… because you’ll be treating your new customers better than anyone else could.  Right?  Right.  And when that happens, you’ll be on your way to some pretty eye-opening growth.  Growth that you’ve been seeking, but couldn’t find.  Until you discovered the power of sound in your advertising.  The power of good radio.

Ready?    

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls, SD

605-940-7984

duane.christensen@results-radio.com

Slow Down And Do It Right

/ Duane Christensen

radio advertising sioux falls

 

When you decide to advertise… you want to see something happen FAST!

But I’m here to tell you to “Calm down, bro.”  When you “do advertising” the right way, your results will come slower than you want them to. And then in 12 months, you’ll be thinking, “Holy crap! This is pretty dang awesome!”

Since, I’m an amateur farmer who helps his old man out with the crops every Spring and Fall… let me put it to you in terms of farming. When you start advertising on the radio, your ad message is a seed.

You can have low-grade seeds that will yield very little, skip the fertilizer, ignore the weeds, and you won’t make any money. Especially, if you’re in a hurry and want to harvest after only having your seed in the ground for 3 weeks.  This is representative of not putting the right effort into your advertising messages and not giving your advertising plan enough time to mature in the minds of consumers.

The alternative is to have a high-yield potential seed, prepare your soil with the right nutrients, make sure the weeds stay away, and then harvest after the seed has grown and matured.  This is representative of a radio campaign that is developed properly. One that cares about the message that is created and one that allows enough time for those ad messages to really sink in to consumers’ minds.

The best things in life come with time.  Just like a good harvest.

Each radio ad is a seed that’s getting planted in a mind. Will someone drop what they’re doing and buy from you the first time they hear your ad?  Of course not.  But what if you keep saying really great things that they care about? Consistently. Again and again. What if you start getting people to trust you because of the stories, helpful information, and entertainment you keep sharing in your radio ads? Over and over. Consistently. Over time.  Hmmmm?

Those seeds begin to take root and grow.  Those ads start to do their job. They’re sinking in.  They’re sticking in brains.  Then what?

Then, over time… as radio listeners live their lives… they’ll eventually need what you sell. And who do you think they’ll think of when they need the product or service you sell? Who do you think that they’ll feel best about? Who do you feel they will have the most confidence in ? ? ? ? ?

YOU.  Your business.  Your people.  They’ve come to trust you before they’ve even met you because you were being patient with them. You were educating them slowly and effectively about why they should do business with you instead of someone else. But you didn’t ever “hard sell” them.  You went through the process of making friends with them through your radio ads that did NOT sound like typical radio ads.

Your seeds were the good ones.  And you watered and fertilized.  And nurtured those seeds.  You had patience.  You slowed down, gave your advertising campaign some real thought before you started it, then you let it go to work.  Nature ran its course and gave you a harvest that you never thought possible.

Slow down… and do advertising right.  It takes a lot of thought and planning at the beginning.  When you set a marketing budget… and focus that budget on a big group of people (a couple radio stations is a great start!), then that big group of people will start to be won over by your sincere advertising messages.

Warning: Don’t scatter your seeds to the wind.  Don’t glitter-blast them into the atmosphere and hope that the marketing gods catch them and turn them into Thousand-Dollar Bills.  That’s the “spray and pray” method.  It doesn’t work.  If you want the full-blown explanation of WHY that doesn’t work, give me a call.

RADIO is one of the most fertile soils you can find to plant your seeds. The power of sound is amazing when it comes to branding.  We can recite the lyrics to songs we never intended to remember.  We can remember tons of details when those details are wrapped into a good story.

Sound.  Radio.  Good soil.

Are you ready to plant some seeds for one heck of a nice harvest, year after year?

Let’s talk about that.

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media – Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

duane.christensen@results-radio.com

Radio Sales

Wave After Wave

/ Duane Christensen

radio advertising sioux falls

Do you know why it’s important to be consistent with your radio advertising?

Because not everyone is ready to buy what you sell at the exact moment you’re running your ads.

Consumers evolve into the “ready to buy” phase whenever their own stars align. You can’t predict it. Especially if you don’t sell something that’s seasonal.

So… all of those people become ready to buy, basically, at random. WAVE after WAVE. Which is exactly why you need to be consistent with your advertising. Your potential new customers shift into buying mode like the endless crashing of the waves on the beach.

But before that “wave” hits shore, it’s rolling along in preparation.

People go through different shopping phases, possibly for months and even years, before they make a final decision to buy. If it’s something other than food or gas.  This is exactly why consistently whispering your story into their ears on the radio during all those pre-purchase thought phases, research phases, etc., is such a great marketing tactic.

It’s a marketing tactic that is making a lot of our clients here at Results Radio grateful for being taught how to make local marketing and advertising actually work. Of course, there are some ultra-secret elements to getting results for our radio customers. Just kidding. I’ll tell you if you ask. There are about 2 other keys to making your advertising work like gangbusters (along with some other variables within your own business).

Here’s a rough formula for you…

Consistent Radio Ad Schedule + Strategic Advertising Copy / Creative =

ADVERTISING RESULTS

When you’re ready to stop shooting from the hip with your local marketing efforts, let me know. I’d love to sit down and discuss your options with you.

But remember something Chuck McKay said in Fishing For Customers and Reeling Them In…

“Marketing is not an event, it’s a process.”  And that process, I believe, has a lot to do with the unpredictability of when people buy things. WAVE AFTER WAVE, people become ready to buy. Tell your story consistently… and I guarantee, you’ll be catching more waves than most of your competition.

Duane Christensen

Results Radio / Townsquare Media

Sioux Falls, SD

Local Marketing, Radio Advertising, Digital Advertising, and Coffee Drinking

Advertising on the Radio

/ Duane Christensen

Is advertising on the radio right for you?

In my experience, advertising on the radio can work wonders.  Radio can make local businesses famous.

I get calls like,

“I’m wondering what kind of ad package I can get on your stations.”

OR… they’ll ask if we have any “specials”.advertising on the radio

So, here’s what I say.  I tell them, if you’re looking for an ad package, you must already have a good strategy and the first few months of a radio campaign hammered out.  Pause.  More pause.  “Well…..I’m just looking to see what kind of rates I can get.  Because I can get some cable ads for real cheap.”  Oh, so you don’t even care if the ads work or not.  More pausing.

No…I don’t actually say things like this on the phone or in-person… I’m a little nicer or more subtle. But allow me to continue my pretend phone call…

So, after a few more questions from me, I tell the caller you can always find cheap rates…but not always find results.  If they’re interested in hearing more…I set an appointment.  If they’re not.  Then, I’ll send them to someone who’s willing to just sell cheap rates and ads that don’t work.

Is advertising on the radio right for your business?  It probably is.  Do some research on how many people listen to the radio…and how many hours a week.  I could tell you, but you won’t believe me.  The bottom line is that MOST people listen to the radio.  There’s something about free entertainment that people seem to love.  And free entertainment will never die.

Are you reaching enough people by advertising on the radio?

Ok, I’ll share some numbers with you.  Around 90% of people 13+ listen to AM/FM radio.  And that’s about 4 and a half times MORE than all other online radio options combined.  So, yes, AM/FM radio is still one of the greatest places to be with your advertising.

Now you know that radio has listeners.  A lot of them. Enough listeners to grow your business nicely.  But there’s a catch.  You can’t just throw any old twaddle onto the airwaves.  (I just learned a new word.  Twaddle.  I like it.)  The key to making your radio work is the message you communicate to the listeners.  Do they care about YOU and your business?  No.  Do they care about how you can help them?  Yes.  That’s the first thing to learn.

Oh…I forgot to tell you something.  Forget everything you’ve ever heard, seen, or read about advertising.  I’d be willing to bet what you think you know about advertising…will help put you out of business because of squandered ad budgets.

There are old rules that were once followed.  Like these…

1) Make sure your business name is mentioned at least 5 times in the ad

2) Put your phone number in the ad multiple times

3) Add your EXACT address to the ad (such as 2753 W. Doofus Blvd.)

4) Get a professional voice to make your ad sound like an ad

5) Always put music behind the voice

6) Make sure the ad sounds like a national ad

I’m sure there are a ton more…but they’re all equally ridiculous.  There is no formula for writing a radio spot.  If you want a formula, try this.  Try to make your ad NOT sound like an ad.  Why?  Because we’ve been pounded with twaddle 🙂  for years and years and decades and decades.  There are so many horrible ads hurtling towards us every day…our brain tells us to PLEASE not remember them.  Because they’re all soooo dumb and of no benefit to you.  Seriously.  Our brains are pretty smart.  It has the best built-in “crap” filters that you could never imagine.

The CHALLENGE to make your radio ads work to their FULL and OUTRAGEOUSLY ENORMOUS POTENTIAL is to fake out the brain.  You have to say things in your ads that your prospect’s brain won’t expect.  What I mean is that it can’t be predictable.  PREDICTABILITY in your radio ads will KILL your results.  That’s probably the most important thing to remember.

The problem is…you don’t know which words to use.  And you can’t begin to know which words to use until you form a smart advertising/marketing strategy.  And forming a smart strategy begins with your competition.  You have to stand apart from your competition.  Be something different.  Find a strength of yours that is not their strength (or at least they don’t advertise it) and THAT might be a superstar ad strategy for you.  Strategy formulation also trickles down into knowing WHO your customer REALLY is…and what they actually care about.  Or what they perceive to care about.

It’s tough for a business owner.  Or for an employee of a company that is “tasked” with the side duties of handling the marketing.  It’s tough because advertising and marketing isn’t what you KNOW.  You’re an entrepreneur.  I’d suggest finding an advertising guy or gal like myself (which is someone who tells you like it is – not some ad rep/order taker) and start spilling your guts to them so they can start creating a profitable strategy and advertising campaign for you.  This person must be a writer and a thinker.

Anyway…what was the question?  Sorry, I’m a smidge passionate about this stuff.

Is advertising on the radio right for a business like yours?

The answer is YES.  Advertising on the radio is good for you as long as you have something good to say.  Radio can work wonders for good businesses.  I’m a real life witness of that every day.  And radio can work all on its own.  The people are THERE.  They’re listening.  When you find the right thing to say to them…great things will happen.

And don’t be spreading your ad budget around to a bunch of different places! “Sprinkling” doesn’t work. You need to “douse” audiences. The “MEDIA MIX” talk is all B.S. You don’t have to advertise in 6 different places all around town. Start with a popular radio station (or two) …and “own” it. Make it impossible for people to have NOT heard your ad at least 3 times in 7 nights sleep! (That’s a technical / neurological thing with roots in the “Pavlov’s Dogs story” that ensures you’re doing that BRANDING thing right – but I’m not explaining all of that right now)

There are a bunch of local Sioux Falls advertisers who have put at least 85% of their total advertising budget into Radio…at Results Radio Townsquare Media. Who are they? I know you’ve heard their ads. And there’s a reason why they’re “Top Of Mind” in Sioux Falls and the surrounding 60 or 70-mile radius.

Ready? Let’s get to work!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

605-940-7984

duane.christensen@results-radio.com

The Great Eraser of Advertising

/ Duane Christensen / 2 Comments

The Great Eraser of Advertising

Sioux Falls Radio Advertising

The great eraser of advertising is SLEEP.
Image courtesy of “Maggie Smith” / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The great eraser of advertising…is sleep. And I’m going to give credit to my understanding of this…to Roy Williams at the Wizard Academy in Austin, Texas. When I went there for 3 days, years back…he literally changed how I looked at the world. And of course he also changed my understanding of how advertising works.

So, the great eraser of advertising is sleep. Every night we go to sleep, our brains purge all the junk out of our brains. It starts putting things like the hundreds of irrelevant marketing messages you were exposed to today into the proverbial trash bin. If it didn’t do this, our brains’ estimated 2500 terabytes of memory would fill up pretty fast. To put it another way, your brain has the potential to store about 2 trillion pictures of cats. Ha! But this is an estimate. Our brains are amazing and we’ll never truly understand how and why it does things.

So, how do we get a consumer’s brain to start remember the plumbing ads for Bob’s Plumbing? Or the mattress ads for the Princess Pea Mattress Factory?

For starters you need repetition to overcome the brain purging every night we sleep. You’ll need enough ads airing on the radio so that the average listener hears a certain radio ad 3 to 4 times per week. And after looking at radio listening habits across the nation, that equates to running 21 to 25 radio ads per week between 6am and 7pm. It’s the closest we can get to a formula when it comes to radio ad scheduling. Of course, there are other options regarding an ad schedule and the best use of your budget. And we can’t forget to take into account your competition and how much they’re advertising to the public.

This is how you get people to start remembering a business’ radio ads. Repetition is the first step towards branding. Just like Pavlov’s dogs, remember? The meat paste and the bell ringing and the drooling?

But getting the dogs to drool when they heard the bell wouldn’t have happened if Pavlov didn’t use meat. If he used lemon juice or Windex, he wouldn’t have got the results he did. In branding a business, there must be a message that’s pleasant and relevant shared with the radio listener that’s tied in with the business itself. You want to associate something good or something helpful with doing business with the particular advertiser who’s trying to get advertising results.

Otherwise…you’re just spouting words across the airwaves that nobody cares about – and will never have the chance to be remembered when people need what the advertiser offers. Amazing results from advertising will come when your ad is of the branding or relationship building nature that has a chance of making someone feel warm and fuzzy in a sense, when they hear it. And when you repeat those kinds of ads over and over, consistently, in a long-term plan, that’s when the “true branding” starts happening.

Then, your ads must also use words that aren’t boring us to death. They need to tell a story. They need to give us useful information. They need to “connect” with us and include a strong emotional element. We’re emotional beings. We like to do business with those we like and trust. Therefore, radio ads should always be increasing the listeners’ chances to like and trust an advertiser before they’ve ever even met them. Then, when the listener actually HAS a plumbing problem… when they’ve had enough of their sore back in the morning… they’ll definitely have Bob’s Plumbing and Princess Pea’s Mattress Factory among the top prospects or hopefully THE top choice for them to call.

Great advertising comes from the words you use…and the manner in which they’re used. I feel like I’m pretty darn good at that. Let me know if you’d like to talk about making your mark on Sioux Falls and the surrounding area. Thank you. Have a great day!

Duane Christensen
Results Radio Townsquare Media
Sioux Falls, SD
605-940-7984
duane.christensen@results-radio.com
http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/

Better Ads = More Buying Power

/ Duane Christensen

You want to advertise, but you also want to invest WISELY.

Let me help you spend your money. Just kidding. Let’s help you get MORE for your advertising investment, eh?

Here’s how this works.

Let’s say you were going to hire an AVERAGE or below average advertising person. They’ll gladly take your money…and then sloppily put together some ad with no idea about whether that ad might work or not. OR they’ll tell you that you have to air 42 ads a week regardless of your type of business or your local competitive situation. You’ll end up spending more money…and getting less in return if you go with this option.

What’s the other way to go? You can have better ads (or commercials – whatever you want to call them) When you have better ads and a better overall strategy fueling your ads, then you don’t have to BUY as many ads to air each week. Seriously. I’m not makin’ this crap up!

When you’re actual advertising message “hits the mark” with your targeted prospects better…then they have more impact. Here’s a totally made up scenario…

You’re told that you have to buy a lot of ads to make it work. So, you buy 45 ads a week. The ad itself is nothing special. But you’re “getting your name out there”, right? You’re disappointed with the results.

Then, you decide to do it better. You call me. We talk. You understand how advertising works a lot more just because we had a 20-minute conversation. You’re a bit more optimistic, hopeful, or maybe even excited now. I put a plan together for you. Instead of 45 ads a week on the radio per radio station, I suggest 24 to 30. Then, I come up with a better ad. Or series of ads. And then those ads start working. They’ll start working when a lot of thought is put into the plan in the beginning. There’s a foundation at the heart of it that will allow everything to work better, faster, and just plain WORK!

So, I’m not only going to be able to save you money initially, but you should be MAKING more because the advertising you’re doing with me and Results Radio will be pulling in more profitable customers to you. Then, all you have to do is make those customers happy and tell a few people about you…and Boom things start really crankin’ for you. Life is good!

With the money you’re saving initially on fewer ads each week…you could probably advertise on a 2nd radio station for the same money that the “average” ad person would have proposed!

Image courtesy of "stockimages" / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of “stockimages” / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
MORE BUYING POWER!

Do you understand now that BETTER ADS WILL GIVE YOU MORE BUYING POWER?

BUT…none of that has a chance to become reality until you call me for an initial 20-minute conversation. Maybe it’s over coffee. Maybe it’s in our cozy little library at Results Radio. Maybe it’s in our top-secret brainstorming room with cushy, colorful chairs.

I’m a nerd about this stuff. I’m YOUR nerd…if you’ll have me. Let’s chat. I’d love to help out! I’d like to help you reach your business goals. What? You don’t have any? You should get some, because then you can get excited when you reach them. What’s your Sioux Falls or surrounding area market potential? Can you double your revenues? Triple them? Set some goals. I want to help you reach them.

Thanks for reading. Have a groovy day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media (8-station radio group)

Sioux Falls

605-940-7984

Let me add a little disclaimer here. Not every situation is the same, but this is a pretty frequent scenario I just talked about. And no, not every ad person will help waste your money faster. But I’ve seen too many who do not have your best interest at heart…or not have the knowledge to make your advertising work for you.

That Big Group Of People You Forget About

/ Duane Christensen

I’m re-reading a couple of books. One of them is about direct-response advertising. The author is a vacuum cleaner store owner. Through years of trial and error, this business owner talks about how to grab the low-hanging fruit with special offers and magical headlines in print advertising. And also with Yellow Pages. It’s a book written about 15 years ago, I believe.

Image courtesy of "xedos4" / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of “xedos4” / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Then, the next book of his, he’s talking about how the economy sinking, really hurt his business and he knew he had to figure out what to do online. He talks about the decline of newspaper and the Yellow Pages…and that the majority of people are searching online for local businesses. So, he discusses how he dominates page 1 of Google searches at no cost. And he doesn’t pay for SEO. (I can help you do this too)

But…he talks about ALL the people he was forgetting about when he was only advertising with print and the yellow pages. He had forgotten about that group of people not quite in buying mode…but in research mode. The ones that were looking for answers to questions…and also looking for a business they might be able to trust. That group of people is mucho grande! That group of people is at least 10x the size of people who are ready to buy at this instant. So, his philosophy is to provide content online for those in the gathering information stage. Win them over BEFORE they decide to buy. Awesome! He gets it. But what nobody has taught this business owner is that the right kind of radio advertising is one of the best ways to win this huge group over. (It all depends on what you SAY to these people in your advertising)

Many business owners have only been told that your advertising must bring you instantaneous results…and that every penny you spend must be trackable. That’s great, but first, most advertising professionals don’t even know how to give THAT to you. So, you end up wasting money month after month, chasing something you’ll probably never find – Results that pay you back – Return on investment greater than what you invested in the first place.

So, back to radio…and that huge group of people you’re forgetting about. Using radio to talk to people 1) before they need you, 2) while they’re in research mode, and 3) when they’re ready to buy, is what will make you go, “Oh, yeah, this is nice.”

But that’s the tricky part. I’m not saying it’s Radio that is the Magic Key here…it’s talking to people like you actually care about them. It’s sharing a message of helpfulness and getting people to trust you before they’ve even met you. RADIO just happens to be one of the best mediums to get that kind of message across. People are listening consistently to radio. At all times of the day!

So, when you’re wondering how to take your business to the next level, and go after that big group of people you’re forgetting about…give me a shout. I’m here to make this process as easy and stressless as possible.

Have a great day!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media

I write ads, prepare radio schedules, create strategies for your ads (so you can stand out from your competition), give online and other marketing advice, and will keep your advertising fresh and new. I hear a lot of ads that air for 6 months or more before they’re changed out. That’s way way too long…and it’s not doing you any good. You have a lot of things you can share with the public that will help you become a trusted resource to them. Then they BUY. Let’s do that!

Frequently Asked Questions

/ Duane Christensen

Frequently Asked Questions

I think most FAQs are dumb. So, why not try to create one that's valuable to someone? This is a work in progress.

I think most FAQs are dumb. So, why not try to create one that’s valuable to someone? This is a work in progress.

How much does radio advertising cost?

It varies. The thing is…you’re not a “cookie-cutter” business…so we don’t provide cookie-cutter advertising solutions. It’s custom. You might need 60-second ads telling stories about you and your business to make people feel best about you when they need what you sell. Or maybe 30-second commercials are ok. There are even 15-second sponsorships to consider. And the number of competitors you have and how much advertising power or “voice” they have in Sioux Falls is a factor in how many ads you need to be airing each week to take a bite out of their market share. But don’t be afraid. We’ll talk. You’ll ask questions. I’ll ask questions. And get to the bottom of what it will take to make your Sioux Falls radio advertising work!

Which radio stations should I be on?

This is a question that’s kind of important…but not as important as you might think. At Results Radio Townsquare Media we have 8 radio stations. Stations that cover a

pretty wide variety of people. But you never really know exactly who’s listening to what. There are Grandmas listening to… >>>

>>> Read the rest here. http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/frequently-asked-questions/ OR…if you’d rather read about something else besides the rest of the FAQs…poke around some other page of the site.

I’m sending you to my Townsquare website because there is a whole other hodge-podge of info there that a small business owner might like to see…instead of trying to cruise through some of these blog posts looking for answers. Ya know?

And if you’re a radio person or marketing person who reads this… let me know if you approve of anything or if you might disagree with something. I’m open to opinions and discussion!

AND…if there’s a question you’d like added to the list…let me know. I just added it, so I’m sure there will be more and more added to the list over time.

Thanks!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media guy (who writes this Sioux Falls Radio Advertising blog at 11:15 p.m. on Wednesday nights)

605-940-7984

http://duanechristensen.townsquareinteractive.com/

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