| Insider Secrets to
Radio Ads
60 Seconds to Success Xana Winans
President, Golden Proportions Marketing
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Marketing on the radio is an enticing idea, isn’t it? But is it worth it? Definitely. For one, the average person listens to 20 hours of radio a week! And, radio goes everywhere – the car, work, the beach, in the dental office, on your run, and so many other places. It’s almost impossible to escape! Radio is also an intrusive medium, meaning that it seeps into your subconscious, and can even break through and grab your attention while you are otherwise occupied. So we know that radio makes sense. But can it make you cents? Or dollars? Or tens of thousands of dollars? Done right, absolutely. Here are a few tips on making radio work for you. The Script Radio is considered the theater of the mind. You need to give your product a personality and a voice (literally) to help it leap from background noise to conscious thought. - Use sound effects to create a visual picture. The sound of the dental drill is unmistakable to most people, as is snoring (OSA appliances), or the sound of the ocean and seagulls to talk about white teeth for summer.
- Write the script in first person. Reading the script yourself creates a feeling of connection between yourself and prospective patients.
- Find one main message and stick to it. Radio is not a yellow pages ad, don’t stuff it full of every single service and technology you have.
- Drive listeners to your website. Phone numbers are harder to remember than words – so push them to the web and make sure it’s an easy address.
Recording Once you have the perfect script, you need to make it come to life. - Regardless of what the sound engineer tells you, don’t go with the first read. It takes several tries to feel comfortable with the script, make sure you don’t mumble words, and sound lively and personable.
- Add music to your recording to help set a mood. You’ll most likely use stock music in the background, which is fine. Music is meant to move the spot along, not overpower you. And grabbing a disk of your favorite song just isn’t going to fly. Any music that isn’t stock is royalty protected.
- Jingles are a good option if you have a difficult to remember phone number or web address.
Placement The perfect radio spot is nothing without the perfect placement. - Make sure to pick the right station. Select a format that matches your target demographics.
- You want to achieve a frequency of 4 in radio – meaning that a listener will hear you at least 4 times in a week. Obviously not every spot will be heard by every listener. Your radio rep can help you set up a schedule with this level of frequency.
- If you don’t have the budget to run all day long, just pick one day part (morning drive, afternoon, evening drive, etc) and saturate. Run 12-15 spots per week to break through the clutter of the other ads.
- Run at least 2-3 weeks out of each month, and stay consistent on the same station for at least six months.
With the right script, the right recording and the right station, you’ll be a radio success in no time. If you want a few more ideas, visit www.goldenproportions.com and click on our webinars tab for the Radio webinar.
Xaña Winans is the owner and president of Golden Proportions Marketing (GPM), a thriving company that specializes in comprehensive, custom marketing and advertising strategies for the dental and medical fields. The GPM website can be found at www.goldenproportions.com and Xaña can be reached at 866-590-4476 or xana@goldenproportions.com. |
