Since 1920, radio has been well known for its personal, entertaining, and reliable messaging. This is why radio remains a consistent advertising medium with proven results for all ages, ethnicities, genders, and listener locations. Radio still works.
So why should you advertise on the radio? Just look at the numbers. Approximately 92% of Americans 12 and older listen to the radio every week. With the help of the Radio Advertising Bureau, here are eight more relevant reasons:
1. Radio Advertises Everywhere
In your car, while you’re shopping. . .it’s the one medium that reaches out day and night where listeners live, work and play.
2. Frequency is More Powerful than Reach
Psychologists tell us that consumers need to be exposed to an advertising message at least three times before it begins to resonate. When businesses review their advertising budget, and take this factor into account, radio is one of few mediums to choose from that offers an affordable, repeat-ad plan.
3. Radio is Cost Effective
The costs associated with advertising on the radio have grown less than other common forms of advertising. Newspaper advertising rates continue to climb as circulation for printed newspapers has fallen. Television commercial rates are costly and run the risk of being unseen as more viewers record shows on DVR just so they can skip the commercials.
4. Always in the Spotlight
When listeners hear your advertisement on the radio, it’s not being interrupted by 12 other spots, competing with a page full of ads, or being buried in the back of a newspaper or magazine. Listeners will hear your ad – and your ad only – without the distractions of advertising competition.
5. The “Person”ality of Radio
Do you have a favorite station you listen to on the commute to or from work? You might even have a local DJ that you prefer. DJs bring their own personality and flair to the station they represent. They know their communities, they live and play in their communities, and they become natural ambassadors of your local brand. And because they have loyal listeners, what they say on the radio or at an event is trusted by their community of listeners.
6. The Power of the Listener’s Imagination
Radio often gets a bad rap for being one of the few advertising mediums with no visual element. But, in the opinions of anyone in the radio advertising business, that “bad rap” is not so bad after all. Why? Because the vision that the listener creates in their own mind can be even more powerful than the one designed in a visual ad. Word pictures and emotion-generating sounds create a theatrical experience that can generate emotions of all kinds.
7. Active – Not Passive
A printed advertisement has its place, but rarely does it stir emotion like a radio ad can. In this day of high-touch, on-the-go consumers, active advertising helps generate colorful visions, creates ongoing demand and sells your brand with immediacy.
8. Targeted Advertising
Pinpointed advertising on the station or stations that best match your customer’s interests is like serving them their favorite meal at the time they expect to eat. And that targeted effort can save you dollars.
Even with all of these proven reasons, the method you will choose will depend on a number of factors – who your target audience is, and what your budget will allow.
Bottom line, radio is still relevant. An excerpt from an article in the Advertising & Marketing Review shares: “…satellite and other national media, cannot tap into the local advertising community the way local radio can.” Radio today, yesterday and for years is very affordable, very targetable, is very intimate, and all of those things are important to most local advertisers