Since the 1920’s up until the age of digital streaming, radio ads have been an effective way of marketing to listeners.
While FM radio has seen a slight decline in listeners in recent years, digital platforms like Pandora, Spotify, and podcasts have seen a rise in listeners that more than makes up for it and keeps radio as the largest marketing channel available to advertisers.
Most radio ads today are either 60-second, 30-second, or 15-second spots.
In this post, we’ll discuss how to produce a radio commercial, what should be included, ways to make your ad stand out, and discuss the cost of radio production.
How to produce radio ads: What are the steps to radio commercial production?
When producing a radio commercial, you’ll want to be sure that you do each of the following steps:
- Determine the focus of your commercial: Make your ad about just 1 or 2 services or products so that your listeners are sure to understand and will remember your ad.
- Brainstorm creative ideas: Gather a group of people to come up with ideas for ads, then come up with ten or more ideas. From there, you can narrow it down to one idea that you actually will move forward with.
- Write a script: Once you have your focus and idea, it’s time to write the actual script. Start by grabbing the user’s attention, then make both logical and emotional appeals.
- Hire a voiceover artist: The voice that reads your ad is obviously very important to the tone of your ad and it’s ultimate effectiveness.
- Setup studio time: To make your ad sound it’s best, ideally you’ll record it in a studio.
- Edit your ad: Having a professional editor edit your radio advertisement will make it much more professional.
- Purchase ad space: Once your ad is complete, it’s time to get it on the air by purchasing ad space. Hybrid Media has you covered here. Contact us today!
How to make a radio ad: What needs to be included?
Some core elements to a radio advertisement include:
- Distinctive branding: Make sure listeners are clearly made aware of your brand and that your branding is consistent across channels.
- Excellent scriptwriting: Your script should allow your voice actor to read at a decent pace, but shouldn’t be a speed talking exercise. You’ll want to keep things simple so listeners will understand and remember.
- Great voice actors: Talent is important to making a great ad as some people are just better at talking and have better voices than others.
- A hook: Grab listener’s attention at the start of your ad.
- An irresistible offer: If your offer is boring or too general (come buy our furniture today), it won’t be effective.
How to create a radio ad: Ways to make radio ads that stand out
Some ways to make your radio ad stand out include:
- Simple ads have been shown to be the most effective: Don’t try to pack too much in to your ad or listeners will just not pay attention or may miss the message
- Don’t be afraid to be creative: You want to stand out, not blend in to the other ads. Trying new ideas can help with this.
- Have an attention grabbing intro: If you don’t grab the listener’s attention right away, they’ll likely not listen to the rest of your ad or may miss your message.
- Include both logical and emotional appeals: Sales are great, but mixing them or other offers with an emotional appeal will make your ad more effective. Mention how your product or service will make the
- listener’s lives better; like a wireless phone network may highlight how they help connect family members and friends together.
- Have a great offer: In the end, if your offer doesn’t appeal to listeners, your ad likely won’t be effective.
Radio commercial production cost
The cost of producing a radio commercial can vary widely depending on many factors such as the script writers, voice over actors, and producers you hire to make your ad, how long your ad is, how much studio time you book, whether you have music or other sound effects in your ad, and more.
It’s possible to keep costs way down by making the radio ad yourself with just a computer. You could also spend hundreds of thousands or even millions to hire elite talent and have the best of everything.
Where you are making your ad also plays a big role in how much it will cost. Typically, it’s more expensive to make ads in big cities compared to small towns.
Conclusion
Now that you know a little more about producing a radio commercial, you’re ready to get started creating your own. For professional help getting your radio advertisement heard by your target audience, work with the team at Hybrid Media. We help our clients place their radio ads so that they reach their audience and get the best ROI. Contact us for a free consultation today!
