Menu
In a digital world, marketers have more advertising channels than ever to consider. You can advertise via display ads, buy placement in search engines, advertise on social media either through their ad platforms or through influencer marketing, pay to get written about on websites, pay for placement on websites, advertise in apps, and there are a ton more digital options out there, which also compete with things like billboards and tv ads.
Many people think of radio as old fashioned; the technology rose to prominence in the 1920’s after all. However, just because it’s old, doesn’t mean it’s antiquated. Radio has withstood many new technologies that were supposed to have killed it off, including television and now the internet, streaming, and digital services.
However, radio continues to be the most widespread form of media, with 92% of the US population tuning in at least once per week. People continue to listen to the radio in their cars, the radio is often on in businesses, and radio has expanded into the digital world too with streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, and more.
There are many reasons why advertisers would want to consider advertising on the radio. A few include:
Traditional radio is a unique medium in that each station only serves a specific location. Because radio is set up in this manner, it presents a somewhat unique opportunity for advertisers to reach local audiences. If you only want to advertise in certain areas, you could just advertise on radio stations that serve those areas. Some other advertising channels don’t allow you to only target a specific area.
Most traditional radio stations also serve a unique demographic, although many are quite general. For instance, sports radio listeners are typically male, ages 30-49, public radio listeners tend to be more educated and earn higher salaries, millennials like podcasts, while a top 40 station will have a younger audience. As an advertiser, you could only advertise on the radio stations in your target area that serve a demographic that closely aligns with who your target audience is.
Who doesn’t want their ads to be effective? Unfortunately, some mediums just aren’t that effective. Billboards prices are up over 30% in the last decade, yet they have been shown to be losing their effectiveness and aren’t all that measurable as you have no idea how many people saw it.
Radio is a very effective medium. As it’s all sound, radio listeners have to actively listen and use their imaginations to follow along, giving radio a greater amount of focus than some other mediums. For instance, display ads are easy to ignore. When listeners are in this state of actively giving the radio their focus and they hear an ad, they are more likely to take it in and remember what was said later.
Radio listeners tend to also be loyal to their stations, programs, and even hosts. If your ad is being played multiple times on a station or program, or if it is read by a trusted host, the ad has an even greater chance of getting through to the listener and getting a response from them or being remembered later on.
Radio ads can also be measurable, especially if you use direct response radio ads. These are radio ads where the listener responds directly to the ad, either using a vanity phone number, vanity url, unique coupon code, or something else to identify themselves as having come from listening to the radio ad. While many online ads do have remarkable ways of being measured that do surpass traditional radio’s measurability, radio still is more measurable than things like tv ads and billboards.
Not only is radio effective at getting through to listeners, it also is cost-effective for advertisers. The creation of radio ads cost less than many other ad formats, while they have been shown to be extremely effective. Nielsen found that radio ads have the best return on ad spend (ROAS) of any medium.
The cost of getting your ad on the radio will vary depending on location, time, station, program, format, and more, so you do need to make sure you are choosing the best possible placement and always testing and tracking results.
For professional help getting your traditional or online radio ads heard by your target audience, work with the team at Hybrid Media. Put our team’s 300+ years of marketing and media experience to work for you.
Direct Response advertising focuses on delivering ROI by quickly capturing the attention of listeners and leading them to a call to action. At Hybrid Media, we purchase millions of dollars of low-cost media each week, resulting in significant savings for all of our clients. How much can you save? Contact us for a free consultation today!
Contact us today to find out how much you can save by working with the radio advertising experts at Hybrid Media to create and run your national radio campaign.