The top 3 things to NOT do when using radio in your local marketing

The top 3 things to NOT do when using radio in your local marketing.

Better uses for your sometimes-wasted advertising dollar.

by Jeff McHughVP Marketing

The American Marketing Association St Louis

These slides are a portion of the presentation that I created for the American Marketing Association Meeting in St Louis January 2012. I was asked to share some stories about my career as a director, brand

manager and talent coach for national radio companies. If you have questions or thoughts, I’d love to hear from you!

- Jeff McHugh

Don’t buy remote broadcastsWould YOU go out of your way to make a purchase at a retailer because a radio deejay was there giving away coffee mugs? Neither does anyone else. You get exponentially better ROI buying regular commercials - or one of the ideas in the next slides...

Do: buy pre-roll video

It’s comparatively inexpensive, stations have unused inventory and consumer retention for these ads is significantly higher than average. The listener watches your short commercial waiting for the online audio stream to begin.

Do: buy personality endorsements

Your local radio personalities are like family to consumers in your community. In the same way that Steve Harvey gets results for national advertisers, you can see results when local on-air talent endorses your business.

Do: buy internet radioHeavy listenership, low cost-per-thousand, high message retention and in some cases you only pay for specific demographics and zip codes. Instead of hearing your commercial lost in the middle of 8 others, many online stations play one spot at a time. Look at Pandora, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and consider buying streaming spots on your local stations.

Don’t buy background stations

“The station that everyone can agree on” is usually the station that no one is really engaged with. The music, the deejays and your commercial message all play pleasantly in the background, like white noise.

Do: buy foreground content

Funny morning shows, news and talk radio hosts get results for advertisers because listeners are attentive to every word, including your commercial message. Programming that keeps listeners interest is a good environment for your message.

Do: buy foreground content

And by the way... definitely support your local NPR station. You’ll reach more intelligent, better educated, higher-income listeners who will pay attention and respond to your underwriting sponsorship message.

Do: buy Christian stations

Whether you’re a believer or not, these listeners will go out of their way to support businesses that they hear supporting their faith-based programming.

Don’t buy based on 1/4 hour share

Quarter-hour ratings are left-over from when early radio programs were 15 minutes long. It is an estimate of how many people tuned in to a station and listened for at least 15 minutes. Who cares? This number is irrelevant to your advertising strategy.

Do: buy cume persons

Cume persons is an estimate on the cumulative (or total) number of persons who heard a radio station, whether they listened for one minute or for two hours. This data is more useful in determining where your target consumers tune in.

Make contact with Jeff McHugh

www.jeffmchugh.comtwitter.com/silentmovie

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