Overview
Radio advertising and promotion is a great way to let your current and potential customers know about your new store opening, product, service or about any special event or promotion taking place in your location.
Details
First things first, make sure that the customers you are trying to reach are listening to the radio. Otherwise, radio advertising might not be for you.Traditional radio advertising (i.e. running ads, or spots as they are called, in-between set lists) can be expensive…buying spots and creating the radio ad. This is often best done by advertising agencies which often gets costly.You can contact radio stations directly to discuss opportunities available with their sales people like sponsorships of events or specific promotions with your products.Another route to go is to sponsor the morning or afternoon traffic update on your local radio stations. If you live in a city or large town and commute to work, you’re already aware of the frequent traffic updates during these times.This type of sponsorship allows you to broadcast your message frequently (as traffic updates are made several times during the hour) and to a large audience, as may traffic reports are implemented across entire station ownership groups. Additionally, as the ads are usually read by the on-air personalities themselves, you save on audio production, hiring voice talent and recording music.Another idea that you might want to consider is personally dropping off menus, brochures, business cards and special offers for the on-air personalities. (See “Radio Station: Morning Drive Product Samples” for more information).At Starbucks in the early days, without big advertising budgets, these direct relationships with the radio stations were less expensive (like being the official coffee of WASH-FM’s 25 Days of Christmas Radio programming) than running spots. The world of radio is shrinking and stations are trying to get as much money as possible so there are less opportunities out there.
