In 2015, businesses will surely begin to implement new and innovative marketing strategies to assist the growth of their brand. Here at Queen City Media, we specialize in digital marketing, as we use the various new-age tools available to us throughout the internet to generate the most leads in our specific, target demographics. In our last marketing article, we discussed how billboard marketing isn’t always a smart allocation of advertising dollars. This week, we decided to dive into another “traditional” marketing tool, radio advertising.

Why Businesses SHOULD Use Radio Advertisements

Whether it’s driving to work, school or a store, chances are, you’re going to be listening to the radio at some point in your commute. Advertising on the radio can provide the opportunity to be heard and (hopefully) remembered by a variety of potential customers. Many companies have been very effective with radio advertising, implementing catchy jingles that are easily remembered upon hearing them only a few times, which can help with establishing brand equity. Radio should be used as a front line for marketing, use it to funnel people into your location or to other advertising mediums (web, Facebook, Twitter, etc). Too many companies concentrate on a catchy message and forget to include a strong call to action.

Why Businesses SHOULDN’T Use Radio Advertisements

The increase in subscriptions to satellite radio, the abundance of Smartphone/MP3 players and commercial-free internet radio stations have really begun to take a toll on traditional radio listenership. This could lead to a decline in your return on investment. You are likely spending the same while not being heard by as many customers as you expected. Also, as technology is more easily accessible, the need for constant brain stimulation causes many people to quickly change the channel as soon as a station cuts to a commercial break. Targeting is also difficult with radio, demographics and listener habits are estimated based on surveys, and loose statistical data.

Who Is Your Target Demographic?

This is another question that should be asked when deciding your company’s radio advertising budget . If you’re targeting the average blue-collar employee, you will need to ensure that your ad is played during peak morning-drive hours or during the evening drive hours. For every demographic, you need to decide not only when they’ll be in their vehicles, but what they’ll be listening to, as well. Overall, radio can be an effective marketing tool for some companies, but like many other offline marketing techniques, the results are very hit-and-miss, while being pretty much unquantifiable in terms of who you have reached, how many people went to your company because of the radio, etc.

How Should I Plan My Radio Advertising Budget?

This question isn’t necessarily specific to radio advertising. When setting any marketing budget it is important to first determine a clear goal or set of objectives. Try answering these quick questions:

• Is this a branding campaign? (primary goal is exposure)
• Is this a sales opportunity? (direct return on investment)
• Is this part of a larger campaign? (percentage of budget)

Once you are able to answer these simple questions you can determine your CPA or cost per acquisition. How much are you willing to spend to reach one new customer. From there you can scale your budget accordingly. Many businesses take a backwards approach and try to set their advertising budget based on cash available. While it’s true that you can’t spend money you don’t have, you will see a MUCH better return on your investment if you instead forecast based on potential profits.

There are many other factors that go into the planning and execution of a successful radio advertising campaign, stay tuned to the blog as we will be posting a comprehensive guide in the coming weeks!

Offline marketing will always be a tool to utilize when advertising for your business, but it’s effectiveness is dwindling, especially in comparison to the success of digital marketing. If you are allocating funds for a radio advertising budget in your business or brand we would love to hear about your experience(s).

*Update* Check out some great insight from the SEER Interactive team:

2 clients were running Radio & TV along side search – here is how it impacted their search campaigns http://t.co/vkhCklFRAR by @lambostylee

— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) August 8, 2014