Radio Advertising for Small Business Owners – Part 3

If you didn't catch Parts 2 and 2 in this series, you can find them in the archives on the right hand side of the blog...

So you’ve committed to a multi-week radio advertising campaign. Now what?

You’ll need to create your ad. Most stations will put the ad together for you in house, and in many cases they’ll do it at no extra charge. But…you get what you pay for.

If you opt for an in house ad produced by the station, here are some guidelines to get the best ad for your money:

Use a Popular Station Personality – instead of a nameless announcer, try to line up one of the stations regular on-air personalities to record your ad. My local sports radio station runs an ad for a shoe store featuring the popular afternoon talk show host – and it’s one of the few ads I remember because of his distinctive voice and the implied endorsement.

Use your Own Voice – you can be the star of your own radio ads, and you don’t need a great booming radio voice – but you do need character. Your voice needs to be different, folksy, friendly, deep, etc.

Be in Charge of the Message – you can’t expect the local radio station to “get” your brand message after a 3 minute talk with you. Give them any marketing materials you can to give them further insight into your brand and your target market. If you have an idea, give it to them in explicit detail. This is not intended to knock those who create ads for radio stations – it’s more a recognition that they are put in a hopeless predicament and need as much info as possible to create an ad that you’d actually want your customers to hear.

Radio can be an affordable advertising option for small businesses -- following the tips in this series will help you get your campaign off on the right foot.