| |
| |
|
Advertising Information |
|
|
|
Buying Radio? Read This and Dont Waste Your Money
Pay close attention and make it work the best for you. No doubt you've listened to, and then quickly deleted, messages from account execs from your local radio stations. Maybe you've even entertained them in your office. Hopefully you didn't have to sanitize your phone or office afterwards. Well, radio can be great way to garner awareness cheaply... ahem, inexpensively... if you do it right. Remember... 97.823% of all radio ads S-U-C-K. That leaves you to carry the banner for great radio advertising. And when you do, you will get noticed. Believe me, you will get noticed. Why do so many radio ads suck? Between the screaming car ads, nasally voiced business owners who should never get anywhere near a microphone reading their own ads, and the next "turnkey" business opportunity, they are all dressed in their plaid suits and resorting to hucksterism. They want your money and they want it now. They forget one thing. Well, actually a lot of things, but the main thing they forget that people are not tuning in for their ad. Listeners want Rush, Rome, Al, Laura, music, sports, news, or whatever. People aren't saying, "Gee, I gotta hear great heating and air conditioning ads today!" Your ad is interrupting what they listen for. By nature, you are already behind the eight ball before you start in radio. But there is hope. First off, do NOT let a radio station employee write your ad. If your exec isn't a writer (you may luck out in that some radio execs are copywriters in training looking for an agency gig) and you don't speak up, your ad will probably get written by either: the station producer- who may have already written 4 or 5 other ads that same DAY,who doesn't have enough time to fully attend to your needs, and thereby wasting your money; OR a disc jockey (strange term- they don't spin wax anymore, Daddy-O) whose annoyed he or she has to write an ad, or who's not a talented writer to begin with, also wasting your money; OR by an intern, secretary, or other employee - who may relish the opportunity, but may not have the chops yet, or is being pressured to write something "quick and dirty" so it can produced and on the air -- also thereby wasting your money. You have creative control and the ultimate yay or nay, so feel free to choose your writer. Hint and Shameless Plug : There is a link here to direct you to an excellent radio writer. It's http://www.brandedbetter.com. Now, when it comes down to concepting and reviewing scripts, remember this: Radio is called Theater of the Mind for good reason. Use it to your advantage. Recall your disadvantage before starting. Cleverness will grab attention. But... it must be on strategy to be effective. Give your writer ONE benefit to express. How does that benefit resonate with the target audience? Don't think if you have a "mundane" or "boring" product or service, there's no cleverness to be had. Give a good writer enough information, and they will find it. A few of the BEST radio ads I've ever heard was for a soil conditioner. Yup. A soil conditioner. Two voices. One performed by the writer. The other performed by midlevel (read... talented, and nonunion) voice talent. Writer as The Hick Farmer. Nonunion Talent as the Smart Farmer. Hick Farmer: "Hey, nay-bor...Whatzzat on yer roof?" Smart Farmer: (obviously) "It's a satellite dish." Hick Farmer: "Whazzit fer...? Talkin' to the Martians?" You can almost hear the slack jaw in your head. And it makes you want to hear more. That's your goal for radio. Another ad for the same product was even better. Smart Farmer: "Hey, neighbor... Why so glum?" Hick Farmer: "Aw... the weeds, the bugs, the disease... my crops are about ruined... I've had an awful year. The wife has been pickin' her tooth for leftovers." Now, I'm not a farmer. I never heard of conditioning soil. But, you can bet I understood what it did after these ads. And did I mention I was wondrously entertained when receiving this information? To be fair, these ads were produced by an ad agency with a good sized budget. The campaign also won some ad awards and some industry awards. The point is-- a good ad isn't loud, repetitive, trite, condescending, or tries to jam as many words possible into the time frame. In fact, silence works to your advantage. Silence in radio (or even TV) is like white space on a print ad. It tastefully surrounds the content for maximum effectiveness, drawing the eye (in this case, ear) in to read (hear) the copy. Voices are important, too. Ever listen to the radio and hear the same voice all over the ads? That's usually Mr. or Ms. Producer-- the person who makes sure the ad gets made. That's why they don't have time to write a good one for you. Many freelance writers, myself included, know something about voices and casting, and can probably get you the best talent for your dollar. Some writers can even voice their own copy. And think twice, no... three times about voicing it yourself. Better make that four times. Oh, and if you're wondering what length of ad to buy? In most cases, go for the :60. For just a few dollars more, you get twice the time to play with. If you are spending money on radio, use ALL the resources available to you to create the best possible ad. And that usually entails going outside the radio station walls to get it. ~~ John is a freelance commercial writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He publishes a free monthly e-zine focusing on branding, advertising, and marketing from his website http://www.brandedbetter.com. Speaking with both agency and in-house experience, he knows the most valuable asset of a businees is its brand.
MORE RESOURCES:
TapIt!â„¢ Releases Proprietary Mobile Advertising Platform - San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How to Create Ads that Sell with Little Effort One of the main problems people find withmarketing, is the actual selling.How can you create ads which sell?Well there are tons of articles, and payfor e-books to help you create ad copy, butthere is a free and easy way to createyour own ads which sell, sell sell. Whats The Frequency? The more things change, some say, the more things stay the same. When it comes to marketing, I tend to agree. A $40 Million Dollar Little Known Referral Strategy Would you like to know how a car wash chain with only 12 locations has cleaned over 33,373,975 cars and has an annual revenue of over $40 Million (that is not a misprint) using little to no paid advertising?Well, sit forward because I'm about to tell you. The company name is "Car Spa" and here's how I discovered their brutally effective referral strategy. The Only Bad Advertising Is No Advertising - Or Is It? Depending on whom you ask, you will get told many "truths" about advertising. The question I have for you today is this - "Is the only bad advertising, no advertising?"Before we begin, it might help us to agree on what advertising is, so here's one definition:"Advertising is the non-personal communication of an individual's paid persuasive information regarding products, and or services via various media. 16 Methods for Getting Free Advertising 1. Place copies of your circular on bulletin boards throughout your community, such as in coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, barber shops, etc. Measure the Response of Your Advertising Campaigns by Using Promotional Products For most companies, gone are the days of spending money just for the pleasure of seeing their name on TV or the Internet.Most companies today are forced to insist on results. Double Your Sales Potential With Double-sided Business Cards Swapping business cards is one of the most basic and common forms of networking in the business world. With something that is so common practice, people often hand out cards blindly while not really thinking about what the card does AFTER you hand it out. Why Your Ad Failed So you spent good money on an ad, put it in a magazine or newspaper, and waited patiently for phone calls that didn't materialize. You're upset: you feel that you've wasted money and time, and now you're convinced that advertising doesn't work. Custom LED Display Custom LED Display, as the name specifies, facilitate control anything with any message that you can think of, from hours of operation to daily specials. These are used by almost all industries like factory, banks, airports, universities, libraries, and many others. Top Design and Marketing Tips from a Branding Expert This month, we wanted to share some general tips relating to your graphic design that we've come up with over the past year:Always include an address on your business card, even if you are operating a small business out of your home - it greatly increases your credibility and makes you look much more established! If you're concerned about privacy, a Post Office box is a great way to go. When signing up for a Post Office box, consider using a "Mailboxes" store instead of the Post Office - you'll get a street address instead of the typical "P. Is there anything new under the sun? Heres how to find out if your bright idea is unique. "There's nothing new under the sun" is probably the one phrase no inventor wants to hear, seldom believes, and is always trying to prove wrong. However, moving too quickly to prototype stage and first disclosure can turn out to be costly for the inventor who doesn't take the time to find out if his or her invention is already patented. Cross Cultural Advertising "Culture is a like dropping an Alka-seltzer into a glass - you don't see it, but somehow it does something,"Hans Magnus Enzensberger.Culture affects everything we do. Tips On Writing a Successful Ad When knowledge is based on truth it is powerful!When it is critical knowledge, its presence can drive our success, while its absence may contribute to our failure. I will attempt to convey in this report some useful and practical knowledge about how to write awesome ads for the World Wide Web. Secrets to Profitable Mail Order Products The most profitable mail order products are simple 3-to-5 page informational reports such as this one. Once you've got your act together, these 3-page reports can be produced for $10 per hundred or less, and sold for at least $200 per hundred. Why Radio Advertising Could Be The Best Thing You Ever Did For Your Business In the marketing world, radio has earned the reputation of being the odd step-cousin. You know the one. The Skinny on Billboards Several years back the billboard people put a bigpicture of "Sharlene Wells, Miss America" onbillboards all over town. She was everywhere. Three Keys to Crafting Successful Print Ads Want to create print ads that get results? Below are three keys to get you started.1. Vinyl Banners for the Right Occasion The sinage marketplace is competitive! Consequently, some companies are going to focus on price and neglect quality. To complicate the situation, companies that produce stock vinyl banner material offer a bevy of different materials based on weights/thickness, color, reflective properties, ink absorption properties, etc. The ONLY Type Of Advertising People LOVE!! Can it be???Is there advertising that people actually love?You bet there is! And you are already very aware of it. The type of advertising I'm referring to is promotional items, also known as advertising specialties. Never Be Caught Cardless Again: Five Tips to Help You Remember Business Cards Sorry, I Don't Seem to Have a Business Card With Me..
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
