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Fifty percent schedule, fifty percent message, one hundred percent on target, that's the formula for a successful radio ad and ad campaign. Radio advertising success is built on frequency, message and target. Achieving a frequency that reaches your target demo with enough repetition (a minimum of five times) for them to remember and respond to your ad is the goal. Expensive? Could be. Necessary? Absolutely.

Radio reaches into your head and needs to get past all the competitive clutter from the constant bombardment of messages we receive each day. Investing the time to research and understand what the consumer is already thinking or identifying as their "need", allows you to use your radio ad to provide a solution. Since radio is a passive medium, your message can reach your target when they are already thinking about the "problem". Radio also gives your audience the chance to respond to your ad almost immediately. Advertisers have often told me of new customers who came to their location because they had just heard the ad while they were in the car going to make their purchase at a competitors location.

Successful radio ads grow from an understanding of the message you want to deliver. Is your ad campaign transactional or a branding campaign? Transactional ads state the "problem" offer you as the solution and prompt the listener to act now. Branding campaigns are long term campaigns that position your product or business as the place to go anytime the customer has the need. Branding offers a mark of distinction for your business and gives you a marketing position.

A challenging but extremely useful way to determine your marketing position is to describe your business in ten words. Those words should be based on an understanding of the emotional need that drives the consumer. What makes Sue shop at Pete's hardware store instead of Steve's? Is it convenience? Is it knowledgeable staff? Is it better pricing? Is it reliability? Or is her guy Bob the decision maker and Sue simply making the purchase. Your ad should speak to the decision maker and the emotional driver that is unique to your store (and that's not always saving money!)

Your ad should speak to the target in a way that appeals to them, peaks their curiosity, surprises them or entertains. Too often small business advertisers try to cram their ad with everything in their inventory. As a society, we tend not to listen as intently as we once did. A laundry list will have me mentally tuning out before you're half way through. Today's customer is savy and resourceful. They will come in and see for themselves all the wonderful items you carry. Your ad should appeal to that first buying decision...where to go and why.

Today's consumer is also unimpressed with the "new, improved, better" advertising of a decade ago. The BS meter is high, especially in in the 18-25 demo. Before you can finish a :60 second ad, I can goggle almost anything I need to know. The job of your radio ad is to make me want to...get me interested...and for heaven sake, just give me your .com, save your phone number for the web site!

Emotionally compelling, entertaining, funny (genuinely funny), surprising, and yes, even somewhat annoying radio ads work. Jingles work, sound bites work...radio is still theater of the mind! So have a little fun, be creative and respect the consumer's existing knowledge base and their almost instant ability to "get in the know". Tell them something they might not have known or thought about...you are the "expert".

Creating successful radio ads takes some effort. Research, define, understand, create and use the medium to your best advantage. The rewards will be great!

Learn more about this author, Nancy Hreha.
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