RADIO ADVERTISING

What Could Your Business Do With a Higher Return on Ad Spend?

The Power of Radio

Radio is one of the most influential mediums in the world. Radio reaches about 92% of Americans aged 18+ with over 11 hours of listening per week – providing more reach than other traditional mediums like television and print media.
According to Jacobs Media Tech Survey, 65% of listeners agree that radio is a part of their daily routine while commuting to and from work.

Why Radio Resonates Well with Consumers

Consumers find radio a trustworthy medium as opposed to television or print. According to a study for (YouGov), about 45% of consumers say they trust radio stations as most listeners turn on the radio for news, entertainment, and companionship.
Radio is a companion for listeners by having continuous programming ranging from live political commentary to radio host banter about the latest entertainment gossip and the occasional morning show pranks.
Whether you are commuting at midnight or early morning, there’s always a variety of stations and programming on the air.

What is Radio Advertising?

Radio advertising is an advertisement featured on traditional AM/FM stations or satellite radio. Radio ads can help increase traffic and sales by placing your radio spot in front of thousands or even millions of qualified consumers ready to do business with the help of a well-developed radio ad strategy.
Radio ads typically air in increments of :15, :30, or :60 seconds throughout the day. Radio schedules are usually booked in dayparts. The five standard radio dayparts are:
  • Mornings
  • Middays
  • Afternoons
  • Evenings
  • Overnights
Radio spot pricing is determined by station cume, daypart placement, and –– of course, demand.

The Impact of Radio Advertising

What makes radio unique as a medium is it has the power to paint visuals in the mind of the listeners – this is what we call the theater of the mind (the collection of style, tone, and a method to paint an image for listeners through the mind).

Radio has the exceptional ability to target audiences based on age, lifestyle, interests, ethnicities, values, and affiliations.

Business owners can maximize their ad spend by reaching these niche audiences without wasting critical ad budgets on disinterested consumers.

So how do you determine if radio advertising is right for your business? Let’s start off by looking at a few different types of radio ad campaigns first.

Types of Radio Advertisements

Testimonials

Testimonials are an effective way to provide authentic feedback from satisfied customers. They offer valuable insights into how a product/service has impacted their lives.

Consumers are naturally drawn to hearing more about the benefits and how it works for people similar to themselves.

This type of content is both relatable and reliable for consumers, making it a powerful tool for businesses to attract and retain customers.

Sponsorships

Radio sponsorships are packages of on-air advertisements that are often attached to news, traffic, and weather updates. They are usually short in duration, but they provide great frequency.

By repeating the ads frequently, advertisers can create familiarity with their brand and increase top-of-mind awareness among brand managers.

Straight Reads

A popular radio ad format is the straight read, which highlights a product or service’s features and benefits. These ads encourage potential customers to take action by providing a call-to-action.

Despite being short, straight reads are informative and convey important information to consumers.

Jingles

Jingles are short and catchy tunes that include a brief overview of your business with a call to action. To produce a jingle, businesses must include a :15- :30 second captivating message about your business and what services or products are offered.

Listeners will have the ability to recognize your business faster, keeping your brand in mind and allowing you to get in front of the competition.

Personified Commericals

Do you want to make your commercial more engaging? Creating personified commercials can provide consumers with a memorable audio-visual experience.

By using this approach, brands can establish a connection with their target audience, resulting in exciting and enjoyable content that consumers will appreciate.

Live Reads

Radio live reads break the barrier between programming and prerecorded messaging. Live reads add energy and urgency, are in the moment, and often add credibility to the advertiser.

Listeners become more interested in learning about your product or service because of the personal touch of the brand’s message – similar to a trusted friend recommending a useful service.

Now that we’ve touched on radio ad types, we need to set a budget. Let’s dive into how the cost of radio advertisements works.

Cost of Radio Ads

Several factors go into pricing; like the market designated market area (DMA), cumulative audience size (CUME), format, listener demographics, time of day (dayparts), available inventory, and a variety of other dynamics.

The radio advertising cost is usually done with a measurement called “cost-per-mille” (CPM). CPM refers to the cost an advertiser pays for 1,000 impressions (views on television) of an advertisement.

A few important factors that may determine your ad’s cost:

  • Advertising during critical times of the day such as the morning or afternoon commute
  • Advertising in popular metropolitan areas where the number of listeners increases
  • Advertising on streaming services/podcasts with a large listener audience
  • Advertising during competitive air time such as the Superbowl and major holidays
Luckily, there are a lot of radio stations, podcasts, and streaming services that offer bundle packages that allow companies to benefit from discounts if they place their ad repeatedly throughout the month rather than a one-time placement. This also increases the likelihood that target consumers will hear your ad often enough to respond.

Advantages of Radio Ads

Radio is an effective and top choice for audio entertainment.

At home, in the car, and on the go – where consumers are, so is your message. Radio is accessible, portable, and mobile. In this way, the radio is a part of everyday life.

Radio remains one of the strongest forms of advertising in leading consumers to point of sale.

Radio is a trusted advertising medium.

Listeners tune into their favorite stations daily and grow relationships with stations, their staff, and on-air hosts. This creates a great opportunity for advertisers to leverage the credibility that radio personalities already have with their listeners.

Radio is a targeted advertising medium.

With radio advertisements, you can have a more precise reach by choosing a station based on age, lifestyle, interests, ethnicities, values, and affiliations to specifically target the audience you want to reach. You can choose the station format tailored to your market demographics.

Misconceptions of Radio Advertising

Radio is dead – FALSE

Radio continues to be one of the most powerful mediums in the United States, with a weekly reach of around 82.5 percent among adults. There are over 15,445 radio stations in the U.S., all competing for a piece of this massive market.

Radio has less reach – FALSE

Radio reaches 92% of Americans monthly (Nielsen Audience Insights) and you can choose a specific station/platform that will reach your desired audience. In addition to radio’s ability to reach critical mass, it enables advertisers to target audiences with precision.

Radio won’t work because of the lack of visuals – SO NOT TRUE!

Radio has the power to create brand recognition through audio, jingles, and songs that stick with consumers, especially combined with repetition.

Audio is powerful and creates an uninterrupted medium where listeners won’t feel distracted by visuals. In 2018, a Nielsen study on the performance of radio advertisements for landscaping companies stated that 40% of listeners who heard a radio ad desired to learn more about the product or service.

How to Measure Radio Advertisements

You’ll need to measure the success of your ad campaign through strategic performance analysis. Jungle Communications incorporates several key metrics to analyze your ad’s performance including some of the following tools:
  • Creating specific landing pages dedicated to tracking ad performance
  • Setting up a personalized phone number specifically for your listeners to call
  • Tracking your sales by using KPIs, tracking IDs, and Google Analytics
  • Employing discount coupon codes for tracking attribution
  • Developing special pricing for a limited period to create urgency
Jungle Communications can develop a radio marketing strategy with the appropriate metrics to measure and optimize your campaign results.

Start Your Radio Campaign with Jungle

There’s no doubt that radio can provide an effective tool for reaching potential and existing customers, primarily if you use it as part of a comprehensive advertising strategy.

Contact Jungle Communications today to learn more about our radio advertising, streaming, and podcast services. We’ll set up a discovery call to understand your objectives and get you started on your successful radio advertising journey.

Did you know

     
DID YOU KNOW?

92% of Americans listen to radio every week.

"We appreciate your agency's expertise, local influence and advice throughout the Harvest Long Island campaign."
Bryan St. Peters
Marketing Director, Harvest Ministries/Greg Laurie Ministries

RADIO ADVERTISING FAQS

Costs vary based on market size, audience reach, daypart, and demand. Pricing is usually measured by Cost-Per-Mille (CPM), which refers to the cost per 1,000 impressions.

Radio remains one of the most powerful and trusted mediums, reaching 92% of Americans every month. It offers consistent audience engagement, especially during commuting hours.

You can select stations based on demographics such as age, location, interests, and ethnicities to ensure your message reaches the right listeners.

Radio reaches more people weekly than television and print. It’s cost-effective, trusted, and allows businesses to connect with their audience without competition for visual attention.