Denver Search Engine Optimization |
Advertising Information |
links |
site map
|
Denver Search Engine Optimization |
Advertising Information |
links |
site map | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Advertising Primer for Fast Learners Advertising, when done well is a very effective way to increase your customer base and ultimately grow your bottom line.Many businesses have no idea how to advertise; they do a little bit here and a little bit there and end up saying that advertising doesn't work. Nine Power Words To Punch Up Your Ads As every professional politician and public relations man knows words have the power to entice, persuade and motivate people into a specific course of action.There are certain words that I refer to as "Power Words" that I learned, back in the dawn of time, when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth. How You Measure Yourself Is How You Motivate Yourself One of the keys to strong positive mental attitude is what you compare your personal performance to. Do you compare your sales results to the top producer in your industry? Do you compare your basketball playing ability to Michael Jordan? Do you compare your last presentation to a speech delivered by Ronald Reagan or JFK? Or do you compare your results today, to those you had yesterday? Sports, sales, and the media teach us to compare our success against that of others, living or dead. Good Design Makes Good Sense Organized your pencils and pens lately? Sorted your clothes into a logical system in your drawers? Then you already understand the basic elements of good design: it's practical, it's systematic, and it makes life easier.In the same way, marketing materials that use good design make business easier for your customers. Increase Business By Being Nice I have been reading articles on increasing sales using search engine optimisation as well as writing them for a very long time and I have not seen many which point out the best way to increase sales.The answer is obvious yet often overlooked; you just have to be as good to your customers as you would expect any other site owner to treat you. Finding Your Target Market Achieving sales is probably the biggest challenge a web business owner has. It requires a balanced mix of the right products, competitive pricing, optimal web design, aggressive advertising and attracting the right online visitors. How To Write Really Good Ads All sales begin with some form of advertising. To build sales, this advertising must be seen or heard by potential buyers, and cause them to react to the advertising in some way. Adding Art to Business Spaces Larger companies have learned that collecting art adds something special to its overall corporate image. An art collection may include art on display in waiting, or general areas. Online vs. Offline Advertising Let's face it. Email marketing and publishing have became very popular tool for promoting your business, especially in the USA. Predictions for 2010 2005 puts us at the mid-point of the first decade of the new millenium. What will things look like at the end of the 1st decade of the new millenium in the world of advertising? I thought I'd project where the ad industry is headed and what 2010 (or sooner) might look like. Electronic Reader Board Electronic reader boards are the most efficient way to convey the information. Therefore these nowadays are widely accepted all over the world. 11 Ways To Make Your Business Cards Work For You 1. Spend money on decent quality business cards. Secrets of Getting Free Advertising The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your own objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them. Crazy Ads? Maybe Youre Just Out of The Demo! My father called me to complain, again. He's 82 and he's angry. Ten Secrets for Getting FREE Advertising The opportunities for getting free advertising for yourproduct or services are only limited by your imagination andenergy. There are so many proven ways to promote withoutcost it's truly mind-boggling! Here are ten proven methods. Do Your Adverts Get You More Sales? Philadelphia retailer and US Postmaster General, John Wanamaker, once said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."If you're spending $10,000 a month on advertising $5,000 is going straight down the tubes. How to Use the 3 Most Common Direct Marketing Measurements to Increase Your Profits! John Wanamaker, a 19th century entrepreneur, once famously made the statement, "I know that half of my advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half." Fortunately for today's marketers, there are scientific ways to determine which half is wasted, and which half is not, through the use of common direct marketing measurements. Moving message Sign Moving Message Signs are a unique, attention-grabbing way to communicate and motivate. They are used for eye-catching shop-front or under awning advertising, promotions of products or services, directing and/or welcoming customers, displaying safety and emergency information, directing customers to specific service areas or entrances etc. Magnetic Business Cards: Make Your Marketing Message Stick What is it about magnets that draw people to leave them on fridges and file cabinets for years at a time?Many people like to have the contact information handy for common service providers without flipping through a bulky phone book. Magnets are the perfect solution for being seen in this situation. Does Post Card Advertising Really Work? You've decided to try advertising your business with post cards. The idea came to you from the post cards you receive from other businesses.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
