"How to Buy Radio Advertising in a Small Town" Review
Since reprint rights to this article were restricted to non-profit groups and organizations, it is neccessary to click on the link above to view the article. While this review is provided for free, Easy Results with Radio is intended to be a for-profit site. Perhaps not at the moment, but eventually.
That being said, overall the article is worth a good read through whether you live and do business in a small town or not. I haven't searched very far on the over-all site, but this "How to Buy Radio Advertising in Small Town" resonated with my own experiences in living, operating businesses in and in the buying and selling advertising in a small town.
In the first paragraph, the author does state that not all small towns have a newspaper - but that most do have a radio station. In my experience, this has not been true of any of the small towns I've lived in. While none of them had a daily newspaper, all of them did have a weekly newspaper. This is a very minor point though. I do believe local radio has an advantage over newspapers especially in a small town where most residents have heard whatever news is covered in the paper through the small town grapevine long before the paper hits the streets.
His observation that small town radio is a bargain when compared to larger markets is a fact. You just can't get the deals with a larger station that you can with a smaller one. However, I'm not so sure that business is done any differently at a smaller market station than a larger one. I guess the issue I have with that statement is whether or not he means that advertising account executives are any less professional in a smaller station. If that's his point, then I'd have to say absolutely not. Of course, I am a bit biased on that score.
"It must be the right message, presented to the right people (your target market), at the right time"
The above quote from the original article is absolutely true! As are all the following points about the advantages of radio and the placement of commercials to appeal to "townies and farmers". I pretty much agreed with everything he said up to the point where he states that radio should not be bought in spots, but rather in blocks.
It's not that I disagree completely with that statement, it's just that you will need to be clear about your goals for a particular campaign before coming to the decision about what kind of radio buy you should be making. It's not a black and white issue that can be boldly stated. This is one of those areas where a good sales representative will be able to guide you more clearly.
Again, I agree to a point with his review of the SBA guidelines. He is right in that the suggested ad buy is geared toward larger city audiences. However, I also believe that rural folk aren't so different from larger city audiences in their listening habits. We may not have the typical drive time rush, but we do tend to listen to the radio in the morning and throughout the day, but not so much in the evenings. I don't think city or country has much of an effect on the peak listening times. I would like to add that fourty-two spots is likely excessive for most home based and web based business needs. While it might garner larger results quicker than a smaller buy, there is no need to stretch the budget too far for your comfort. A schedule like that would be quite expensive, even on our small town station.
In his conclusion, he suggests asking for deals or guarantees. Your local station representative will (if they're any good) be working to find the right fit for your sales message to air at a price you can afford as well as providing you with a reasonable expectation of the results you should achieve. Guarantees aren't possible, but by doing your homework at Easy Results with Radio first you should have a fairly good chance of achieving the results you are looking for.