Is Radio for you?
By Patrysha Korchinski
Radio is a powerful advertising medium and can help you grow your business, but it is not for everyone. To determine whether you are ready for radio, you'll want to ask yourself a few questions.
Are you in direct sales?
If you are, you may not be eligible to advertise on radio according to your consultant's agreement. In most cases, you may only advertise in mass media if you have reached a certain level within the company - often management leadership levels. You may be able to advertise special events that you will be appearing at, like trade shows or open houses. You may also be able to advertise your own website if you have a personal domain and if you don't mention your company name. However, you will want to check through the guidelines and ensure that these exceptions do apply to you. If radio isn't a possibility then you will want to actively explore podcast advertising as an alternative.
Do you know your target market?
If you aren't familiar with your target market, you may be throwing away money on all your advertising efforts. It's essential that you sit down and figure out exactly who you are trying to reach with your marketing efforts. If you need help determining your target market, there are many resources available. Stay tuned by joining the Easy Results with Radio list to stay on top of the latest recommendations.
Do you know what your goals are?
It's important to establish your goals before you begin any advertising campaign. Without this, your sales representative won't be able to give you the best advice for your needs. You don't want to be buying a campaign designed for branding when what you are really after is a sales push. The more specific you can be in determining your goals, the better chances of success your campaign will have.
Can you service the new customers?
Radio can bring you the traffic you seek, but it won't close the sale for you. You have to be ready to deal with the extra traffic and service the customers who come to you as a result of the advertising. If your website happens to be down when your sales message airs, you could lose more customers than you gain through the effort. If you have a service business and can only handle a handful of customers, then radio may not be your best marketing alternative.
Can you commit to consistency?
Radio has a very impressive return on investment, but repetition is the key. For example, if you can only afford a Business Directory listing then you need to know that it can take up to three months to realize the profits. If you can't commit to the schedule that has been recommended for the results you want, then you will need to re-evaluate your marketing strategy for the time being. Your sales rep may be able to help you by finding co-op marketing opportunities or by restructuring your current marketing efforts so that you can take advantage of radio's ROI and re-invest when the results are realized.
After reviewing the questions above, you should know whether you are personally ready to take the radio leap.
Your next step is to learn a bit more about how to advertise effectively on radio which is easy to do, simply join the Easy Results with Radio list and you'll learn the basics of radio advertising and how to use it to grow your business.