Although there have been many dramatic changes in technologies available for advertising in the last 15-20 years, older methods of advertising are still used all day, every day.
People listen to the radio throughout the day, while engaging in other activities.
Effective radio advertising can be very valuable for business advertisers.
From finding commonality between the product and the radio station listening audience, grabbing the listener's attention to presenting the benefits of the product, and calling on the listener to take action are all very important.
This article will explore these important considerations for creating effective radio advertising.
The approach to effective radio advertising has remained relatively unchanged over the years.
Clearly defining who buys the advertised product and the type of radio programming they listen to is essential in choosing a station for your ads.
If your product is intended for older people then you would choose a station that plays "Oldies" music and not one that plays "Hard Rock.
"This is called "targeting the audience" and is critical for profitably selling product.
Now a day's radio provides a more targeted, though often smaller, audience than do newspapers or even TV.
Although the audience is smaller, it is likely to be more targeted for the product.
A targeted audience is likely to result in more sales.
That makes radio advertising suitable for just about any product that can be marketed to general audiences.
The most important step in any type of advertising is to define and spell out the benefits of the product.
People are interested in the "What is in it for me?" or "What will it do for me?" or "What problem that I have NOW, will it solve?" Most people are not very interested in preventing problems; they might have in the future.
I once took a marketing course from the noted author, Robert Allen.
"Think, Benefits, Benefits, Benefits, and not features," Bob would say over and over.
I am convinced this is true.
Examples of benefits are such things as the product will make you sleep better, or the product will let you have more friends.
An example of a feature is that the new phone has ten different choices of ring tones.
I think you can see the difference.
A benefit affects the person, while a feature is related to the product.
The next most important consideration is drawing the listener's attention.
You need some kind of a "wow" factor.
Remember the listener hears ads all day long from advertisers, who are trying to sell him their product.
So, at the beginning of the ad you need something to capture the listener's attention.
Otherwise, he or she will mentally tune you out.
The next step, whether it is radio, TV, Internet, newspaper or any other advertising mode, is to call for action.
Urgency is, also, important.
"Call now, as supplies are limited.
Operators are standing by.
Have your credit card ready," is an example for a call to action that also shows urgency.
You can probably see by now that the ad for an effective radio advertising campaign requires about the same components, as other types of advertising.
The major benefit of radio advertising is it provides opportunity for a more targeted audience.
It is extremely important to select a radio station that caters to an audience that will be interested in your product.
After you have found a station that will provide the appropriate audience, you need to create an ad that focuses on benefits of your product, attracts the listener's attention, and calls him or her to action.
This article is an introduction to effective radio advertising.
There are many excellent books on this subject that will give you ideas for writing effective ads.
The radio is a good place to advertise any business, including Internet businesses.