Retail advertisers contribute to 40% of the share of the total radio ads. Radio has seen to be very successful in the retail market.The regional retail advertisers accounts 60-80% of the regional ads share. It has been seen that in past three years retail advertising on radio has enhanced as fast as national advertising. These figures puts forth the result of radio ads successful impact in this particular category.
Retailers of all kinds, size and objectives are usually seen resorting to radio as they can response direct response from their target audience at the shortest span of time. The easiest tip is that a local retailer has limited budget and heavy competition, so best mean of conquering his market would be using a different and more efficient weapon against his competitors at more reasonable price and capturing the local customers-Radio is the solution. Radio suffices the limitations of other media and gives the local retailers the necessary pull that they require in the market. Radio creates a pull strategy for them rather than a push strategy which is created by other mediums by going local and more personal. Small local retailers do not bag several media’s to fight the market war rather they pick up one media and direct their energy towards the target audience and landing at the right platform with maximum customer awareness and demand. In media planning if you do not have a lot of money you must have a better message and arrow shaped strategy for your radio ad to hit success.
For your small retail business…Radio can be the best choice, if you use it the right way. The right way is different than the way 95% of the advertisers are using it. A good radio creative pulls customers. A bad commercial disappears into thin air. How do you make a good one? Right station-Right message-Right Time: the best radio ad rule.
Right Station doesn’t necessarily mean big budget or big promises like “We have the most listeners age 25 to 54” or “We have the largest audience age 12 plus”. It is important to reach as many people as you can afford. Do you have to advertise on the biggest station in town to get results?
You obviously pay less to reach 5,000 people. At one point radio ad for one station has 120,000 listeners a week and another has about 25,000 per week. You don’t need to choose big stations with big budget to make it big. The most dramatic results come from the smaller station when you have a well planned campaign.
Your radio ad scheduling plays a vital role as hour by hour, radio has a fairly consistent audience so you need to advertise at slots which caters your customer base eg: if your customers are working class you play between 8am to 11 am ,when they travel listening to radio or 6p to 9 pm when they are travelling back or relaxing. Scheduling on the right time slots is bound to give you guaranteed results. Radio time is sold by program and time of day. “Morning drive” (when listeners drive to work) and “afternoon drive” (the drive home) are the highest rates; midday rates are lower; and evening and late-night are usually lowest. Choosing your slot according to your target audience is inevitably essential.
The right message, consistently and frequently delivered works when you are reaching 5,000 people or 100,000 people. Reaching 100000 people with inappropriate message is worse than not having an ad altogether. Your ad should establish a bond and urgency within the short span of time. When I had a good message and enough ads running every week, my clients had very nice results. Stick to the core message you started with. As soon as you leave that path, your listener gets lost. Keep it simple. The best radio spots sell the image and personality of the business. Too many retailers decide they want to mention one thing after another… The whole thing ends up being a brochure with a bulleted list of points. Direct them to want your product rather than portraying your catalogue list of products and services. Its always not about reaching the right person ,its more about delivering the right message for the person to know your product.
Radio is tricky. You have to make the call to action, make you pitch memorable and offer a response method so when the even get your, they don’t forget your ad. Creating a lasting impression is more essential than having a direct response. Humans are sound centric beings and radio is the best media to get the best resultant when used in the right way. Say it right through radio.
We are a SME focussed ad agency and our ad experts for radio. Need ad assistance in your retail business contact-03340311140, mail-jpaul@releasemyad.com.
