Why should we advertise on the radio?

In November 2004, the Association of Bulgarian Broadcasters (ABBRO) conducted an experiment, which was meant to determine exactly how much effective and memorable are the radio advertisements if at all. The experiment went like this: аn advertising campaign for the opening of a new big store for domestic electronics in Sofia was carried out only on the radio. The results are intriguing: in the course of two weeks time the radio campaign reaches 51.2% of the aimed audience – capital’s population between the age of 19 and 54 years. With a budget amounting to about 13 thousand levs, the campaign achieved better than the beforehand expected results among the people from the aimed audience. After the two week radio campaign, it is estimated that 43.2% of all citizens of the capital at the age between 19 and 54 have learned about the opening of a new store for electronics.  Half of them remembered and are able to reproduce the radio campaign’s message and the other half ascribe it to other media – TV and newspapers. Well, obviously radio appears to be suitable media for advertising, right?

If this instance of a successful radio channel was not convincing enough for you to invest in radio advertising, below you will find a few more reasons why actually it is worth trying.

1. Radio offers effective targeting

Targeting allows the advertisers to speak only to those groups of people they are interested in and whish is most important – to optimize the budget for the advertising by focusing effectively on the specific target itself. Radio is the electronic media, which targets its listeners best, because different radio stations attract different listeners – if your potential client is man around thirty five, then he prefers to listen to classic rock while in a traffic jam and the station you need to advertise in is Radio Star FM. If, however, you aim at attracting as clients young people around 22, who listen to contemporary music, interested in up-to-date and new stuff, you should definitely advertise in Radio Fresh! If you target women of 32, having a family and a successful career, it is beyond dispute that you should choose Radio FM+.

2. You can listen to the radio anytime, anywhere

Most radio listeners are up to something else while listening to the radio. According to the advertisers, this is the major argument to invest in radio advertising. This “negative” is actually a great positive in favour of radio compared to the TV and newspapers: a media, which the audience can follow even while busy with some other job. Radio is something which is used every day without necessarily engaging one’s attention. In this way the advertisers can reach their consumers through their "touchpoints" – when they are at school, at work, surfing the net, while driving in their personal car, the bus, before going to work or while traveling for the weekend. Now that radio can be listened to through mobile phones, on the internet and so on, these touchpoints become even more widely spread. And one more argument to counter the skeptics – research has shown that it is 60% more probable for a listener to memorize an advertisement while busy with another physical activity.

3. Radio advertisements are rarely switched over by the listeners

Strange as it may sound, research conducted in Great Britain prove that radio, together with the cinema have the lowest rate of advertisement avoidance – people rarely switch over stations, while the advertisement blocks are on. In this way the listeners are available to hear every message, given that it is of some importance to them, if intriguing and well-presented. Actually, this is good news and a great opportunity for advertisers, who want to win new clients, to say something to their current clients or just to highlight their advantages to those of the competition.

4. Radio has a multiplicit effect

The radio is a useful advertising channel for its flexibility and the ability to adapt to the audience and the new trend in entertainment. According to the analysis of the effectiveness of the media, advertising on the radio is a suitable support for the TV campaigns – it multiplicits the effect of a certain advertisement campaign by expanding it and strenghten its position in the mind of the audience. This is the only media which stimulates different parts of the brain with audio signals.

5. Radio builds up the brand in the mind

Radio campaigns are the only ones, which instill the feeling of omniscience of the brand. This happens for two reasons – first because radio adverts are broadcasted more often and second because consumers are inclined to spend longer time in listening to the radio (the average of 14 hours per week). Think abou it – is there another electronic media, which is so instrumental in creating a positive image of some brand in its potential users?

6. Radio is effective, especially on the internet

Radio has always been a “ready-for-action” environment. In a  world, where a fifth of the internet users listen to the radio, they are only one click away from the influencing through the radio brand.

7. Radio is a “friend”

Radio is the only advertising channel which is used by the consumers for emotional reasons as well – it is beside them, when they are bored in their car, when they are isolated in their work or while doing their houshold chores. In this way the listeners see the radio as a kind of friend and this is a valuable advantage in the battle for advertising. Radio has even a more powerful weapon – it can offer unique client sponsorship and promotions. When a radio host casualy mentions “our friends of the company X”, this exerts a subconscious impact on the listener and creates the feeling that the company is also his/her friend as well.