Explore Benefits Of Radio Advertising
Some advertising pros say that radio is today's most underutilized medium of advertising. But, as an insurance agent you can explore benefits of radio advertising.
To let you explore benefits of radio advertising and utilize them for betterment of your insurance agency, we at BestInsLeads.com have compiled information and provided a how-to guide. The guide includes both the benefits and drawbacks of broadcasting commercials on radio along with some extra tips to get the most out of it.
Benefits And Drawbacks Of Radio Advertisement
As per a study conducted by Radio Advertising Bureau or RAB, 90% people spend 20 hours every week listening to radio. This statistics encourage many insurance experts to utilize radio as a medium for advertising their business and to deliver their message to the public.
Benefits of radio advertising:
- Capable of capturing audience from particular geographic locations
- Cheaper means of advertising
- Casual approach creates relevancy that the listeners can correspond with
- Advertisers can explore benefits of radio advertising by means of both private and emotional reactions from the people
- Lets you gain your name as well as your brand recognition among your locality
The benefits have been confirmed by a research conducted by Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab. The organization also has found that this means of advertising has added 15% of entire brand recall in comparison to the TV alone.
The study has found that radio breathes new life into the prevailing mediums of advertisements like newspaper advertising - revealing that the radio ads while combined with newspaper further enhance message recall and therefore boost brand reputation. The findings are supported by the veterans too.
However, there are some challenges with radio advertising like any other form of advertising.
Drawbacks of radio advertising:
- Widespread research is required to compare the expense of airtime amidst every radio station in any particular location
- Widespread research is required to decide which radio stations will successfully reach preferred markets
- Limited period of time to tell all the important messages
- Advertising texts are only as good as the news reader
- Instead of greater number of listeners, many of them change the station while commercials are broadcasted
Purchasing Radio Time
Every station has its own ad sections and all of them will try to convince you that their radio station is the best with due explanations. Doing thorough research on different radio stations in advance is the best method of having an overall concept of which station you would like to work with prior to the sales pitch starts.
Whether you do research or not, you need to know the followings on prospective stations:
- Radio station rating
- Type of programs it broadcasts
- Type of music it plays
- Geographic extent
- Numbers of listener
Have a keen look at the information before you opt for any particular radio station to advertise with.
Most of the radio stations charge radio slots in half and one-minute chunks. Although a one-minute slot sounds more useful, but studies reveal that most of the listeners disperse attention after 20 to 40 seconds. Therefore, BestInsLeads.com would suggest you to buy two half-minute long radio slots at the same cost of a one-minute slot to get the best out of your hard-earned dollar.
And, while it comes to broadcasting your commercial, always remember that you require running your ad for at least 5 to 6 times before your message reverberates with the listeners. That is why, most of the radio slots are bought in chunks - broadcasting the ads with high rate of recurrence over a little amount of time is basically more effectual than running them with lower rate of recurrence over a longer amount of time.
You also need to do more research while choosing the time segments during which your commercials will be run.
Usually, the radio stations provide three options - prime time or drive time, midday time and run-of-the-station or at any time they may fit your ad in. Recognizing the times while your preferred geographic locations tune in will let you determine the best time to run your ad. An advertising for life insurance can do lot better at the time of farm updates than top 40 countdown,
Extra Tips
If you suppose that you can explore benefits of radio advertising, then here are some more tips provided by BestInsLeads.com to let you do so:
- Don't let foreign radio stations go - having bilingual staffs in your agency will help you run ads on non-English speaking radio stations to have additional benefits over your contenders.
- Pass up tunnel vision - don't consider radio as the only medium of business advertising. Run the radio ads along with newspaper ads or television ads to get more benefits.
- Plan seasonally - radio listeners listen to it more at the time of summer and spring and less at the time of fall and winter. Therefore, plan for running ads accordingly.
- Keep it easy to understand - 30 seconds is a very little time to convey your message. Do not tell long phone numbers or addresses during that time. Rather, describe the address. However, if you wish to tell them your number, repeat your name along with your company and ask them to refer phone directory.
Finally, you have to calculate the benefits and drawbacks of radio advertising and determine whether it is your cup of tea. Irrespective of the means of advertisement you select, doing proper homework beforehand will let you make the best and wisest decisions for you as well as your insurance agency.
