Radio advertising campaign

[Spirits High]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone taken the plunge of doing an advertising campaign on the radio?

Reason i'm asking is that I've just got in from a marketing forum in Chesterfield done by the radio station Peak FM.


And although it's not cheap :eek: I'm thinking it may be a way of getting my name into the local area as at the moment i'm not getting many gigs local to me.

The statts they supplied were that their auidence figures are 225,000 listeners a quarter. They cover the area of the Peak district, N Derbyshire, S Yorkshire (Sheffield/ Rotherham).

The package is a 12 month contract guarunteeing a certain ammount of slots a month over all time periods. They also produce your ad with a "creative" writer with scripts etc and nothing goes to air until your happy with it.

Any views / opinions would be appreciated ;)

Like I say seriously tempted and with me going full time next year this could work out.

[rob1963]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone taken the plunge of doing an advertising campaign on the radio?

Reason i'm asking is that I've just got in from a marketing forum in Chesterfield done by the radio station Peak FM.


And although it's not cheap :eek: I'm thinking it may be a way of getting my name into the local area as at the moment i'm not getting many gigs local to me.

The statts they supplied were that their auidence figures are 225,000 listeners a quarter. They cover the area of the Peak district, N Derbyshire, S Yorkshire (Sheffield/ Rotherham).

The package is a 12 month contract guarunteeing a certain ammount of slots a month over all time periods. They also produce your ad with a "creative" writer with scripts etc and nothing goes to air until your happy with it.

Any views / opinions would be appreciated ;)

Like I say seriously tempted and with me going full time next year this could work out.

My only thought on this is that I've never heard an advert for a mobile disco on a local radio station.

I don't know why this is, but there must be a good reason.

[Vectis]

Hmmm. You don't give any indication as to number and length of slots, timing of slots or price.

Personally, the first question I'd ask myself is "Who listens to commercial radio?". Now I might be being totally stereotypical and politically incorrect here but...

... in my travels, whenever I hear commercial radio in public, it's usually in "blue collar" locations like garages, small shops, take-aways etc.

Most folks with "white collar" jobs can't/don't listen to the radio at work, although they might whilst commuting. Given that BBC Radio 2 claims something like 8 million visitors for the early morning drivetime show and Radio 1 has 6 million, I wonder how much exposure the commercial operators actually get, and to which demographics? source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4515641.stm)

Personally I'd be targeting "white collar" folks, in which case I'd probably arrive at the conclusion that commercial radio wasn't the way forward.

[Spirits High]

My only thought on this is that I've never heard an advert for a mobile disco on a local radio station.

I don't know why this is, but there must be a good reason.


Good point, I had a good chat with them and they think it could be marketed on radio (but then again they would as they're selling it;) )


Hmmm. You don't give any indication as to number and length of slots, timing of slots or price.

Personally I'd be targeting "white collar" folks, in which case I'd probably arrive at the conclusion that commercial radio wasn't the way forward.

The package I was looking into was 40 slots of 30 seconds each a month and they also put you on randomly for free as when the schedule allows. This is over varying times with a guaruntee that 50% of those would be peak time this would run for 12 months with the ability to target certain times of the year if needed.

As for price it ain't cheap, put it this way I could probably go on 3 decent trips to the Caribean for what they want :eek:

In fact I might just do that :D


Thanks so far and Keep the comments coming ;)

[Dragonfly]

can't really say if it would work or not Paul but ............. how many adverts can you remember from the radio on the way home from the forum???

I cant remember a single one from this morning taking the kids to school??? and I wasnt even driving.

[theoloyla]

I have heard adverts for mobile discos on radio. A member on this forum (Phase 2 from Margate) ean a campaign last year. Dont know how successful it was but it certainly raises the profile. One other way is to do a commercial gig at a pub or club and advertise that with the name of your disco included.

[Boogie Boy]

Personally, I'd run 100 miles in the opposite direction. Radio is more of atool for upping profiles, than actually selling anything. How many times have you been convinced enough by a radio advert to actually go out and buy a product that's been advertised, especially a product with a rather limited need, when compared to most other things we spend our money on?

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I have a colleague who runs an events company who spend £1200 on a series of radio ads and got not one enquiry.

[soundtracker]

I was talking to a gut that does Fancy dress and balloons the other day. He advertises on local "Sunshine" Radio, and reckons its pretty good- but I always wonder whether people just say that as they're embarrassed that they spent the cash and it did'nt work! (Like my bleeding Yell campaign!)

[flatliners]

try it but do let us know the outcome if it was worth it

[Boogie Boy]

I was talking to a gut.....

Oh wise sage, please translate into English.:D :D :D

[wensleydale]

regardless of what medium it is its best to look at how many bookings you need to break even and how many to make the return on investment you would like.

i suspect for radio this will be quite a high amount.

could be worth a go but as someone else said, if it could work someone probably would have done it before now.

more targetted advertising is likely to have a much higher hit rate- wedding fayres, google, bridal shops, partnering with other wedding suppliers etc.

[yourdj]

If it was me i would weight up cost of the add and how many gigs you need to break even (probably allot) and how many more you need after that to ake it worth while.

I did that with yell and yellow pages and it has gone pretty well, despite what everyone was saying on the forum.

[jamesh]

I can answer this with 2 hats on really... from a customer and from a Local Radio station point of view....

From the customers side of it i've had an ad run on local radio a couple of years back and it wasn't too bad.. i didn't actually expect anything from it BUT i did get a few enquiries come through (would have had more if i would have had skype credit and skype didn't tell me!DOH!) but more that that the extra awareness it created of the company brand locally was well worth it - in my eyes!

I did do one gig and have someone came up to comment that they had heard the advert on the radio.. So from that point of view it was a success... Knowing that my brand was out there and in peoples ears compared to the competitors....

Now putting my radio head on...From a Local Radio station point of view - Advertising does work but it does depend on the type of business you are and the clients you aim at... and more importantly what you expect from it... As with any add campaign if you think it's going to bring in millions of enquiries and all within 1 week of you starting it you will be sadly disappointed... but what it will do is keep repeating your brand and message over and over time and time again in your local area to local people... Not something any other advertising medium can do..

If you are a small local business there is nothing better than getting your message across to local people than on local radio and it will generally work a hell of allot better than putting an add in the local paper (not to mention usually cheaper).

and if local and community stations don't work and there isn't a market place for them as the BBC radio team have all the listeners why are there over 260 stations UK wide?



Good point, I had a good chat with them and they think it could be marketed on radio (but then again they would as they're selling it;) )

The package I was looking into was 40 slots of 30 seconds each a month and they also put you on randomly for free as when the schedule allows. This is over varying times with a guaruntee that 50% of those would be peak time this would run for 12 months with the ability to target certain times of the year if needed.

As for price it ain't cheap, put it this way I could probably go on 3 decent trips to the Caribean for what they want :eek:


40 slots.. by slots do you mean plays? if so are you sure that it's per month and not per week... Per month doesn't sound too good - just over 1 play per day??? If it's per week it would be better (something like 5 plays a day) and more like it really.

Mind you i think it's time to up the prices i think! advertising on my local community radio station (well the over all aim is a full time community station) costs just £195 per month plus the cost of the advert creation with no minimum contract (but a minimum of 1 months notice to cancel)...


I was talking to a gut that does Fancy dress and balloons the other day. He advertises on local "Sunshine" Radio, and reckons its pretty good- but I always wonder whether people just say that as they're embarrassed that they spent the cash and it did'nt work! (Like my bleeding Yell campaign!)

Yeah sunshine has quite a big following - some good guys there really - i know a couple of the presenters over at the ludlow studio...

I think the thing you have to remember is advertising on what ever format (print, radio,telesales, online) works for some and not for others - any form of advertising is hit and miss but what's the other option in general? Do nothing have no form of advertising at all?? At least with radio you have more exposure for you money... a full page add in a local paper costs thousands yet the reader will generally only see it the once as they read the paper before putting it down - but the chances of people hearing the advertisement more than once are greater as potentially most of the local shops, pubs, restaurants and more are all tuned in...

Just my thoughts on the matter anyway really.

[sleah]

Personally, I'd run 100 miles in the opposite direction. Radio is more of atool for upping profiles, than actually selling anything. How many times have you been convinced enough by a radio advert to actually go out and buy a product that's been advertised, especially a product with a rather limited need, when compared to most other things we spend our money on?

BoogieBoy makes a valid interesting point. I'm going to through something else in to the mix;)

I help run a local community radio station that's not for profit and currently run entirely by volunteers. We can not carry adverts on air. However we can name our sponsors by way of philanthropic mentions i.e. "CCR-FM would like to thank the following for their kind donations and support..................blah blah blah" We can only mention names, not a description of their business, unless of course it is their company name!
This does as BoogieBoy says and ups the sponsors' profiles in the community.

So taking that thought on board, why not spend some cash sponsoring local events & charities, this could be by doing jobs for free, in exchange for them making sure you are mentioned in any press releases, radio announcements, publicity material, send them your logo if you can.
Try to get involved in as many public events as possible.
I'd bet that if you can get your name about in the local community as a 'good guy' people are more likely to remember it than a bland advert on the radio, where your reputation cannot be judged.

Would you call upon the services from someone you know helps their community and have propably seen them doing so, or someone from a bland professionally produced ad you know nothing about?

Something to think about maybe? - for everyone really:)

[Boogie Boy]

Sleah: Very constructive idea, but with no immediacy, so far as I can tell. Might be a very long-term thing.

[Skins]

This thread makes an interesting read..

From someone who`s worked in full time radio for the last 13 years theres pro and cons to any type of advertising

we had someone on air a couple of years back who wanted an advert on air but we suggested a sponsorship package.

We got them to sponsor the entertainment news over a 3 month period, and the success was brilliant, and felt that by doing an ad campaign just wouldnt cut it no matter how clever the creative or amount of spots.

The figures that peak fm have quoted are interesting to say the least. In simple terms, you`d need to know there exact listenership, NOT Total survey area which I think is what the may be telling you.

Look at spot rates, dayparts, and all those bits. I know of a company who pays £50 a week in RADIO advertising, just so he can hear his Advert just THREE times a day which is a complete waste of money.

When you compare that to the number of listeners this station in question has, then you realise it just isnt going to work

Im biased, radio works, but it is expensive and isnt right for everyone.

Shaun

[sleah]

Im biased, radio works, but it is expensive and isnt right for everyone.

Shaun

Biased maybe, but I though a very unbiased and informative post:)

Glad you mentioned TSA, I guess any commercial station will quote that to try and get you on board....... but like you say, you need to know how many listeners they have, not how big an area they cover.
Afterall, commercial radio stations overlap each others areas along with BBC radio and community radio.

[theoloyla]

This thread makes an interesting read..

From someone who`s worked in full time radio for the last 13 years theres pro and cons to any type of advertising

we had someone on air a couple of years back who wanted an advert on air but we suggested a sponsorship package.

We got them to sponsor the entertainment news over a 3 month period, and the success was brilliant, and felt that by doing an ad campaign just wouldnt cut it no matter how clever the creative or amount of spots.

The figures that peak fm have quoted are interesting to say the least. In simple terms, you`d need to know there exact listenership, NOT Total survey area which I think is what the may be telling you.

Look at spot rates, dayparts, and all those bits. I know of a company who pays £50 a week in RADIO advertising, just so he can hear his Advert just THREE times a day which is a complete waste of money.

When you compare that to the number of listeners this station in question has, then you realise it just isnt going to work

Im biased, radio works, but it is expensive and isnt right for everyone.

Shaun
When I owned a record shop in the 90's I sponsored the chart show on the local radio station. It was much better than advertising.

[CRAZY K]

By coincidence Friday night in Peterborough some guy came up afterwards and asked for a card saying--dont you advertise on Cambridgeshire radio?

ER no--never heard of it :eek:

He mixed me up with someone else--which is not very encouraging--OR is it Krazy Kaz?????

With all due respect Paul the point is the profit margin per booking.

If we were all selling a product that cleared a grand a booking ( well im not just yet:D ) its worth a crack---if the profit per gig is around the norm then I cant see it--you would need so many actual paying bookings to cover your cost alone which sounds in the thousands.

We work on a medium profit highish turnover business--not a big profit on a few sales.

Then again if you were competing on price selling product xxx below the market price you could probably make it successful--but thats not your intention ( if your going full time ) 20 per cent off this week:rolleyes:

Dont go there!

The only ads I have ever heard on radio ---which I listen to rarely im afraid---
which would interest me would be either price driven or unique.

Then you need a pen and paper--probably get nicked by the fuzz for careless / dangerous driving!!!!!!

I doubt if the best written script by the radio station would be good enough.

How does raising your profile help--I have no idea---unless you advertise like mad everyhere in your area--YP--Newspapers-Flyers---no one will know you anyway.

If you have thousands to spend on this project im sure you would get better results elsewhere.

regards

CRAZY K