Many local business owners use radio to advertise their business and products.
It's very common to hear local celebrities tell about their experiences with different local service companies.
Radio reaches people at different times of the day when they are in different mindsets.
You can use this to your advantage and only have your ads run at certain times of the day.
Radio delivers your message to anyone who is listening at the same time.
This also helps you target consumer segments by age range, men vs.
women, and so on.
Additionally, radio is on for 24 hours.
That means you can hit your target market at different times of the day or night.
Believe it or not, radio is fast.
If all the people managing each production function are available at the station you choose, your ad could be heard the next day.
Radio can reach a national, regional, or local audience depending on your needs.
Because it's intrusive, a listener must change the channel to stop the ad, so most of the time your ad will be heard.
An ad can be repeated often and this will help the effectiveness of your ad.
Repetition is key to sticking in the brain of consumers.
From a per announcement standpoint, radio is generally less expensive than other mediums.
Radio can be very efficient when planned and executed correctly.
Radio can also easily reach people who are less visual and don't read newspapers or notice billboards.
The use of voices and sound effects brings your product or service to life in the mind of the listener.
This can be much more powerful than printed ads.
One of the problems radio advertising faces is that many people really don't pay attention to the ads on the radio and are only half-listening while the radio is on.
Repetition can make up for the lack of attention, but that will cost more of your budget money and may cancel out the lower cost of radio.
Many listeners can't take immediate action when they hear a radio ad because they're driving or doing something else.
They need to have a pen and paper ready to take down a phone number or a web address and that is often inconvenient or impossible for some people listening to the radio.
Visual consumers may miss the message delivered in radio advertising because it is heard, not seen.
In looking at the differences between the advertising mediums available, radio is a good option for many local businesses.
If you've been using radio and your data shows it works, by all means don't stop using it.
If you haven't tried radio because you think you can't afford it but believe it would get your message delivered appropriately, take the steps to check out the cost.
The wrong reason to try radio, however, is the belief that it will be inexpensive.
That won't be the case, and remember that any advertising expense that doesn't deliver new business is definitely a bad investment.