Radio Direct Response: Direct Response Radio Advertising Agency | Blog Zone

Having been born in August, I must say this is my favorite month of the year! And, other than celebrating my birthday (it’s August 9th, if you have any unwanted gift cards lying around), there are plenty of reasons to celebrate the month of August and promote your product or service.

The first half of August is still pretty slow as far as advertising and clutter go, so why not create an evergreen promotion marking Summer’s Halfway Point? Ask potential customers what they have yet to do, buy or see this summer and give them a reason to do, buy or see it the week of August 4th before summer slips away. Offer a buy-one-get-one, half-off or have a halfway party in-store to drive traffic. This can apply to any brand, service or destination.

Also, this year, The Olympics will be HUGE, so you might as well get in on the action by creating Olympic-sized promotions. Team up with radio stations in your key markets, creating contests and events involving dance marathons or long distance hopping. Winners receive your product or service and, planned right, everyone receives great publicity! Consider Gold, Silver and Bronze awards, rewards or sales themes throughout the two-week window of the Summer Games.

Call me to find other ways to promote your brand, from the anniversary of Woodstock to National Night Out to Psychic Week. You knew I was going to say that, right?

Barbra Tabnick, Senior Account Manager

My Name is Mark – and I have a problem.

It’s been awhile since I was addicted to something.  The Beatles invaded America when I was eight years old.  The ensuing years filled the radio airwaves with music from The British Invasion, Motown, Memphis Soul, California Surf and Bay Area Psychedelic.  I didn’t stand a chance against the 1960s and my first addiction to radio.

Now, in 2008, I’ve got the bug again.  And I’ve got it bad.

THOUSANDS of radio stations now stream content via the Internet.  And not just the AM and FM variety.  There are Internet only streams.  International station streams.  Public and commercial and content for just about any taste.  The latest estimates project that 33 million Americans listen to radio online in any given week.  I was ready to join the club.

So when I walked the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, I scoured the specs of all the WiFi radios I could find.  Powered by a DSL connection – but without the need for a computer - WiFi radios channel countless streams of online radio stations through what looks like an ordinary radio.

You simply sync this radio with DSL service and your WiFi Radio delivers your choice of more than 6,000 radio stations and over 20,000 on-demand audio streams.  If I had this selection in the 1960s, I’d have never left the house.

I ultimately chose the Sangean WFR-20 for its cool, retro Bakelite casing and its ease of operation.  Its full, stereo sound is also quite impressive (although volume levels can spike from stream to stream).  Through a single control knob (press-and-twist to select), I can  surf and choose radio stations by location or genre.

Our agency’s Media Director lit up when I showed her that we could tap into 52 radio stations emanating from her native Turkey.  I grinned in soul satisfaction when I learned that I now had 63 Blues stations to sample.  And, I’ve spent more than a few hours stuck on the All Beatles channel webcasting from Russia.  I purchased a Sangean WiFi for the agency when I realized that its access to over 1,000 News/Talk stations provided an excellent way for us to monitor how well air personalities delivered our clients’ commercial copy in real time, from New York to New Iberia.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a radio junkie.  I admit this freely and proudly.  Our office space is filled with dozens of classic radios, spanning 80 years of design and technology.  We’ve got XM.  We’ve got Sirius.  And now with WiFi we’ve got over 6,000 radio stations at our fingertips, from around the world and way off in cyberspace.

Radio’s Golden Age is back.  Note the time and date.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO

Format Description:
Urban contemporary radio stations featuring a music playlist blending Hip- Hop, Rap and Contemporary R&B. The majority of the music played are new releases, with a mix of recurrent (past 6-8 months) and “oldies” (past 10 years) rounding out the playlist.

Core Audience:
African American Adults 18-34

Core Artists:
Alicia Keys, Usher, Maria Carey, Kanye West, Ashanti

Key Radio Stations:
WGCI, Chicago
KKDA, Dallas
WJLB, Detroit
WQUE, New Orleans
WVEE, Atlanta

DR Factor:
Limited effectiveness due to several factors. Music-centric format leads to higher incidence of button-pushing during commercial breaks. Credit card ownership indices (often needed for DR purchases) are lower among younger demographic station listeners. Higher ticket DR items a less-than-perfect match against a younger audience with limited discretionary income.
For more information, visit Wikipedia.

The Radio industry is struggling. The financials are in free-fall. The internet and new technology are stealing share of mind and time spent listening. I could pile on and rant about all of the bad decisions that broadcasters have made since 1996. Instead, I have some ideas that might be able to help radio.

“You got the fever, I got the cure.”Good Lovin’ by the Young Rascals
Radio is not dead. But it’s in a Wall Street headlock. Investors have controlled radio since 1996. When President Bill Clinton de-regulated ownership rules in 1996, radio became a corporate darling, more concerned with the P + L instead of P-E-O-P-L-E. Driven by Wall Street’s commands, broadcasters focused on revenue instead of ratings. Investment in talent at all levels, from marketing, management, sales to programming, engineering and promotions was slashed. The Radio Industry and radio listeners have paid a dear price for The Communications Act of 1996.

The first immutable law of radio: Ratings drive revenue.
Radio is STILL ubiquitous. Just about every car in America has a radio in it. Just about every home has more than one. The infrastructure for long-term success is in place and has been for almost a century. Most other communications technologies would kill for that kind of market penetration. Broadcasters must hyper-focus on giving consumers compelling reasons to listen to radio more often and for longer periods of time.

The second immutable law of radio: Content drives ratings.
Is “format radio” dead?” Do people want to hear the same artists, songs and jabberwocky over and over again? I haven’t done the formal research, but my gut tells me “no.” Satellite Radio and Internet Radio have proven that there is a vast market for diversified programming. Radio programming in itself, is an evolutionary process. What worked yesterday and today, likely won’t work tomorrow. Radio at all levels is extremely nimble and should to be able to anticipate, create, borrow, steal and implement great new ideas faster than any other medium. It won’t be long before a visionary company (maybe CBS) wraps its arms around the capabilities of the internet and translates it to radio. Look for the CBS-AOL Radio partnership, Play.It in June, ‘08 or Pandora.com and Slacker.com, for a glimpse of music radio’s future.

Television attracts billions of viewers with appointment viewing. Commercial radio never really focused on appointment listening. The closest commercial radio has come is “the wacky morning show” or a sports broadcast. Today, the “wacky morning shows” are passé. They are not attracting the audiences they once had. Consumers have other options.

I believe that appointment listening can work for commercial radio in all day parts and time slots. NPR does not have a set format. It has programs. XM and SIRIUS have multiple formats from rock to classical, AND programs. Internet radio has everything imaginable AND programs.

NPR has successfully grown its listening audience with daily and weekly block programming features that are intelligent, informative, humorous and….well…compelling. Shows like “Fresh Air,” “Car Talk,” and “American Roots” are wildly popular, radio programs, tailor-made for podcasting, as well as for on-line listening.

The third immutable law of radio:Know your market.
Radio has been chasing its tail trying to find a way to attract younger listeners. Only 24% of the population is between the ages of 18-34, yet in many markets way more than 24% of the radio stations target that demographic…and they’re not really listening! They “know” and “like” radio. However, they are the first generation to grow up with new media. Much of their time is spent on-line, or listening to their iPods and text messaging on mobile phones. Broadcasters must find a way to duplicate the attraction of iPods, mobile technology and the Internet on the radio. Broadcasters must make their youth-oriented radio stations and websites extremely interactive. Have listeners recommend everything from new music, new places to hang, and new websites to visit. Create social networking opportunities like Facebook and MySpace. Follow them to their favorite places of interest and they will follow you. 38.6% of the population is 45 and older, and less than 38.6% of the radio stations in most markets target this audience. This segment of the population has all the money and incredible buying power. All this AND….the over 45 crowd is a huge consumer of radio! Oh sure, we have news/talk radio, oldies and classic rock formats…but that’s about it. And most of those radio stations are trying to find ways to skew younger and attract 25-44 year-old listeners.

Radio stations must hyper-focus on super-serving a specific segment of the population. The most in-demand demographic by the advertising community is Adults 25-54. 25-54 is not really a demo, it’s a family reunion.

Target demos are too broad. I’m 54 years old and I work with quite a few twenty-five year-olds…our tastes in music, politics and entertainment certainly intersect at various points, but they are NOT the same.  I’m not quite sure why we are lumped together in a demographic profile.

Consumers really don’t care about HD radio, satellite radio or internet radio. We really just want GOOD radio, and we’ll find it wherever it is.

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

OK, I admit it. I used to be one of those “be creative for the sake of being creative” types who wowed clients with clever copy to win their business and fund their advertising campaigns.

And then, the metrics of direct response marketing hit me in the face like a wet fish. Suddenly, every campaign was under the microscope. Effective advertising was no longer gauged by how wide we made the client smile, but how many times we rang his or her cash register.

Cost Per Lead and Cost Per Order became our new measuring sticks. And if we failed to learn from our mistakes and act quickly, clients would disappear faster than a stray July raindrop on a hot, Phoenix sidewalk.

So now we get “the numbers” every day. From clients. From call centers. From IT wizards who manage online retail sites. And we match our campaigns’ abilities to generate leads and sales sourced against the performance of our creative and our media.

We’ve learned better than to promise clients success on a test. We’ve learned to promise them intelligence. The metrics gained from each initial test provide the information we need to be profitable from that day forward. Usually, those profits are manageable and attainable. Phase Two outperforms Phase One and by Phase Three, the client is playfully complaining that we’re not spending their money fast enough. Nice problem.

The key to success lies in getting our report cards every day, so that we can generate weekly reports that make us better able to deliver success.

In the old days, I used to dread hearing “the results.” I was happy to hide behind the clever creative. Today, I couldn’t imagine doing business any other way than by gathering all the data possible to measure and manage results and keep our clients happy.

Funny how times change.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO

Format Description:
Talk radio features discussion about topical issues, entertainment, relationships or any other subject that can attract and keep a listening audience. The most common variations of talk radio include conservative talk, “hot” talk, progressive talk and sports talk. There are three ways that stations program talk radio content:

1. 100% local programming (WGN / Chicago) featuring local air talent
2. 100% nationally syndicated programming (WNTP / Philadelphia) such as Sean Hannity or Michael Savage
3. A mix of both local and national talent, often pairing a hometown “morning show” with popular national programming the remainder of the day (KVI/Seattle)

Core Audience:
Varies by Talk format. Financial shows skew Male. Relationship shows skew Female. “Hot Talk” skews younger. Conservative politics skew older. Excellent targetability within the Talk format.

Core Personalities:
Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Dr. Laura, Tom Joyner

Key Radio Stations:
KGO San Francisco
KFI-AM Los Angeles
WTAM Cleveland
WCCO Minneapolis

DR Factor:
Talk radio is a strong foreground format for direct response. Its listeners “actively listen” to programming content and many talk show personalities are willing to voice commercials and/or lend endorsements for a talent fee.
For more information, visit Wikipedia.

How many times have you left a baseball game in the eighth inning to beat the traffic, thinking your team had the game well in hand, only to hear a sickening groan by 35,000 people as you fumble for your keys in the parking lot. You turn on the radio, just in time to hear the play-by-play of one of the great all-time comebacks. What went wrong? Was it the bullpen, the defense, the great gods of baseball?

Just like a baseball team needs to have every facet of their game working for all nine innings to win, so does a direct marketer. What good is having a “lights out” pitcher if your second baseman can never turn a double play? Why have the most feared batting line-up if your bullpen can’t hold a lead?

As a direct marketer you may have this year’s “it” product with all the bells and whistles. You may have award-winning creative in place to market it. But what happens if your call center leaves a customer on hold for twenty minutes? What if your fulfillment center ships the wrong item? What happens if your customer service number is always busy?

These are all facets of a good direct marketers’ game. Each one has to be operating at peak performance to keep the phones ringing. Let’s keep it baseball terms and break it down into offense and defense.

Here’s your line-up in the field. Your starting pitcher is compelling creative with a call to action that is always in the strike zone. Your defense is a properly staffed call center. The closer—need I say more— call center operators who can close the sale and even make the upsell seem effortless.

Your offense, of course, is powered by a great product or service. Remember not every ball has to leave the park to win a baseball game. “Small ball” wins just as many games. So to support that great product, make sure you have a “can’t refuse” offer that brings it all home. Timely fulfillment/shipping and stellar customer service are just as valuable as a well-placed bunt or sacrifice fly.

Just like Yogi Berra said, “Baseball is ninety percent mental; the other half is physical.” So that must mean that direct marketing is ninety percent product; and the other half is service. Right?

Monica Caraffa, Senior Account Manager

Here are a few ideas to help drive retail or web traffic in July, when the bulk of the advertising campaigns have ended for the Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day and July 4^th holidays.

Did you know that July is Sandwich Generation Month? If you make anything that could possibly go on a sandwich, partner with a radio station to get people to help make the largest sandwich for which the proceeds in weight (or the sandwich itself) will benefit a local charity.

Since July is Family Reunion Month, ask families to submit family photos online to win trips, hotel stays, gas or gift cards so they can enjoy this year’s family vacation even more.

Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk anniversary is July 20^th. Send radio listeners to the moon and back with great summer-themed prizes this year from your brand. Or, simply have listeners moonwalk like M.J. for the prizes!

There are SO many more birthdays, events and anniversaries after July 4^th that afford great opportunities to take advantage of the lull in July advertising and promotional campaigns. Call or email me and I’ll gather a team to put together the perfect radio promotion ideas for your brand.

Barbra Tabnick, Senior Account Manager