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

I’m constantly amazed at direct response marketers who ask us to assemble a “one week radio test,” or those who make clear that “if the initial test doesn’t work, we’ll never use radio again.”

These are the same savvy marketers who patiently took a half-dozen tries to navigate their direct mail campaigns to profitability by tweaking the headline, the font size, the envelope shape, the offer and countless other variables.

Why would they think that radio is instantaneous magic? Often, it’s unfamiliarity with the medium that prompts them to cut their losses and leave the game early.

Radio’s parallels to direct mail couldn’t be clearer. You test radio using proven stations and programs, just as you’d buy the “right lists.” You test different grabbers (headlines) and benefits (benefits). You float different offers to learn which ones generate the best ROI in this particular medium. Then, you measure and manage the heck out of the test until you patent the formula for success.

Yet, these patient direct mail marketers expect the radio baseball game to be won in the first inning or else they threaten to leave the ballpark. Then they wonder how their competitors can afford to stay on the radio, suffering the same frustration as the baseball fan that leaves a game early, only to hear his team muster a late-inning comeback on their radio while driving home.

If you’re going to test DR radio, please give it the respect and resources it deserves. Find the right marketing partner; one with a proven track record and a clear game plan of strategies and tactics. Enter “Phase One” hoping for profits, but ready to accept a loss, knowing that the intelligence you gain from a well-structured test will give you everything you need to succeed in “Phase Two.”

Then, prove the findings from Phase One and get ready to ramp up the buy to generate as many leads as you can handle.

In baseball, it takes nine innings to complete the game and “put one in the win column.” Likewise, profitable direct response radio takes more than a single swing of the bat. And those with the patience to master the process become proud season ticket holders.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO

There will be blood. Red Ink bathes the floors of the big radio companies, the likes of which the media world never anticipated. This red tide will not subside, but explode and change the radio landscape like an inter-galactic collision.

For years, radio has been slapped around like a punch-drunk fighter with cauliflower ears, destined for a knock out.

Nothing could be further from the truth! The continued vitality of radio has never been more apparent than online.

According to a J.P. Morgan survey, Internet radio’s listener base has grown 27% annually since 2000. Online radio now has upwards of 80 million listeners in the U.S. alone.

The best aggressive scenario for online radio is for the broadcasting companies to price their inventory as low as possible to get as many advertisers to try it. Get on now! It’s cheap! Fly now pay later!

Online radio needs to develop success stories and case studies, be it in the “Direct Response” realm, the “Per Inquiry” realm, the “Self-liquidating promotions realm” or the “Branding realm.” There are no restraints for online commercial radio content.

Advertisers can run any length commercial they want to run.Direct Response campaigns can be tested efficiently. Commercials can be edgier and harder without fear of complaint. You can run a five minute commercials. With video!

Google realized that online search engines could target advertising opportunities with a sensible fee structure. Words…sell words. Advertisers bid on words and use them to drive customers to their websites, their stores, and their sales promotions. That’s why Google stock sells above $500 a share in today’s crazy stock market.

That same phenomenon is forming in Internet radio. Because broadcasters have split off terrestrial and online radio sales, there is an abundance of available ad inventory in online radio.

The advertising community at large is starting to see the benefits of tapping into this high-quality, brand friendly and DR friendly inventory.

What makes Internet radio so appealing is the growth in the audience. It delivers an efficient ROI. It’s easy to measure and manage. You get immediate feedback. Advertisers have the ability to source customers and target commercials to a unique consumer.

Soon WiMAX will make the Internet ubiquitous. Auto manufacturers will offer in-car internet access. We’ll get Internet radio everywhere.

Over the next few years, I predict that we will see incredible revenue growth in online radio due to the results of precise targeting and quick, low-cost Internet radio commercials.

All signs indicate that online radio is ready to explode, reshaping our oldest broadcast mass medium into a new, innovative, wild and creative marketing monster.

There will be gold.

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

Two years ago, I spent an enlightening week doing biofeedback training in California, learning how to generate and suppress Alpha brain waves. I’ll save my cosmic revelations for another time, but I recently discovered something in my session notes was worthy of comment in the context of effective direct response advertising. It was a simple, four-line passage shared by
my host.

ASK and ye shall receive.
KNOCK and it shall open.
SEEK and ye shall find.
BUT you have to ask, knock or seek.

We’ve all seen and heard branding advertising messages designed to make us feel a certain way about a particular product or service. Wear this designer label and be admired. Drink this beer and get the babe in the bikini. Drive this car and look cool.

But in our world – the world of direct response radio advertising – our success is measured and judged instantly, daily and weekly. That’s why I can’t stress strongly enough the importance of asking for the order. Clearly. Repeatedly. And with urgency!

Personally, I’m especially fond of short sentences driven by verbs of command.

Call now!
Log on TODAY!
Write down this number!
Make the call!

Best of all, any product, brand or offer can employ these commands without compromising their integrity. I’m not advocating a screaming car salesman approach, simply a payoff to the compelling case you’ve already made for the consumer to use your product or service.

Once you’ve successfully identified the problem and how your product or service will solve that problem, it takes a firm grip and determination to reel in your catch. You’ve earned the privilege. And anything short of generating that lead and closing that sale, while good for the overall brand image, fails to show up on the balance sheet where our efforts are judged and where campaigns live and die.

Ask. Knock. Seek. Succeed.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO

Arbitron’s newly released RADAR 97 report reveals that national radio network reaches over 235 million radio listeners each week. RADAR, Arbitron’s current measurement system for national network radio ratings, shows - of the more than 7400 participating RADAR network affiliated stations - 83% reach all people age 12 and over.

The numbers are even stronger for individual adult demographics. They indicate reaching 96% of Adults 18-49 years old with a college education and an annual household income of $50K each week. The network affiliates, which make up over 50% of radio stations, reach 85% of the 18-49 demographic. They also report reaching 85% of Adults 25-54 years old in households with college degrees and an annual household income of $75K or more. That is impressive!

How does this help you? If you want to reach the masses and your product can be marketed nationally, you should consider advertising on national networks. If your product is available nationally, than chances are it will be more cost effective for you to buy a spot on a network property than it would be to buy the necessary gross impressions in each respective market to get the same reach of that one network spot. For the cost of a local spot in the top 12 local markets, a national network ad could deliver roughly 300 U.S. markets (including those same Top 12) for the same price. It really depends on how much you want to spend on your advertising.

Are the best deals available nationally? They are, especially if you’re buying remnant inventory with direct response. What if yours is a local business? Do the networks make sense for you? In some cases, they do. The networks are able to extrapolate certain geographic areas in their spot distribution and block out the areas where the product does not make sense. For example, Dial Global Networks is beginning to offer the ability to black out markets from a buy where a product is not available. They are also doing this specifically in the Washington DC area to accommodate the political landscape and market limitations. How about if you have national and local interests? You could do both. Many franchises do network (national campaigns) and layer in local tiers to satisfy the local franchisees but the bulk goes to network.

In Direct Response radio advertising, we encourage our clients to explore all the options of national versus local advertising to see where they can get the most for their money and reach the most potential customers. We will often show them two different plans that focus on the value of each. Not sure which is best for your company or business? RDR will be glad to assemble a plan to help you make an informed decision no matter what your radio advertising needs are.

Danny Ocean, Vice President/Director of Operations

Format Description:
Adult Standards is a music format that caters to the upper end of the American demographic. Stations are often found on the AM dial, despite the format’s focus on music. Core programming originates in the 1940s-1970s, featuring Big Band swing (Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey) and middle-of-the-road vocalists (Neil Diamond, The Carpenters). Compatible, modern-day pop artists (Diana Krall, Michael Bublé) inject fresh content broaden this format’s appeal beyond its older core.

Core Audience:
Adults 55+

Core Artists:
Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Harry Connick Jr.

Key Radio Stations:
WJPT, Ft. Myers
WJAS-AM, Pittsburgh
KIDD-AM, Monterey
KEZW, Denver
KOY, Phoenix

DR Factor:
There are strong pros and cons to this format. On the plus side, listeners tend to be extremely loyal and appreciative that “their” music is still on the radio. DJ endorsements can be quite successful, trading on this affinity. Conversely, the senior market can be fixed and set on their brands of choice and skeptical of any offer that sounds too good to be true. Be certain you speak to this audience with respect and in language that resonates with them.

For more information, visit Wikipedia.

Lemonade. Iced tea. Sno Cones.

The smell of fresh cut grass and chlorine. The ear-piercing sounds of “Pop Goes The Weasel” emitting from some rusty, dented, beat up truck/van/thing, followed by kids screaming: “ICE CREAM MAN!!!!!!!!!!”

Welcome to Summer. Enjoy your stay.

Now that July is here, it can mean only one thing. Hundreds of “Christmas in July” blowout spectaculars going on from coast to coast. This got me to thinking:

1) What creative marketing genius/spawn of Satan thought this up?
B) Why aren’t there fireworks on the 4^th of November?

What’s all this rambling mean? Anything and EVERYTHING is a summer brand. All you need is a little creativity and fake snow.

After all, who doesn’t like Summer? (Ok, once you get past the mid-90s heat with 85% humidity, who doesn’t like Summer?)

All of the feelings that Summer evokes (and if I may paraphrase Denis Leary) way down deep in the cockles of our hearts or - maybe it’s the sub-cockle region - can be crafted by a any writer with a drop of creativity to generate that same feeling about your product.

It’s the same cliché about selling ice to an Eskimo. Anyone can sell cool-down items during summer. That’s easy. How do you sell someone a winter parka in July? That’s even easier if ya ask me.

“It’s the 4^th of July. Happy Birthday, America. It’s gonna be a scorcher today. Wouldn’t you LOVE to be this warm in December? Well, ya can in OUR parka.”

See? Easy. So next time you think your product is too seasonal…maybe it is…just not the season you think it is.

Ian Cohen, Production Director

The art of sculpting is the art of taking away.

You start with an amorphous slab of marble. You then chisel, chip and winnow until that which remains is a work of art.

A great radio commercial can be sculpted in much the same way.

Think of the last time you heard one of the ubiquitous “Top 10 List of Reasons to Buy Our Product” commercials that have been a staple of radio advertising ever since David Letterman made Top 10 Lists part of our popular culture.

Can you recall recalling a single one of those reasons? It’s doubtful. Shoehorning 10 reasons to buy in a 60-second space makes it difficult, if not impossible to process such a laundry list, let alone remember the phone number or URL you’re supposed to contact at the end. Most of these ill-conceived commercials make matters worse by attempting to insert an attempt or two at comedy into the list. As if there was any need, reason or time to go for laughs at the expense of success.

Shake your head clear. Envision that pile of benefits as your slab of marble. Now, chisel away everything standing in the way of your audience focusing on the single, most compelling reason a person should purchase your product or service.

Imagine how best to present this on radio, driving home that single compelling reason a number of times in a number of ways. Success stories. Consumer testimonials. Paraphrased announcer repetition. Your audience will get the point. They’ll take away the message you’d wished to impress upon them. And, hopefully, they’ll take action to let you know they’re interested.

Chisel away the parts that don’t belong and focus your attention on the work of art that remains. The result will be a marketing masterpiece.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO