A study released this month by Ipsos OTX MediaCT illustrates the positive impact radio has across all stages of the sales cycle.  Comparing a group of consumers who had been exposed to radio campaigns across a variety of industries against a control group of consumers in the same market who had not been exposed, results indicate a higher engagement with brands among those exposed to the radio ads at every stage of the purchase funnel.  From brand awareness and familiarity to brand affinity and brand recommendation, consumers who had been exposed to radio ads were impacted at a higher level.  Of course, these findings are not a surprise to me.  They are merely a confirmation.

To me, however, the most interesting and useful finding about the study was the fact that “likeable” commercials generated roughly twice the impact across most creative metrics (factual, motivating, believable, entertaining, buy) as compared with the least liked spots.  Although this conclusion may seem like a no-brainer, you’d be surprised how many marketers overlook this factor, choosing instead to cram as many words as possible into their sixty-second commercial in order to get their money’s worth.

Likeable radio campaigns, especially those that connect on an emotional level, are incredibly successful on a sales level too.  Why do you think Adele has the best selling album of 2011?  Yeah, she can sing.  More importantly, her emotions are on steroids!  There’s a connection.

The moral of the story as I see it is it’s not how much information you provide to the listener – it’s how you make them feel.  That’s the true power of radio!

Lisa Sable is a Senior Marketing Strategist at The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com