Websites have a big advantage over other forms of traditional advertising. They are visible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That is great if you have a high number of people viewing your website on a regular basis. However, most businesses need to draw on external measures to advertise their website in order to attract potential customers and grow their audience.
One way of achieving this is advertising on the radio. While radio usage has changed in recent years and revenue dropped in comparison to other marketing channels, radio ads can still be used to your advantage. If done right, they can help boost your website rankings and ultimately lead to more sales.
Finding the right demographics
When advertising on radio, you do not have to look for your audience, it is already there. According to a recent report published by the New Zealand Commercial Radio Industry, 80 percent of Kiwis aged 10 and above listen to radio each week with 75 percent tuning in to commercial radio. While the overall numbers have slightly decreased over recent years, the busiest times for radio listening remain consistent during breakfast hours from 6 to 9am (55 percent), throughout the workday from 9am to 4pm (58 percent) and peaking on weekends (59 percent).
Finding the right station
New Zealand has a very diverse radio landscape with more frequencies per capita than many other countries. In order to maximise the benefits of radio advertising, you need to find the right station to place your ads with. Lucky for you, radio stations spend a lot of time, money and energy researching their audiences. As long as you have done your research in identifying your target demographics, all you have to do is find the station that matches yours.
Advertising reps will be able to guide you in the right direction and give you a clear picture of whether their station is right for you. For example, music station ZM is most popular with younger listeners aged 18 to 39 while Newstalk ZB is mostly used by information seekers aged 35 to 64.
Finding the right time
Once you have identified your target audience and found a station that your potential customers will most likely tune in to, the next step is to ask yourself what time “your people” are listening. Is it best to put your advert out there while they are eating breakfast, driving to or from work, or perhaps in the middle of the night?
Creating your radio ads
Advertising on radio is quite different from other channels. To ensure the ad is really working for you, there are a few simple things to consider.
Time
Most radio ads are of fixed duration, ranging from 15 or 30 to 45 and 60 seconds long. However, if your budget allows, you can sponsor an entire radio show for maximum results.
Message
You need to decide what your advert is for. Is it to raise brand awareness, a special promotion or something else? Depending on the message you want to bring across, have a think about the dialogue you would like to create. Remember to keep it simple. You don’t want your listeners wondering what your advert was actually about. If your business is offering a range of different services, consider creating multiple adverts to focus on each one separately.
Brand awareness
Repeat your business name at least 3 times throughout your ad. This will help people remember it easier especially if they are listening to the radio while performing other tasks.
Contact details
Make sure your radio ad includes a way for people to find and contact you. If you want to include a phone number, make sure it is easy to remember. Try swapping numbers for letters, such as 0800 PIZZA.
Music
Not only does music help some people remember an ad better. It also sets the mood and the tone for your message. Be careful what you choose. Use the wrong sound effects or music for your advert might contradict what the message you are trying to relay.
Website advertising
The most important thing to remember if you want to advertise your website via radio is to actually include your website address in the ad. While this one seems a given, it is very easy to forget. Furthermore, there are a few points to consider when using your website address on air.
- Spelling: Avoid mis-spellings in your domain name. While using a K instead of a C or a Z instead of an S may look more stylish, it will create big problems when saying it on the radio.
- Length: People generally do not remember long names, so try to keep it short. Never advertise a specific page like mydomain.com/stuff.php as the slash and the .php will only confuse. Also, avoid using domain names with a hyphen in a radio ad.
- TLD: Use a top-level-domain name such as .co.nz rather than more obscure ones like .cc as you are bound to lose visitors to other websites.
- Brand: If your website is too hard to spell or remember, emphasise your brand throughout the radio ad. Listeners will search for your brand insead. Be aware, though, that this only works if your brand ranks highly in searches.
If you are advertising a special promotion via radio, make sure that listeners can easily find it when visiting your website. Either have a prominent specials page or use a purpose-built advertising banner on your homepage. You can combine your special offer with an email subscription service, so the listener also gives you their contact details for further interactions.
Advantages of radio advertising
If you have never considered advertising your business website on air, here is what you might be missing out on.
Audience
The biggest advantage of radio advertising is the fact that you are reaching a very big audience with minimal input.
Location
Using different radio stations allows you to target listeners in a specific geographical area.
Attention
Advertising during rush hour will increase the likelihood of your ad capturing the attention of a larger part of the workforce.
Specific
Depending on the station or radio show you plan to advertise at, you can reach out to listeners with special interests tailored to your business industry.
Cost
Advertising on radio is considerably cost-effective to other forms of advertising. Depending on the length of your booked advert slot, you can expect to pay between $20 and $40 per ad plus production cost. Some stations also offer monthly packages which often include free production.
How will you know that these costs are effective for your business? Unlkike digital marketing, with radio ads, you have no way of knowing if they’re working unless you’re asking your customers how they found you. Keep a track of responses to your radio ads and work out how much each enquiry is costing you.
If you have any questions about advertising or need help with your general website design, contact the friendly team at Energise Web today.