A good marketing campaign is one that combines tried and tested advertising mediums with online marketing innovations. Discover how radio can impact your advertising campaigns and significantly boost your bottom line.
Radio Reaching Greater Numbers
One of the most authoritative reports on digital and broadcast media and consumer behavior in Australia comes from The Infinite Dial Australia. Its reports, since it was commissioned in 2017, show that radio is the leading platform to reach audiences and is the most trusted platform for advertising. Their telephone surveys for the first quarter of 2020 found that:
- Most Australians listen to radio – 82% of Australians listen weekly to AM/FM/DAB+ radio
- Most Australians choose radio for in car entertainment – Radio was the choice entertainment for most Australians while they were in a vehicle. Audio streaming services were listened to by 33% of respondents, 32% had listened to a CD, 14% to a podcast, but a massive 83% had tuned into radio.
- Smart Speakers are on the rise – Ownership of smart speakers, which have the function of picking up radio is on the rise. Ownership had jumped up to 17% in 2020 from 13% in 2019.
Further studies support the fact that radio remains the most effective way to advertise to your target audience. The annual findings from Share of Audio, which was released at the 2019 Radio Alive conference found that:
- Australians are spending more time listening – The average time spent listening to radio was 3 hours and 27 minutes. This number represents an increase of 7 minutes over the previous year.
- Live Australian radio is reaching more people – From the age of 10+, live Australian radio reaches 67.5% of the Australians. Australians are now listening to more podcasts than their private music collections.
COVID–19 has further increased the number of people tuning into radio as they seek information, entertainment, and engagement. Commercial Radio Australia found that as more people stopped using in car radio because of travel restrictions, even more were listening to radio at home. Many people are working from home with radio serving them information.
Radio allows you to reach your target audience. Every radio station caters to a specific market segment. Choose the stations whose demographics and geographic areas contain your target audience. Then, it’s a matter of putting up radio ads that are tailored to these people.
Radio gives you more promotional opportunities.
Radio is a live medium with active participants. Unlike other platforms and channels, it gives you promotional opportunities that connect you directly to your audience for engagement. You have the option of holding a live broadcast in your office or a real-time competition for interested listeners. These activities are difficult to pull off on print or social media. Radio lets you pursue creative marketing ideas that can’t be done anywhere else.
Radio reduces delays while improving frequency.
Radio ads take less time to create and launch, especially when compared to other marketing collaterals. This reduces the delay between the completion of a new product and its subsequent marketing campaign. Additionally, radio is repetitive. Advertising works best through repetition. When your target audience hears your radio ads multiple times, they will subconsciously remember your call to action.
The Costs of Radio Advertising
Another advantage of radio advertising is that it has several options to suit different budgets. Radio provides all types of businesses, from suburban shops to global brands, a platform to promote themselves.
How are radio costs calculated?
The amount you will spend on radio advertising is largely influenced by the results you want. A localised campaign that runs for a couple of weeks will always cost less than a nationwide campaign that will run throughout the year. When you plan on using this advertising medium, make sure you have a clear idea of what you want it to achieve.
Typically, the cost of radio advertising is calculated on a per-spot basis. This means you will be charged by how often your ad runs. Every radio station has its own set price list for ad spots. Make sure you plan accordingly for this to get the most out of your investment.
How do you measure a radio ad’s effectiveness?
Much like with other marketing tools, radio advertising has key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you determine its effectiveness.
- Brand Awareness. This is essential in improving discoverability online and offline. Measure this KPI by paying attention to what customers are saying about your business. They might mention which marketing collateral led them to you. Alternatively, you can ask your existing customers, through surveys and focus group discussions, how they’ve heard of your business.
- Gross Sales. When you conduct your monthly and annual analyses, determine if sales were affected by the radio ads. You can also measure this KPI when a customer visits your store to ask for the promotion that was mentioned in your radio ads.
- Website Traffic. Although this KPI takes more effort and time to accomplish, it’s necessary if your digital storefront is as active as your bricks and mortar store. Compare your website traffic from before and after your radio ads. Then, identify how conversion rates were affected after launching your radio marketing campaign. A separate landing page is also a great way to track additional traffic from your radio campaign.
In addition to these KPIs, the best ways to determine the effectiveness of your radio ads is by calculating your return on ad spends. Divide your revenue from your gross sales by the amount you spent on radio advertising. The results will give you the information you will need to see if this advertising medium is valuable to your business.
The Relevance of Radio Advertising
These days, you don’t necessarily need a radio to listen to your favourite radio station. Radio stations are easily accessible on smartphones, laptops, desktop computers, tablets, and smart speakers. As a result, the radio broadcasting industry in Australia has had a steady growth rate of 0.1 per cent every year since 2014.
The audio landscape continues to evolve to keep up with the demands for digital. Some livestreaming apps operate solely to bring digital radio stations and podcasts to audiences around the world. Now, experts are finding ways to leverage the benefits of radio advertising with the innovations of the digital landscape.
Radio Advertising with Media Crew
Media Crew is working with industry experts to help business owners make the most out of this advertising medium. As an agency that specialises in digital and traditional marketing solutions, we understand the importance of a well-balanced campaign. Our radio advertising service has been at the forefront in helping many of our customers’ businesses grow.
Much like our other marketing services, we develop radio campaigns that bring the most value to your business. After identifying your short and long term business goals, we determine which strategy accomplishes these. The radio ads we create are based on your target audience and their radio listening behaviour. Our radio advertising campaigns will help you be heard by the right people.
For more information about this service, get in touch with our team.
