It’s the last quarter of the year, and for many businesses, that means budget season. For marketing teams, that means deciding how much money to invest in your marketing plan for next year and what channels to focus on.
The most successful integrated marketing campaigns nowadays often include a mix of radio and digital marketing tactics.
Radio advertising is much more than just what meets the eye (or ear). As you get started on your 2024 planning, let’s discuss how radio should fit into your marketing plan next year.
Why Should I Advertise on the Radio?
Whether your business is big or small, radio is a great way to reach a wide audience.
Radio is widely accessible; it does a great job at boosting your brand to a large audience. According to Pew Research, 82% of Americans (age 12+) listened to the radio every single day in 2022. With that many people listening to your ad, you can connect and build trust with people in your community who are ready and willing to purchase your service or product.
Radio uses storytelling to bond with its listeners. We call this “the theater of the mind,” and it is powerful! Whether you use voice actors, radio personalities, or your very own voice to read the advertisement, you’ll drive recall and retention with your audience by adding a human aspect that they can connect with.
Here’s another thing that advertising on the radio does – it drives search. A study done by RAB showed a 29% increase in Google searches thanks to radio ads. Those peaks occurred most often in the mornings and on weekdays, which are the most common times that people listen to the radio.
The scenario is easy to picture – someone listens to the radio, hears an ad that resonates with them and goes online to learn more about it. Radio is a high-reach medium, so it impacts highly interested customers who are ready to get online and search for your business – and then, hopefully, make a purchase.
At Federated Media, our radio stations use a tool called Rumple that tracks traffic to a business’s website in comparison to when their radio commercial is broadcasted. Over the summer, a local credit union who ran a 60-day radio campaign with one of our stations saw a 12% lift in web traffic in the 30 minutes after each of their radio spots aired.
How To Include Radio In Your 2024 Marketing Plan
Below are a few ways that you can incorporate radio into your marketing plan and use it to help your business succeed.
Radio Commercials for Annual and Seasonal Marketing
Radio is how you’re going to broadcast your brand to listeners; it’s how you let them know who you are and what you offer them. In order for your audience to trust you (and your products or services), there has to be a relationship between the two of you — and that relationship is formed through consistent communication.
By consistent communication, we mean a message that remains constant throughout the year. No, not the same verbiage throughout the year – of course, what you’re promoting will change. But the conversation with your audience should never go silent.
Plan to have a radio campaign throughout the year with a consistent marketing message. When you have events, sales, or contests to promote, you can change up the script and layer in more spots so you’ll be right at the top of the audience’s mind.
Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Influencers are all the rage in the social media sphere. People are more likely to invest in something when a person they trust (or a person they look up to, or would like to emulate) backs a product.
Your business can maximize the benefits of a powerful influencer marketing campaign that blends both radio endorsements and social media posts. When your audience witnesses (AKA hears or reads) a trustworthy public figure supporting your products, they’re more likely to go out and try the products themselves. They’re more likely to buy because, well, influencers are good at what they do: influencing!
Event Sponsorship
A surefire way to strategize your marketing with radio is by sponsoring events hosted by or promoted by radio stations.
When you do that, you'll reach superfan listeners who are more than willing to give money to the station they love most. And, by proxy, they’ll be more than willing to give money to you – after all, by sponsoring the event, you’re tying yourself in with personalities and music that’s interwoven through fans’ lives.
To reach dedicated audiences, sponsoring an event is one of the most impactful moves you can make.
It’s Time to Start Utilizing Radio
Don’t let the questions you have about fitting radio into your marketing plan scare you off. Instead, start a conversation with Federated Media.
We can help you make the most of your marketing strategy to include radio advertising and reach a huge amount of people at a fraction of the cost of other types of ads. Get in touch with us today!
