Radio. Get ‘em Where They Live!
Radio ads are cheaper than you may think.
Radio ads are so cheap and effective, I’m amazed clients don’t use them more often.
They’re particularly useful when your audience is remote, passive or oblivious to your existence.
Radio is great fun to do. And because people choose to listen, it really gets them where they live.
Here are my radio learnings, in case you’d like to have a go.
Types of Radio Ad
There are two main types of radio ad: ‘straight read’ and ‘theatre of the mind’.
The former is cheaper (and more common, in my experience).
The latter uses music, sound effects and characters to create a story. This naturally leaves less time to convey information.
Straight Read
In a straight read, you usually have 30 seconds.
This is enough to speak about 90 words without rushing. I always avoid the frenzied garble you hear at the end of political announcements.
You need to time yourself reading your ad several times to ensure it’s viable. This also flags phrases that are difficult to speak.
Since all you have is a single voice, you must make the cadence good – even lyrical. The words need to be clear and engaging, as well as informative.
This is difficult if you want your ad to convey a lot of information, so you need to weigh every word to ensure it deserves its place in the script.
You also need to examine each word to see if a shorter synonym can replace it.
Rather than give long lists of products, locations, opening times etc, I recommend you opt for a single point of inquiry (e.g. a website) from which listeners can obtain detailed information.
It’s tricky when key details (like phone numbers or awkward web addresses) need to be repeated to give people time to write them down. These can account for 15% of the total time.
When branding is important, the rule of thumb is to name your product or business three times in the ad to ensure it sticks in the mind.
You’ll need to decide whether your target audience requires any special treatment (e.g. age, ethnicity). If in doubt, write your ad so every listener aged six and over can understand you.
You can suggest a voice (e.g. middle-aged ‘blokey’ Australian – like Bill Hunter) but most straight reads are cheaply produced at the radio station with in-house talent.
Theatre of the Mind
Theatre of the mind radio ads are wonderful to invent, but much harder to pull off. You need confident talent, a good studio, an accomplished technician and a BIG sound effects library.
Some radio stations have highly experienced teams. I’ve seen them banging ads out like sausages, with nary a second take.
If using one of these, however, have a listen to their previous work first. There are a couple of cheesy producers and intensely irritating voices out there that make even the finest products sound like nappy wash.
Another thing to avoid is ‘home grown’ talent. If you or loved ones fancy a stint in the limelight, don’t do it. Even acting students freeze when the red globe goes on, as I’ve learned to my cost.
Samples
Here are some straight read radio ads (with my analyses). Click the link and arrows to play:
- Government House Open Day. OK effort, with appropriate voice and music.
- New Cardiac Units. A simple, serious read, as you’d expect for this topic.
- Riverslide Skate Park. One of my faves. Great voice, music and SFX. Tight production.
- Indigenous Sport Development. Clear and simple, with an appropriate voice.
- Driver Recruitment. Serviceable treatment of an OK idea.
I wrote all these ads, but a lot can change between writing and performance. It’s rare for my vision to translate perfectly into reality.
Theatre of the mind ads are even harder to get from page to play. So hard, in fact, I don’t have any samples I’m completely happy with.
So, I guess the message is keep it simple unless you really know what you’re doing.
Well, the lines are open.
We warmly welcome your calls.
Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire
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Excellent stuff Mahatma
The wonders of Radio Copy revealed. With your ability to package meaning meaningfully, it’s a wonder you haven’t been bumped-off by some struggling encyclopedia company.
Speaking of wonders…8 Tweets and no comments? That’s truly ‘Amoizing’ (that’s ‘Osstraalyun’ spelling for our International readers ;-p)!
I’ve listened to your audios…excellent as expected. And I couldn’t help but notice a couple of the names:
‘Greenslopes’ for a new Cardiac Unit? Oh Dear! And their Marketing outreach and recruiting subsidiary, cleverly positioned at the other end of the country – ‘Riverslide’ Skate Park? A clever little conglomerate indeed…:-)
Spiffing ol’ Pip
Cheers
Stephen G
Thanks very much, Stephen. Either:
(A) I’ve lost my mojo.
(B) Everyone’s off ebaying.
(C) It’s tax time!
Fortunately, with your kind words, I can keep the demons of loneliness at bay.
Best regards, as always. P.
Hi Paul,
I always love keep it simple and with radio as you are only dealing with one of the senses it makes sense to be very single minded. It is funny but I have not listened to a radio for a long time. Thanks for giving us the run down.
Hi there, Susan. Ironically, commercial radio completely fries my brain. But of course I’m not the audience of my clients’ messages. Thanks for dropping by (and jolly nice post in YOUR blog today!).
No loss of MoJo it’s just that Stephen takes up all the space! Not really love your work Big Steve!
Radio is a fantastic medium and particularly relevant for the smaller business that has a specific target area such as a single city. The deals out there are really good and bonus spots are easily obtainable as is one or two live reads.
Dont forget a call to action – promote your brand and have a great offer to get them calling or emailing today. Track your responses from the radio adds and you can directly track cost v revenue.
And of course use Paul to write the thing!
Thanks Malcolm! There you have it folks; straight from the Head Honcho’s mouth!
Dear Malcolm,
After the amount of stick I’ve given you over the last year and a bit, the ‘not really’ is entirely not really necessary good Sir.
You’ve more than earned the right to swing with preferably hetero-abandon.
Oh! And an occasional smiley won’t hurt either…
Cheers
Stephen G