Have any of you ever tried radio advertising?

In Las Vegas the LLC I was a member of was approached by a sales rep from a radio station who had learned before anyone was supposed to know that the station had been sold to a large network who was going to change the format and replace just about all personnel. He offered us a deal for 10 spots per day, for 30 second spots, for $10 per day for 2 years. The spots were spread throughout the day basewd on a stipulated schedule that included a couple spots per day during the morning and evening commutes. We jumped at it.

The sale fell through. We got a hell of a deal on the advertising. The sales rep got paid small commissions for the sale to us and others he made on similar terms. Then he got fired.

We averaged about 4 new clients per month from the advertising except in Feb., Mar. and Apr, We got just under 10 clients per month during those months. The advertising more than paid for itself at one new client per month.

Thanks guys

It really depends on your target and the station's format. If you're a bank or a car dealership you don't advertise on a station with 15-20 year old demographics.

Ask to see a printout of their Arbitron ratings. Don't take their word for it regarding their listening numbers.

During the time slot listen to the station on your radio to make sure they're not screwing up. Like running a spot for your competitor right after yours.

Also, check the quality of the production if it's done locally (and not given to them by you).

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The best feedback you'll get, is from live broadcasts at your business. Aka remotes.

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I was listening to one of these the other day and was wondering what the response was. I'm not in retail though and can't see how this would work in my business.

That's a huge market. I can't see how that wouldn't work with that many people.

Liberty safes during Walton Johnson must dump a crap ton of money in advertising. They constantly have a spot going. They might get corporate funding to help out though.

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I just have a hard time committing because I've heard horror stories from small businesses but I think it's because they never had the money to commit to a solid/longer term campaign

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Many people only try it for a couple months then give up. Or they run 1-2 ads a day, you need to do at least 4. A good station will work with you and if they have guest interviews with a hotline sometimes your business name could be the hotline for dirt cheap. For instance, "Call windshieldman hotline at such and such #."

It pays off in the long run if you stick with it. I only put in on average 200$ a month and I can tell a difference.

I thought everyone listened to Sirius or Pandora these days

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Many people only try it for a couple months then give up. Or they run 1-2 ads a day, you need to do at least 4.

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^I can't stress how vital this guy's posts have been. Seriously, people pay for advice like this.

A while back a partner and I experimented with radio. We found that the 5-6 time slot is stupid competitive and most listeners on music radio switch during commercials. Our best return was with church/religious stations, talk and sports radio.

The other businesses advertising at the stations that were reeling in clients/customers were the ones who'd been advertising for 2+ years and had a unique sponsored segment. For instance, A doctor had a 10 minute on air Q&A segment, a home builder had a 60 second home improvement tip, etc. Some on the sports radio just had the business owner call in and shoot the bull for 30-60 seconds. All essentially created an on-air personality.

lsufanintexas

Yea, a big city like Houston you are gonna have to pay good money. The radio stations Ive run on didnt require a contract but we are talking NE La, not Houston and my spots are usually anywhere from 5-9$ a spot. You might could ask them if they have any "empty spots" that run like midnight to 5 a.m you can get at a discount. Sometimes large stations have those.

The only thing I would say is make sure if you are in a certain couple of hours they don't let them play the add at the same exact time for 3 months.

When I had an office job it would be like clock work when I got to a certain red light in traffic on the way to work the same commercial came on every day... There should be some repetitiveness but it seemed like a waste of money hitting me with the same commercial everyday at the same time.

You may want to have the sales person introduce you to the "traffic" person(this is the person who schedules when your commercials aired). Not sure how much they control air times these days but back in the day that was their sole responsibility...