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Radio offers direct marketers a unique blend of benefits, including sales to targeted, highly segmented audiences, and an opportunity to get on the air fast.
You can sell to targeted, highly segmented audiences. In 1993, there were nearly 13,000 radio stations in 261 markets broadcasting to over 96 million homes in the United States That's a big audience with a lot of buying power. Over the years, radio stations have developed proven programming formats that appeal to listeners with similar interests and shared demographic and psychographic characteristics, thus segmenting this huge group into what you might call "audio mailing lists." And with more than 50 million cellular phone users worldwide (a number that's growing daily), the argument about people not being able to respond while sitting in traffic is quickly losing validity.
* You'll pay far less for radio than television. The biggest, most elaborate radio production is cheaper than medium-sized TV spots. That's because creative and production is more straightforward, the technical equipment needed is simpler and less elaborate, there are fewer things that can go wrong, and fewer people need to be involved. This lets you save money while competing toe-to-toe with bigger companies with deeper pockets.
* You can get on the air fast. From a creative standpoint, radio could be the simplest advertising medium there is. With direct mail you can get held up by printing, fulfillment, and mail delivery. With television, production can reach feature movie proportions. Even with telemarketing, you have dozens of strategic and technical details to solve. With a simple radio spot, however, you can literally be on the air in days, if not hours.
In short, radio spots are powerful, cheap, and simple to produce. Plus, radio listeners are highly responsive. Yet, radio remains one of the most underused and poorly handled weapons in the direct marketing arsenal. If used at all, planning and creative for radio sputters in as an afterthought to use up any leftover budget.
That's because there's a perception radio doesn't work. Why? Because most people in our industry were weaned on print advertising, namely catalogs, print, and direct mail. They don't understand broadcast advertising. So, most broadcast production gets handed to general agencies or production houses. Unfortunately, most experienced creatives...