18 replies to this topic

[saulman]

I realize it has been awhile since this post was active but I have two points to add.

1. We run a funny t-shirt contest and we sent out a national press release, From it I got a few articles and a half dozen ten minute radio interviews. We got thousands of entries from the effort.

2. I have heard (from somewhere recently) that the best advertising going is to combine billboards with local ads run during drive time.

It all depends on what the goal of your campaign is. Billboard companies like to tell you that millions of comuters see your billboard everyday. Also, radio's reach is rather limited to a narrow spectrum of listeners at the moment your spot gets played. Most media buyers pick two radio stations with similar demographics in order to increase the likelihood that the target audience hears the spot.

Stunts are always a great way to get PR, but again, what's the goal of the campaign?

We've actually had a lot of success promoting a trade show with bus billboards. I'm fond of the panel on the rear of the bus because the people stuck behind the bus cannot help but have your message seared into their brain.

[Betty]

We've advertised on radio with mixed results. They key was getting a decent ad. Our results have been fairly quick and seem to be increasing the longer we are on air. If we had to wait a year for results, we never would have signed the contract. I think that is a ridiculous amount of time to expect a turn around on one's investment of ad dollars. Our ads have run on a local country station and on the #1 talk station in So. Cal. Both stations have produced good results.

[nedguy]

I think the general line on this thread is about right.

I was a presenter on a national radio station in the UK for much of the nineties. I can think of times when an interview or report I did created enormous interest (I remember one company being delighted when their entire season of horse-riding holidays sold out within hours of me broadcasting a piece about them), but it would take weeks & months of continuous advertising to build any kind of surveyable brand awareness.

A radio item can create a sudden spike in your stats, which might, on rare occasions, be dramatic but very short-lived. However it'll take a long-term sustained investment if you want build and maintain a significant increase in visitors.

That said, the merging of digital platforms does mean that radio can at least be archived, referenced and linked these days. A digital radio listener on a computer can search for a radio item, can listen again to a radio item, and while listening can click to find out more. That has to be more useful than radio in the nineties!

NG

[RyanBlank]

One of my clients sites was featured on an Atlanta radio station last week. The site is for women's clothing, newer fashions, etc.. The radio station has a female personality that goes out to find the best clothing and prices out, then reports what she found. I have to say, this free publicity made a huge impact on traffic and sales that week. Actually, it is still having a great impact because a link to the site is listed on the radio station's website. So from one radio announcement we were able to attain a strong backlink as well as see a flood of targeted traffic. All in all, it was a very good thing