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Q:

Radio! It’s considered mass media – so in this day of finely-targeted advertising, EDMs and social media, isn’t advertising on radio just overkill for the small business?

A:

Well, no. Actually it makes perfect sense, and small businesses are constantly finding that radio generates incredible results.

Radio is finely-tuned when it comes to target audiences. The number of stations available makes it easy to talk to your potential customers. Even better, radio listeners have an expectation that the ads on “their” station will be relevant to them; they tend to have more buy-in and more acceptance of advertising than most other media consumers.

But – yes, there’s a “but” – you need to make sure the ad is right!

It’s not enough to just throw a whole lot of information into your ad, get your name out there, and expect customers to come to you.

In fact, the most effective ads of all are the ones that say relatively little – but are full of charm, entertainment, quirkiness or humour. By simply being likeable and entertaining, you can become known, trusted, and even advocated by your potential customers. And you can achieve it in remarkably quick time.

After all, chances are you don’t have a big advertising budget, so you want the strongest, most effective ad you can get for a good, quick response.

Ok, enough theory – here’s an example.

Global Shoes in Kapiti is a small business that uses radio to promote itself regularly. The ads aren’t hugely complicated, but they’re endearing, quirky, and fun – making it the little shoe store that everybody knows about. The fact that customers talk about the advertising when they visit the store is proof that this is a small business that does very well out of radio. 

The owner isn’t directive about his ad – he’ll provide a single core message and let the creative writers at The Radio Network do what they do best to make it fun, and the results speak for themselves.

There are many such case studies. Plumbers, accountants, tree-stump-grinders, even corner takeaways can become famous overnight through the power of radio advertising.