Owning a business is a rewarding experience but can also be a constant struggle. Most business owners are so busy just keeping things running, they have little or no time to devote to the one thing that can make a difference in their business - advertising and marketing.

When things are busy, advertising and marketing are typically overlooked. If you’re doing plenty of business, you don’t need any advertising, right? And when things get slow, just keeping the lights turned on seems far more important than sitting down and taking the time to develop an effective advertising and marketing plan.

For many businesses, Radio is an affordable and effective advertising media. Nothing can beat the impact of a well-written radio ad, coupled with frequent exposure. Unlike newspaper ads, radio ads are more than just ink on paper. And unlike TV ads, the audience isn’t in the bathroom, or fast forwarding on their DVR, when your commercial airs.

In a single week, radio reaches more than 228 million Americans. That’s 94% of everyone age 12 and older. So no matter what types of prospects you want to reach, radio advertising will help you to reach them. Plus, radio is mobile. Eighty percent of adults listen to radio in their cars, and about 25 percent of the population also listens while at work.

EFFECTIVE RADIO ADVERTISING FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

The truth is, radio is affordable and effective, and you can get higher quality leads faster with radio advertising. This should increase your profit. And isn’t that why you’re in business in the first place?

KEYS TO EFFECTIVE RADIO ADVERTISING

1. Define Your Target Audience

A business should know exactly who its potential customers are, not only for the purpose of radio commercials, but also for being successful overall. Your marketing objective should include a singular, well-articulated target consumer. Using gender and age alone are too broad to be effective descriptors. Instead you should target your consumer by lifestyle. Some examples could be: • Do-It-Yourselfers • Golf Enthusiasts• People Who Will Retire Within 5 Years • First Time Home Buyer

EFFECTIVE RADIO ADVERTISING FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

COmmERCIAlS ARE A PART OF THE ENTERTAINmENT AND PROGRAmmINGGreat radio commercials grab and hold attention, usually through humor. They may also use sounds, compelling music or unusual voices to grab attention. Your spots must tell stories or present situations your target audience can relate to. To keep your audience listening to your spots month after month, make them part of an ongoing campaign theme. Your audience will listen for the newest versions, helping extend your message more successfully than if you were to run unrelated spots. For maximum results, make your call to action--a URL or phone number--easy to remember and tie it in with your company name or message.

2. Grab the listeners

Your commercial has to be effective to get and then keep the listener’s attention. You will need to offer some sort of benefit that the listener can quickly and easily perceive. Lastly and very importantly, the commercial has to motivate the listener to take an action, such as visiting your business, website or calling you.

Make sure your radio ad answers these questions:• Who are you? • What are you selling? • When do you want consumers to act? • How can customers get in touch with you? • Why should customers hire or buy from you?

The Why is your hook, your reason for being, your unique product difference. Your message should be simple, hard-hitting and urgent with important facts that listeners can remember and act on.

3. Choose the length of Your Campaign

The length of your campaign is directly related to the type of marketing objective you have chosen for your campaign. Branding: Objectives require significant time since this type of campaign requires instilling a belief into your target consumer about your product or service. These types of campaigns generally run 9-12 months.Promotion: Objectives require short bursts of time since this type of campaign usually asks your target consumer to take immediate action. These type of campaigns can last from a few days to 3 months.

EFFECTIVE RADIO ADVERTISING FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

4. Sponsorship Tie-Ins

To maximize your commercial’s effectiveness, try to have sponsorships tied into your marketing campaign. Examples include official sponsor of the broadcast studio, sporting event alerts, “pest of the day” daily programming. You may also get involved with a radio station’s community events and causes that your business could sponsor.

ON SPORTS RADIO, YOUR mESSAGE GETS HEARD

On Sports Radio, there’s a new storyline every day, and sometimes it changes hourly. It’s also in a neutral format. We don’t talk politics and members of every political party listen to sports and sports talk, as do fans of all types of music. The controversy you might hear is about team rivalries or a specific call from last night’s game. You will reach:

An audience that is loyal and attentive. They are actively listening and the station is not just on in the background.Sports radio listeners spend more hours listening to their station as compared to music stations.listeners remain with stations through commercial breaks because they want to hear the rest of the discussion -

They are not button pushers!

EFFECTIVE RADIO ADVERTISING FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

1010Xl IS A STRONG mARKETING PARTNER THAT CAN REACH YOUR AUDIENCE

1010XL - 92.5 FM is Jacksonville’s live and local sports radio station. Our passionate listeners are engaged throughout the day, absorbing the thoughts and opinions of the market’s leading sports authorities, sharing their own opinion through their calls, tweets and facebook posts and actively responding to our partners who have addressed the business need of marketing to men. Men who are well educated, attentive and spend money on big and small ticket items.

To help you grow your business, 1010XL - 92.5 FM offers:

• Strongest male audience in North Florida• Educated and engaged listening audience who want and need your services• lIVE and lOCAl programming, production and promotions.• Hands on team to create your commercials and develop your campaigns.• Powerful targeted marketing (three of ten men are single)• Six of ten men play an influential role in the big-ticket item buying process. They are either the sole or joint decision makers in the purchase of items like homes, cars, and major appliances.• Seven of ten women say that a recommendation from a spouse or partner is a deciding factor when making major purchases(marketing to men radio survey, Jacobs media 2011)

TO CREATE AN ADVERTSING CAmPAIGN THAT WIll DEVElOP AND GROW YOUR BUSINESS, PlEASE CONTACT OUR SAlES DEPARTmENT AT 904-641-1011

EFFECTIVE RADIO ADVERTISING FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER