Why You Need a Professional Copywriter

Copywriter

Susanna's Online Magazine

Hutcheson Report


HOW TO MAKE YOUR RADIO SPOTS SELL
by Susanna K. Hutcheson
©2007 Power Communications LLC

Radio is very often an overlooked advertising media by many marketers. I don't know why they concentrate all their efforts on direct mail and email, web marketing and other things and totally overlook one of the best direct response marketing devices there is. Radio listeners are devoted and responsive. Radio spots can be dynamic, cheap and generally easy to produce.

Now I don't think you should use radio as your main advertising arrow in your quiver. But as a supplement, it just can't be beat. If you have a product with wide appeal, you can use radio to generate leads and even drive traffic to your Web site.

For example, I wrote a spot for a long distance company that was very successful. Long distance, of course, is something of interest to most all people. So it lends itself nicely to radio.

But I've also written successful spots for furniture stores, tire stores, restaurants and many other types of businesses.

So you need to decide whether or not radio might be of value to you. If it is, here are some pointers that will help you get the most from this great advertising medium.
What You Should Know about Radio

Use a straight announcer spot. Your target market is working, driving, cleaning the house and doing a number of things. They're not usually just sitting there with a pencil in hand listening to the radio and waiting to hear a commercial that interests them.

So keep your spot simple. Don't try and be funny. Use dialog spots rarely. They do work and people enjoy them if done right. But a straight spot is always on the mark. This type of spot is more personal. You have one person, usually the announcer, talking to one person, the listener.

Sometimes you can do the talking yourself BUT only if you can deliver a professional sounding spot. You have to be able to read well, pronounce well and deliver well. Frankly, most people can't do that.

Recognize and solve a problem.

If you're selling long distance, tell people about the problem of high cost. Tell them how minutes are rounded or not rounded. Tell them about connection problems. Then tell them how your service will solve these and other problems.

People understand problems. They relate to them.

But they must believe they have a problem before they're at all interested in a solution.

Make a remarkable promise. This gives strength to your solution. In the above example, you might promise to give excellent customer service 24/7/365. This makes people feel good about doing business with you. Most folks know that customer service at just about all businesses is just downright awful.

So a promise of excellent service will interest them very much indeed. Many people would rather give up a lower price to get really great customer service.

Guarantee results. Now you can't always do this, of course. A doctor can't guarantee he'll cure you. A lawyer can't guarantee she'll win your case.

But if you have a product, you can guarantee that it will do what you say it will or you'll give the customer back his money. Guarantees make people feel better about doing business with you. They feel safer.

Give something away. You can't really make a sale on the radio. Radio is for getting leads. So if you give something away, you'll get people to at least show some interest. It may be minimal.

But most folks won't go to the trouble of calling you just to get something for free. They have to have at least some degree of interest.

I've found it very effective to offer information or samples to generate leads. Then you make the sale later. You might offer a voucher or a free item that is related to your business. If you sell long distance, you might offer 60 free minutes.

Drive listeners to your Web site. You should ALWAYS give your Web address in your radio spots. Many people --- more all the time --- are using the web to get information and to make purchases. They prefer going into a private room and visiting your site before they call you. So always give them this option. It will pay major dividends.

Present a distinct call to action. People have to be led to take action. Left to their own devices, they will take NO action.

You must tell them what you want them to do. This goes for "any" of your advertising. If you're offering a free brochure, have the announcer tell them to call you now and ask for the brochure.

If you want them to go to your Web site, have the announcer give the URL. Make sure the phone number is given at least three times in all of your radio spots. This is important.

In addition, make sure that, in most cases, the phone number is the LAST thing the listener hears. He's more apt to remember it or to write it down.

Use a memorable phone number or Web address. A number such as 1-800-FLOWERS or a web address such as www.taxbreak.com. (for information on how people can save money on their taxes) can be easily recalled. Again, repeat this information three times.

Force folks to respond. Give them a time limit. "Call in the next 15 minutes for your free vision ease lamp." If people know they must respond immediately, they will. But if they think they have all the time in the world, that's just how much time they'll take. Guess what? You won't hear from them. I promise you.

Keep an eye on response. You should get response every time your ad runs. Now, having said that, I want to add this. The more times it runs, the greater your response should be.

People do not always respond the first time. Perhaps they're busy with the kids or fighting with the spouse or boss. But if you don't generate responses soon, your ad isn't working. Cut your losses. Stop the ad.

Also, I suggest you rotate your spots. Don't run the same one continually. I tell clients to rotate their spots every week or so.

CAUTION: Most radio salespeople will offer to write your spot for you. Or they'll have the in-house copywriter do it. Usually this copywriter is a minimum wage staffer with very little experience.

If you care at all about the results you get, hire a professional to write your radio spots. People who write their own spots or allow a salesman or inexperienced radio employee to do it are not only wasting money but they're throwing it away.

Don't listen to radio air salesmen about much of anything. Hire a radio buyer who specializes in direct response. She'll get you better placement at a better cost and she'll do a much finer job of looking out for "your" interests than a salesman.

The same can be said for the newspaper ad salesman who wants to write your ads. But that's for another article.

Remember, the job of the salesman is to sell. That's all. That doesn't make her an expert at anything else and it certainly doesn't qualify her to handle something as valuable as your radio spot.

So there you have some tips on making your radio spots work.

I won't get into the actual writing of the copy in this article. I'll leave that for another time.

Radio is a great way to supplement your marketing and advertising. It should never be your only advertising vehicle. But in most cases it should be a part of it. So make sure you do it right. If you do, you'll be rewarded with more sales.
-------------------------------------------

Susanna K. Hutcheson is a professional advertising and direct mail copywriter. She was the first copywriter to utilize the Internet as a place to market this type of service. Susanna has clients all over the world. She writes everything from Web site content to direct mail and radio spots. Visit her Web site at http://www.powerwriting.com. Her email address is powerwriter@powerwriting.com. Telephone: 316-665-7626.

© Copyright 2006 by Susanna K. Hutcheson and Power Communications LLC. Any republication in any manner is prohibited without the consent of Power Communications LLC or the author. We do give you limited permission to use this article on your Web site or in your newsletter if you print it or reproduce it exactly as it appears here including this entire notice. This article cannot be sold by you or published in a for-profit publication, a pay-per-view site or a site which sells memberships. It cannot be used by schools or in textbooks without our consent in writing. Rights to use this article for a purpose other than the type of distribution for which it is intended may be purchased from us. Call us at 316-665-7626. You may, however, link directly (not by redirect) to this article.