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January 22, 2010

A Radio Advertising Tip From Albert Einstein

"A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be." - Albert Einstein

When the typical, intelligent businessperson thinks about what a "good" radio ad "should" sound like, they are almost always looking for what they think should be, not for what is.

Herein lies the difficulty clients may experience when evaluating radio ads their radio agency submits to them, particularly when the radio ads don't sound like what the person in the client role "thinks" radio ads should sound like. This can lead to big mistakes.

When coupled with the fact that if a radio commercial sounds like all other radio commercials it will not stand out and not perform well, you can see the dilemma here.

"A radio advertisement that sounds like a typical radio advertisement will have a short life in direct response radio."

It is very difficult for anyone to even be aware of the assumptions they are overlaying onto a situation - never mind to put them aside for a moment and see with untainted eyes. But it is one vital piece to creating great radio ads.

That's why we routinely remind our clients of one very important point. We make our recommendations NOT based on our personal opinions about what their radio ads should or shouldn't be, and NOT based on pleasing the client to gain their favor by giving them radio commercials that sound like what they want to hear. As a direct response radio advertising agency we know this would be shooting ourselves in the foot - because we measure the revenues generated by every bit of our radio media buying and therefore there's no place to hide when the results come in.

We simply must create direct response radio advertising that works - and that is what our recommendations for radio ads are based on: thousands of actual on-air tests of different approaches to creating response-driving commercials for radio has shown us what works and what doesn't in direct response radio advertising (whether it's for driving sales, web traffic, foot traffic, building brands or a combination thereof).

So Albert Einstein gives those of us in radio advertising a very important tip: Look at what is, not with eyes clouded by what you think should be.

Follow his advice, along with the Platimum Rule described here, and watch what happens.

Posted by Jeff Small & Brett Astor at 11:33 AM | Permalink