Can anyone farmiliar with radio advertising offer some insight please?
-In a large market (Philadelphia to be exact) how small of a campaign (dollar wise) can you purchase?
-If a station is brand new, how do they charge for ads and is it a good idea to buy ads from them?
-is there anything specific I should look for or try to avoid when buying raid advertising?
many thanks.
Depending on the size of the station, you can buy as many or as few ads as you want. They have packages of so many spots over a given period at certain times for a certain price. I can’t give dollar amounts, because it depends on the station’s Arbitron ratings.
AFAIK, a new station might charge less money for advertising as an inducement for advertisers to buy ads on a relatively untested station. The process shouldn’t be that much different from a larger station. It might be a good idea to buy advertising on such a station because they tend to advertise themselves heavily to gain listeners. For example, two stations in Harrisburg changed format recently. The pop station is advertising themselves a LOT to inform listeners of the change, and to attract new listeners.
Your best bet is to call the stations you’re interested in and get quotes. Advertising is one of those things where YMM definitely V. I know some people in radio advertising sales; if you like, I’ll be happy to ask them.
Robin
This may not apply to your situation, but then again it might. I have gotten a ton of free advertising by doing a 30 - 60 minute “ask the vet” show on local news/talk radio. On returning from each commercial break, the cohost introduces me as “Dr X from ABC Animal Hospital in Somewheresville”.
There are physicians, realators, mechanics, chiropractors, etc who do this.
Yeah, but the trade-off is that sometimes you have to either appear at an odd time, or be willing to tape in advance so the show can air at an odd time.
Robin
I must be lucky. One show is just a short segment that I do from my office over the phone. The other is a call in show and when the station offered me “the job” they asked me what times would work for me and then they worked out something to fit my schedule.
The in studio show also includes payment to me! Robin…just out of curiousity, what sounds right for a 60 minute call in show as far as payment? Honestly, I would do the show gratis. It is fun and I look at it as free ad time.
You need a point of reference to start with. The two most common ones are cost per thousand and gross rating points.
Cost per thousand is simply the cost it takes to reach 1,000 listeners. Gross ratings points includees multiple messages to the same ear, or the same message to many ears. A radio station should be able to break down its costs by at least one, if not both.
That let’s you compare costs between stations, and between different times at one station.
New stations have done a market analysis to figure out what their potential audience should be. That doesn’t mean they’re reaching everyone, but it’s a start until they get hard numbers.
My warning about small ad buys is simple – they’re often worse than useless. If you buy one commercial at 7:00 a.m., you get one tiny sliver of the total audience. What you want is enough ads to penetrate the listener’s mind with enough of a schedule to reach a large number of listeners. Just my recommendation, but I’d recommend you buy a bigger schedule on a smaller station than a smaller schedule on a bigger station.
Haven’t got a clue. I can ask, though.
Robin
This sounds like fine advice. Thank you!
Who the hell is The 27th Evil?? And why the same sig as MsRobyn?
:dubious: