Tips to Choose the Right Station and Frequency for Your Brand’s Radio Advertising

Radio advertising has a long and well-established history. After nearly a century, it remains one of the most effective ways to reach new customers for businesses of all shapes and sizes. However, it’s important to choose the right station and frequency for your radio advertising, and this is why we’ve put together some tips to help you do that.

Choosing a radio station

Your first step should be to consider your buyer persona. It’s important that the demographics, needs, desires, and habits of your target audience match the reach of the radio station you choose for your advertising. Your buyer persona should include information on when and how your audience is listening to the radio (among other media).

When choosing which station to partner with for your radio advertising, you must understand not only basic demographics like gender and age brackets, but also their psychographics which tell you more about what they do and why they do it. Be careful not to make assumptions about your buyer persona—or a potential station’s reach. It’s easy to generalize a radio station format—like classic rock for example—and assume only adult males are listening. However, in many cases, not only is the reach probably much wider than this, it can also be more segmented based on their psychographics.

For instance, two formats/radio stations that both target Men 25-54 could have one that skews much higher for high household income, meaning if you are advertising items like upscale vacations, motorcycles, and home renovations this might matter more than just reaching Men 25-54. You need the right Men 25-54.

Lastly, don’t make assumptions based on your own listening preferences. Talk to your media partners and get third-party qualitative research that will help you make the best decision for your business and specific campaign needs.

Choosing the frequency for your advertising

When advertising on the radio, the concepts of frequency and reach are important to understand.

• Frequency refers to the number of times an individual will hear your ad.
• Reach refers to the number of different people exposed to your ad.

Finding the right balance between frequency and reach is critical to maximizing the effectiveness of your advertising. Research shows that advertising is more effective when repeated. The question of how many times a person needs to hear an ad in order for it to stick is subject to some debate. Some marketers rely on The Rule of 7, an idea that dates back to the 1930s—that is, an individual must hear a message 7 times for it to become memorable. Others believe 3 times is adequate. Microsoft conducted a study on audio messaging and concluded that 6 to 20 exposures is optimal.

Regardless of the precise number of times a person needs to hear an ad, there is general agreement that frequency is an important consideration. Your media partner should be able to help you strike a balance between frequency and reach when developing a recommended schedule for your campaigns, and help you determine the right format, when to advertise, and what tools to use to develop a high-quality and effective ad campaign. They should work with you to find a strategy that fits both your brand and budget to connect with your target audience.

Reach more customers with radio

Radio has long been and remains a big part of our culture, and it’s a highly effective way to reach your current and potential customers. By choosing the right station for your target audience and ensuring you find the right balance between frequency and reach, you can utilize radio advertising effectively and efficiently to reach your unique business goals.