Radio Ad Production
Win over listeners with your radio ads by Sandra Cosser
If you take a second to think about radio ads, what is the one thing that makes them stand out for you? Perception of radio ads is subjective, what grabs the attention of one listener will annoy another and what annoys a listener one day may be perfectly relevant the next. You can increase your chances of success if you realise that you can’t please everyone and follow the tips outlined below.
According to Jeff Small and Brett Astor of Strategic Media, Inc, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to create an effective Radio Ad. Data collected by the company shows that there is an inverse relationship between product value and ad performance. One possible reason for this is because one perfectly polished ad blends into another until the audience can’t tell them apart.
Roy Williams agrees, saying that polished radio ads are easy to ignore. Williams advocates a grassroots approach that eschews flashy entertainment for authentic ads that are easy to relate to. While it’s an approach that many people advocate, Williams’ particular take on it is not everyone’s cup of tea. For instance, he’s a big believer in owner-voiced ads.
Williams says that the audience is more likely to connect with an ad that has been voiced by the owner of a particular business or company. He says they’re more believable. Which is fair enough. There’s nothing wrong with personalising your radio ads, but there are some serious disadvantages. For instance, Williams believes in extemporaneity and not editing the occasional mispronunciation or stutter. Now, this is hardly the stuff to inspire confidence, is it?
You only have a few seconds to catch the attention of your audience and win them to your side. You don’t want to spend that time stammering over word selection as if you’ve just jumped behind the microphone between appointments. Production value might not be all it’s cracked up to be, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore it completely.
Voice your own ads by all means, but you will need to sound confident and professional and approachable. You will need to sound as though you know what you’re talking about and you will need to work from a carefully worded script. Words are everything in radio. With no images to play with you have to use your words to achieve maximum impact. Don’t blather about irrelevant details. Use strong words to concisely convey your message, which is that listeners need you.
Small and Astor say that sometimes changing one word can mean the difference between a radio ad’s success and failure. Timing is equally important. Get your hook in as soon as possible, don’t wait until halfway through the ad before you get to the point; the listeners will have tuned you out long before then.
Finally, don’t forget the call to action. The call to action is the most important part of any ad, no matter what the medium. If the listeners don’t know what to do next, the ad is a failure.
About the Author
We write about The Cost Of Radio Advertising for the leading resource for media, marketing and advertising professionals in South Africa, SARAD.
IDS 09 Radio Ad Production: A Behind the Scenes Look!
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