Is This A Good Deal? Regarding Online Radio Advertising

[David Manpower]

Hello guys:

My name is David and I live down in Miami. There is a radio station down here that is very popular called Power 96.

I was interested in a radio advertisement, so I called the guy in charge.

He was a pretty cool guy, with a voice that I had heard in a number of commercials. He said he was over 50 and had been in the biz for over 20 years.

He said, for $1000, he'll put me on the online radio. The online radio is pretty much the same broadcast as what;s on the regular radio. He says he'll give me 35 spots a week, for a month. Sounds okay to me!

He said for the online radio there is over 160,000 listeners a day, and they are doing more and more to attract regular radio listeners to the website/online broadcast...

Any advice on this? Could it hopefully be effective?

[annalaurabrown]

well it might be, but before you spend, I would think about two things.

First I would try and get with at least one other previous advertiser who has done the same thing and find out if it was successful for them.

Second What will happen if it is not successful? In other words can you afford to loose the money? If not, you may want to think twice. Along with this what would have to happen in order for you to make your money back? I don't know what you are selling but certain kinds of businesses do better with radio than others.

[radiogirl]

How many of those people (of the 160,000) are likely within your target demographic? How long are they listening for on average? Are they steady online listeners or is that a lot of new listeners with a high turnover?

Is the station itself one you like - or did you choose it because you feel that it matches the tastes of your target market?

How heavily does the station promote it's website and online listening features on the air?

Does the ad only include audio or do you get a banner or text link on the website as well?

These would all be factors that I would consider before deciding if the price is right.

[sahota]

You need to be bit careful unless you have surplus $1000 . These guys in advertising business (Be it radio, Magazines etc etc) are very clever. They come up with these figures and small business just buy what they say. I am not saying that it won't work. But as above has been mentioned, you need to first think if its worth it or not. How many orders or customers you need to atleast get your $1000 back. Or if your business gets repeat orders from same customers then you might be better of just getting few customers.

I burned my fingers last year in adverts in magazine. They were specific to my market and were saying the sell millions of copies across UK. And in end I only got 800 visitors to my website after spending £600. And only 10 people purchased something. And overall it was not good. Instead I might have been better off spending that money on Google ADVERTS in search engine.

If you have a doubt that it won't work, why not try it for a week. It comes out to be $250 weekly for your rate. If he doesn't agree say you will pay $300 for a week. So you will know at end of it if it works or not. And if not then you saved $700

[radiogirl]

Trying radio for a week will not work unless you have a great professionally written direct marketing ad designed to elicit response. Most ads on the radio just aren't.

It's truly a method that works best through repetition.

[EC23Shop]

I think if u have good budget then try radio, online advertising. It's really very effective.