Advertising on the radio

Old Gill

Has anyone here tried it and if so what are your thoughts? Ive been debating it for quite a while and am still undecided mainly as it may take up quite a large percentage of my marketing budget for the year (approx 6k).

How much would it cost to have a radio ad made up and what sort of charges are there per placement (local Dublin or Cork radio only)?

Any input greatly appreciated

blue4ever

Old Gill wrote: »

Has anyone here tried it and if so what are your thoughts? Ive been debating it for quite a while and am still undecided mainly as it may take up quite a large percentage of my marketing budget for the year (approx 6k).

How much would it cost to have a radio ad made up and what sort of charges are there per placement (local Dublin or Cork radio only)?

Any input greatly appreciated

Difficult with the info you have provided: Have you a specific target market (determines really the raid stations to a greater extent). Perhaps even divulge the market you are in - get better quality answers with that information

Cheers

C

Old Gill

Hi the business is a driving school and the market is the 18-34 market but primarily those in their 20's. FM 104 and Spin would be the best choices but their rate cards are quite high. They charge €150 to make an ad which I think is ok but do they come down on the rate card much?

blue4ever

Old Gill wrote: »

Hi the business is a driving school and the market is the 18-34 market but primarily those in their 20's. FM 104 and Spin would be the best choices but their rate cards are quite high. They charge €150 to make an ad which I think is ok but do they come down on the rate card much?

Marketing advice is like the preverbal..

Personally I think that radio is a bit too 'broadcast' for your business - which i assume is locally based.

Yellow Pages/ indo Directory/Web that’s what i fee you should be doing (even door to door with decent flyers and a good 'Christmas offer)

'Don’t stand in line in 2009 - Learn to Drive'

zAbbo

If 6k is a large percentage of your budget, it's a gamble doing a radio burst with it.

For that 6k - I'd invest some of that online - probably Google Adwords, which would allow you to track conversions (using a tagged up online form, and a separate phone number)

But if you were doing Radio, Spin 103.8 are nice to deal with, I have a contact there if you want to PM me.

The voice over/creatives/scriptwriter that Spin use are good, I really like the stuff we ran with them recently.

But all of that is advertising, I would try something a little different - perhaps a voucher/free lesson campaign - which will give you something to promote especially in January (sales/discount season) - you could advertise this in local papers/radio and online - much better return for your 6k.

Bearing in mind, the takeup rate on vouchers is never 100% - and you can limit it by placing a booking period inside January etc.

If you look at the number of customers you get, plus the average number of lessons they take - minus your cost - you can calculate the number of new customers you'll need to achieve to get a return on the amount you spend on marketing.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Old Gill Radio advertising is great, we use it from time to time, Spin really worked out well for us. But i honestly think with your business its not the right form for you.

Do you know about how referral marketing works?? This marketing is most suitable to your business. I don't want to go off topic but if you want a quick run through i'd be more than happy to give advice on why this is the most suitable form of lead generation for you.

niceirishfella

6k will be lost in radio advertising.
Lost!

I've bought loads of radio time.
To stand out on this medium, you got to be uber creative and write your own good copy cos you can't leave it to the rep or production person in any of these stations as they'll do a ripp and read ad and it'll be lost in amongst everything else on air.
Good creative costs lots of cash - its a big investment is radio and you got to invest time, creative thinking, vision and of course money into it.

Old Gill

Fancy Dresser wrote: »

Old Gill Radio advertising is great, we use it from time to time, Spin really worked out well for us. But i honestly think with your business its not the right form for you.

Do you know about how referral marketing works?? This marketing is most suitable to your business. I don't want to go off topic but if you want a quick run through i'd be more than happy to give advice on why this is the most suitable form of lead generation for you.

Hi..yeah Id very interested in referral advertising. do you mean like google adwords or just word of mouth?

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

I'lll give you a step by step on how i would approach refferal marketing in your case.

Step 1. Analyse the marginal value of a custumer

Work out on average how much a customer is worth to your business over their lifetime of education. From your previous stats on average how many lessons does a learner driver take?

For the example lets say the average student takes 10 lessons and 1 pre-test - therefore 20 x 11 - 220


Step 2. Work out your costs per unit lesson

45 min lesson - 10 Euro for a driver (variable costs), 3 euro for fixed costs [total cost to run a lesson 13 euro]


Step 3. Work out the life time net worth of each customer.

(220 - 143 = 77 net profit)

This means that you can spend worst case senario 77 on customer acquistion an still beak even.


Step 4. Work out a refferal deal

Talk to your customers ask them if they think you provide a good service? If they say you do, offer them to invite a friend (or 2/3) who is planning on learning to drive. Invite them to come along for a lesson - COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE.

From your experience you realise that the person coming in for a free lesson has the potential to bring in (77 - 13) 64 Euro in life time customer worth.

Step 5.

You test this deal small - run it 30 times and then rework the net lifetime worth of the people that take up the free offer. This will likely be slightly below the orignal 77. Then with this new figure you work through steps 3 & 4 again.

Step 6.

Make this refferal program part of the system of your training. Maybe your driver offers the refferal cards on the 3rd lesson and on the final pre-test. Make customers feel like its a reward - 'we want more L drivers just like you to grow our great reputation of pass rates'.

Obviously free lesson is only applicable to new customers

Step 7.

Because every time you give away a free lesson you bring in X amount of future profit you don't need to set a limit (of your 6k) on advertising budget as there is little down side.

Step 8.

You might want to sweeten the deal as time goes on (depending on your ability to grow - growing too fast is also dangerous). You could offer a half price pre-test for each refferal customer who signs up for a second lesson etc. In the past i had advised business to pay cash to people to who bring in new business.


The refferal marketing strategy requires that you provide a quality service / product and that you constantly keep an eye on the numbers / math.

Hope that helps.

*My number are not intented to be accurate just examples.

Old Gill

thanks for that..makes very interesting reading. Ive went and researched it a bit more and is definately a very useful tool..thanks for the heads up

blogprincess

Fancy Dresser put a lot of work in to his response - and its excellent advice.

One other thought or two

Learner Drivers are probably 17-20 years of age and living in your area.
Where do 17-20 year olds in your area hang out?

Local cinema?

Local 6 sheet poster campaign in bus shelters - saying with a simple message : Can't drive? and sick of waiting for the bu. Call Driving School xxx NOW on xxxx - pick poster sites outside colleges/schools/targetting sixth years?

Don't parents usually buy their kids vouchers for lessons - mine did...
Tall to a few of your customers and find out how they heard about you..
Advertise where parents of 17-20 year olds are?

Golden Pages but there is tons of competition in there AND it is very expensive.

Refer a friend programme - if you sign someone up for 10 driving lessons for 150 quid - and they send you a customer, then send them 15 quid back when you get the new customer :O)

GOOD LUCK
BLogPrincess

Old Gill

Thanks for all the advice its sent me along a path of new advertising ideas which I hope to pursue in the new year

softwing

Hi
Sounds like you might be interested in some marketing ideas? Radio campaigns have there place, however, you need to structure them in a manner that maximises your return. Dont fall foul of their sales team's patter, you can end up using a lot of funds for little return.
Are you open to other options?
If you would to PM me with a tel number to call, I will be happy to chat with you on some ideas.
M

Chief

what a great post with some fantastic advice. thanks folks

softwing

I heard of an excellent idea recently, where a small cafe suffering from the current slump offered there customers the option to pay whatever they thought the food/drinks were worth! It was a gamble that paid off, as almost everyone paid roughly a fair price as no one wanted to be seen as a skinlfint. They probably cut a little on profits but boosted sales to the point that you had to queue to get seat! Excellent thinking outside the box! Because of the unusual offer, they were interviewed on local radio and in the local paper also... free advertising. When asked why the owner offered this risk laden offer, he said "If people only have a few euro to spend on their lunch, I would prefer they spent it in my cafe"..... and the did!

iMax

Can I suggest that if you are going to persue a radio ad, that you (a) write it yourself & (b) listen to some American radio ads first (online). They have a totally different "feel" to them which means they're going to stand out.

There's one on a particular station that I listen to for a company that provides computers to people with bad credit history & it goes along the lines of:

Your attention please. This is a very important announcement for all people who's last name begins A through M.

Delta Finance are now taking applications for 2009 series HP & Dell PCs for those of you who's surnames begin A through M with bad credit ratings. Call for the next 24 hours on 555-123-4567. Remember Surnames beginning A through M ONLY call Delta Finance for the next 24 hours on 555-123-4567.

Surnames beginning N through Z can call Delta Finance on 555-123-4567 after this period. Thank you.

I think this works because the listener is thinking "hang on, my surname begins/doesn't begin with..." & immediatly their interest is piqued. It also has the "feel" of an official announcement.

Consigliere

softwing wrote: »

I heard of an excellent idea recently, where a small cafe suffering from the current slump offered there customers the option to pay whatever they thought the food/drinks were worth! It was a gamble that paid off, as almost everyone paid roughly a fair price as no one wanted to be seen as a skinlfint. They probably cut a little on profits but boosted sales to the point that you had to queue to get seat! Excellent thinking outside the box! Because of the unusual offer, they were interviewed on local radio and in the local paper also... free advertising. When asked why the owner offered this risk laden offer, he said "If people only have a few euro to spend on their lunch, I would prefer they spent it in my cafe"..... and the did!

Genius!

IrishBusiness

OP - maybe look into the possibility of specific sponsorship rather than jut plain old 30 second ads. any success i have experienced in the past was through sponsorship (in your case, maybe sponsoring traffic and travel updates, or something motoring related)