12/ 02/ 2004
by Steve Strauss
Q: How can I grow my business without a lot of money?
A: One inexpensive method of building your business that I am quite fond of is overnight radio advertising. It offers you the chance to get the word out without racking up huge bills.
Consider that in major metropolitan media markets, advertising during drive time (7 - 9 a.m. and 4 - 7 p.m.) can run anywhere from $250 a minute to an amazing $1,200 a minute. And given that one secret to a successful radio campaign is repetition, advertising during peak hours is often cost-prohibitive for many small businesses.
But overnight ads, while certainly reaching a far smaller audience, cost much less and still can be very effective.
Kristy Hicks is a radio account executive in Tulsa, Okla. Hicks explains that many large news talk stations have nighttime/overnight ratings that rival the ratings of many smaller stations there during drive time, but are sold at a fraction of the cost. For a recent client for example, she was able to get overnight 60-second spots at a major station for $10, and even some for $5.
And it's not atypical. Overnight spots are usually undersold at many stations and thus usually you can get them at a great discount. If, for instance, you are having a sale and buy $500 of overnight ads on the big stations in town at $10 per ad, you can run 50 ads over the course of a week.
Will it reach enough people?
"When I ran a comparison with other radio stations I found that [with the overnight buy at the big station] the same dollar amount was able to reach 114,800 adults as compared with 47,100 at another much smaller station during their drive time," Hicks said.
Hicks points out "with news talk, you'll typically end up reaching an older audience, so this wouldn't be a good deal if you are trying to reach teenagers." On the other hand, she says, "news talk is also known for having a more educated listenership [college grads and beyond] as well as higher income levels."
Another reason that Hicks recommends talk stations for overnight ad campaigns is that "when people listen to music stations they are tuned in to hear music, so when a commercial comes on, the listener feels interrupted and often will flip stations to find more music. However, with news talk, people are tuned in to hear talk. Therefore when your commercial comes on, your chances of it being heard are much stronger."
Hicks adds that an effective overnight campaign requires three elements:
1. A compelling message. You have to be selling something people want to buy.
2. Frequency. Research shows that consumers generally need to listen to the same ad several times before they actually hear it. "People are so inundated with advertisements these days," Hicks said, "that unless it is heard often" it won't sink in. Repetition is the key to success.
3. Consistency. Hicks points out that we have all heard the famous tag line "We'll leave the light on for you!" It's famous because Motel 6 never fails to use it. Accordingly, she said, "everyone who hears that line thinks of Motel 6 before the name of the motel is even mentioned!" That's the power of consistency.
If you follow Hicks' suggestions -- find the right station and have a frequent, consistent, compelling message -- an overnight radio ad campaign can be a very inexpensive way to build your business.
