Radio Advertising

Direct Response Psychology

Refining Your Radio Message For Bigger Faster Profits.

OR…

Radio Advertising

A Harsh Reality!

 

Are you an advertiser or radio sales professional?

If so, this information is for you!

 

What if you found a secret,

Radio advertising, weapon?

 

What if you could put your ad on the air knowing that it utilizes psychological tricks rarely employed by most professional copywriters?

 

What if you had access to a whole range of little known psychological tools to boost your response?

 

If you could use a finely tuned commercial built on solid psychological principals it stands to reason, you could build your business faster with less money. Advertiser or sales professional, you could sell more product or sell more airtime!

 

What are these secrets?

Here are a few hints 

 

That was just a short list of some key buzzwords.

 

The true extent of this arsenal is exciting to be sure, though far too extensive to explain here.

 

The full arsenal is just icing on a very large cake. A reasonably good radio message can be created without knowledge of these special persuasion tools. But why do it the hard way?

 

Now That The Cat Is Out Of The Bag

 

Would you really want to do without this highly persuasive collection of mental blow darts? Now that you know they exist?

 

Of course not!

 

You want every possible advantage!

 

 

The Harsh Reality

 

If you’re a sales rep who knows and understands all these concepts and secrets and takes the time to implement them on behalf of your clients then hats off to you! You are among a very small minority of industry professionals savvy enough to make use of these little known concepts!

 

If you’re an advertiser do you really want to take the chance that you might not stumble on one of these few dedicated industry angels?

 

If per chance you buy time on a station that has a copy writer (very few exist), often even these dedicated professionals are not able to spend time enough to write the best copy for you they possibly could.

 

 

You Get What You Pay For!

 

 

Of course we know, radio stations give this service to you the advertiser

 

Free Of Charge.

 

As an advertiser, with so much at stake, shouldn’t this fact initiate your fight or flight response?

 

Shouldn’t you at least cock one ear like a curious cat sensing the approach of a speeding motorist?

 

Face it. FREE is usually another word for “mediocre” or worse “Useless”.

 

When was the last time you won the lottery??

 

Radio station copywriters are usually dedicated, overworked people forced to write reams of copy for dozens of clients. And the ones I know personally do a great job despite the general condition of the industry. They are testament to true dedication and an example of how generalities can get you into big trouble!

 

We digress.

 

Most clients are entrepreneurs used to getting their way. Entrepreneurs like you who are paying big money for airtime to grow a business they built from the ground up.  Harried radio station copywriters slave away in a cubical writing for high powered entrepreneurs like you who have had to control every aspect of their business from the very beginning. Business owners like yourself do not enjoy hearing the word “NO”.

 

The problem can easily be summed up this way. The sales department is in a BIG hurry, you the entrepreneur client definitely want it done right, and the station copywriters would LOVE to say YES and move on to the ever growing stack of work piling up on their tiny little desks.

 

Bottom line, it’s simply too much to expect great copy when it’s handed out like Halloween candy! (Friends and associates not-withstanding!)

 

It’s no one’s fault, really. That’s just the way it is!

 

And It’s Bad News

 

It can be summed up in three words.

 

Conflict Of Interest!

 

Harsh words I know. However, when you leave your copy writing task to the typical radio station or media buying agency, they will do whatever it takes to make you happy! 

 

How can this be a problem?

 

They will rarely say no to your requests. And dutifully create whatever awful copy you insist on because they want to … no … MUST, sell you airtime.

 

 

They Won’t Rock The Boat

 

They fear losing your business so the typical radio rep will say yes SO FAST you won’t know what hit you, like that poor cat in the middle of the road. Ouch!

 

 

No One Is To Blame

 

If you are in radio sales I sympathize, you can’t help the situation. You can’t change the sinister dynamic that binds you. And if you’re one of the diligent ones, you minimize this effect as much as possible!

 

If you’re a radio station copywriter then you’re probably cheering me on when I say out loud what echoes in your overworked head every single day!

 

If you’re a demanding client I don’t blame you one bit! It’s your money after all and really, you don’t know all the ins and outs of writing effective copy. Moreover it’s difficult for you to step back and let a stranger handle something so close to you, your business! Even when it’s certain you have the right person on the job! The trouble is no one has the guts to tell you to your face what you so badly need to hear. There’s just no way you could possibly know better!

 

 

Sales Reps Really Do Care

 

Most do, that is.  At the very least even the “ORDER TAKERS” want your ad to work because you’ll be happy and you’ll BUY MORE TIME. They typically will sell a LOT more because they take less time to work out the details of your message. Order takers scramble for the next buy because of client turnover. These people are sales machines!

 

The angelic sales reps, the ones that really DO care, have an even tougher time. They’d love to spend more time refining your message because they get the big picture. There are a few shining examples of people who can accomplish this and again these are RARE animals! The sales reps problem is this….

 

Sales reps are pounded daily by their sales managers.

 

“You gonna make goal this month?”

 

“You’re not producing! We may have to let you go!”

 

“Johnson’s really bringing it in! Why can’t you?”

 

Johnson, by the way, says yes to everything his clients want, he’s the “Order Taker” I mentioned earlier.

 

So, like radio copy writers, radio sales reps face a difficult existence. “A rock and a hard place” barely begins to describe their dilemma. If they make goal one month they’re inevitably forced to meet an even HIGHER goal the next month! So they bang out a quick 60 second spot for their most recent conquest and rush on to make a slew of cold-calls for their next successful sale! They can waste no time on your message they have contracts to get signed!

 

Lather rinse repeat!

 

Advertiser, Prepare Thyself!

 

You’d best be served by an outsider, an independent copy writer that is not banking on weather or not you buy time from them! After a reasonable length of time, at least a couple weeks, rather than the day or two allowed the typical radio station copywriter, you then take your perfect copy to the best producer you can find and use the completed project on all the signals on which you plan to air your message. You’ll achieve two major things, you’ll have the best copy possible the best production possible with the best voice actor and therefore the best message AND your campaign will be consistent across all the stations that air it! If you have print running in the market it should also work in concert with that. You’ll be one of the smart ones!

 

Writing effective copy is no cake walk, it’s a highly specialized craft that requires diligence and passion. Writing effective finely engineered radio commercial copy requires a dedicated professional, someone who LOVES the art and science. It requires FULL ATTENTION TO EVERY DETAIL and can’t be accomplished on an assembly line! Good copy takes TIME!

 

The same is true for the production and voice work. Letting ten different stations do ten different interpretations of your advertising message will likely get you ten different results. Usually not the best results at that. 

 

Some might argue.. “My spot works!” The logical answer is “How much BETTER could it be if it were done RIGHT?”  Truth is, some really bad spots actually do “Work”. The goal however should the BEST MESSAGE POSSIBLE! “Good enough” wastes your money!

 

Don’t leave it up to the “Order Takers”!

 

 

Are You A Radio Sales Rep Or A Media Buying Agency?

 

Then I meant none of it!

 

Seriously, if you ARE in sales then you know this problem exists! And while you may not be one of the bad apples, you are faced with the challenge of making your clients advertising as successful as you can while juggling all the other details that drive your sales heavy day.  You can’t be expected to be both a sales machine and an ad copy guru. Even though you may try very hard to be both, there just isn’t time enough in the day to be a MAJOR PLAYER in both arenas!  You need help!

 

 

Take a break from those cold calls you hate so much.

 

Here’s a mental exercise.

 

Imagine the freedom and confidence you would feel if you KNEW you had a true copy writing professional on the case, dedicated to your project and with far fewer distractions.

 

Imagine seeing record breaking results!

 

Listen to the sound in your head of joyous phone calls from ecstatic clients!

 

Visualize a steady flow of annual contracts!

 

Imagine easily making goal month after month!

 

Feel the stress evaporate as you discover more time to SELL!

 

 

Life Gets Better

 

You could tell your new prospects that you “Have a Guy”. You have an “Idea Man”. You have a “Go-Getter”. You can assure your clients that you have someone on your team that thrives on the creative copy writing process.

 

You have a guru that gets results.

 

“Relax” You’ll say. “My guy will take care of it”.

 

Then YOU can relax, while watching your clients get happier and happier!

 

You can relax because “CLIENT SAVER” is a phrase you’ll hear less and less!

 

 

Advertiser Or Sales Rep

 

You both need a bulwark between the necessities of your business and the siren song of expediency. Don’t succumb to her hypnotic call!

 

You both need help!

 

You need a guy that considers every aspect of the creative process, deftly blending production, voiceover, and copywriting together in one beautifully orchestrated flourish, creating a message that is crafted carefully from every possible angle from the very beginning.

 

You need a guy that can combine award winning expertise in each of these disciplines.

 

You need someone who has already spent hundreds of thousands of other people’s dollars testing his ideas on radio stations around the country and on the major networks.

 

You need someone who won’t so easily say “YES”. You need someone who can make the case convincingly and will base his ideas on sound disciplined mindful process, born of experience and decades of long hard study.

 

You need someone who’ll refuse to take shortcuts.

 

You need someone who will do what’s best for both, you the advertiser, and you the sales rep because he doesn’t have the countless daily distractions you have.

 

You need an experienced player with a bag full of really nifty tricks.

 

You need a guy with tools that will give you a significant edge in the market, a guy who truly “Gets It.”.

 

You need someone that has only ONE thing to worry about.