Radio Sales Café

Today's Friday Poll question is again a two-parter:

1) How many commercials do you write each week, on average?

2) Do you have a full-time copywriter, or do you write your own?

I write my own, and on average, between 5-10 I'd say......

1) not nearly enough! 2) Yes we have a full time "creative services" guy .. he is our production director and writes and produces all spots . . he has a part time assistant who comes in every day

About 5 to 10 ...and we write most of our own..and use a copy writing service for some..

I write about 15 to 20 commercials every week... on average.
We have copy writers/ slash / on air personnel, but I prefer to do my own so it gets done the way I need it to be and it takes just as long to write everything down on a copy order as it does to make the script yourself.

5 to 10.
Each salesperson does his or her own.

#1 - In my position as General Manager / Sales Manager I now mostly rewrite copy from my sales staff.
Each sales person writes in excess of 15 pieces of copy weekly as I believe fresh copy is vital.

#2 - We do not have a full time copy writer. Our salespeople are paid very well and are expected not only to sell ads but to write copy and see that it is produced.

Our sales people have found that "spec spots" make the selling process a lot easier, so we will write at least two for each of those situations. The total number depends on how many new sales or how much upselling we're doing each week.

We do not have a full time copywriter. Most copy is written by the salesperson, but if he/she needs help we will have a brainstorming sesion to develop ideas.

Our sales people write most of their own spots. They are required to write 9 spec spots per week for 3 clients. They have the advantage of having a library of 40,000 spots to draw ideas from. They are great thought starters.

Right on!

I generally write 5-6 commercials a week. Each sales rep is responsible for writing their own copy. We do not have a creative writing dept. In addition each sales rep appoints a production person. We keep record of who records what so we don't duplicate voices on competing clients or fill a break with too many "same voice" commercials.

1) I write 3-5 per week

2) We have a full-time Production Director but he is so overwhelmed with production and other
responsibilites he needs more "lead" time than I can give him - so, I write. Our Director is over
production for two stations and two sales staffs.....he also assigns cart numbers and tracks that
part of the traffic system.

I personally write very little copy. I often help or advise if one of the sales people is writing an ad. Most of our copy is written by the on air staff. Actually, most of it is written by one of the on air people. She has been with us for twenty years and is an excellent copy writer and ad producer. She has won lots of awards over the years and we can count on her to "get it right". We would have to make major changes if she ever decides to retire.

I write 3 or 4 per week

We do not have a copy writer. We out source. I find it less expensive and have good turn around.
Over my 40 years in radio I prefer to out source because I do not have to deal with the problems that have come with previous copywriters.

I do have to make occassional adjustments, but I find if I submit my ideas and goals of the commercials I generally get back a quality commercial.

Every rep in our company is required to do three annual presentations each week without fail. This means they must have completed 3 CNA calls the week before and have three sets of three (9 total) spec spots for these presentations. Now, add to that copy changes... I like to try to turn over every piece of copy at least every once every two weeks. We do a LOT of copy.
We do not have a copy writer. My reasons:
1) Sales reps are on the front line. I have seen in my career sales reps turn over LOUSY copy orders to a copy writer (three word hin and "be creative) and try to get something out of that.
2) Sales reps don't always convey all of the thoughts.
3) With one person writing copy, all of the spots start to sound the same over time.


I believe it is easier to train sales people who to write copy I think it gives us a better mix. On another note, we send out ALL of our production to outside companies (the majority to a place called JustSaySpots.com) We get about 50 voices AND even at $15 to $20 per spot, it is cheaper than a single announcer doing ads.

Hope this helps.

Before I was sales manager, I probably averaged 3-5 commercials per week. I only write them if I really understand the content and our production director doesn't; for example, farm machinery. Our office manager/traffic director who previously held the production director's spot also writes commercials.

We have a full-time copy writer.

At WAKO AM-FM we are all very diversified. I write over 50 commercials per week.

No, again everyone here can write and produce commercials.

I write an average of 5 Commercials per week ! a few years ago, I use to write 15 to 20.. Here at the
station, our payroll is not big enough to have a copywriter.

Usually I GET A FLYER , NEWSPAPER AD AND WRITE COPY FROM IT !

Bob Ewing

I write between 3 and 5 ads weekly. There is no copywriter here. Roger

Typically, I write 10 to 12 commercials per week. I write my own. I find that I must be creative based on the client. The creativity for each takes time.

I write about 10 commercials a week. And that answers the second question too.

Hi Rebecca,
I'm wrting an average of 5 spots per week,myself. No copywriter

If the spots don't come pre-produced from an agency or larger corporate I write my own.  We do not have a copy writer.  On average I'd say I write a half dozen a month or so.  I had no formal training but if you have common sense and a passion for what you do most days it should come easy.  

Rick Gustafson said:
... and it takes just as long to write everything down on a copy order as it does to make the script yourself.

Oh, you have no idea how much that makes me cringe.  If you can write a GOOD spot in as long as it takes to jot down copy points, you're either an amazing creative master with no equal on earth ... or you're just 'phoning it in.'  And that's not speaking to you specifically, Rick, it's speaking to EVERY sales rep I've ever heard utter those very words.  

Yes, ANYONE can bash out words on a page and have someone read it.  But are those ads actually any GOOD?  Are they hurting your clients more than they're helping them?  Are they getting results?  Or are they giving businesses more reasons to say, "I tried radio, and it didn't work!" 

I know in the US, it seems the common practice that sales write their own spots.  It's a horrible travesty.  You're trained to sell inventory, NOT craft compelling messages that take into account things like the psychology of your words and phrases to maximize impact. 

I guess we're spoiled in Canada, where most stations have dedicated writers ... or at least shared ones between a few stations. Doing it any other way just seems wrong to me.  How do you offer the best product, if you're tasking people with it who aren't dedicated and skilled in the art?  Do we see TV sales reps out there shooting their own commercials to air?  Are car salesmen designing vehicles?

Jessica Barrow: I as well write my own commercial ad copy for majority of my clients. Occasionally, clients will have a pre-produced commercial or their own written ad copy. Although I'm always eager to exchange ideas with other account reps. On average, I write at least 10 commercials per month. I didn't have any special training it just comes pretty natural. I have obtained a marketing degree which is a contributing factor, as well as, some great webinars! I strongly agree quality commercials play a big role in the success of stations!