Hi - I am looking for some good facts on why radio is better than billboards.
Thanks,
Ann Bartus
The RAB has a great comparison in their Media Guide. www.rab.com
My favorite one to use though is to have them describe their business. And as they start rambling on about all the different things that make them a great business, I say, now put that into 7 words or less. That's all you get with a billboard. And then ask them how many of those words they can read at 50 or 70 miles an hour. They get a full 30 or 60 seconds with us..... .lots of words and lots more time to really promote their cause.
Ann, radio's efficiency in directly contacting a target audience is so dramatically higher than outdoor advertising it's not even funny.
A billboard sits silently by the road, passively waiting for drivers, who have only a few seconds to read or see it. And trying to target a specific demographic with outdoor is obviously impossible. Radio's message is always there, albeit usually in the background, slowly developing brand recognition and top of mind awareness over time. Radio, obviously, is everywhere. Billboards aren't. Radio targets a market; outdoor doesn't. A retailer using outdoor is restricted to specific locations and, by definition, will be "talking" to many people who have no need for, or interest in, his store or product line. Radio goes directly to people who are in his target demographic....without wasting his money on non-buyers. As Gen. Geo. S. Patton once said, "Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of mankind." One might say the same thing about outdoor billboards. And to change copy on a billboard can take weeks...changing a radio spot might take only a few minutes. An advertiser who has a dynamic product and wants to reach consumers 24/7, no matter where they are, has only one real place to go: Radio!
I LIKE THAT - THanks
Very good point on the ad copy change! I have a florist client who was working with an agency that was a big proponent of billboards. Took them 6 months of planning to get her billboard just right for Mothers Day. Took her and I about 20 minutes and a portable recorder to put together a more personal, business generating ad. Needless to say, she is no longer doing billboards or working with said agency.
Billboards are successful when used for DIRECTION only...like, "Joes Shoes...Next exit." You can't call the customer to action....or address a need. The advertiser should have already created a BRAND well before the billboard appears. Otherwise, the consumer won't know ANYTHING about them...no top of mind awareness.
With radio,you can use sound effects and different voices to paint a picture in someones mind.I remember one particular spot that Bob Langdon produced while I was at WGLD-FM in High Point,NC It was about a fella walkin into a car dealership with all his hillbilly sons.Bob did both voices and it was a great spot with creative writing.I think a spot should get the facts across and yet hold the listeners attention.Mind you,you can't use this in some commercials,but those that you can use this concept on works great.A billboard can't do anything but stand there.
DearAnn B.: I'm not sure in what market you work, but...
A decade ago, I was in the North Carolina Triad (Winston-Salem/High Point/Greensboro) and I heard a radio commercail for "George G. Walker, florist" on an AM station there. There was a lady singing with some somewhat lame bed music and a voice-over guy that sounded a bit like "Goober" from Andy Griffith. I probably heard that spot five or six times and I CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!!!! And that was in the spring of 2001. Haven't heard it since, but, if I ever need flowers in No.Car., Walker's is who I'll call.
Item #2: The former G.M. of my station group in Maryland was originally from Georgia, where he owned a small station. For over 20 years, or "until God forbid," as he said, a well-drilling company had run one spot per day, 7 days/wk on that station. It was one of five or six drilling companies in that market. They did a focus group and found that nobody in that county could even NAME another well-drilling company...and there were other larger, older companies than his customer.
Item #3: If you were old enough, I would ask you to complete this phrase: "Winston tastes good..."
The answer is, "...like a cigarette should." That was a constant radio and TV (and billboard!) phrase until 1971, when the FTC banned cigarette advertising in broadcast. Forty years later, virtually all Americans of a certain age remember that phrase. RADIO is what did that.
Item #4: When I started flying and reporting from "The MIX-Copter" in Baltimore in 1988, a sales rep from WFBR-AM passed away. I hadn't known him (and I've even forgotten his name, sadly) but virtually every radio professional in the market went to his funeral, which was attended by about 1,000 people. He had never worked for any employer except 'FBR. I found out later that he had a total of fourteen acounts (out of hundreds that station had), but, he had kept EVERY ACCOUNT ON THE AIR in each quarter for almost 45 years. My station's GM told me that two of the dearly departed's customers were openly weeping at the graveside.
There are some lessons here about radio sales. First, don't EVEN THINK about the commission you'll earn by selling somebody a schedule. Think, instead, about helping the person go from one store in one location to five stores in your ADI. Position yourself as an actual partner in that person's business. NEVER, under any circumstances, allow a person to "try a little radio." (A prospect once said that he had budgeted $200. for radio in the coming week. I told him to use the $200 to take his wife to dinner; at least, that way, somebody would get something out of the money.) Radio works in the LONG TERM by building top-of-mind-awareness and subconscious recall. That is NEVER accomplished with a blitz of spots in a week or a month. LONG-TERM is what works in radio...in fact, it NEVER FAILS.
And as they say, only the U.S. MInt can make money without advertising.
EXCELLENT point, Annie! Outdoor works exactly, and ONLY, under the circumstances you described.
Ken: VERY GOOD info and an utterly valid point on your part. The THEATRE OF THE MIND is the most powerful way to create images in a customer's head...and since those images will be CREATED by the customer's (listener's) own psychology, they are more likely to be remembered.
Any advertising is all about repetition. You need a HUGE budget to do billboards effectively. Casinos are normally the best at using billboards. They will run 2-3 in a row frequently. How many businesses have the budget to do that. And, keep in mind, the billboard is only reaching the traffic on that section of road. Radio reaches all the traffic on the road, at home, at work, etc.
Brings to mind a couple o community booster billboards in my area to contrast/compare.
One is straight-forward, which goes something to the effect of "Florence: 25 great antique stores. this exit."
The other, for the larger community of Canon City, reads almost like a radio ad. "Stop and do some time with us in Canon City. Visit the Prison Museum, many unique shops downtown..." And that may only be about a third of the total copy on this blllboard. I can't tell you the rest, because we zip by this sign at 65 mph!
Sounds like someone didn't know the medium for which they were writing.
