Developing a law firm marketing strategy that yields results without breaking the bank can be daunting, especially when you need to be heard above the advertising noise of an omnichannel world. Radio advertising offers measurable benefits and improves the effectiveness of your overall campaign and strategy. In today’s post, we’ll discuss just a few of the reasons your law firm should consider radio advertising in your marketing mix.

Wide-Reaching

According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, radio offers the highest mass reach for all adults aged 18 years and older: weekly reach for radio is 93%, six points ahead of the next highest (TV, 87%) and 13 points ahead of smartphones (80%). It also represents a significant amount of time in the week: men spend 15 hours with radio per week, while women spend 13 hours with it weekly. Another way to look at it is nearly 250 million Americans listen to radio weekly, spending about three hours daily with it, and reaches 67% of consumers on an average day. This isn’t limited to the mere majority either: radio reaches 93% of Hispanics and 91% of African-Americans.

Targetable

Of course, where mass reach is good, targeted reach is even better. Radio offers rich demographic options, from geographical segmentation at the most basic to significant segmentation based on tastes and interests. This can be quite extensive and specific, once you consider the niche programming that exists. What’s more, 92% of adults living in a household that used a personal attorney within the last year are reached by radio. With the level of reach that radio provides, your audience is sure to be accessible through this channel, no matter which type of law your firm practices. Coupled with market research about your desired audience, you can deliver ads when they’re listening to the stations they love.

Trackable

The impact of radio campaigns with CTAs are measurable and trackable, especially if those CTAs have a direct impact on a particular area (e.g., taking advantage of a specific offer). It influences whether or not listeners visit brick-and-mortar locations, and when added to a marketing plan utilizing an internet mix, radio lifts website visitation and prompts online action. More than 40% will visit a restaurant or store because of a radio ad, and another 16% called that store about the advertised product, while 28% go on to visit a brand website. Radio has also been shown to increase the number of new versus existing customers by 64% while the campaign is running. This should be leveraged to garner consultations or foster other lead generating behavior. (It bears noting that branding awareness campaigns take a longer period of time to fully impact an audience, making it more difficult to directly tie it to specific effects. However, radio is still important for this format.)

Cost Effective

Of course, the most important impact to track is ROI. Radio represents a 49% ROI advantage over TV campaigns, and when as little as 15% of a TV-only campaign is reassigned to radio, campaign reach and receptivity are lifted significantly. In fact, reassigning general marketing budget to give radio a 20% share represents an eight-times increase in overall campaign ROI. In one case study, the advertiser saw a 16% conversion rate simply using radio as a reminder medium to lift frequency touchpoints.

Personable

There are solid reasons behind this effectiveness, not least of which is the fact that listeners find radio ads to be personally relevant. Nearly 40% of listeners use radio to feel more connected with their local area, while 41% feel radio helps them learn about local businesses. It also provides a human voice that most other platforms cannot, especially if you tap into radio personalities. Whether it’s a particular DJ or another host, 55% of listeners turn to radio for their favorites, and another 75% will turn on their radio because they know their favorite show or personality is airing. The discussions are seen to be authentic, and personal experiences and interviews are key.

Trusted

In a 2016 survey from Marketing Sherpa, radio was the fourth most trusted advertising channel when a customer was ready to make a purchase decision (71%), behind only print ads (e.g., newspaper, magazine), TV, and direct mail. In fact, 37% of listeners consider radio to be parallel to being a “close friend,” and another 7% consider radio to be like extended family. Tapping into some of what we mentioned in our last point, radio personalities can drive trust: although the RAB survey was focused on healthcare, 55% of respondents said an endorsement from their favorite personality would make them trust the brand more. Another 26% say that listening to the radio tells them why to buy a particular product or service. As a law firm, overcoming stereotypes so the client can trust you is important, and simply tapping into radio can make big strides in the right direction.

Memorable

These last two points lead to lifts in brand recall and preference: 38% of listeners say radio ads have messages they can retain. It helps that radio is an easy way to build on the frequency of your marketing campaign and, as we mentioned earlier, acts as a great reminder medium. Another survey puts recall from radio at 36%, only barely behind TV (39%) which was twice as expensive.

Loyal Audiences

Believe it or not, nearly 2/3 of radio listening occasions don’t involve switching stations. That number jumps to 90% when you look at listeners that are already loyal to a particular station. That means that not only do most people listen to radio, it means that if they’re listening to a station you advertise with, they’re very likely to hear your ad. Most stations also have a loyal-listener database, which opens up opportunities for CRM initiatives and improved targeting on qualified audiences.

Reach Audience when Off of Other Media

Radio is also in a unique position to reach listeners when they can’t utilize other types of media. For instance, listening peaks during the work day when channels like social media and TV are inaccessible: dayparts between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. as well as between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. reach about 80% of adults 18 years of age and older. This distribution is fairly equal across each age group as well. Another 73% of adults are using radio during commuting hours, and usually this is traditional AM/FM radio — 84% of drivers say in-car AM/FM radio is the device of choice, nearly 30 points higher than the next device (CDs, 56%) and significantly higher than satellite radio (a mere 19%).

Full-service Creative Team

Taking advantage of media partners like Zimmer can amplify the reasons we’ve already listed, as well. Companies like this are familiar with the stations in your region and the audiences you’ll be reaching, which allows them to help you develop the best strategies. They’ll also familiarize themselves with your goals and other needs, which in turn helps them to develop the best ad creative to move your message. This can be important when another benefit is the quick turn-around-time that radio ads need.

These benefits are just the beginning of what radio advertising has to offer when included in your marketing mix. Hopefully, our ten reasons your law firm should consider radio advertising have illuminated the ways radio can maximize your law firm marketing dollars. And of course, feel free to contact Zimmer for more information on how to take full advantage of a cost-effective strategy to reach the right audiences for your business.