In business, every dollar spent counts against the bottom line. While owners and managers alike look for ways to pinch every penny they can, they tend to avoid skimping on important investments that offer growth opportunities. Unfortunately, many businesses don't look at advertising and marketing as an investment and don’t realize how important reaching customers with advertising is to increase sales and company growth. Price shopping advertising opportunities only to take advantage of your cheapest option can hurt your bottom line. In today's blog post, we'll discuss four major reasons for why cheaper isn't better, and why you should be hiring trained professionals that are willing to not only invest in themselves, but also in their product.
Targeted Audience
Gone are the days of generic marketing. It's no longer enough to make a single blast message and hope for the best, and that's exactly what cheap marketing opportunities might equate to. Perhaps the cheapest option promises a big reach, or perhaps the minimal price also means minimal reach. Either way, they won't be capable of accurately reaching your qualified, targeted customers with a personalized message tailored to their experience and expectations.
The impact not targeting your audience can have on your radio advertising results is damaging. You might pay bottom dollar, but you're also wasting that dollar by sending your message to listeners who aren't interested in your brand, products, or services. On the other hand, selecting an opportunity with higher rates might mean you're paying for a team that researches and understands your customer, the important touch points along their path to purchase, and times they're listening to specific stations.
Quality Medium
Consider your own shopping habits for a moment. The chances are that you prefer products because of their level of quality, and you're willing to pay more to ensure that quality. This is just as true for selecting a radio station as it is for computers, appliances, or clothes.
Not every radio station is created equal, and choosing the cheapest one by virtue of being the cheapest means that you'll be missing out on several important quality elements. First, consider whether the station is investing in improving itself, using marketing, web or mobile app opportunities. Take a look at how long the station has existed and balance that against how well known it is within the community and whether its listeners are consistent and loyal. Determine whether or not the radio personalities have influence with their listeners and operate on social media. All of these things are critical to ensuring that the station you're paying to advertise with will not only provide great reach, but that it reaches loyal, targeted listeners in a way that will build a positive image for your brand.
Marketing Support
Quality is vital for more than just the station you advertise on. When selecting a marketing opportunity, examine whether or not you're also selecting a media partner. When you make the cheap choice, you may be paying for little more than the ad itself. Marketing outlets like this simply take your money, create a spot (or just run what you submit), and do little else until it's time for you to advertise again. This invariably leads to sub-par or negative results.
On the other hand, a higher priced marketing opportunity offers a host of benefits and services beyond the spot. You're paying for a knowledgeable and experienced team that's more likely to be interested in your marketing strategy, long-term goals, and ultimately your business' success. They provide insight and guidance throughout the marketing process, including helping you choose the best radio station, plan a cohesive schedule, track and understand results, and develop creative. This positions your business to see improved ROI.
Creative Direction
The creative support a quality radio station offers you is easily counted as a reason unto itself. Your marketing creative represents an impact on advertising ROI that's as important as targeting. It isn't enough just to reach the right people, after all; you need to reach them with the right message. Paying minimal for your radio advertising means you're on your own in terms of developing your creative, and there's no guarantee that any guidance the marketers do offer you is valuable.
A more expensive station is capable of helping you develop professional-quality, best-in-class advertisements. Its team will work from a position of knowledge about your target audience to ensure each ad serves to advance your strategy while relying on tracking data so they can help you redirect campaign creative if the ads don't meet benchmark goals. This helps you to wisely spend your marketing dollars on developing ads that are set up for success as well as avoid wasting money on ads that don’t work.
The bottom line is this: when reaching customers with advertising, it's the ROI that matters. That means successful radio advertising requires a reasonable investment, not the cheapest investment. By spending your marketing dollars wisely and being willing to take a more expensive option if it’s the best fit for your business, you'll receive radio advertising results that improve your bottom line.
