Radio vs. Social Media? You'd Be Surprised...

Social media is often thought of as a ubiquitous content vehicle. However, AM/FM radio reaches nearly 25% more adults each week than social media does. 

Engine on, volume up.

Americans listen to radio in their cars an average of 73 minutes a day. Commuters are already especially pressed for time. So the more they can do on their commute, whether in their car, on the bus or on the train, the better. Radio allows us to listen to news and entertainment and discover new music. It gives us more time to get things done while on the go.

Radio Boasts Highest Reach Among Media Channels

In comparison to TV, desktop, TV-connected devices, smartphones, and tablets, radio reaches the highest audience, at 93% of Americans every week. Radio reaches 10 percent more Americans every week than mobile does.

Radio Ads Bring in More Customers and Lift Market Share

 

In a recent retail program test, radio grew the client’s sales and increased the number of new and existing customers by 64% when the ads were running.

The Religion of Sports Radio

“THERE’S MUCH MORE RAPPORT BUILT WITH THE BROADCASTER YOU LISTEN TO EVERY SINGLE DAY ON YOUR COMMUTE TO WORK THAN THERE IS WITH A WEBSITE YOU’VE ONLY VISTED ONCE WHEN YOU WERE SHOPPING FOR KNEE SOCKS.”

Every February, millions of viewers gather around their TVs to watch the biggest “big game” of all, surrounded by friends, family, pretzels and fantasy brackets. The Super Bowl is a prime example of the power of sports culture. And although the Super Bowl is perhaps the most major event in a 70 billion-dollar inustry, even seen as a micro-holiday to some, it only occurs once a year. Sports radio, however, drives audience engagement all year long and consistently garners a sizeable, trusting audience.

When “big games” aren’t being played, figuring out ways to engage the fan community becomes the prime directive. In the off-season, fans become provisional cohosts of sports radio call-in shows. All bets are on: Who’s being traded? Who’s said something unhinged in a press conference? Why’s that free agent getting paid so much? And so it goes.

Sports radio cultivates an inclusive environment, where the relationship between fans and broadcasters is an intimate one. Sports radio is addictive. Some sports fans actually like hearing guys in suits talk about sports more than they like watching actual games. And because of that relationship, radio advertising is often more trusted than, for example, digital advertising. Audiences have a track-record with their sports radio guys. There’s much more rapport built with the broadcaster you listen to every single day on your commute to work than there is with a website you’ve only visited once when you were shopping for knee socks.

So while big, shiny objects like Super Bowl ads can cost upwards of 5+ million dollars for:30 seconds of visual engagement, smaller budget, strategic investments like radio are much more cost effective. With the ability to speak to regional audiences and convey messaging to an audience for which a station or personality has already acquired a high level of trust, when looking to solve a strategic media problem, sports radio is often the solution.  

The Difference a Radio Plan Can Make

Many radio media buyers don’t realize that there's much more to a radio schedule than just reach and frequency.  For instance:

Schedules shown above are for demonstration purposes

The schedule placed by the Roth Radio Group included the following:

• Narrowed hours in each daypart
• Clients' commercial was the first spot played in each commercial break
• Lower cost per point and cost per thousand
• Using radio stations’ assets, we achieved an outstanding value added proposition

To find out more about how Roth Radio Group achieved this success, and to find out how we can do the same thing for you, email us.

Pandora vs. Spotify - Which is Right for Your Advertising?

SETTLING THE DIFFERENCES
Trying to figure out the differences between the Pandora and Spotify audiences is not hard. There’s plenty of data to be found, and even a quick Google search has the potential to overwhelm you with charts, comparisons and statistics. But the important differences between the two giants of music streaming are found in the more considerable pieces of demographic data that keep appearing in every study.

MUSIC TO YOUR WET-BEHIND-THE-EARS
Firstly, Spotify listeners are younger. Younger and more tech-savvy. Whatever the reasons may be: The Spotify user experience or its’ youthful branding, there’s no disputing it. According to the latest numbers, “nearly two-thirds of US Spotify users were between the ages of 13 and 29, with 18-24 year olds accounting for the largest share,” while Pandora users skewed a bit older, with the largest group of users falling somewhere in the 35-44-year-old range. [1]

To put that in one perspective, Spotify users are 30% more likely to use Gmail, whereas a whopping 92% of Pandora users are more likely to use Yahoo! Mail. For those of you who are not in the millennial “basket,” that may not mean much. But for those of you who are in on the joke, the idea of using Yahoo! Mail, to a younger audience, is culturally verboten. In other words: Yahoo is not hip.

But that’s okay. After all, 44 year olds are consumers too, and they represent a very important segment of the population. Hawking higher ed? Maybe Spotify is a little bit more in tune with your audience. Selling financial services? Perhaps Pandora is a bit more music to your ears. But the best part? Both can be segmented, optimized, programmatically placed and highly tailored to your target audience, making either streaming radio service a very savvy buy for any data-driven marketer.

GET OFF MY LAWN!
It’s not only Pandora’s audience that’s a bit older, wiser, and more experienced, however. It’s also their ad platform that is more evolved. As Pandora has focused on building their ad products, they’ve achieved a higher level of sophistication both in creative execution and targeting capabilities. Have a nice, animated, high-impact creative execution? Pandora may be a better platform on which to execute these. If you have a smaller budget and a highly-targeted group you’re trying to reach, Pandora may be a better play there, too. But don’t get too used to these numbers. Spotify recently implemented programmatic ad inventories and they’re sure to catch up to Pandora soon. But keep in mind, as with all digital marketing technologies, you should expect this to change.

ADDRESSABLE VS. NON-ADDRESSABLE AUDIENCE
If you do decide to add streaming audio to your marketing plan (which you should), be sure to keep one important metric in mind: "addressable audience." An addressable audience means a group of users who listen to their content for free, with ads. Non-addressable means the audience is using the paid version of the audio-streaming app and are therefore listening without ads, and therefore cannot be reached by any campaign. As of now, Pandora has an advantage. Although Spotify recently boasted about 72 million active users within the U.S,, the number of ad-supported Spotify listeners is likely more like 54 million users (i.e. addressable). Pandora’s numbers look more like 86 million active users (U.S), with about 81 million of those being non-paid, ad-supported and therefore addressable.

MIND THE TREND
When it comes to digital and mobile marketing (streaming audio included) its often more important to pay attention to trends rather than current figures. And if you abide by this rule of thumb you must note that Spotify's audience numbers are steadily trending up at a much greater rate than Pandora's.

THE BOTTOM LINE
While both Spotify and Pandora both have their pros and cons, the biggest thing to take away is that streaming radio is a fantastic and efficient place to generate highly-targeted user engagement, establish a great branding campaign, or extend and supplement your current marketing plan.

[1] Emarketer.com

10 Radio Jingles That Will Take You Down Memory Lane

What makes a jingle so easy to remember and so hard to forget? Well, for one, it’s "audio memory," claim neuroscientists, who say that memories tied to hearing are among the most recalled, even remaining deep in our consciousness years, and even decades after last hearing them. After all, who could possibly forget your baloney’s first and last name or the simple, yet effective three-note melody of “by Mennen.”

In fact, you probably sang those both in your head as you read them.

The truth is, the jingle can be a very powerful branding tool if used correctly, and they have helped shape many of the best brand campaigns of all time. Here’s a list of our favorite modern-era jingles that we really feel have done what a jingle should do: help you remember the brand.

1. Alka Seltzer – “Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz.”

2. Intel – “Four Memorable Notes.”

3. Nationwide Insurance – “Nationwide Is On Your Side.”

4. McDonald’s – “I’m Lovin’ It.”

5. Empire Carpet – "800-588-2300-E-M-P-I-R-E”

6. Kit-Kat – “Gimme a Break.”

7. Oscar Meyer – “I Wish I Was an Oscar Meyer Weiner.”

8. Folger’s – “The Best Part of Waking Up.”

9. Intel – “Four Memorable Notes.”

10. Toys 'R Us – “I Don't Wanna Grow Up.”

So what’s to become of the jingle’s jangly future? And when, if ever, should you consider using a jingle in your advertising efforts? Get in touch with Roth Radio, and we’ll let you know whether a jingle is a good fit for your brand—and we’ll write it, produce it and get in on the airwaves.

Radio + SEO = W-I-N

For broadcasters, SEO (search engine optimization) is a built-in product of the advertising process. Basically, the more people that search for your brand, the higher your brands' organic search results will be in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. It's a process that builds on itself.

Kelly Shelton, VP of Marketing for Boostability offered an example of a listener that hears “Got a leak? Call Joe’s Plumbing” on the radio.  When that user needs a plumber, he or she goes to Google, plugs in “leaky sink” or “plumber” and finds “Joe's Plumbing” on the first search page.  Because he heard the radio commercial, there is built-in trust for what is found online.  That’s a score for radio.

“Radio is one of the best ways to drive traffic to online search,” Shelton stresses.  Citing RAB statistics, 57% of listeners go online after hearing something on the radio and 39% of listeners say radio spots prompt online searches, while almost 20% of listeners are already online while listening to the radio.  “So we see that radio and search play – and work – very well together.  One leads to the other.”

Radio ads build brands and create awareness.  SEO then makes sure consumers can find the brand and go to that listing instead of other listings on a search results page. Radio ads generate traffic, traffic increases your website in search engine rankings, and the end result is more people seeing your website or landing page. 

Tune Into Radio, Turn Up Your Results

The world of advertising has dramatically changed since the good people of Sterling Cooper were creating campaigns. And, while the migration towards newer forms of digital media have their allure, make no mistake, radio advertising is thriving more than ever as savvy advertisers reach and engage the right audiences and, most importantly, maximize marketing ROI. Here’s why:

1. Audience.
According to commercial jingle juggernaut American Music Concepts, more than 90 percent of Americans—243 million people with unique listening preferences, needs and buying habits—engage with radio each week. If an advertiser has a firm understanding his or her business and its target markets and buyer personas, the opportunities are endless.

2. Affordability.
Want to reach the same audience and match the message frequency a radio campaign can using print or television. You're going to have to double your budget.

3. Time efficiency.
According to Strategic Media, radio production and media buy turnaround can happen in as little as two weeks. This gives advertisers a chance to produce and test an ad, judge its effectiveness and make any adjustments needed to optimize the campaign for the long haul.

4. Results.
It has been proven that radio has a much better ROI—in fact, 17% higher—than TV advertising. Additionally, a recent Nielsen study found a direct link between radio advertising and brick-and-mortar retail sales—on average, each dollar invested in radio generated a sales return of $6 from listeners within 28 days.

There is a lot to consider when assembling the perfect marketing mix, but when weighing the benefits of radio, one thing is abundantly clear: radio is alive and well, and your audience is listening.

Radio: Buy The Numbers

The numbers don’t lie. According to multiple published reports, not only is radio thriving, it continues to stand above the other channels in an advertiser’s marketing mix. Whether it be reach, time or any other important metric, radio has it covered. Read on to learn more about the power of terrestrial airwaves.

When it Comes to Reach, Radio is King

NIELSEN SHOWS RADIO REACHING THE MASSES... EFFICIENTLY

A new study reveals good news for radio advertisers: Radio provides the largest audience reach of any medium in America— at a whopping 240 million listeners. Among the findings highlighted in the study are several insightful statistics about radio's usage, the types of people that listen and the time of day they do it most.

A few points that are emphasized include the fact that radio is the #1 medium for daytime listening, is the absolute best choice for return-on-investment as well as being the number one choice for marketers in terms of local activation.

Interestingly enough, as well, it seems that radio listenership over the past 8 years is increasingly stable, even rising monthly listeners since 2008, from 234 million to 240 million.

“More adults use AM and FM radio than any other media.”

— NY TIMES - OCTOBER 15, 2015

STUDY SHOWS RADIO LISTENERS ARE DAY PEOPLE

In addition to these radio-friendly statistics, the study delves further into a comparison between radio, TV, TV connected devices (Roku, Apple TV, etc.), desktops, smartphones and tablets. The study not only shows that radio is the strongest performer in daytime engagement between the hours of 6am-4pm, but also that radio also has a fairly steady reach among age groups and ethnicities (see below).

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ADVERTISERS?

Clearly the good news here is for marketers and advertisers who are looking to use, or are currently using radio, as part of their media mix. It proves very insightful as far as the strengths of radio, and convincingly proves what a resilient medium radio truly is.

Source: Entercom | CBS Radio 2017

Infographic: Radio Can Improve Your SEO

On Radio, Anything is Possible.

This hilarious video piece from The Radio Mercury awards perfectly illustrates the creative advantages of using radio advertising. For decades, copywriters have referred to radio as "The Theatre of the Mind," and this video sums it up perfectly: On radio, there are no rules. A must-watch for anyone considering using traditional or streaming radio as part of their media mix. 

3 Ways Radio Can Rock Your ROI

What do you think of when you hear the word radio? The on air-personalities you listen to when you wake up? Your morning commute? Turning up the volume when you hear a song you love? For marketers, when they hear the word radio, there’s one thing that should come to mind: great advertising opportunities.

1. Radio is social
Social media like Facebook connects friends and family in a similar way that radio connects listeners to DJs, musicians and advertisers. Have you ever listened to the radio and heard, "This weekend we'll be at the mall with Brand XYZ, come down and hang out with us!"? When people attend these events, they get more acquainted with the brand that’s sponsoring. They get a chance to try products, experience the brand and meet with brand ambassadors. It’s an unique way to introduce an audience to a new brand, introduce an established brand to a new audience, or promote new products to an existing audience.

2. Radio is local
Radio connects your brand to listeners on a personal level. Radio is one of the few mediums left that is still heavily local and widely used. Hearing an ad tailored to a geographical area catches a listener's attention. For example, imagine hearing these two ads in Pittsburgh:

1. "Spend your Sundays watching football with us." 
2. "Spend your Sundays watching the Steelers with us."

That small personalization creates a relationship with the listener that could be the difference between them trusting and buying from you or flipping to the next station. 

3. Radio is affordable
Compared to spends on other traditional media such as print and TV, radio is considerably more efficient. In fact, the cost of reaching some audiences with radio is almost 60% less expensive than newspapers and almost half the cost of TV. Additionally, a recent study by Nielsen found that radio could generate up to a $17 return for every $1 spent. With those kinds of numbers, how can you resist testing a radio ad campaign?

Radio: The Most-Used Medium by Millennial

When you think of Millennials you probably think of smartphones. But according to a new Nielsen study, it turns out that when it comes to Millennials’ media habits, you probably should also think radio.

The study, a side-by-side comparison of media usage habits, finds that radio actually has a wider reach among adults 18-34 than any other medium.

The report concludes that  among 18-34 year olds, between a combination of traditional and streaming, a whopping 91% use radio each week.

FM radio is still one of the most frequently used tools for finding new music, which makes total sense when you think about young people.

That’s even more than smartphones at 82% and TV, at 76%. The Nielsen study looked at other demographics as well and found that for all adults radio’s weekly reach trumped all other media (with the exception of a tie with TV for those 50+).

And of the 91% of radio-listening Millennials, over 50% of the group still regularly listens to traditional, or “terrestrial” radio.

So the question is… Why does terrestrial radio continue to resonate with young people at a time when they have so many options?

Nielsen says in part it’s because FM radio is still one of the most frequently used tools for finding new music, which makes total sense when you think about young people. A separate study, also by Nielsen, conducted in 2015, found that 59% of Millennials and younger said they use terrestrial radio to discover new music, ahead of streaming services such as Pandora or Spotify.

So while streaming services are definitely growing, making radio (as a whole) a behemoth when it comes to media consumption, services like Spotify, Pandora, Google Play, and the rest offer great ad opportunities for the on-demand music listener, while terrestrial radio is still the premier player in music discovery: Setting trends, establishing new artists, and breaking records (pun intended).

Radio + ROI = A Match Made in Heaven

When it comes to advertising spending, getting the most bang for your buck is the end goal. With so many media options to choose from, how can advertisers make the best informed decision to achieve the best ROI? Well, how about thinking radio.

Radio advertising reaches more than 241 million Americans per week. In fact a recent study by Neilsen set out to prove that radio is even the best medium for ROI.

In the study, radio’s return on ad spending across four separate retail categories was monitored. Neilson’s four retail categories were department stores, home improvement stores, mass merchandisers, and quick service restaurants.

Research showed every one dollar spent on radio advertising could potentially generate up to $17 in revenue. For those in the retail category that had a 17-1 return, radio exposure delivered over a double digit increase in their overall sales, helping them bring in more shoppers, and increased the time that shoppers spent in store.

In another instance, car repair company, Midas, found an increase in ROI when they switched a bulk of their budget from TV to network radio. One of the biggest success factors for this national brand was that using radio allowed them to “copy split” – which means they were able to provide different stations with different creative materials depending on the geography that they are in. Midas’s Senior Manager of Marketing and Planning, Lisa Wellington said, “Immediately following the major move to radio, customer traffic was up nearly 20%, and car count continues to increase.” And continued on to add “Midas franchisees have experienced double-digit increases in customer visits since we moved dollars from TV to radio.”

Also, with its incredible penetration of 93%, radio has been found to frequently be the final medium consumers interact with before actually making purchases.  A research study by the Radio Advertising Bureau showed that “radio captures more than 35% of the total time consumers spend with a medium during prime shopping hours” which is more than any other medium.

With such promising numbers, choosing to create a campaign based around radio is a no brainer.   So the next time you start a campaign, think radio - and let the influential voice of radio move the needle to ROI success. 

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Radio Advertising is Alive and Kickin'

According to recent reports, Radio is alive, kicking and constantly evolving. In the U.S. alone 242 million weekly listeners (93% of Americans age 12+) tune in to their favorite radio stations, consuming a weekly average of more than 2.5 hours of radio a week (Nielsen 2015).

But here is where the evolution comes in. Streaming, or online radio has taken a hold of the public’s consciousness in a big way. The leader of the pack is Pandora, which allows you to customize playlists based on your music preferences, and their “Music Genome Project”, is the most sophisticated taxonomy of musical information ever collected. Following closely behind, is Spotify, a free service that allows users to find the right music for any moment. Other challengers include iHeart Radio, Apple Music, Google Play and Tuneln, (and many others) each providing their own variation of custom programming that includes music, news, comedy; (i)podcasts and pretty much any content that your heart desires.

The key to all of these is user control. No longer are we at the mercy of radio stations who make all the music decisions for us. In each case you, the user, have the full control of the music you get to listen to. 

Almost 20% of the overall audio advertising market will go toward streaming audio within the next four years. So, how can you as a marketer take advantage of this shift in audio advertising?

1.  Take advantage of platform integration. People access online radio through desktops, tablets and mobile phones. This allows you to custom tailor your messaging based on how they’re consuming their music.
    
2. Target your audience based on what they’re listening to. You can have multiple messages. One to the fans of hip hop, and another to an audience streaming classical. The important thing is to speak to your audience in the correct tone.
    
3. Utilize visuals and video to amplify the message. Streaming radio gives you the opportunity to amplify your message using more than just audio accompanying banners with full vide ads and is getting more sophisticated every day.  This allows you to connect with your audience in multiple ways.

As mobile phones, smart cars, smart homes, and wi fi hot spots become ubiquitous, online radio is sure to become even more popular. Make sure that your brand is not left out of this engaging platform.

Radio & ROI: It's Payback Time

As a marketer, you are likely bombarded daily with overtures on how you should spend your marketing dollars. Undoubtedly, your inbox is flooded with emails from vendors proclaiming that their platform or technology is #1 in your vertical. When you get done with those, you read the trade blogs and hear about the latest fads ……Is it programmatic? Is it the latest social media platform? Is it Experiential?

Ultimately, the one thing that should matter to you is the return on your marketing investment. So out of all the options…which one is the best? Which one will not only actually help drive traffic and sales, but will do it at an efficient cost? The answer might surprise you.

In a Nielsen Catalina survey of ten brands last year, radio has been found to provide the greatest return on investment for marketing dollars.

Brands averaged a sales lift of more than $6 for every $1 spent on radio ads. An incredible ROI that is double that of even the best results from many recent studies of digital or television media. Retail was especially strong, with one brand delivering an amazing $23.21 sales lift for every $1 invested.

Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. Thinking about it logically, shoppers listen to radio right before making a purchase. Whether driving to the supermarket or the mall, your message can be literally the last thing they hear before shopping. That’s an incredibly powerful time in the cluttered media space.

Additionally, the study showed that radio is also the most efficient medium at reaching specific audience segments with a particularly strong showing with African-American and Hispanic consumers.

The beauty of ROI via radio is also its success with smaller budgets. Whereas television requires large sums for both media and production, radio costs are much more manageable, and still provide a greater return on investment when comparing it to other, more expensive mediums.

The results are clear. If you want to drive results for your brand and see strong results, radio is the right play. 

Radio: The Godfather of Native Advertising

For anyone to suggest that Native Advertising is an invention of the 21st century would probably need to a take a hard look at our great American past… or perhaps a long hard listen, to their radios.

Tough as it is to imagine, life did exist before the Internet. It was a time when people spoke to one another on phones that were attached to long, tangly wires. Scary, I know. And even further back when people couldn’t just load up Spotify and listen to literally any song that’s ever been released- at any given moment in their day.

It was a simpler time.

Almost a hundred years ago, during the roaring 20s, when every family had a radio in their home, both children and parents would gather around the Zenith to enjoy their favorite soap operas, quiz shows, variety hours, talent shows, situation comedies, children's shows, as well as live musical concerts and play by play sports broadcasts.[1] And thus, the great media behemoth, radio, was king.

But as car culture encompassed America, and car audio speakers became a bit more sophisticated, it was music that began to rule the airwaves. From coast to coast, motorists became rulers of the radio dial, a symbol of liberty that allowed us to tune into whatever kind of beats made us boogie; whatever jams made us jive. 

And in betwixt those jiving disc jockeys and songs about long-lost love came the radio jingle. Songs hidden between songs, native to their media environment; clandestine in their commerciality. And the godfather of native advertising was born.

As smooth as a transition from one hit song to the next… a bassline would start up, maybe a little banjo and percussion and then, “Hot dogs, Armour hot dogs…”  or Alka-Seltzer’s now infamous “Pop, pop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!” And many, so esoteric at first, it was difficult to discern whether it was a brand new song or a brand trying to sell you something. And before you knew it, you weren’t just bopping your head along to the song, you were being advertised to.

Of course with the changing popular music genres, the genre in which the jingles would take on would change too, and branch to other mediums, giving us infamous campaigns like Ray Charles crooning about Diet Pepsi or Michael Jackson sipping a regular one.

So amidst all this hubbub about native, indigenous – or whatever new names we give to this hyper-relevant trend in advertising, lest us not forget that not only is it not new, but it’s actually very much an oldie.