If yours is like most local businesses, you probably have several marketing activities going on simultaneously. Perhaps you have an ongoing social media engagement strategy. Maybe you have print advertising, PPC campaigns, in-store promotions and, of course, a radio campaign. That’s a lot of messages being sent out to the public by your brand.
If you compare it to voices in a choir, imagine the noise it would make if each singer were singing from a different songbook. No single melody or set of lyrics comes clearly through, and the audience just gets frustrated.
Conventional advertising wisdom tells us that your message must be heard several times by an individual in order for it to be retained. Doesn’t it make sense, then, for all of your marketing activities to work together to help you reach more people?
Let’s have a look at how you can tie your radio marketing plan into your other marketing efforts:
The first key is to maintain consistency throughout your campaigns. The more your campaigns share identical or similar elements, the greater success you’ll get in gaining recognition. You can do this in a few ways.
Use the same voice: when you employ the same voice talent for all of your radio campaigns as well as all other campaigns that include an audio component, such as television and online, that voice will soon be associated in the public’s mind as the voice of your company.
Use the same music: much in the same way as a voice can become linked to your brand through consistent use, the same can be said about the music heard in your advertising. That’s why jingles can be so powerful to help consumers remember who you are.
Use the same messaging: at any given moment, there should be consistency across all your campaigns when it comes to messaging. This applies to both tone and content of your messaging. So, if your radio messages use a familiar, friendly tone your social media and written campaigns should adopt the same tone and avoid being overly formal.
Similarly, the content of the messages should be in sync. Announcing a sale on one medium while promoting a contest on another and talking about a new product elsewhere only serves to confuse consumers. On the other hand, if they are all talking about the same thing, they will end up supporting and reinforcing the message, thus increasing the overall success of your campaign.
This is actually the most effective way to track your advertising ROI.
Each of your marketing messages should have a call to action (CTA). That’s the one thing you want the consumer to do after hearing your message. Each message should have just a single CTA. Your call to action goes hand-in-hand with your messaging; therefore, it stands to reason that they should all be the same across all your campaigns. Whether it’s that you want people to call you, visit your website, or come to your location, if that CTA is repeated consistently throughout your radio marketing and all other campaigns, it will have a better chance of achieving success.
When the time comes to make a change in your radio marketing plan, make sure to plan the changes to your creative so they can happen everywhere at the same time. This does require some planning ahead since certain types of campaigns may require more lead time than others. Factor in the time needed for writing, design, and recording for all of your marketing initiatives so that the changes can all take place on the same day everywhere.
For more tips on achieving consistency in your marketing efforts, check out this article called Consistency in Marketing for Small Business. When your radio campaign is tied into your print, TV, direct mail and online campaigns, you’ll achieve a harmonious clarity that will help you cut through the noise and reach more potential customers.