In our continuing series on the "Benefits of Traditional Media", today we will take a look at the benefits of Radio.

When we think about Radio and how that fits within the landscape of any media plan, we always speak of the Frequency that it brings to an overall media plan. Whereas, Television is a Reach medium, Radio is the Frequency medium, providing that "constant drumbeat" in the market throughout your media campaign. However, Radio reaches 91% of all Americans 12+ every single week according to RAB (Radio Advertising Bureau).  So while Television does provide strong reach, Radio does as well.  

Here are some key benefits:

• Targeting - Station formats allow advertisers to speak directly to the audience they want to talk to. With so many formats, you can reach whoever, whenever you want. Formats include: Top 40, Adult Contemporary, Country, Classic Rock, Album Oriented Rock, News/Sports Talk, and the list goes on. 
• Recency - It is personally one of my favorite words...just say it, "Recency". So what does it mean? Webster defines it as "the quality or state of being recent". Great, that doesn't help. Let's look at it in a real life scenario: Say you were heading out for the evening and you are driving along and you hear a commercial on the radio about wearing your seatbelt and you realize that you forget to put your seatbelt on, so what do you do? You put your seatbelt on. Recency is hitting people in the moment to take an action to do something and that something can be anything from putting on a seatbelt to ordering a pizza for dinner. 
• Mobility: Radio is everywhere from your car, to your house, to your smartphone. So no matter who you are trying to reach, you will be able to reach them no matter where they are listening. 
• Personalities: Local TV stations have news personalities, but no other mediums have the personality stable like Radio does. We all have our own favorite DJ, some we even feel are our friends and we trust what they say. The great thing about Local Radio personalities is that can talk about your business through live reads and help drive traffic for you. There is additional costs associated with that, but the return is worth the additional dollars. 
• Cost Effectiveness - From a media standpoint, Radio is less expensive to buy than other major media, which allows you, the advertisers, to afford maxiumum reach and frequency with your buy. Secondly, the cost to produce is a Radio spot is less than Television, so those production savings can go right into your media budget to maximize the buys that you do.
• Trackable - Digital media is considered the most trackable and actionable medium around, however, you can do the same with Radio. How is that possible? Think about it from a creative standpoint: you can have a unique Code or Phone Number for a specific campaign or even for each invidual station. I have done a Radio campaign where each station recieved a specifc code and when listeners used that code, it was tracked and we were able to see what stations where working and which were not. Wouldn't it be nice to make a change to a Radio buy knowing what is working and not working while the campaign is on air? 

There has been much debate in the Media Agency world as to where does Pandora and Spotify fit into the mix since they are digital assets. We've written about these and other streaming options before on here. Our recommendation would always be to explore all options available and then make the choice based on the media channels that will deliver you results. 

So, if you have thought about utilizing Radio to promote your business and need some help, give us a ring and we'll be happy to speak with you. 

Be sure to check out other blogs in our "Benefits of Traditional Media" series here.

McCulloch+Company is an advertising media services company that integrates the innovation of digital media with the strengths of traditional paths. Founded in 1994 and located in historic Roswell, Georgia, McCulloch+Company is regarded as one of the Southeast's preeminent media agencies. The agency is skilled at managing B2B and B2C clients in a multitude of industry categories.