Radio vs Print Advertising

There can be a great deal of confusion for businesses when it comes to radio vs print advertising.

Most businesses feel comfortable with print advertising because it is within their realm of knowledge and simple to understand. Often radio is avoided because it is perceived as being expensive, complicated and “mysterious”.

Here are 5 reasons why you should consider radio vs print advertising for your business:


1. Radio can tightly focus your advertising.

Only a small proportion of a newspaper’s readership will be your key demographic. You may be able to focus your advertising further by advertising in a relevant newspaper “special” or in magazines, but this still doesn’t guarantee your ad will be seen by prospective customers.

Radio listening figures are broken down by sex, age and social demographic, within each 30 minute segment of the day. You can find out when your ideal prospective customer is most likely to be listening and target your advertising to that time of the day.


2. Radio guarantees your advertising will be heard.

Think about the way you read a newspaper. Most of us scan the pages looking for an article that is interesting or relevant. Often that means not even glancing at anything that looks remotely like an advertisement.

Even when a radio listener is not paying full attention, if they have the radio playing they will definitely hear your commercial. As a broadcaster I am used to receiving calls from listeners who have heard a few words of a commercial and suddenly “clicked” that this may be something interesting or important to them. They don’t always catch the full details, but if they think the commercial is offering a solution to their problem they are prepared to actively seek out more information.


3. Radio offers less competition.

In radio you may hear 2 – 8 commercials per commercial break. In print you either pay a large premium for being the only advertiser on a page, or you can potentially appear with 10 or more advertisements.

In print you could be displayed on the same page as your competitors, but in radio there are usually rules which remove the possibility of a similar business being in the same commercial break.


4. Radio doesn’t always cost more.

Many businesses believe radio is cost prohibitive, but this doesn’t have to be the case.

If you are a locally-based business, you will want to focus your advertising just in your area. Most local radio stations offer very competitive packages. Usually you buy per slot (per play of your commercial) and the more you book upfront, the cheaper the rate. Apart from that there is usually an initial production cost for the making of your commercial.

In my experience, the cost per slot for radio is usually more competitive than the cost per ad in print.


5. Radio will bring your advertising to life.

Words and graphics on a page are only able to give limited “soul” to your advertising. The printed word can be powerful, but we don’t all have the benefit of having a JK Rowling writing for us, and even she might have a problem creating a masterpiece with the restrictions of column size and word count.

Radio has a much better chance of representing your business and bringing it to life. A well-written script, professional voice and relevant music or sound effects will say more about your business in 30 seconds than a full print ad ever could.


When it comes to Radio vs Print advertising, I think radio has a lot to offer over print and you should definitely explore its possibilities. Do your homework and make sure it is right for your business. Don’t simply rule it out because you don’t know much about it. It could be the boost your business needs.

Examples of radio commercial production can be heard in our commercial production gallery.
 


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