I’m More Than Just a Rating Point!

January 17, 2013

A ranker may tell you how many people are listening, but it doesn’t tell you what kind of people. It’s the old quantity vs. quality debate, and with radio it’s more relevant than ever. Ask yourself, what kind of people do I want to reach with my message? What are their interests? What are their lifestyles like? And how can I incorporate that into my messaging? Qualitative data provides such a rich reservoir of information about the people you’re trying to target.

Start by determining the interests of your potential customers. Let’s say you’re selling widgets. Run a profile of those people who plan to buy a widget in the next year (try Adults 18+ – after all, who cares how old they are if they buy your product or service?). For the categories, you could select leisure activities and interests; events attended; types of TV programs typically watched; political party affiliation … the list goes on and on. Try to get as complete a picture as possible of the day-to-day lifestyle and habits of your potential customers.

After running a profile of your potential customers, you find out that the typical person who is planning to buy a widget enjoys running or jogging, likes watching comedies on television, and donates money to charitable organizations. Armed with this information, you can make your advertising campaign more effective in two ways.

Number one: You know what your potential customers are like, so go find them. Run a ranker of people who enjoying running or jogging, like watching comedies on television, and donate money to charitable organizations. Which station in the market delivers the most of these consumers? Using the example below, if you’re selling widgets and you know that potential widget customers have certain lifestyle habits and traits, station B is the better choice – even though station A delivers more people overall.

Number two: Tailor your advertising campaign to appeal to the people with these interests and habits.  Your commercial could open with two friends having a chat during their morning jog. Right off the bat the listener can relate because they can picture themselves jogging alongside the people in your commercial. Since you know your potential consumers like to watch comedies on television, the dialogue should be funny – this approach will work with these listeners. Finally, because potential widget buyers donate to charitable organizations, you could offer a promotion where X number of dollars is donated to a charity of their choice for every widget purchase. Now you’ve built a bond with the listeners – an emotional connection – so that they are more likely to remember your advertising message, and most importantly, more likely to act upon it.

Every station’s audience is different, and every product or service’s potential customers are different. Using qualitative data, you can match the right station to your product or service, and design a killer campaign that will get the listener’s attention.

-Anne Doyle, Production Manager

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