In my last article "Local Advertising - The Biggest Mistakes" we took a look at the major media available for local advertisers to market their products. To follow up, I'd like to discuss the many uses of Radio. Sort of the 10 Commandments Of Radio Advertising. This will take up several pages, for sure, so I'll start by asking the most obvious radio questions.

Q: How do I know if radio will work for me & why should I use radio?

A: I usually have gotten these questions when a client is afraid & can't stomach the idea of paying for an Advertisement that they can't physically hold on to. In other words, they think that if they can't SEE their Ad, then no one else can. They seem to have a hard time believing that a disembodied radio voice can move people to buy their product.

Yes, it's probably true that most advertisers get their feet wet with print advertising. Your typical print advertiser will place an Ad in a local weekly or daily newspaper and bingo, the next day - traffic. The results can be quite immediate.

Radio is a different animal and although it can work as effectively as print, it can be equally disappointing to a seasoned print advertiser.

Local radio advertising can turn off a new advertiser who expects immediate results, but it doesn't have to be this way. Here are 10 reasons why "immediate results" are hard to come by:

1) the spots were not aggressive enough

2) the offer was not strong enough

3) there was not enough weight (number of spots) booked

4) the wrong local radio station was used to reach the desired market

5) not enough radio stations were booked

6) only radio was used

7) spots were poorly placed throughout the day

8) the production was poorly executed or the wrong announcer used

9) timing of the campaign was off

10) the new client had no name recognition