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How to get free radio advertising
HOW TO GET FREE RADIO ADVERTISING
The greatest expense you're going to incur in conducting a
successful business is your advertising.
You have to advertise. Your business cannot grow and flourish
unless you advertise. Advertising is the "life-blood" of any
profitable business. And regardless of where or how you advertise,
it's going to cost you in some form or another.
Every successful business is built upon, and continues to thrive,
primarily, on good advertising. The top companies in the world
allocate millions of dollars annually to their advertising budgets.
Of course, when starting from a garage, basement or kitchen table,
you can't quite match their advertising efforts at least not in the
beginning. But there is a way you can approximate their maneuvers
without actually spending their kind of money. And that's through
"P.I." Advertising.
"P.I." stands for per inquiry. This is a kind of advertising most
generally associated with broadcasting, where you pay only for the
responses you get to your advertising message. It's very popular -
somewhat akin to bartering - and is used by many more advertisers
than most people realize. The advantages of PI Advertising are all
in favor of the advertiser because with this kind of an advertising
arrangement, you pay only for the results the advertising produces.
To get in on this "free" advertising, start with a loose leaf
notebook, and about 100 sheets of filler paper. Next, either visit
your public library and start poring through the Broadcast Yearbook
on radio stations in the U.S., or the Standard Rate and Data
Services Directory on Spot Radio. Both these publications will give
you just about all the information you could ever want about
licensed stations.
An easier way might be to call or visit one of your local radio
stations, and ask to borrow (and take home with you) their current
copy of either of these volumes. To purchase them outright will
cost $50 to $75.
Once you have a copy of either of these publications, select the
state or states you want to work first. It's generally best to
begin in your own state and work outward from there. If you have a
money-making manual, you might want to start first with those states
reporting the most unemployment.
Use some old fashioned common sense. Who are the people most likely
to be interested in your offer, and where are the largest
concentrations of these people? You wouldn't attempt to sell
windshield deice canisters in Florida, or suntan lotion in Minnesota
during the winter months, would you?
At any rate, once you've got your beginning "target" area decided
upon, go through the radio listings for the cities and towns in that
area, and jot down in your notebook the names of the general
managers, the station call letters, and the addresses. Be sure to
list the telephone numbers as well.
On your first try, list only one radio station per city. Pick out
the station people most interested in your product would be
listening to. This can be determined by the programming description
contained within the data block about the station in the
Broadcasting Yearbook or the SRDS Directory.
Let's say that you're listed 250 different radio stations. It's best
to list the stations you want to contact alphabetically by the city
or town they're licensed to serve, with a tab separating each state.
The next step is either a phone call or a letter to the station
manager of each of the stations.
This first contact should be in the way of introducing yourself, and
inquiring if they would consider a PI Advertising campaign. You
tell the station manager that you have a product you feel will sell
very well in his market, and would like to test it before going
ahead with a paid advertising program. You must quickly point out
that your product sells for, say $5, and that during this test, you
would allow him 50% of that for each response his station pulls for
you. Explain that you handle everything for him: the writing of
the commercials, all accounting and bookkeeping, plus any refunds or
complaints that come in. In other words, all he has to do is
schedule your commercials on his log, and give them his "best shot."
When the responses come in, he counts them, and forwards them on to
you for fulfillment. You make out a check for payment to him, and
everybody is happy.
If you've contacted him by phone, and he agrees to look over your
material, thank him and promise to get a complete "package" in the
mail to him immediately. Then do just that. Write a short cover
letter, place it on top of your "ready-to-go" PI Advertising
Package, and get it in the mail to him without delay.
If you're turned down, and he is not interested in "taking on" any
PI Advertising, just tell him thanks, make a notation in your
notebook by his name, and go on to your next call. Contacting these
people by phone is by far the quickest, least expensive and most
productive method of "exploring" for those stations willing to
consider your PI proposal. In some cases though, circumstances will
deem it to be less expensive to make this initial contact by letter
or postcard.
In that case, simply address your card or letter to the person you
are trying to contact. Your letter should be positive in tone,
straight-forward and complete. Present all the details in logical
order on one page, perfectly typed on letterhead paper, and sent in
a letterhead envelope. (Rubber-stamped letterheads just won't get
past a first glance.) Ideally, you should include a self-addressed
and stamped postcard with spaces for positive or negative check
marks in answer to your questions: Will you or won't you look over
my materials and consider a mutually profitable "Per Inquiry"
advertising campaign on your station?
Once you have an agreement from your contact at the radio station
that they will look over your materials and give serious
consideration for a PI program, move quickly, getting your cover
letter and package off by First Class mail, perhaps even Special
Delivery.
What this means is that at the same time you organize your "radio
station note book", you'll also want to organize your advertising
package. Have it all put together and ready to mail just as soon as
you have a positive response. Don't allow time for that interest in
your program to cool down.
You'll need a follow-up letter. Write one to fit all situations;
have 250 copies printed, and then when you're ready to send out a
package, all you'll have to do is fill in the business salutation
and sign it. If you spoke of different arrangements or a specific
matter was discussed in your initial contact, however, type a
different letter incorporating comments or answers to the points
discussed. This personal touch won't take long, and could pay
dividends!
You'll also need at least two thirty-second commercials and two
sixty-second commercials. You could write these up, and have 250
copies printed and organized as a part of your PI Advertising
Package.
You should also have some sort of advertising contract written up,
detailing everything about your program, and how everything is to be
handled; how and when payment to the radio station is to be made,
plus special paragraphs relative to refunds, complaints, and
liabilities. All this can be very quickly written up and printed in
lots of 250 or more on carbonless multi-part snap-out business
forms.
Finally, you should include a self-addressed and stamped postcard
the radio station can use to let you know that they are going to use
your PI Advertising program, when they will start running your
commercials on the air, and how often, and during which time
periods. Again, you simply type out the wording in the form you
want to use on these "reply postcards," and have copies printed for
your use in these mailings.
To review this program: Your first step is the initial contact
after searching through the SRDS or Broadcasting Yearbook. Actual
contact with the stations is by phone or mail. When turned down,
simply say thanks, and go on to the next station on your list. For
those who want to know more about your proposal, you immediately get
a PI Advertising Package off to them via the fastest way possible.
Don't let the interest wane.
Your Advertising Package should contain the following:
1. Cover letter
2. Sample brochure, product literature
3. Thirty-second and sixty-second commercials
4. PI Advertising Contract
5. Self-addressed, stamped postcard for station
acknowledgment and acceptance of your program.
Before you ask why you need an acknowledgment postcard when you have
already given them a contract, remember that everything about
business changes from day to day - conditions change, people get
busy, and other things come up. The station manager may sign a
contract with your advertising to begin the 1st of March. The
contract is signed on the 1st of January, but when March 1 rolls
around, he may have forgotten, been replaced, or even decided
against running your program. A lot of paper seemingly "covering
all the minute details" can be very impressive to many radio station
managers, and convince them that your company is a good one to do
business with.
Let's say that right now you're impatient to get started with your
own PI Advertising campaign. Before you "jump off the deep end,"
remember this: Radio station people are just as professional and
dedicated as anyone else in business - even more so in some
instances - so be sure you have a product or service that lends
itself well to selling via the radio inquiry system.
Anything can be sold, and sold easily with any method you decide
upon, providing you present it from the right angle. "Hello out
there! Who wants to buy a mailing list for 10 cents a thousand
names?" wouldn't even be allowed on the air. However, if you have
the addresses of the top 100 movie stars, and you put together an
idea enabling the people to write to them direct, you might have a
winner, and sell a lot of mailing lists of the stars.
At the bottom line, a lot is riding on the content of your
commercial - the benefits you suggest to the listener, and how easy
it is for him to enjoy those benefits. For instance, if you have a
new book on how to find jobs when there aren't any jobs: You want to
talk to people who are desperately searching for employment. You
have to appeal to them in words that not only "perk up" their ears,
but cause them to feel that whatever it is that you're offering will
solve their problems. It's the product, and in the writing of the
advertising message about that product are going to bring in those
responses.
Radio station managers are sales people, and sales people the world
over will be sold on your idea if you put your selling package
together properly. And if the responses come in to your first
offer, you have set yourself up for an entire series of successes.
Success has a "ripple effect," but you have to start on that first
one. We wish you success!
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