Why and How to Advertise with my Radio Station, WOWO

Ever read a book and skip a few chapters to get to the answer you want right now?  Yeah me too.

When I decided to do a weekly series of advertising and marketing, eventually I was going to write this article.

But I’ve had too many people ask me recently about the basics of radio advertising, I’m going to share it with you today even though it feels out of order.

1st off, Why advertise with my radio station:

Simple answer, we get results. WOWO radio has been on the air since the 1920’s.  I grew up listening to it as a kid.  We have advertisers that have been on the air for at least 40 and 50 years.

Some of the advertising partners I’ve worked with this year are brand new to using WOWO.  I have a dentist that started in February and is now seeing 10 new patients a week generated from our advertising campaign.  I have a national healthy, organic, natural food supermarket that used us for their grand opening in Fort Wayne, and it was the biggest grand opening week in their company history and they continue to advertise on WOWO every week.

I’ve also had some unusual, or perhaps non-traditional advertisers on WOWO this year.  For example, a gentleman who wrote a short book on health care reform and we promoted his speaking engagements.  Another one of my favorites has been a poultry producer. They need to find more farmers to work under their supervision to raise chickens so they can add a second production shift.  They have some pretty strict guidelines and qualifications that a farmer need to pass and it’s a long term process.  We had to halt their campaign for a few months and put it on hold as they catch up on the leads that have received from our campaign.

A couple of the larger advertisers I work with are in the home improvement business and are getting good results.

WOWO has the largest radio audience in Fort Wayne, Indiana and 95% are adults 25 and older, according to the independent surveys we subscribe to.  We broadcast on 1190am and a couple years ago added 92.3 FM.  You can also listen online, from our website, or the Tune-In Radio app on your tablet or smartphone.

How to advertise with my radio station:

When we talk, I want to know certain things and this will determine what type of campaign I will recommend.  Some of those questions include…

Are you advertising an event or a business/organization?  An event, like a concert or festival requires more ads in a shorter time frame.  The purpose is to reach & invite as many people as possible.  We’ll design a campaign that reflects that model.

If you are a business or organization that is open 12 months, we want to make sure your advertising message is relatively steady year-round. We are building name recognition, branding and yes we will include a call to action too. But we want to be sure we are continually inviting people to spend their money with you, when they need or want what you offer, not just when you are having a special sale.

How much does it cost?  With WOWO, I have so many options that we can use that I don’t have a standard package that I can tell you will work for you without us talking first.

However I have price guidelines that I have to follow because we have lots of businesses that want to advertise and our business is built on supply and demand.  When we are tight on inventory, our prices are higher for those last few commercials.  Every week I get an update on the minimum prices for the next several weeks.

I know that a good starting price is $100 to $150 per 60 second commercial.  Many of my advertising partners pay less because we plan ahead and look at all the options.  My goal is not to get the most money out of you as possible.  My goal is to create a campaign that is affordable and will produce the results we agree upon over the length of time we also agree upon.

That being said, I have advertising partners that are spending $5000 or more each month and some that are spending $1000 per month.  Those are the basic guidelines, dollar-wise to keep in mind.  Most recommendations are between 20 and 40 thousand dollars per year.

I have learned some very creative ways to manage advertising budgets and produce excellent results over the past couple of decades and since I joined WOWO last year, I have discovered a few more that work because of our news/talk format and relationship between our air personalities and our listeners.

A couple more Questions and Answers.

I can buy an ad on another local radio station for $40 or $60, why should I buy yours at double that cost?  The radio stations that sell ads for less have a smaller audience.  With WOWO, your cost per invitation per person is going to be less.  Your chance of success is greater when you invite more people to do business with you, in most cases.

I don’t want to commit to a one year agreement.  Can I try it for a few weeks?  Maybe.  Most of our advertising agreements have a no-fault cancellation clause.  If due to unforeseen circumstances, you need to cancel, there is a simple way out with a written note 2 weeks in advance.  However, let’s work together to do everything we can to make this a lifelong relationship from the beginning.  I want you to be on the air forever, because it is a good use of your advertising dollars.  You and I are advertising partners.  I use that terminology because I am that serious about forming a winning partnership for your business, for our listeners (your future customers) and for me and the radio station.

Figuratively and often literally we are sitting on the same side of the table, not opposite sides, to create success for all.

More in the weeks ahead, in the meantime contact me either at Scott@WOWO.com or Scott@ScLoHo.net and you can also call or text me at 260-255-4357.