Comparing the Costs of Advertising on Fort Wayne Radio Stations Part 2

Most advertising and media sales people do their very best to portray themselves and their product as the “perfect fit”  and “best deal” and so on…

Most business people want to spend as little as possible on unproven new marketing plans. However if they believe they found a winning marketing plan and see that it really is helping them, they are likely to spend more to get more.

Today, I’m going to address the first paragraph.  I have some insider information because I have worked in the advertising world for other companies besides WOWO and Federated Media.

I spent 8 1/2 years working for a company that doesn’t exist anymore, Summit City Radio.  They were purchased with another radio group by an out of town owner who took some stations off the air and fired a few people, added a couple more stations and all the usual stuff that happens when companies are bought, sold and consolidated.

I also spent nearly a year working for another company that owns two radio stations in Fort Wayne.   That is where a lot of this information will come from.

I’ve mentioned WOWO radio ads cost $100 a minute during prime time.  There are some exceptions and I invite you to go back and read about them.

Before I worked for stations “A” and “L”, I heard some of the concepts of how they managed their advertising offerings. Then, during my time working for stations “A” and “L”, I got the inside scoop.

One trick that advertising sales people in radio and TV use to make it seem like a good deal is to offer you bonus spots.  These are no charge ads that will air in addition to the paid advertising schedule you buy.

It looks like you are getting a lot more for your money than you are.  One example is a BOGO (Buy One Get One free) practice that stations “A” and “L” use all the time.  Spend $80 for a prime time commercial and get a non-prime time commercial free.  You might even get some free overnight ads if you ask the right person.

Let’s say you buy 15 ads that will air between 6am and 7pm Monday thru Friday on station “A” to reach adults age 25 to 55.  Station “A” will also give you 15 ads that will air anytime between 6am and 12 midnight Monday thru Sunday.  Using that $80 per ad price tag, your total bill is $1200.  Total number of ads is 30.  Average cost for each ad is $40 right?

But let me plug those numbers into my software from our rating service and see what you really are getting.

The advertising schedule from station “A” with 30 ads will reach 19,150 adults between the ages of 25 and 55 in one week for $1200.

If I take that same $1200 and spend it on WOWO, here’s what happens. My price per ad goes up to $100 so I only have 12 ads to air in one week for $1200.  But my 12 ads airing between 6am and 7pm Monday thru Friday on WOWO with NO BONUS SPOTS will reach 26, 309 adults between the ages of 25 and 55.

Same total price of $1200.  On Station “A” you get 30 total commercials at a average cost of $40 apiece and reach 19,150 potential customers.  On WOWO you get 12 total commercials at a real cost of $100 apiece and reach 26,309 potential customers.

Do the math from a business owners perspective. With station “A” it costs more than 6 cents per potential customer.  Not a bad deal until you compare. With WOWO it costs  4.5 cents per potential customer. Much better.  And without all the games, gimmicks, smoke and mirrors.

I do have a side note to add.  I have people who want to buy advertising based on the “deal” they think they can get, even though the math example I just showed demonstrates that it’s just a bunch of malarkey.  And I’ll put together schedules for those people that give them what they want because it makes them feel comfortable until one day I can show them a smarter way of buying advertising.