Radio Advertising

The Fundamentals of Direct Response Radio Advertising

Executive Summary by Jeff Small

Whether you own a direct-to-consumer model business, a retail business, a web business, or some combination thereof, direct response radio advertising can help you grow. Throw out all you think you know about advertising, radio advertising, and especially direct response advertising. Concept One: Radio as A Highway From Your Business to Your Potential Customers

Radio Advertising is a Profit-Driver, Not a Cost Center

Direct response radio advertising - by its very definition - is a profit-driver. Profitability is a fundamental aspect of direct response radio advertising.
This fundamental question applies whether your business is a direct response advertising business (which includes radio advertising, print advertising, DRTV, catalog, or internet) or a traditional retailer. 1. Increase price without increasing cost. 2. Increase response rate. Great direct response radio ads significantly enhance the responsiveness of the media dollars spent. Your radio agency's ability to create radio ads that elicit response from your potential customers is a crucial element in direct response radio advertising success.

As a result, testing is a never-ending element in direct response radio advertising efforts. Done correctly, direct response radio advertising is not a cost center, it's a profit center.

Direct response radio advertising does not stand alone in creating a business. Once you understand the fundamentals of radio advertising, you're ready to embark on the process of building a direct response radio advertising campaign. That process involves developing a radio advertising strategy, creating radio ads that drive response, and implementing a radio media plan that delivers your message to the right people for the right cost.

Are You Ready for Direct Response Radio Advertising?


Direct response radio advertising is an amazingly under recognized way to grow a business quickly and profitably. Direct response radio advertising is truly a powerful engine for profitable growth.

Most of the time, radio advertising is not done right. Because the definition of success in direct response radio advertising is acquiring a new customer at a cost that allows for a profitable relationship with that new customer. You can only evaluate advertising performance within the context of your customer lifetime value.

Here's the problem with that statement: Developing a profitable direct response radio advertising campaign isn't something that is accomplished with a "trial". To properly assess the potential for direct response radio advertising to generate profitable new customers for your business, you must approach direct response radio advertising with a testing mindset. Don't go into direct response radio advertising with a "dabble" mindset. Is your business infrastructure set up to support direct response advertising?

That requirement is excellent data collection and transmission to the radio media buying department at your radio agency. You have to test radio.