The short-term, sales-response model of advertising is the way many advertisers use radio, and is based on its obvious strengths:
- Radio offers short lead-times and relatively low cost production, making it ideal for promoting tactical advertising messages at short notice
- It is a highly cost-efficient medium – you get more impacts for your money
- It can be efficiently targeted via music genre, socio-demographics, and geographical region – as well as by time of day and day of week
- Radio delivers a larger audience than other media throughout the morning and is used by people to accompany tasks and activities across the day, making it easier for brands to reach people at relevant times and in relevant places
The strengths of radio for driving a sales response in the short-term are demonstrated through results.
Many radio case studies highlight the impact of radio advertising and promotions on Footfall, Response, and Sales. This responsive nature of radio means that it performs very strongly in terms of providing high ROI for advertisers. Separate large-scale analyses demonstrate how radio advertising delivers second highest return on investment after TV, both in terms of revenue ROI of £7.70 per £1 spent and profit ROI of £1.61 per £1 spent.
It is important to note that even if radio is being used primarily for tactical purposes it still provides an opportunity to communicate brand messaging in some way. The Autoglass case studies offer an excellent demonstration of how radio can be used to drive sales today and build brand over time.