These days, the commercials you air can make or break your radio station’s performance. Listeners expect some commercials but they won’t accept anything that is annoying or grating. You can’t just have any regular old commercial on your station because you risk losing your audience if the commercial quality isn’t equal to the caliber of your music and programming. Follow these tips and tricks to create great commercials that will leave your audience wanting more!
The three things that make a compelling commercial
#1: Your commercial should tell not sell – people want to be told not sold #2: Less actually is more – trying to squeeze in too much information is a commercial killer and #3: Great commercials our listener focused.! All three have to be good for a commercial to work. If any one of these elements is weak, listeners will tune it out and may turn you off.
How to create compelling radio commercials
The average attention span for humans is about eight seconds – and that’s for continuous, unbroken attention, which is a myth in today’s digital age of information overload and information confusion. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that even though radio listenership is at an all-time high according to the latest surveys, most listeners are paying only minimal attention to your content — even during commercial breaks! Make your station’s commercials brief and impactful.
Steps in creating your radio advertisement
- Identify your target market
- Pick a unique selling point
- Use a slogan
- Outline your commercial
- Record it
- Edit and mix it and
- Place it on air!
