Radio Advertising Costs: How Much Should I Spend?

“How much should I spend on radio advertising?” “How do I know that I am getting the best radio advertising rates?” “What radio stations should I advertise on?” “What are the good and bad prices for radio advertising?” “How many commercials should I run on a radio station?”

Honestly, there is so much confusion about radio advertising going around; I can’t blame them for asking these questions. Why is radio advertising so mysterious? The answer is: radio advertising is not mysterious. It only helps to know how it works.

Effective radio advertising is based on two main components: the message (the radio advertisement itself) and the media (on which the radio advertisement is broadcast).

The message

Let’s first look at the radio ad itself. Before even thinking about which radio stations to broadcast or how much to spend on radio advertising fees, you need to think about what you are going to say in your radio ad. For this article, I assume that all call centers, fulfillment, websites, etc. You, the advertiser, have started sales lead generation and sales closing processes. Creating a radio commercial that helps drive traffic is extremely important to the advertising process.

The advertising industry is full of broadcasters, radio personalities, DJs, and others, all pretending to create radio commercials. Be careful here. When entering the field of commercial radio production, look for a radio advertising agency that has experience and a track record of successful advertising campaigns. Anyone can create a radio ad, but not everyone can create a radio ad that will attract traffic. Some radio stations offer free radio commercials if you advertise on their station. Most of these free commercials are never based on strategy and are just one of several dozen commercials that must be created by an overworked radio producer in a five to fifteen minute time frame. Remember, you usually get what you pay for.

The most effective radio commercials are based on a solid and proven strategy. The copy is written using time-tested formulas that maximize the potential response. Talent is handpicked to better connect with the end user, and production relies on clear, quality, and easy-to-absorb audio.

So … how much does the commercial radio production process cost? Most of the best performing radio commercials are generally in the $ 500 to $ 1000 price range. There are always exceptions to the rule (lots of reviews for copying or audio, additional announcers, celebrity endorsements, etc.) but This figure generally covers the development of a solid strategy, copying from experienced copywriters, performance from high-caliber announcers, and the highest quality production services.

The media

For many who have questions about radio advertising fees and radio station prices, this is where the mystery begins. I’ll try to simplify the mystery of radio media buying as much as we can in this little space.

A good radio ad buy focuses on a few different things:

* Find the best radio stations in a market that match your client’s demographics (age, gender, income level, etc.) and psychographics (interests, beliefs, hobbies, personality traits, etc.).

* Find the time slots that best reach your target customer. Mornings? Noon? Afternoon?

* Select the top radio stations that most efficiently reach the highest leads, the correct number of times (defined as frequency), for the least amount of money

Generally, when researching radio advertising costs, many potential radio advertisers have a pretty good idea of ​​the first two points. However, when it comes to finding the best station (or stations) at the best price, the radio advertising process gets a bit more challenging.

Here’s how to basically determine how much to spend on radio advertising costs. Within the market in which you want to advertise, look for radio stations that have the most potential to reach your target customer. This is based on the formats of the radio stations. Urban hip-hop stations will target different demographics than a News / Talk or Soft Rock station. After selecting a group of radio stations, contact those stations to let them know that you are considering advertising on their radio station. Request specific data from radio stations called “rankers”. This is classification data that most radio stations can provide based on the specific requirements requested. From this point on, you can get a good idea of ​​which stations perform best in your target demographic.

Once you have narrowed down the radio stations to a few that will effectively reach our target customer, ask for a proposal based on certain criteria: time slots, frequency targets, etc. From these proposals, see who reaches the target audience more efficiently, using tools such as Cost per point (relationship between spot rate and percentage of grades), Cost per thousand (relationship between spot rate and the audience category totals), etc. If a radio station is not competitive, ask the station to resubmit a more competitive proposal. Ask for the added value. Yes … it takes a long time … and yes, it’s hard to tell if all of the station’s radio advertising fees are too high. You really have to know the market and the current rates. (This is where having an experienced agency is extremely beneficial!) An agency can compare proposals to historical figures to determine if radio station prices are in line with market averages … then negotiate and help execute. the purchase.

Great … but how much does this cost? It depends on the size of the market you want to advertise in as determined by Arbitron (the radio rating services). Radio advertising rates can be as high as $ 800 for 60 ads in a major market like New York City, or as low as $ 3 for 60 ads in Kerrville, TX. How will you know what to spend?

This is a valuable system that we have used from our history of working with radio advertising rates. The system is based on a robust brand schedule that can run one place per day on the morning tour, one per day at noon, and one per day on the afternoon tour, Monday through Friday, and two places on Saturday and Sundays. That’s nineteen places a week at a tag price. This type of program is good at achieving a desired frequency level (meaning that the average listener of a station will hear the radio commercial a certain number of times). Under these general assumptions, you can use the following chart as a rough guide to budgeting for your radio advertising campaign. *

* Please note that these are gross rates and do not include production costs or agency discounts. These are market averages for the standard radio hours listed above, actual costs may vary. It does not take into account added value, ROS schedules, bonus points, etc. Different combinations of time slots in different seasons can cost much less.

* Markets 1-5 (for example: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc.)

Expect to pay $ 4000 to $ 8000 per week / per station for a high performance station.

* Markets 6-20 (for example: Dallas / Ft.Worth, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, etc.)

Expect to pay $ 2000 to $ 5000 per week / per station for a high performance station.

* Markets 21 – 50 (for example: Denver, Cleveland, Kansas City, etc.)

Expect to pay $ 1000 to $ 3000 per week / per station for a high performance station.

* Markets 51-150 (for example: Akron, Syracuse, Baton Rouge, etc.)

Expect to pay $ 800 to $ 2000 per week / per season for a high performance station.

* Markets 150+ (ex: Myrtle Beach SC, Green Bay, Topeka, etc.)

Expect to pay $ 500 to $ 1500 per week / per season for a high performance station.

You may be saying, “Wow! That can be expensive.” In some cases it is! These are standard and radio advertising schedules come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes schedules are smaller based on advertising goals and objectives. However, it is recommended that you can commit to the range of lows.

Leftovers?

Note that nothing has been mentioned about the remnant radio advertising here. Carryover advertising is the practice of buying unused inventory at deep discounts. The remaining advertising success exists more in theory than in practice. However, this is not to say that advertisers are not succeeding with carryover advertising. If, and when, the remaining advertising falls into your lap, it is strongly recommended that you investigate it. However, basing your entire radio ad campaign on carryover advertising can be a shot in the foot. With the exception of a few times a year, most high-performance radio stations don’t have as much unsold inventory. Often times, larger advertisers have contracts that guarantee so many low-cost / no-cost spots that need to run. The reality is, if the big advertisers (with a big money program) need their ads to run, or if another advertiser pays just a penny more than you paid for their carryover ads, go up! That day they took you off the air. You can pay for twenty spots and only get two of that air. The stations will make up for it, but what if you had that hype to drive sales? Or better yet, in the age of established radio groups, your remaining advertising could appear from the third to the last ranked station on the market. The result is NO RESULT. I firmly believe that when it comes to radio advertising, YOU REALLY GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Now that the radio advertising fees have been explained, you may ask the question: how long should I advertise? The type of radio advertising helps define the duration of a campaign. Advertising for an event? We recommend shorter, more compact hours to build buzz before the event or launch. Brand a product? Long-term schedules with a little room to breathe often work best. Maybe even the flight could work (in two weeks, two weeks off, or some other time frame). Most of the time, the two things that will determine the length of a radio ad campaign will be the advertiser’s goals (traffic numbers) and external factors such as sales cycles. Oh yeah, and usually the budget affects the duration of the campaign. It is not desired, but it is reality.

The total cost

You may be thinking, “So if I want to run an ad on Houston’s top three radio stations, I should expect to pay $ 1000 for a commercial, plus $ 3000 per week per station … that’s $ 10,000 for a week of! advertising!” That’s true, and it may be just what it takes to reach several thousand potential target customers. The real question is: “How much money can you make with a few thousand potential target customers?” Is it more than $ 10,000 a week? $ 40,000 a month? These are questions to ask yourself, because in the world of advertising, that’s pretty good traffic.

It works even better when you allow a professional ad agency to lower that cost even further. Let the agency provide you with a great radio advertising schedule by giving you an instant discount ABOVE the radio station’s lowest negotiated price plus great added value.