4 Signs Your Radio Ad Strategy Is Working For Your Business

Anytime you implement a business strategy, you measure its success by the outcome it produces. Your radio advertising strategy is no exception.If you’re using radio ad spots to promote your company’s products or services and increase clients, you must have a process in place for tracking whether you are meeting those objectives. Using the right radio station format to implement your strategy is a must to reach your target customer. The right station fit for your advertising targets will produce improved outcomes. If you don’t have the proper strategy in place and you aren’t working with a station that knows how to reach your audience, then there is a chance you won’t see success.

How to Measure Radio Success

Rather than simply running radio ads and hoping for the best, you can use reliable metrics to gauge the success of your strategy and determine if and what changes need to be made to enhance the results. The challenge with radio, according to State of Digital, is that unlike digital ads, radio spots have no tracking structure or attribution models. However, that doesn’t mean you are without luck. Here are four Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that demonstrate if your radio ad campaign is hitting the mark:

1. Your Business is Seeing an Increase in Sales

It may seem obvious, but one of the primary ways to measure the success of any marketing or advertising campaign is by how it is affecting your sales numbers. If you are working with a trusted radio partner who understands your business culture and market, they can help you reach a target demographic that is more likely to follow your call to action. The issue with using this metric is that outcomes can be convoluted if you are (understandably) advertising and promoting your company on multiple platforms and mediums. To address this issue, you can implement tools—such as brief check-out surveys—to find out how customers learned about your company.

2. Your Website is Experiencing More Traffic

Whenever your radio advertisement includes a call to action for the listener to visit your website, you can track success by gauging how much web traffic you experience during the run of your radio ads. If you want to be even more certain listeners searched for  your website as a result of hearing your ad, you can use a vanity URL for a specific ad campaign. For example, instead of directing listeners to visit your normal website URL, you can direct them to a campaign-specific landing page or unique URL, according to State of Digital. Keep in mind, unless they have a compelling reason to look up your business by the advertised URL , many listeners will opt to instead plug your company name into a search engine and go from there. However, that means you can see how many branded organic search queries occurred around the time your spots aired and compare that to your average amount of branded organic search traffic.

3. You are Generating New Leads

If your radio campaign asks the listener to inquire more about a product or service your company offers, then you should track new sales leads. According to Hubbard Chicago, radio is an effective tool for generating leads because about nine out of 10 Americans listen to the radio at some point each week and many people have built trust with their local radio stations. You still must have a way to determine, however, whether new leads were generated by radio endorsements or advertisements. You can accomplish this by providing listeners with a specific phone number or URL to visit for more information, or by asking them to use a custom code when filling out a form or completing a purchase online. Another  simple option is to add a referral option dropdown to a form prospective customers are using on your website. If you hope to significantly increase leads with your radio ad strategy, your business must be prepared to effectively intake prospective customers. When you are collaborating with a qualified radio partner, they can assist your business in the next steps.

4. Your Social Media Platforms are Seeing Growth

Another KPI you can use to measure the success of your radio advertisements is by social media engagement. When you run effective ads that reach and resonate with your audience, prospective clients will be drawn to your social media platforms. During the timeframe of your radio campaign, make sure the various social profiles your company utilizes are up-to-date and streamlined  with the current campaign. Before you launch a campaign, log all your follower counts so you can track your growth through analytics during the run of the campaign. Engagement such as likes and comments is also important to track. As you review the analytical data produced during your ad campaign, be sure to note other factors at play that could be contributing to your results.

Effectively Advertising on the Radio

Armed with real data pertaining to lead generation, sales, and engagement, you can measure with relative accuracy the success of your radio advertisements and make changes as necessary. The goals of radio campaigns will vary among businesses, or even for your company, depending on whether you are looking to establish a new location, increase clientele, or promote a sale. A well-established and trusted radio station can help you clearly identify the goal of your radio advertising campaign at a specific point in time and direct you toward the KPIs and metrics best suited for measuring the outcomes depending on that goal.