Help! A potential client wants to run radio and tv campain locally...

Have you got any experience with radio/tv advertizing?

I have no experience with tv advertising but i know radio is a piece of cake. Just drop in to your local station and tell them what you want. Most even create the ad for you

I don't know enough in this field to be able to help you, really, but I'd recommend not misleading the client about your abilities.

It'll be a great opportunity for you to get your name out there if it all goes well, but if doesn't it could be very damaging. Be careful not to take on more then you can handle!

Hopefully you'll find someone who can offer advice or some resources online to help you give the client what they need. All the best!

If you are not knowledgeable about the process of advertising radio and TV for your clients, you will be doing your client a great disservice and your new offline consulting service an even greater disservice.

The radio station could help you get the radio spots running, and they will record the spots for you, IF you can tell them what to say.

The cable company could help with the TV spots, the same way.

Unless you are in the mood to destroy your reputation on your first job, I would recommend the following:

Call the radio station and get the facts.

Then call the cable company and get the facts.

Get educated quickly, and as comprehensively as you can in a couple hours.

Then notify your prospect and let them know that you have never worked with radio and TV advertising before, but you are somewhat knowledgeable on the topic (you spent two hours learning this morning), you are excited to learn more about it, and you do have contacts at both the radio station and cable company with whom you will be working.

Tell them that although you are new to TV and radio, you are willing to work with your contacts to learn along with them (your client) how to get the most out of these mediums, and remind them (your client) that you are always looking to serve THEIR best interests.

Believe it or not, sometimes the best response is to let people know that you do not know, but you are willing to learn so that you can help them.

Don't worry about the PM. It's just spam. Don't quote it, and it'll be removed soon.

Do you know what your target demographic is? That's the very first thing you need to know and then you need to find a media outlet which owns that demo.

Every TV/Radio sales person sells by the "book" -- meaning, the ratings book. These ratings break down the audience by a number of factors including age and gender.

You have a couple of choices:
- Find a media agency who can do the production and the media buys for you (some radio networks have their own inhouse media agencies but they mostly deal with national brand buys)
- Deal with the individual media outlets yourself

Radio stations charge depending on the daypart (time of day) usually the morning show is AAA time and the next most expensive is afternoon drive. They offer many packages for full day coverage depending on your needs. Also, keep in mind the old 7 times rule...in broadcast media the theory is that people have to be exposed to your message at least 7 times before it sinks in. Now, considering the cost of this, radio and TV may not be the most effective place to be depending on budget and goals. Find out why your client wants this and then research if it's the best way to go.

What you can do depends on the budget at hand. What's the budget? What are the goals? Then you can go shopping.

Bill has given you some solid advice, but I think the first place to start your research is knowing what your client wants exactly. If you don't know that, no agency or station will be able to help you effectively.

Be careful about asking radio sales people for advice - I spent many years in that industry and some can be very agressive. Just keep that in mind.

Regards,
jim

The main mistake people make when they venture into radio and TV locally is that they try to run "image" advertising just like major advertisers. For example, often they create a humorous ad designed to create "buzz" or "top-of-mind-awareness."

This strategy works--if you have the cash to back it up. Lots of cash. Even a smallish regional advertiser will need a healthy budget to advertise enough over a long enough period of time enough times for it to have any impact.

For this post I'm going to assume your advertiser has a limited budget. Let's say they are a local retailer. To make it work you have to run a direct response oriented campaign. That means the copy should try to drive traffic immediately to a specific offer or sale.

Start small by testing a specific offer. Maybe you put together a special bundle of items for mother's day. Then run spots for only that offer. Once you decide on a specific sale or promotion, only then should you call the media that best fit that demographic.

Otherwise if you try to run general image advertising spread out over a long period of time with a limited amount of money, the impact will be minimal and the effect on sales negligible.

Your client may say they like such-and-such ad on the local airwaves. If they see it and hear it a lot rest assured that advertiser has a strong budget and a talented ad agency that both creates the commercials and negotiates ad rates. Trying to match that out of the gate is a recipe for disaster.

Short, sharp campaigns that drive a specific feature, promotion or sale is the way to go. Make the copy lean and benefit-oriented without humor or cleverness. Don't let the radio station try to make it creative. (Save that for after you have ten locations and have the budget to support image advertising.) Create an irresistible offer that gets people in the door.

Then get those customers on an email list and stay close to them with new sales and promotions. Grow and prosper.