Radio advertising is a highly creative advertising medium that gives businesses of all kinds incredible reach into their local market. Not only this, but radio campaigns have the ability to build brand awareness with your audience, increasing recognition and trust with potential consumers. This is particularly true for what we call Awareness campaigns, which are designed to build that brand awareness and increase business over a longer period of time.
These kinds of campaigns have been shown to build tangible results for businesses. But because these effective results start to appear over a longer period of time, seeing results and the fruits of your labor will require patience. And when you are not seeing results or responses come as quickly as you thought, it is tempting to want to throw in the towel. Our team has worked with enough businesses to develop and run their radio campaigns to ask you to please - WAIT! Don't give up after running your awareness campaign for only three months.
The Importance of Staying Consistent with Your Branding Efforts
It is important not to quit your advertising efforts after three months, but why is that exactly? It all comes down to consistency. Consistency drives brand awareness. Awareness leads to recognition,
which leads to trust, which leads to increased sales! Now, not all sales leads follow the exact same path toward a buying decision, but you get the idea. Radio campaigns are all about building that brand awareness and trust you need, which takes time.
The Three Pillars of Consistency
1. Accountability
No matter what type of business you operate, from retail to a specialized service, accountability within your organization is crucial. Accountability can take on different faces within an organization. No matter if you are focusing on a product/service or employee, you are the key cog in the wheel when it comes to ensuring and delivering consistency in your business. With marketing, your media partner should help you stay accountable to the goals you set when you launched the campaign. Reminding yourself why you initially launched your chosen campaign will help you hold to those goals, even when the urge to abandon your marketing process is tempting.
2. Relevancy
Clients and potential customers look to you for information and as a thought leader in your area of expertise, don’t leave them hanging. You should be constantly reminding them why your products and services can make their lives easier - how, when, and where the solutions you provide are relevant to your customer's life. Businesses that tell their story day in and day out become more relatable to customers who become confident in the knowledge that you are there for them when they need you.
3. Clear Messaging
Brand consistency in messaging is crucial and one of the most important aspects of creating a successful marketing strategy. From your radio and social media to your print, logo, and website - anywhere you mention your brand for that matter - it all must preach the same message and tell the same story. Inconsistent and unclear messaging will confuse your clients and potential customers, which means they won’t be knocking down your doors to buy the latest and greatest products. Lack of clear messaging lends to distrust and confusion, and consumers won't buy what they don't understand or trust.
One of the best suggestions we can offer is to keep your messaging simple, keep it clear, and make it memorable. Find your brand’s voice and keep it consistent, whether you decide to go formal or more fun-loving with your approach. Research shows that consumers trust brands they recognize, which is why consistency in your messaging can make or break your business.
The purpose of awareness campaigns is to do the long, slow, steady walk of building a trusted and recognized brand with the right consumers. If you're looking for immediate results, have that conversation early on with your marketing partner. They can incorporate action campaigns into your marketing to generate the quick response you want...but know that the whole goal of an awareness campaign is to build a brand. (Think McDonald's!). Stopping an awareness campaign after 3 months is like taking a cake out of the oven after it's only been cooking for 15 minutes and expecting it to be done and ready to eat. It just doesn't work that way.
So in order to be consistent, you can't give up! Build brand recognition by staying consistent with your radio marketing efforts. It may feel like it isn't working, but it is. Be patient and let it do its job.
