Internet Radio Untapped Marketing Opportunities
By Teleana Jones Published: November / December 2008
Did you know the commercials you hear on your favorite radio station driving to and from work each day are not the same commercials you hear when you listen to your favorite radio station online from your computer at work or home? With the recent surge in interest by large media companies, websites for marketing are now mandatory for growth and survival to almost all businesses. Many radio stations have hopped on the Internet bandwagon promoting their websites and their listen live broadcast streaming and thus, throughout the country, a new trend has developed. Most radio stations stream their content onto the Internet, but because of possible legalities with music licensing and talent voice usage on streamed commercials, a lot of the commercials we hear on air (terrestrial) are not the same as what is heard on stream. In fact, most radio stations choose to have terrestrial radio sales and Internet radio sales separate. This trend has created a new inventory of advertising opportunities. And, as with any new non-traditional tool to market, the challenge is in educating businesses of the potential. What does this mean?
Well, if you’re a small business looking for new and innovative ways to reach new customers, it means there is now an affordable way to target audiences where they spend the largest part of their day - at work and on the computer.
Benefits of Online Radio
The Cost With any radio promotion, it is what one says multiplied by how many times one says it that creates momentum and branding for an advertiser. In marketing terminology, “frequency of message.” Because of this, traditional radio advertising can be a costly undertaking for a small business owner. Streaming commercials in online radio can be a tenth of the cost of traditional radio commercials. In some cases you can buy as many as twenty streaming commercials for the price of one terrestrial radio commercial. In most cases the completed commercial comes as part of your schedule, with no production cost, and can be produced, even changed, in a very short period of time. This offers small businesses the opportunity to get the frequency and flexibility they need to get the results they want from advertising to a targeted online audience.
Audio Reach in a Sea of Visual Components
Another benefit to Internet radio is that this form of advertising gives the business owner the ability to go beyond online advertising’s visual elements of online advertising (banners, pre-rolls and text) to reach their customers; it allows their message to be heard. It is a subtle, yet powerful, method to target an audience already tuned in and ready to hear, and in most cases just a click away from acting on a message heard.
Targeting by Demographic
Just like traditional radio, with Internet radio a business owner can choose the formats that target groups by age, sex, income and lifestyle based on the type of music the listener prefers. For instance, a florist or jeweler may focus on formats or channels that offer a lot of love songs to help them target a more likely candidate for their products or services, or a club owner my keep most of his commercials on Hip Hop and Top 20 formats targeting a younger audience.
Targeting by Geography
Some Internet Radio can take things a step further by offering services that allow business owners to geo-target their customers. A small restaurant in St. Petersburg might like to promote a daily lunch special or delivery service. Geo-targeting gives the restaurant owner the opportunity to focus most of his advertising to online radio listeners that are in the zip codes from which the business owner wants to draw customers.
Measured and Tracked
Unlike most electronic media, which requires the services of Neilson Media or Arbitron to give them an idea of how many people are watching or listening at any given time, almost all Internet Radio properties use some sort of services to track their audiences. Most Internet Radio providers know how many (unique) people listen to their radio station online, how often people listen (or how many sessions they have) and how long people listen when they do have a session. This is all valuable information to help the business owner decide if the station is the right choice for his business.
Growth in Audience
Online radio not only has over 80 million listeners in the United States alone, but usage has grown 27% in the past 8 years and it is forecast to continue on this path. Now is the time to take advantage of the growth potential in Internet Radio.
