 Radio
Buying Tips That Work!
By Duane Sprague
- Pull all
ratings by day part from top 7 stations using "Request For
Proposal Form" and the most recent Arbitron, as well as a
4 book average for the quarter you are buying in.
- Use "CPP
Analysis Form" to calculate and compare CPP efficiencies
by station and day part.
- Compare
total rating points against your target demo.
- For
maximum CPP efficiency, deduct 35% from asking price.
- Negotiate
rates and value added (free spots, free sponsorships, talent only
cost for remotes, etc.) Give 1/6th a point for billboards.
- Make
sure you are analyzing quarter hour listeners, and not quarter
hour share. Share means nothing if it's a small gross number of
listeners to start with. Use Metro numbers for all analysis on
all stations. Otherwise comparisons are not equal.
- Buy
only 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. M-F, and 10:00 am to 3:00 pm Saturday.
Take Sunday as a freebie only. Get no charges as broad rotators
M-Sat 6:00 am to 10:00 pm only.
- Third
quarter is a buyers quarter, so negotiate with conviction.
- Make
sure you get at least a 3 frequency per station, per week. You
can increase frequency on a smaller budget by decreasing the days
in the flight schedule or narrowing the day parts, but this reduces
reach. You can't have both on a small budget. This is a common
mistake with radio. Never sacrifice frequency to obtain reach,
because radio only works with frequency.
- The
OES formula (Optimum Effectiveness Schedule) will give you the
3 frequency minimum. The formula is:
Cume over AQH = Turnover x 3.29 = OES
Cume is the number of people listening at one time in a given
time period/day part. AQH is Ave. Quarter Hour Listeners, or the
ave. number of different people listening in that time period.
- A
Min. of 65% of your spots should run M-F 6A-7P.
- Make
sure that your buy has a fair and equitable vertical and horizontal
distribution. The quality of the buy is more important than the
number of spots.
- You
should be buying at about 150 GRP's per week, per station to obtain
a 3 frequency against the target demo of adults 18+.
- For
better reach, include as many different formats as possible, given
the OES schedule can be met.
- Negotiate
one day part in each day at a time, never the entire schedule.
This takes time, but you get a better deal. Negotiate on a CPP
basis. Know what is the best CPP available in the market, and
use it as your negotiating benchmark. The very best rates you
can ever obtain, are the "political rates." I was able
to get these a few times, but it is tough. You will find, that
each station will take about an hour to negotiate the rates, once
you get to that point.
- Negotiate
the value added after you got the best rates for each day and
day part.
- Never
buy a package. These are averages that only work in the stations
favor.
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Duane
is available to conduct informative seminars on the following
topics:
- Effective
database marketing
- Media
planning and buying for maximum results at reduced rates
- Effective
marketing tips and strategies
- The
10 year economic outlook for the automotive industry
- Marketing
to the sub-prime buyer
- Conducting
local market research for improved used car inventory
and marketing decisions
- Reducing
your used car acquisition costs by 40-60%
Contact:
Phone (888) 265-1963
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