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 Multimedia
Best Practices
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.
Teleana Jones is a Senior
Accounts Manager and a Certified Digital Marketing
Consultant for CBS Radio and AOL Radio. Teleana can be
reached at 727-643-1100.
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