The Talk Radio Advantage for Advertisers on WOWO

by Scott Howard | Sep 23, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

WOWO radio is the radio station I work for, doing advertising and marketing consulting, helping business people make smart advertising and marketing decisions, and selling advertising solutions on WOWO and with our digital options.

But this is not about me, or WOWO directly.  It is about the talk radio advantage for advertisers.

This is a conversation I have several times each month.  It is about the mental state of people who are exposed to your advertising messages. 

We are going to look at the big picture and include many of the places you can spend money to advertise.

Start with television.  When you and I sit down to watch a show, we are paying attention to the show.  When commercials come on, most of us stop paying attention, at least not the same level of attentiveness that we have during the show.

Newspapers and magazines.  Unless it’s a fashion magazine that is chocked full of 50+ pages of ads before the articles start, we are not really interested in the ads.  We bought the paper to read the stories, get the scores, or see if someone died.

Social Media.  Facebook for example is a place to go to find out what’s happening with friends and family.  They have managed to work ads and sponsored posts into out timelines so we can’t help but seem them but we are not on Facebook to check out the ads.

Radio. Not all radio stations are created equal.  For this discussion, let’s look at the difference between music based stations and talk based stations.  The reason we tune in to a station that plays music, any music for that matter, is to hear music that we like.  In Fort Wayne we have country music stations, rock music stations, pop music stations and plenty of variations.

Every listener to a music radio station selects that particular station because they want to hear that particular style of music.  Anytime the music stops for any length of time, say 2 minutes, we pay less attention.  If the station plays 5 or 7 minutes of commercials in a row, we really tune out and pay less attention.  Some may even change stations.  The reason we listen to music radio stations is to hear music.  It’s to escape.  Anything other than music on a music station is an irritant.

Talk based radio stations are a different animal. Stations like WOWO which are a combination of News and Talk have listeners who tune in for information.  The programming on talk radio stations is brain food, not escapism like the music on a music radio station.  When the newscaster or program host is talking, listeners are paying attention to the words.  It’s the information that people want to hear.

So what happens when your commercial airs on a talk radio station like WOWO? 1st off, it’s not interrupting music, taking the place of your favorite song, so it is less of an irritant. Next, if your ad is a live endorsement from the radio personality, that is the very best kind of commercial because you have the credibility of the radio personality combined with the credibility of WOWO and a receptive audience that is listening to hear the talk, whether it is about politics or your business, it doesn’t matter.

If you air regular recorded commercials on a talk radio station like WOWO, you still get a receptive audience that is not turned off by talking on the radio and you are on WOWO which adds credibility to your business.

Last year I discovered another way to use WOWO’s talk radio format to help your business and that is with our live 10 second sponsorship messages of news, weather, traffic and sports.  These are done live by the newscasters and program hosts and are embedded in the program and carry almost as much weight as a full endorsement.

This relationship between the WOWO listeners and the WOWO air staff with our news and talk radio format is one of trust.  For many it’s as strong a bond of trust as a trusted friend.  You don’t get that with a newspaper ad.  You don’t get that with a TV commercial, You don’t get that with nearly any other form of advertising you can spend your money on.

This is the Talk Radio Advantage WOWO advertisers receive.   Want more info?  Let’s talk.