‘Why am I not seeing results from my radio marketing?’

Commentary July 02, 2013 at 10:58 AM
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Are you getting less than ideal results from your radio marketing campaigns? Would you like to turn listeners into loyal clients? Advisors everywhere are turning to the radio airwaves in hopes of building a following of happy prospects, who will eventually become long-term clients. However, most advisors miss out on the majority of the opportunity, because they turn to radio with no real strategy or game plan for converting listeners.

Many advisors operate with the belief that the only way to capture a lead via radio is to have the prospect "call in." This is not true; there are multiple ways to capture leads with radio. However, if you are not aware of them, you will be boxed in and limited to only what you know.

The typical call-to-action on a radio show is "call my office." However, understand that asking someone to call your office can be intimidating, since many people like to gather information at arm's length. Asking listeners to call your office can create fear of being drawn into a sales conversation by a savvy salesperson who may try and talk them into something they are not prepared to commit to.

You may be thinking, "So, is it bad to have people call my radio show?" Absolutely not! But understand that those calling in likely already have a very high buying temperature. Those that don't simply won't call, and that's a lot of people to let slip through the cracks.

Secondary offer

Just as with seminar marketing, you should have a secondary offer as a reward for listening to your show: like going to a website to download a free report or texting a short code to start the conversation. Remember, people are not sitting at home, next to a telephone, listening to your radio show and anticipating they have to call in when the time is right. You have to meet your prospects where they are and make it simple for them to engage with you.

Many listeners will be in cars, on the Internet, or sing their smartphones with iHeart Radio or TuneIn Radio. So making it easy for them to engage with you is important.

It's also important to have congruency in your marketing. In other words, create a webpage on your site that addresses those who listen to your radio show. Have it say, "Thank you for listening to the (fill-in-the-blank) Radio Show…" In that way, the transition from listening to you on air and then visiting your website is seamless and there's no disconnect when they see it.

There are more people on their cells phones now than ever before. So SMS messaging, or text messaging, can really make it easier for people to get in touch with you. SMS messaging provides lots of options you can automate. This can be done by setting up different lead-capture funnels through SMS marketing.

Points to remember:

  • Give your prospects options. Don't settle with only having a call-in option. Again, most people want to engage with you, but initially at arm's length.
  • Make sure that on your radio show you are making multiple offers, so you can reach people who are at different stages of the buying cycle, not just those who are "hot" today.

In the upcoming weeks, we will continue to expand on the different elements of lead capture. We'll explore how to fine-tune this concept and how it works with different marketing mediums.

In the meantime to learn more about marketing automation and lead capture, check out this free video at www.automatedadvisor.com.

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