In order to obtain a career in radio advertising you must understand the medium first. Radio advertising has many pros and cons. Radio, as a medium, offers a form of entertainment that draws listeners in while they are working, traveling or relaxing. Radio offers information as well as entertainment many people tune in for news, weather reports, traffic conditions, advertising. It's not just for music anymore.
Advantages with radio advertising include the ability to easily change and update advertisements. Radio advertising is personal and many radio station personalities having a good relationship with their listeners. If a radio personality announces a commercial, it's almost an implied endorsement in the listeners mind. Radio advertising is a great way to support printed advertising in an advertising campaign.
Disadvantages to radio advertising include the inability to “rewind” a radio commercial. Once it plays, it’s gone. If you didn't get the whole message, you can't go back and hear it again. Since there are a lot of radio stations, the total listening audience for any one station is just a piece of a much larger picture. This is why it's so important to know what stations the intended customers and prospects listen to. Most of the time, it is necessary to have to buy time on several radio stations to reach the intended market. Consumers don’t listen to the radio all the time, only during certain times of day. This is why it is important to know when the intended customers or prospects are listening.
Radio as an advertising medium, can effectively sell one or two ideas at the most. It is not a good place for prices and telephone numbers because most of the time listeners are on the go unable to record the necessary information. Radio listeners increase in the spring and summer, opposite of television audiences which increase in the fall and winter and decrease in the summer.
As with any advertising medium it is important to know the target audience for the product being advertised.
