How to Introduce Your Local Digital Advertising Solutions to Radio Advertisers

Start with Research and Due Diligence

For your pitch to be relevant to advertisers, you need to understand their digital footprint. That includes their website, social media profiles and overall visibility in the digital world.

Some tips for this include:

• Using website monitoring and organic search analysis tools for insights on traffic and visibility
• Assessing their website for gaps like not having lead generation forms, click-to-call or a good mobile experience
• Gathering intel on the market with tools like Google Trends and setting Google Alerts for the business or industry

What you learn will also give you a good idea of their digital acumen. They likely know something about digital, so you don’t have to start from scratch. However, they may have misconceptions or little knowledge of current capabilities and trends.

Define the Competition

You aren’t the only one talking to them about digital. The Borrell-RAB digital benchmarking report for radio asked radio buyers whom they work with for digital. Many don’t purchase from radio but from other local media organizations like newspapers and TV. Others work with agencies, both national and regional.

Here’s how your local digital advertising solutions can stand out:

• Newspapers: These organizations push their own digital inventory over what aligns best for the advertiser. Most also lack the sophistication to execute multiple tactics.
• TV: They are more interested in selling TV spots, which are expensive and no longer have the reach they did years before. You can offer OTT/CTV, which is where audiences are. It’s also targetable and measurable.
• Agencies: Your services don’t come with the exorbitant fees agencies charge. Also, national agencies don’t have your local expertise.

If you’re competing against other radio stations, emphasize your differentiators, such as access to high-quality inventory, advanced targeting, and the ability to execute campaigns for restricted categories.

If businesses do in-house digital ad management, they may be dealing with inefficiencies and challenges around execution and reporting.

Turn the Discussion to Shifting Budgets

Outside of radio, which still has expansive reach and effectiveness, other traditional media is faltering. Part of your conversation should revolve around their ad spend in the categories of TV, print and direct mail.

Broadcast TV audiences are contracting as more people cut the cord and only stream. Print continues to see declining subscribers, and direct mail is expensive and hard to target. You don’t want to criticize their ad buys, but ask questions about what returns they are seeing, if any, to plant the seed that there are better options.

Ask the Right Questions

Engaging with advertisers about digital should involve thoughtful questions. Then, it’s time to listen to clients discuss their goals and feelings about local digital advertising.

Some areas to dive into include:

• What are their objectives with advertising?
• What results are they seeing?
• Whom do they want to reach, and at which stage of the customer journey?
• How does their website contribute to their business goals?
• What’s their priority — more website visitors or more engaged ones?
• How do they measure the value of digital leads?
• Will they change their ad mix for greater ROI?

Those questions, plus a detailed customer needs analysis (CNA), allow you to gather critical information. Based on this conversation, you can make specific recommendations that fit their goals, audience reach and targeting criteria.

From there, you can customize a proposal that considers all this and blends radio and digital. They get a better-designed campaign, and you can increase revenue.