Upsell Radio Advertisers with These Strategies

Get Specific with Tactics

When presenting the case for radio advertisers to buy digital from you, you want to be specific in your recommendations. From previous CNAs (customer needs analyses), you have a good idea of their goals and whom they want to target. Use that to personalize a digital campaign that complements the radio spots.

For example, say your customer is a local pizza shop. They must compete against national brands but have a loyal following and great reviews. Their goal is to increase revenue and promote their loyalty program. They are interested in targeting specific demographics — young adults and young families. You could present a digital package that includes:

• Geofenced display around competitors: Current diners would see promotions for the loyalty club and how easy it is to get a free pie.
• OTT ads: These could focus on their homemade pizza process and reach cord-cutters, of which younger adults are a big part
• Social media ads on TikTok or Snapchat: These platforms are niche and cater to younger demographics. They are also visual, so they are perfect for food ads.

If you come to the table with a specific plan, you’ll show customers they can rely on you for expert recommendations.

Describe How You’ll Demonstrate Performance

Your advertisers may not know all the specifics of campaign metrics, but they do want to see what their ad dollars are creating. Many agencies pass off generic campaign performance reports that don’t tell advertisers much outside of impressions and clicks. Using a robust third-party digital solution, the reporting you can deliver is much more granular but not confusing. Explain to your advertisers that they’ll receive the reports and that you’ll walk them through these.

Explain the Digital-Radio Lift

The radio industry has delivered a lot of data around the digital-radio lift principle. Radio and digital work together to drive engagement, awareness and action. If someone hears the commercial on the radio, they may tuck it away in their head. Then, when they search for a service they need, they may recall that commercial and be more likely to click if that business is a top search result.

Radio and digital are two distinct kinds of ads. Radio is just audio, while digital can be visual and audio. When you combine the impressions of both toward an audience, the pairing can drive substantial results.

Be Prepared for Objections

Your radio advertisers may have tried digital advertising but were disappointed in the ROI. That’s a pretty common response, so you’ll need to address how things will be different. Ask them what went wrong — the tactic, audience, budget, creative, etc. From what you learn, talk to them about a better approach. For example, many small businesses unsuccessfully use SEM (search engine marketing). It quickly became expensive, and they didn’t see any conversions.

You can advise that your company’s approach to SEM is different because it’s driven by conversion-based optimization. This strategy focuses on maximizing ad spend. It automatically allocates budget to the keywords and text ads that produce the most calls. It’s continuous optimization and follows a specific conversion action — calls to their business.

Demonstrate How You’ve Helped Similar Customers

Advertisers often need some “proof” of your ability to deliver digital success. The best way to do that is by providing them with case studies or anecdotes. A case study can be the final push you need for those customers to give you the yes.