Below is part 2 of my email interview with Phil Bernstein. Be sure to check out part 1 of the interview here, and come back for the final piece of this enlightening time with Phil. Also, all apologies on not posting last week: I managed to get a little sidetracked with having a baby last weekend. They say that can happen. 

Brett Duncan: What are the keys to a successful radio ad campaign? How long should it last? Whatʼs this normally cost? 

Phil Bernstein: Roy Williams taught me this:  Results = what you say multiplied by how often you say it. If your story doesn’t interest your prospects, they won’t respond no matter what medium you use. And if you don’t tell the story often enough to cut through all the other messages your customers are exposed to, they won’t even notice that you’re talking to them. So the copy is vitally important, and then you’ve got to buy as much frequency as possible. 

As for how long the campaign should last, in big-picture-terms, the answer is “forever”. McDonald’s has been advertising since the 1950′s — everybody in the country knows who they are, what they serve, and how to find one. And they still advertise every single day of the year. 

How long a campaign will take to deliver results depends on the sales cycle of the product. A restaurant looking to increase dinner traffic could start seeing results in a day, because people need to eat every evening, and a restaurant visit can be an impulse decision; but those results won’t last unless they keep the advertising going. On the other hand, a campaign for a big-ticket product or service might not show tangible results for several months — most people who hear the ad on any given day aren’t in the market that day. The goal is to keep talking to the prospects until something moves them into the “active” category.

BD: Are there any industries or types of businesses that, over time, you realize probably shouldn’t use radio as part of their marketing mix? In other words, is radio right for everyone, or is there a group that it definitely doesn’t work for?

PB: Really specialized business-to-business companies (Roy Williams uses dental equipment sales as an example) are not appropriate for mass-market advertising. Manufacturing companies who sell only to other manufacturers can’t use radio to sell product — but they may be able to use it for recruiting workers.

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BD: What makes radio a viable medium today? What can advertisers do with radio that they canʼt do anywhere else?

PB: Radio’s big advantage has always been, and continues to be, the fact that it’s the one medium that can reach customers while they’re doing something else. You can’t watch TV while you’re driving; you can’t read the paper while you’re working in the garage; a direct-mail piece won’t reach someone who’s gone to the beach. Prospects are a moving target, and radio follows them.

BD: This is something I’ve never really thought of, but so true. With this said, how is text messaging changing how stations work and how radio ads work? I’ve been hearing more and more stations incorporating text into their programs.

PB: Text messaging is a great way to reach the younger end of the market. Z100, our hit music station, uses it for contests all the time. Some of our advertisers are incorporating text messaging into their radio campaigns — a mexican restaurant, for example, tell listeners to text the words “combo platter” to our text message number to receive a “text coupon” good for a discount. They then go to the restaurant and show their cell phone screen to the waiter to get the deal. I’m doing a program with the Oregon Elections Division in which listeners can request text message updates on things like voter registration deadlines.

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BD: How have podcasts affected radio? It seems to me that podcasts still havenʼt caught on like other Web 2.0 media. Is that what you see, or is it actually growing? What opportunities for marketers do you see in podcasts?

PB: I think podcasts are beginning to take hold, but nobody’s quite figured out how to turn them into a substantial revenue stream yet. The audience is growing, but listeners don’t expect to pay for podcasts, and it’s not clear at this point how much advertising they’re willing to accept. Here’s an example of the challenge: I love the fact that I can listen to “This American Life” whenever I want on my Ipod, and skip the pledge drive. My local public radio station isn’t so enthusiastic. People much smarter than me are working on that.

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Be sure to read part 1 of this interview, and part 3, coming soon. And don’t forget to visit Phil’s site. 

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