Let’s look at getting free promotion via using a radio station. Radio is old school, Janet. I know everyone’s all talking about social media and increasing your reach, which is fine. However loads of people still commute to places every day. When that’s happening many are listening to music, podcasts and yes you guessed it the radio. I personally listen to the radio in the car alongside my music.
Advertising on the radio was a new way for me; I never thought that it was possible to get my business on any radio station for free. Unless you had a really great story to tell. I’ll share how I got to be on the radio for free at the end.
As we already know radio stations are a great way to get business to expose. Especially when you think of the reach they have, even with social media being a place to market your biz. With that type of exposure comes with expensive services. However, it does not matter what the cost is. If you have nothing to say which will highlight your business, you are merely wasting your money. Having a great story to tell about your business, can be your free ticket to get on your local radio station.
It can be your advantage if you use your local radio station because you come from that area, and your business is based there, even if your business is online. It’s all about your story, this is the part that you really have to think about. The radio presenter’s team is not going to even consider your story unless your story about your small business is special, different and unique.
Story example:
Mr. Jon who makes bread to sell online, it not a great story, quite boringly average really.
Take this story:
Mr. Jon whose local bakery not only supplies bread to his customers. But also gives the bread leftover from the day to his local homeless shelter.
Which story would you want to listen to? Are you getting my drift with the storytelling? Your story has to touch the listeners in some way. It’s that difference that makes your story stand out from the rest of the offers the radio station gets.
If you don’t have a story that stands out then, you have to look at other ways to get on the radio for free. If your radio station has a show that focuses on local businesses in some way, that could be a great way of getting involved. The other way is to get a commercial advert on the show; this advert is repeated between radio shows.
These adverts usually last between 25 – 30 seconds, so saying everything you need in such a short time will be down to trial and error. It’s not an easy task to get what you want, and for it to work straight the first time. The best way to start would be to grab a notepad and pen, start creating a list of all the benefits your business offers to a customer. With the list, you can structure your adverts around what you need to say and in the time you have.
So back to how I got my small creative business on the radio for free. Let me just state that this was not planned, thinking back I wish it was. But that’s how great opportunities appear a lot of the time. You are not ready but you have to get ready fast or miss out.
O.k, so I was home listening to my regular radio station while reading on my bed when I heard a competition. As soon as they said the question I knew the answer. In a split second, I thought I can text in and enter. But at the same time, I had a light bulb business moment (I get many) & I thought, how can I make this work for me even more. I had to be quick and craft a message that was short enough to be shared. That included my answer but also relate back to my business. As this radio station audience was also my target market.
So in that 30 seconds, I texted ” the answer, who it was from along with my business name URL & said what I products I sold. I do know now thinking back, that it was thanks to my pre-plan marketing process & the fact I love to think out of the box. Why I was able to create my message so quickly. Like I said even if you are not ready, be ready.
Do you know what, I did not win the competition? However, the presenter read out my message twice and even told people to go and check out my website & support me.
So there you have it an opportunity popped up. I jumped on it and turned it around to help market my business for free.
