Radio Marketing

[Miss O'Hara]

Have any of you ever done any radio advertising? The station manager for one of our local radio stations has approached me about doing a trade for some radio spots. Obviously ads in our own town wouldn't do anything for us but he suggested putting ads in other towns around times when say state tournaments are in town. Just curious if any of you had tried anything similar with success.

 

[Hillbilly]

Our kids thought it was fun to hear us on the radio. But that's about all we got from it. Its kinda expensive even doing the trading. Most radio stations broadcast in a 60 mile radius. We did not try outside of that. It might be worth a try. I do not recommend it locally.

 

[Miss O'Hara]

They have other stations in their company so it wouldn't actually be broadcast on our station.

 

[Madeleine]

We tried it with a station in a major metro area where most of our guests come from. No one ever showed up with the GC we gave them for the air time. Did it help other guests find us? No one ever mentioned hearing the ad. Your mileage may vary.

 

[EmptyNest]

radio?? huh? only if it is free

 

[Innkeep]

They have other stations in their company so it wouldn't actually be broadcast on our station..

I'm in a non tourist sort of place, so it is actually important for me to try to get locals to notice that I'm here. I now, after being in business for 5 years, am beginning to build up business from locals who want to send their out of town visitors to me. The weird thing is that I grew up here and the B&B is located in the house my parents lived in for over 50 years, which happens to be on one of the main streets in town. I'm still finding acquaintances who have no idea that there is a B&B in town (Now there are 3 of 'em)
In my previous life I used to donate cash to the local NPR and PBS stations as well as some other arts organizations in town. Now with less discretionary income, I have been able to do some bartering with these organizations. It's win-win for me. I've met some very interesting guest artists and radio personalities, gotten the B&B mentioned in ads or on the airwaves, and slowly I'm building up a local clientele. It's just like Jay Karen says... The main reason people don't choose to stay in a B&B is because they don't think about it.
On the other hand, I can't point to any particular guest who came as a direct result of a particular series of ads in print or on airways. I think it's more a case of familiarity, and that just comes with time. One of my 2013 resolutions is not to spend anything on print marketing this year.

 

[Copperhead]

Yes I have tried this a couple times, on a trade as well. I used a station that was part of a family of stations. We (together) decided on the type of station (once I used 70'-80' rock, the other country), chose stations in a 2-3 drive in market and had time slots for early and afternoon commute.
Not a single call.
BTW a couple of innmates here did hear the 'spot' that was used. It was very nice sounding but people are not able to jot things down while driving, too much on their minds to remember copperheadsbandb.com so even if someone liked what they heard if they can't call it up or write it down asap, it's a lost cause.

 

[gillumhouse]

I did a trade in the Chicago area (yes, I DO get people from Illinois and from Florida a lot) but it brought nothing, not even the certificate. I PAID for an ad in our Capital - NOTHING!!! I have donated nights to WV NPR - several certificates used but nothing as a paid reservation.

 

[Skamokawa]

We underwrite a pgm on our local public radio station. Never had a booking from that to our knowledge. We did get a couple from our listing as supporters of the station in their quarterly program guide. That said, I would only do an on-air ad IF you have something to offer the locals that is special deal one time only just for people in your local market. Once a year we sell pie at a special once-per-year summer market in our community. I might do a trade for that if it were reasonable. But for general rooms, no, not unless you have a killer offering that no one else has that makes you really stand out. If you do this the ad should not tag with your phone number, rather: "on the web, at _______ dot.whatever" Most radio listeners are in their cars and cannot jot down that number.

 

[user 26]

well ... if you could do the trade so that it wouldn't use your best room at peak times, i would probably give it a shot.
there is an annual lobster festival up near where i was and it was so hard to get folks to know they could book rooms with ME ...
i would hear from housekeepers who worked in the big hotels nearby that they were turning folks away for that period of time. made me wish i could stand outside the hotels wearing a sandwhich sign