These slides are a portion of the presentation that I created for the American Marketing Association Meeting in St Louis January 2012. I was asked to share some stories about my career as a director, brand manager and talent coach for national radio companies. If you have questions or thoughts, I’d love to hear from you.

1. The top 3 things to NOT do when
using radio in your local
marketing.
Better uses for your sometimes-wasted advertising dollar .
by Jeff McHugh
VP Marketing
The American Marketing Association
St Louis

2. These slides are a portion of the presentation that I created for the American Marketing Association Meeting in St Louis
January 2012. I was asked to share some stories about my career as a director, brand manager and talent coach for
national radio companies. If you have questions or thoughts, I’d love to hear from you!
- Jeff McHugh

3. Don’t buy remote broadcasts
Would YOU go out of your way to make a purchase at a retailer because a radio deejay was there giving away coffee mugs?
Neither does anyone else. You get exponentially better ROI buying regular commercials - or one of the ideas in the next
slides...

4. Do: buy pre-roll video
It’s comparatively inexpensive, stations have unused inventory and consumer retention for these ads is significantly
higher than average. The listener watches your short commercial waiting for the online audio stream to begin.

5. Do: buy personality endorsements
Your local radio personalities are like family to consumers in your community. In the same way that Steve Harvey gets
results for national advertisers, you can see results when local on-air talent endorses your business.

6. Do: buy internet radio
Heavy listenership, low cost-per-thousand, high message retention and in some cases you only pay for specific
demographics and zip codes. Instead of hearing your commercial lost in the middle of 8 others, many online stations play
one spot at a time. Look at Pandora, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and consider buying streaming spots on your local stations.

7. Don’t buy background stations
“The station that everyone can agree on” is usually the station that no one is really engaged with. The music, the deejays
and your commercial message all play pleasantly in the background, like white noise.

8. Do: buy foreground content
Funny morning shows, news and talk radio hosts get results for advertisers because listeners are attentive to every word,
including your commercial message. Programming that keeps listeners interest is a good environment for your message.

9. Do: buy foreground content
And by the way... definitely support your local NPR station. You’ll reach more intelligent, better educated, higher-income
listeners who will pay attention and respond to your underwriting sponsorship message.

10. Do: buy Christian stations
Whether you’re a believer or not, these listeners will go out of their way to support businesses that they hear supporting
their faith-based programming.

11. Don’t buy based on 1/4 hour share
Quarter-hour ratings are left-over from when early radio programs were 15 minutes long. It is an estimate of how many
people tuned in to a station and listened for at least 15 minutes. Who cares? This number is irrelevant to your advertising
strategy.

12. Do: buy cume persons
Cume persons is an estimate on the cumulative (or total) number of persons who heard a radio station, whether they
listened for one minute or for two hours. This data is more useful in determining where your target consumers tune in.

13. Make contact with Jeff McHugh
www.jeffmchugh.com
twitter.com/silentmovie
linkedin.com/in/mchughj