You have successfully chosen a campaign objective, a target demographic and you have also created a radio commercial and aired it during set slots during the day. Customers are coming in to buy your products or partake in your services. But now, another problem arises. How will you know if your investment is beginning to pay off? Of course, the normal indication is a sudden surge in your customers, but how can you find out that they are here because they listened to your radio commercial and not because of some other media advertisement that you may have also invested in? Here are a few ways to make sure your radio advertising is garnering interest and bringing in the crowds.

One of the ways to measure the success of your radio ad is to create a metric consistent with that of the marketing objective. This type of success measurement takes two steps to figure out. This is one by measuring sales before the ad and after the ad, provided that the commercial on the radio is the only advertisement being done. The next method is to measure sales against an industry standard or benchmark. Such information is available in almost all industries both online and through government and private trade centres. This will give you a rough idea on how much profit you should be reaping for the amount you spend on advertising and many trade magazine and brochures provide additional information on how to boost sales through whatever advertising medium you choose to use.

The final method is considerably more hands-on and works best for services. Try asking customers directly on how they heard about the product through a multiple choice survey. This also works well when you are advertising for a specific aspect of your company and want to know that it is getting its exposure through your radio advertisement by including certain keywords in your survey. To sweeten the deal, certain discounts or bonuses can be availed.

Advertisements already have a bad rep for being a waste of time. With the ability to skip ads becoming more apparent in the age of the internet, it takes true creativity and the right amount of empathy to truly sway people away from pushing the dreaded ‘skip’ button, though tighter schedules and a faster corporate rat race are as much to blame. As people find less and less time to do the things they love, stealing their attention to advertise for a product they may or may not need has been honed into a mixture between a fine art form and a psychological exercise.

No longer are straightforward ads enough to hold a person’s attention. In order to succeed, today’s ads must be an amalgamation of clever marketing and the performing arts, delivering all the information relevant to the product and its audience while pushing the boundaries of its content medium. Empathy and the ability to create an emotional bond with the complete strangers in the crowd of listeners is also a major selling point. The contents should make them laugh, shed tears, criticize and believe in the facts being presented. The moment the audience begins to form an opinion about an ad, they have begun to think about it, accomplishing the task of the marketers.

The growing popularity of the radio has made it another venue for advertisement. The tricky part of advertising on air is creating a conducive atmosphere with the listener, who could be engaged in another task while listening to the radio, which draws them into the audio-only description of the product.

There were several noteworthy ads in 2015, oozing ingenuity in their method of audience engagement. One of them was the use of simple yet effective humor. This included the usage of SFX sounds, like those of singing cats, and a witty yet uncomplicated storyline. The use of product appropriate voiceovers is one of the most important aspects of a radio ad. The rasping voice of an old man selling adult diapers and those of a young, sensual woman for a perfume ad are equally effective examples.

The line-up also stressed how no one questioned numbers, even if some seem slightly absurd. Not only do they inspire awe but they also provide credibility to an otherwise uninteresting spiel. Fin the right balance of information and entertainment, tweak the formula until it is perfect. There is always room for improvement later, although there is always a chance of nailing the perfect radio commercial the first time round with the proper research and execution.