Now Hear This: B-to-B Audience Still Tuned to Radio

It may not be "rising up the charts with a bullet" anymore, but don't underestimate the advertising appeal of the oldest electronic medium.  In a world of sexy new digital media options for marketers,  radio still matters, especially for business to business audiences.

According to a study by Media Audit, 55% of business owners, partners and corporate officers listen to the radio between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m., compared with 45 % of the general population. The telephone survey of 6,860 business executives in 88 U.S. cities in 2006 and 2007 also found that on an average day, 75% of these executives tune to radio, compared with 68% of the general market. The survey identified the top radio formats for reaching business executives as news/talk (21%), public radio (17%), country (12%) and talk (11%).

Why does old-school radio still fit the modern marketing mix of many b-to-b advertisers? By delivering timeless benefits unique to the medium, including:

• Capturing an audience's attention and imagination by appealing to the "theater of the mind."
• Creating drama or urgency that makes people stop and listen.
• Crisply explaining a need and solution without the distractions of images or visual effects.
• Reaching the right targeted audience on a local level with a time sensitive message.

Business-to-business media buyers caution that radio advertising is not for every marketer and that it works best for certain industries, such as finance, health care and telecom. A lot of radio targets general business owners while a lot of b-to-b advertising is industrial in nature.

Your top priority in deciding to use radio as a marketing vehicle is to make sure that your ad is targeting the right audience. Choose your programming genre and air times carefully, and the "old gray mare" of advertising can still deliver your message to the local market decision-makers you want to reach with all the power and persuasion of the latest interactive marketing tools.

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