Reach your customers through the power of radio - Outdoor Marketplace

Shooting Industry, Dec, 2003 by Mark Diss

Should you be on the radio? Are you missing the opportunity to reach new customers by not advertising your gun-shop's products and services on this mobile medium? Are you using radio advertising to "remind" your present customer base of promotions and special events? If you're not, you're losing business.

Why do so many businesses advertise on the radio? Because radio advertising works!

Whether your gun shop is in a big city or a small rural town, radio is one of the most effective tools for getting your message to potential customers at a cost far below what you'd expect. From a weekend of ads designed to promote a special event to an annual drive-time contract, radio is a viable advertising medium that many gun dealers overlook.

Make Radio Work For You

The same factors that make radio a cost-efficient and practical way for big businesses to reach consumers also can make radio work for you. The key to effective radio advertising, as in all marketing efforts, is developing a relationship with an advertising executive.

"Like most things in life, relationships that are easy and friendly normally generate better results," said Nick Morris, who handles advertising for Cowboy Shooters in Joshua, Texas. Morris, who handles all media buys for Cowboys, has a unique perspective on radio advertising.

"My dad was a sales executive with a powerful Dallas radio station back when Kennedy was assassinated," Morris said. "The station he worked for refused to take any advertising from retailers who sold firearms for about a year. They were afraid of offending their audience.

"What my dad did was have his gun dealer advertisers present their products in a different way. Instead of having them advertise their guns, he had them talk about the family fun and lifestyle the shooting sports represents. That kept us from losing our home."

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Morris has carried that idea into the advertising he does today.

"Cowboy's advertising, especially on radio, does the same thing," he said. "We have a tight demographic, so we really pound the family fun and Western heritage that cowboy action shooting promotes. Radio advertising has been very good for us."

A good radio sales executive knows the local market. He or she can offer you ad ideas, and can help you with the production and presentation of ads.

"The fact that we have a good relationship with the radio station on which we run our ads is important," Morris said. "Not only do we get a lot of help, we also get the latest information about demographics and trends in our marketplace."

The market demographics that radio stations use are different from those used for television, so understanding radio-specific demographics is vital to the success of radio advertising. Without this kind of information, you can mistakenly place the wrong ad at the wrong time--which can make it absolutely worthless.

"Advertisers need to remember that the primary listener during traditional drive times is going to be vastly different from the listener during the middle of the day," said Robert Brill, a senior retail consultant with Damar Management in Tampa, Fla.

Jerri Johnson is an account executive for Infinity Broadcasting's WQYK in St. Petersburg, Fla., and represents the station's weekend outdoor shows.

"If you're a retailer who is selling to the hunting and fishing demographic, then you need to look at stations that cover that market," he said. "Whether they have an outdoor show or not, the demographic still exists."

RELATED ARTICLE: Use Annual Contracts To Your Advantage

One way to get the biggest benefit from your radio advertising dollars is to plan a promotion. And the most effective way to use radio advertising for a promotion is to have an annual contract with a local radio station. Signing an annual contract can save you money and get you some great time placements.

An annual contract gave Cowboy Shooters several unexpected additional benefits, some of which were free.

"We wanted to do a Western-heritage promotion, a 'get fired up about the history of the West' sort of promotion," Morris said. "And then, of course, it would say, 'Get an authentic experience at Cowboys.' We talked with our sales guy and he put together a 15-second spot during drive-time sports and another 30 seconds in the evening after the traffic reports.

A local event planner heard the ad and contacted Cowboy Shooters about adding it to an upcoming advertisement for a Western Heritage Days promotion in a nearby town.

"As a result, we were able to literally cut our ad rate in half. We couldn't have done that if we didn't have a long-term contract and a great relationship with the account executive," Morris said.

"The benefits of the Cowboy's Western-heritage promotion continued to gain value. During the ads' second week, Cowboy Shooters received an offer for a free booth at the Western Heritage Days event to showcase the dealer's shop."

"Besides the free space, we had access to the corporate donor list, as well as the people who attended the event," Morris said. "We conducted a drawing for a free quick-draw holster, gun discount and fast-draw lessons. It was very good for us."