Using Radio Advertising Effectively in Political Campaigns

The worst week in the life of the radio station’s scheduling department is the week before election day. Every local, regional and national candidate expects to purchase as much air time as they can afford and demand the station find room on the daily commercial log for their message. The months of campaigning come to a crisis point and the mad dash to the radio stations ensues. Do you enjoy listening to radio during the last week of an election? Exactly. An endless stream of the same commercials repeated and repeated and, well, you get the point.

As a twenty year veteran in the radio industry Scott Perreault (http://www.scottradio.com/) understands how to maximize political capital and effectiveness in the advertising portion of the campaign as it applies to radio. Scott held the positions of radio station Sales Manager and General Manager in various markets. Scott understands this the reality of the situation.

The three rules for success are as follows. First, have an effective message. That is not to say the common reading of issues, rather a commercial or preferably group of commercials that leave a visual message. A message that reaches the voter. No one hears the screaming of issues among the six campaign commercial all airing in a row. One, two, three, four, five, six boring, screaming, mean spirited, brain numbing commercials. http://www.scottradio.com/ is one the best at creating a message that is effective. Second, purchase the radio time well in advance with sponsorships of news, weather or traffic as your first preference if they will sell these air times to a political concern. They cost extra, but well worth it because you separate your commercials from the others and in most cases the local announce gives a “tag line” such as “this weather brought to you by Vote for Senator Smith Campaign Fund…” Almost sounds like the announcer is telling his loyal fan base to vote for your candidate. Finally, have fresh commercials ready for the last two days of the campaign. A new radio commercial each day. Your candidate needs to sound topical and current.

Scottradio.com advertising agency and voice works has been trusted for over twenty years by local, regional or national political campaigns. Scott Perreault welcomes the opportunity to develop a message for your candidate that wins. Millions of dollars will be spent on radio advertising this political season. Will your candidate’s radio campaign be effective?

Political Robo Calling that works

With the landscape of American politics becoming extremely polarized, the use of many different techniques to illicit a positive or negative response from the voters are being conducted outside of traditional radio and television methods. A new method of communication is with the use of Robo Calling. A taped voice being presented to the person who answers their telephone. A new spin on the telemarketing concept. We all know what high esteem the telemarketing industry holds in our society, the question is, can Robo Calling elevate itself to a status where individual households welcome and indeed listen to these calls?

Scott Radio (www.scottradio.com) is a radio political voice and script writing organization recently conducted an informal survey of over three hundred households who had received a Robo Call during the last election. The results were surprising. The vast majority did not find the call negative. Most found them informative. A common reply was they felt “included” in the process. If a friend had received a call and they did not, it was considered a reason not to vote for that candidate. Unlike sales people calling to ask for money, the Robo call is not seeking money, rather a much more valuable item, of which every adult has just one to give. A vote. The overwhelming result of the survey is Americans remain proud. While in the world of consumerism, some individuals are thrifty while others spend until the credit card is declined, in the matter of our one vote, we remain cautious and prudent on how we use it.

The one strong comment during the survey was the approval of Robo Calls from male voices who were not aggressive, yet were not drone. The research shows that Robo Calls from the candidate were not well received. Candidates often delivered an impression of being long-winded, begging or disrespectful. If you are considering the us of Robo Calls, you need to do everything in your power to ensure a benefit to your candidate, rather than creating a negative impression that results in a old fashion lynching on election day.