Air the message
If you or your advertising agency are victims of habit, there’s a good chance that you’ll allocate less than 20 per cent of next year’s advertising budget to radio. If you do, you won’t be alone. Most areas have yet to really test the effectiveness of radio, for to them it has too many unknown qualities, particularly when it comes to precisely measuring the results. Somehow, counting keyed coupons from print media ads seems more reassuring.
But to properly balance your 1972-73 advertising budget, you’d best investigate radio. Skiers are more oriented to radio than ever before. However, lest we mislead you, we already assume that print advertising is a permanent part of any well-balanced ski area budget.
Radio is basically a personality business. Because of its nature, it can generate a mood of excitement, of “being there.” And, to the ski area operator’s advantage, radio can accommodate the whims of nature. A few updated radio spots can turn a marginal morning wire service snow report into a brighter picture by afternoon if your conditions improve.
Operators report they use up to 18-20 per cent of their advertising budget on broadcast vs. 80-82 per cent on print. In no way should the ratio be reversed, but we know of particular budgets where 50-55 per cent was allocated to radio, and where both reasoning and results justified spending such a large portion of the budget. As a rule of thumb, the closer you are to metropolitan centers, the higher the percentage should be. It is logical in a situation where you have a high recognition fcator to spend enough to protect your position in the market.
In a recent survey conducted for the New England Ski Areas Council, it was learned that nearly half the people skiing New England areas considered radio as their most dependable source of snow conditions reports. Further, in the same survey, it was learned that now there are approximately two and a half times as many radio stations carrying ski shows and/or skiing related advertising as three years ago.
Even more encouraging on the matter of radio’s growing importance as a ski area advertising medium is a September 1971 survey which reported that nearly 80 per cent of the nation’s radio stations “were not only interested, but in view of the new FCC requirements, were presently seeking new sources of worthwhile and entertaining public service programming.” Obviously, the prospects of your dovetailing advertising and publicity functions with radio are good and your marketing thrust should be stronger for it.
When we speak of radio, we are not referring necessarily to radio buys you make via “trade-offs,” i.e. exchanging lift tickets for commercial time. There is some real logic to using tickets instead of cash, but with cash buys your chances of getting a better shake price wise and of obtaining good time adjacencies are usually better.
Just as in print advertising, today you can expect to run your commercial message alongside editorial items on skiing, ski conditions reports, etc.
It would be unrealistic to suggest (even if we knew) which medium achieves the best cost per thousand, specific audience desired or conversion rate. But let there be no doubt that a ski area budget aimed entirely toward print has either a secret weapon up its sleeve or is behind the times.—P.C.
