Should you include your address in your radio ads?

I frequently get good questions from marketing salespeople. I’m going to start answering a few here now and then because not only do a whole bunch of honorable marketing people read this, but I think the answers will have value for any good company.

An anonymous fellow asks:

A client is promoting his retail store. He’s using :15 and :30 ads, and thinks the store address should be mentioned in the ad. If the address isn’t particularly easy to remember and the place is easy to find, is this worth using/wasting precious seconds?

I’m going to do my best to answer your question as asked, though in doing so, you might get several levels of answering because it’s dangerous to oversimplify my response.

Because my first response, if it were my client, would be “it depends.”

• Depends on what else we’re doing.
• Depends on how long we’ve been doing it.
• Depends on our mental position in the market.
• Depends on our competition.
• Depends on that location that you say is easy to find (there’s a difference between high visibility and being easy to find).
• Depends on whether we should actually be doing 15-second ads – which can be awesome for the right client and an absolutely waste of money for the wrong client.

See what I mean? This is tricky.

So … (deep sigh) … all else being equal (and it rarely is) … no, you should not include your store address. Frankly, your street address is always useless in a radio ad unless you’ve got such a powerful offer someone will come see you RIGHT NOW and plug it into their GPS. Like "free car now" powerful. In other words, it’s not likely.

Rather, give me a landmark locator like “next to the Library,” or “across from the High School.”

Better still? “Look for the purple building with the giant accordion on top.” Give us a mental image that’s suprising and rocks.

Honestly – if he took the money he was spending on 15s and bought a giant accordion and painted his building purple, it would dramatically increase the effectiveness of his 30s.

But I bet that’s not what you want to hear, huh? Sorry. But it’s true.

Think of your company’s advertising as a trigger. When someone sees or hears your message (or something singular, surprising and/or evocative in your message), it reminds them briefly of all the feelings they have – good and bad – about your company.

I tell you that to remind you just how valuable that short amount of time – be it :30 or :15 – is.

I also tell you that to remind you that all your advertising messages mean nothing if the listener has friends and family who are trashing a company for bad experiences. In other words, before running ads, make sure you’re following The First Order of Business.

And finally, I’ll leave you with the answer I suspect you already know but want some guy from out of town with a blog to validate for you.

Yes, it’s far better using your :30 or :15 to make me want to find you … to persuade me to take action … to help me think about you first and like you the most when it comes time to need your product or service … than to simply tell me where you are using your street address.

Plus, I’m betting you have a website that can show me right where you are. So consider including your short URL at the end after you’ve spent the overwhelming majority of your ad time persuading me.

There? Mr. Question Asker – is that what you really wanted? Feel free to share it with your client because it is true.

But I hope you won’t simply share the last few lines. I hope you’ll share my entire answer because it’s a better answer.

Having nearly twenty years of experience with broadcast media, I know there are – sadly – a whole bunch of people who’ll selectively share that last part.

But I don’t believe you’re one of those people. I believe you’re one of the good guys. I believe you truly want to help your client as best you can because you know that when you do the right thing, the money will eventually follow.

Right?