You Can Write Winning Radio Commercials

Just follow these simple rules. Don't head fuck your listener

Hey Listen To Me

Write out loud when you create a radio commercial. The copy MUST work as a piece of conversation.

Here’s some great tips based on 'Radio Ads for Dummies' re-written for the UK market

Going Straight:

Use straightforward language that is written exactly how people talk.

Slow Down

Write to the pace people talk, not to the pace at which they read.

Include pauses. (Silence is powerful)

The listener needs time to think, and the voiceover should be heard breathing at least a couple of times. (It is all right to lose some breaths to create some pace and excitement.)

Remove your bollocks

Cut extra verbiage. You wouldn't say indeed, thus, moreover, or therefore if you were explaining something exciting to a friend, so don't do it in your radio script, either.

Don’t Head Fuck your listener

Rewrite elaborately constructed sentences. Don't expect listeners to track through phrases linked together with who, which, and whereas.

Instead of:

“The new fashions, which just came off the Paris runways where they made international news, are due to arrive in London tomorrow at noon.”

Try:

“The newest Paris runway fashions arrive in London tomorrow at noon. You're invited to a premiere of the world's leading looks.”

Tell listeners what to do next. Prepare them to take down the phone number, Facebook or web address.

Or at least repeat the number for them. But try and do it amongst the whole copy rather than repeated three times at the end!

WWW – nobody likes them, nobody needs them, all good websites and browsers can cope without them and they sound really ugly to say before a clients web address.

Most important, help the listener remember your clients name so they can find them in a Google search or online.

Also remember the radio audience is an audience of one. Radio is an intimate one to one medium.

Radio do's and don'ts (Based on Radio Ads For Dummies)

Use the following checklist of ideas to employ and land mines to avoid:

· Do stick with a single theme in each ad.

· Do make a simple offer that calls for immediate action.

· Do generate leads by making no-risk offers for free estimates, free brochures, or free information.

· Do limit a 30-second ad to 60 or 70 words unless it includes an intentionally rapid-fire conversation.

· Do use radio as a complement to other advertising: Look for our voucher in Friday's Metro.

· Do say your name three times. (But not contrived or at the end)

· Do match your ad to the format of the station you air it on. Don't expect the ad to make the sale; use it to make the contact.

· Don't advertise products with a bunch of disclaimers. (Sometimes legally you have no choice here)

· Slow down – match the voice speed of the station.

· Don't use incomprehensible jingles.

· Don't use weak attempts at humour.

· Don't talk to yourself. We've been in business 25 years. . . . We're excited over our new range. . . . We're open until 10 p.m. Instead, turn every statement into a consumer benefit “You can shop 'til 10 every night” if you want to hold listener attention — and you do.