So much radio advertising is wasted because most copywriters never have been taught how to create an effective radio commercial, let alone an entire campaign of radio commercials.
The model that most people follow when creating commercials is: I’ll do a little song & dance to entertain them, and then I’ll try to sell them something.
And it USED to work that way. In the 1800′s, some stranger would appear in the town square and juggle or perform a magic act. A crowd would gather. Then the entertainer would step aside in order to allow the snake oil salesman to make his pitch.
And they sold an awful lot of snake oil that way.
But that’s not how it works with electronic media advertising in the 21st Century.
Remember, ADVERTISING IS MASS SALESMANSHIP.
If you happen to a Sales Manager:
Do you instruct your account executives to conduct sales calls by telling 27 jokes and then asking, “Do you want to buy some commercials?” If you run a business, do you tell your salespeople to tell each prospect a dozen jokes and then ask, “Do you want to buy something?”
If you entertain in a commercial, the entertainment has to be inextricably woven around the sales message. You should not be able to remove the entertainment without removing the sales message itself.
And that’s a very easy and extremely effective test to apply to your commercial: “Is it possible to remove the entertaining elements without also removing the sales message?”
Many copywriters seem to think if they create a funny situation, they don’t need to establish a strong connection between the comedy and the sales message. Your characters must be involved with the product or service: Perhaps they already use that product or that service….or they need the service or the product….or they wish there were such a product or service….or their lives in some way would be better if they had that product or service.
When creating commercials, don’t do comedy unless you do it well — unless you can do it “funny.” And even if you are able to “do it funny,” you should avoid comedy or humor unless it helps the commercial to sell.
