As someone who is supposed to be a radio advertising expert and who teaches how to write radio commercials in radio commercial writing seminars around the world, here is the sermon I find myself preaching to radio professionals.

WE DO NOT SELL ALUMINUM SIDING!

If I were to describe an industry that focu sed all of its energy on making s ales — i.e., by sparing no expense in educating its salespeople in all the latest techniques of getting in the door, asking for the order, overcoming objections and closing the sale — but which virtually ignored the quality of the product being sold and which made no real effort to insure that the product actually does what it’s supposed to for the customer…you’d probably think of a disreputable industry. Like the cliched picture of an aluminum siding salesman.

That aluminum siding salesperson doesn’t care about the quality of his product because he doesn’t care about the customer and because he’s not coming back for a repeat sale.

Radio time salespeople don’t sell “time;” they sell commercials.

The commercials are marketed as selling tools for the advertiser. If the commercials don’t sell for the client, the client is not getting his money’s worth and is less likely to reorder.

RADIO NEEDS REPEAT BUSINESS: Radio spot sales is one of the few businesses that depend upon repeat sales but whose practitioners typically believe their job is done when the sale is closed.

In most other industries, the salesperson’s job isn’t completed until the product is successfully delivered. If your radio station’s commercial copy is written by an overworked salesperson who has no training in copywriting –  or a similarly undertrained Copywriter or Continuity Director — how good can you expect your copy (i.e., you know, that thing that is supposed to solve the client’s problem) to be?

Writing radio commercials is neither a science nor an art. Writing effective, results-producing radio advertising is a craft. The more you learn about and practice your craft, the better you’ll become at it.

What is a good commercial?

It’s not one that entertains.

It’s not one that’s “well-produced.”

It’s not one that wins awards.

A good commercial is one that SELLS.

What is a commercial that sells?

Is it one that mentions the sponsor’s name a certain number of times? That tells you how much the product or service costs? That lists all the great things the product or service will do? That gives the client’s phone a certain number of times?

No. A commercial that sells is a commercial that motivates the listener to act.