Once you get your commercials produced, you’ll need to decide when you want them to go on the air. You can choose from two basic types of schedules.
One is “run of station,” or ROS. This means the station will decide when your commercials air as well as the specific time of the day that each commercial will be played. The second type is target placed, or “flights.” This strategy gives you the opportunity to decide when each commercial is played and for how many weeks during the month.
Skilled radio advertising people can help you develop effective “flights.” Just know that scheduled spots are more expensive because costs are based on both inventory and the demand for particular times. For example: morning and evening drive times are more expensive than midnight or early in the morning. Some ROS placements are less expensive than scheduled placements; however, they are typically less effective.
Your local station will have survey figures to indicate the most popular listening times for your potential customers. The best way to target is to find out which are the highest quarter-hour listening shares for your target demographic. That way, you are paying for your commercials when the chances are good your target audience is actually listening. Again, rely on your station sales rep to tell you which times will suit you best.
In a choosing a schedule, an advertiser must decide between reaching the most people (reach) and the number of times each person listening will hear the commercial (frequency). There is an excellent article on this topic by the Portland Radio Group, The Radio Advertiser’s Toughest Choice: Reach Versus Frequency.
I am going to sidestep this entire discussion. If you are new to radio advertising, the biggest question which you want to find out the answer to is “Does this work?” and if so, “What shows (daypart) are working?”
You want to run enough radio ads for your business that you will see noticeable results if it works. The problem with running a broad schedule, meaning commercials on multiple dayparts, is that you might not be able to tell if the campaign is producing good results. There may be an increase in business, but not enough to tell if its from your radio ads or just a normal fluctuation in sales. By focusing your advertising in one daypart and advertising with good frequency (for example three spots per day Monday through Friday) you should be able to tell if this type of advertising is working for your business. The risk of course of this strategy is that you might accidentally pick a daypart which doesn’t work for your business and get a misleading reading as to effectiveness as a result.
Suggestion: Pick the daypart that will be most effective for your business, and try a schedule of 3 ads per day, Monday through Friday.