Does the span of half a minute seem impossibly brief? In marketing terms, it’s a lifetime, and 30 second radio ads are your key to capitalizing on the opportunity. These ads tell captivating stories, promote product value, and drive reactive engagement actions — usually in under 75 words. Advertisers use these spots to capture attention before listeners can get bored, making them powerful tools in a marketing-saturated world.
Should your marketing plan incorporate more 30-second radio ads? Even if you’ve already got a seemingly perfect campaign going, a change of pace might be worth consideration. These insights should get you planning, scripting, recording, and deploying more efficient, to-the-point, and aurally pleasing audio content.
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This post was updated in May 2021
Why Do Marketers Use 30 Second Radio Ads?
Although it might seem like modern marketers are just jumping on the bandwagon by making their ads 30 seconds long, there’s a practical reason for this time-honored radio advertising trend. Longer ads cost more, and many broadcasters max out at one minute in length. In other words, 30 seconds is the ideal middle of the road for those interested in building buzz without spending all of their marketing budgets at once.
A Little Bit of Background
Things weren’t always this way. If you could hop in a time machine and zip back to the 1930s or 1940s, you’d probably hear lots of unfamiliar marketing content during serialized programs, such as the classic program The Shadow with Orson Welles. As with early TV, some commercials were only about ten seconds long. Others required listeners to sit through many agonizing minutes of gab before getting back to their favorite stories. Even today, podcast listeners regularly encounter ads — and shows — of highly variable length.
The common factor lies in the market. Old shows existed within a brave new advertising landscape. Without the decades of data we have today, it was only natural for commercials to be all over the place. Modern podcasts are similar because they’re relatively freeform. Like the broadcasters of old, podcasters and influencers have more leeway to go with whatever suits the flow.
The Value of a 30-second Spot
Contemporary marketers use 30-second radio ads for many reasons. While the specific advertising aim, such as promoting a new project or service, is situational, half-minute spots have many advantages:
- Thirty-second time slots are a universal marketing standard. This makes these ads easy for listeners to absorb and ensures broadcasters can work them into typical rotations.
- These spots are less expensive than others. When you pay less per ad, you have more options for practices like buying multiple plays in a day or running longer campaigns.
- Thirty seconds is just long enough to get the message across without overwhelming people. Considering how quickly consumer attention spans are dropping, it’s important to be succinct.
- Half-minute ads constrain your creativity in a potentially constructive way. Getting used to producing content that requires focus may help you get better at value-oriented branding.
Setting Goals for 30 Second Radio Ads
Ask yourself why you’re creating radio ads. Do you want to earn more walk-in business at a physical location? Maybe you’re trying to promote your participation in a charity event or hype up a new service. Each advertisement is different, but as a general rule, the purpose should be to drive additional action.
You don’t get much benefit out of people listening to your ads and immediately forgetting them. Try to help your brand linger in their memories by enticing them to engage further. This might mean using a catchy jingle to make your company name more memorable or spicing someone’s day up with humor that makes them reconsider patronizing you. View your 30-second radio ads as the start of a longer relationship, and make it worthwhile for listeners to take part.
What Can I Even Fit in a 30 Second Radio Ad?
Although 30-second ads seem to breeze by, they actually leave plenty of time for great content. As we’ve mentioned before, most ads use the spoken word, music, and sound effects to reach consumers. Their content varies based on who they’re trying to target, what they’re selling, and what actions they want to prompt in listeners.
We already noted that most 30-second, English-language scripts have room for about 75 words. While you can squeeze about 15 more words out of a fast talker or shave off 15 for a calmer pace, 75 is a good starting point. This means that whatever you want to express, you should find a way to say it with fewer words.
Being open to changes is a wise idea in the conceptualization stage. After all, you might not know that your ad sounds too rushed or laid-back until you hear an impartial voice actor reading the script. Empower yourself with options by coming up with multiple versions and prioritizing the most important bits ahead of time.
A Quick Guide to Writing 30 Second Radio Ads
High-impact radio ads should be accessible. For instance, spots that portray organic conversations prove more natural for listeners to immerse themselves in than those that stick to pushy hard sells. Here are a few essential questions you ought to invest in answering:
What should my 30 second ads talk about?
Marketing topics vary, but having a definite purpose works wonders. Some common content elements to consider adding include
- Interesting, brief dialogue that introduces a topic, describes a need, or points out a problem that your offerings solve,
- Your branded catchphrase, tag line, or slogan,
- A closing call to action, or CTA, that tells the listener how to find out more.
These three components are usually more than enough to achieve the goal of boosting engagement. While you can add more, it’s often easiest to start with the basics and build according to how the initial test read turns out.
Who should my 30 second radio ads target?
Most marketing has a desired audience. With 30-second radio ads, you might not know who’s listening at any given moment, but you can still establish a stable connection.
One good tactic is to draw inspiration from your audience demographics and segmentation data on other channels, such as social media. For instance, looking at the typical ages, interests, social status, incomes, and locations of your consumers can inform you about:
- What style of targeted language and tone to use,
- Which value propositions people are receptive to so that you can showcase your product,
- How knowledgeable most listeners are so that you don’t waste time rehashing known ideas,
- Which forms of brand interaction people favor so that you can form an appropriate call to action, and
- The kinds of problems, concerns, or product usage cases that might be worth addressing in the content.
Other ways to find your groove include researching your competitors’ and your own past campaigns. If you know that lots of people on Twitter commented about a particularly viral radio ad, then you might want to give it a listen yourself. Remember that identifying whom you’re talking to is just the beginning. You also need to know how to connect with them, so feel free to explore the options.
How should I structure my CTA?
Call-to-action content often takes the form of a direct address. Talk to the consumer as if you were trying to help them from a perspective of goodwill and knowledge. Here are some examples of how to do a lot in very few words:
“Learn more about our shop at bunnydonuts.com, or stop by to sample Mr. Bunny’s secret flavor of the day.”
This two-part call to action uses non-aggressive yet active language. In addition to letting people know they can engage at their leisure, it piques their curiosity with a surprise daily flavor.
“Visit our local store today for a free, no-risk consultation.”
This CTA is a bit more commanding since it directs the listener to visit. At the same time, it sweetens the offer with the added value of a complimentary, conveniently located service.
“Surround yourself in high-end luxury with a test drive.”
This one shows how word choice can work wonders. By using phrasing like “Surround yourself” instead of alternatives such as “Take a test drive” or “Come to our lot,” the CTA makes a direct command seem more like a well-intentioned suggestion.
Putting It All Together
We won’t lie to you — Writing ads is hard and subjecting yourself to a time constraint doesn’t make it any simpler. Even though it’s perfectly fine to draft your own content, you ultimately need to create something more polished.
The best 30-second radio ads flow smoothly enough that people don’t consider them intrusive. Obviously, you’re not trying to fool anyone into thinking they’re not commercials, but you do need to create something that has listening value apart from the business value you derive. For instance, memorable radio ads commonly tell jokes or use farcical dialogue to break the ice.
Remember how we talked about old-timey radio? Serialized dramas may have also influenced an iconic form of narrative marketing. It’s not as common today, but this kind of content typically established storylines with recurring characters who showed up in multiple ads. While you might not find sufficient time to create a sprawling backstory or do much world-building in 30 seconds, simple tricks like including a named character or the same voice talent can definitely get listeners invested. Fostering emotional buy-in is crucial in multi-spot campaigns and cross-promotional content.
The Writing
Decide what you want to accomplish, who you’re talking to, and what they’d ideally do after listening. Then, hire a scriptwriter to flesh things out. Since it may take a few tries to achieve perfection, you might even benefit from soliciting multiple versions from different authors and focus-grouping the results.
The Recording
Recording 30-second radio ads is much like creating other outreach content. It’s vital to take an approach that cultivates a consistent, professional sound. Using the ideal tone, building rapport, and sticking the landing are everything when listeners decide whether to tune out in seconds, so hire an expert.
The Deployment
Your choice of ad promoter or broadcaster matters. Just as your content should feature an audience-appropriate voice, it needs a conducive venue. All the airtime in the world won’t help if you can’t reach the ideal demographic. Listen to your preferred podcaster, radio show, or station before committing, and find a home that compliments your branded content.
Empower Your Outreach With 30 Second Radio Ads
Integrating 30-second ads into your marketing can grant your campaigns enhanced visibility. These spots may be the widespread standard, but their content can run the full gamut from dramatic or humorous to authoritative. Since 30-second ads are excellent opportunities to find your voice and build recognition, they can enhance other marketing efforts for a more cohesive brand footprint.
Looking for help with your audio ads? Submit a project with us and we’ll take care of it in a flash!
