Targeting the Traditional – Radio and Newspaper

You may think that newspaper and radio coverage cannot be tailored down to your specific audience…but think again. There are several steps that can be taken to make sure that you have effective advertising that is reaching your target audience.
Newspapers
First, pick a newspaper that’s in the county you want to reach. From here, contact the paper to dig deeper into all of their capabilities. Are they able to zone? If a paper allows you to zone, you have the option of picking specific zip codes that you want to reach within newspaper’s distribution area. This way, you are able to exclude the zip codes that are not beneficial to you. This also helps when looking at your client’s store locations. With a retail client, for example, you will want to evaluate where the zip codes are in relation to the store locations to make sure that those who you are targeting are likely to visit the nearby store.
Some newspapers also give the option of grouping zip codes into regions to target the consumers with ads and information that is happening in their vicinity. A single newspaper can have different regional issues that are inserted into their regular paper that are specific to each region.
You can also look into whether it’s best to have an ad placed in the newspaper or whether to have pre-printed inserts put into the paper. Look at your budgets and your goals. Some papers may have multiple publication days, and some might be published weekly. Be sure to look at this when producing the creative that might be specific to a particular sale date. You may want the surprise factor of having the ad come out the night before the sale starts or you may want to advertise a full week in advance. Tailor your ads to your promotions.
Radio
A simple but important start to radio is the format of the station. Find out the type and style of music that is played on the station. Does it align with your target audience? Make sure to do some research on both your audience and the stations to make sure that those who you want to target are actually listening to the station you want to air on.
You can also work backwards. Decide on your target market and then figure out your stations from there. You can pull a report, known as a ranker report, which shows the top stations depending on your market and target audience. Check it out at arbitron.com.
And last, check out day-part options. Be picky with your times. What time of the day is best to reach your target market? Specify the times that you want your radio spots to run down to the minute. Look at your promotion to see when it’s best to promote it. Are you trying to reach those driving to work? Maybe look at 7A-9A. Don’t be afraid to say exactly what you need.
When you know the options available targeting traditional media can be very useful. It’s different than the digital space, but can be just as effective.