Image by Silvo Bilinski from Pixabay
By Tyler Rake
In 2020 the COVID 19 pandemic changed the world as we knew it forever which meant many things we were used to had to change over the course of a few weeks. This change made it difficult to advertise things in the usual way businesses do so many businesses took up radio opportunities to still reach clients.
I know that when I am listening to the radio that the advertisements as well as the shows aren’t all up in your face, metaphorically speaking, they are calmer and try to welcome the listener and gain their trust and commitment so that people will want to come back to the show based on trust and the content that’s created rather than coming back just because of the content of the radio station.
In an article called “The sound of responsibility: evolution of the use of radio advertising as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication channel before and after Covid-19. A significant increase” In order for businesses to continue to operate during the pandemic they had to do advertising in a crisis situation which led to a change in how advertising was carried out. Radio advertising is meant to be much more personal as well as trustworthy. Therefore, companies had to all fit the same general genre of advertising which is credible and welcoming advertising. To this day radio is still one of the most trusted platforms for advertising.
People everywhere still listen to the radio which is why it is such a big platform for information and advertising. Even if a radio is playing in the background somewhere people are still listening to the radio and getting whatever information they need from it even if they aren’t actively trying to listen to it. This is why radio reaches more people compared to television or social media because people of all ages listen to radio. If a company is reaching out to older clients, they most likely don’t look into social media as much as a younger generation, but they do still listen to radio. If organizations want to reach a younger audience. The same thing applies in the fact that they may have restrictions, but younger audiences may listen to the radio with their parents.
One of the positives for moving advertising to radio is that radio, even though it isn’t a main source of information or entertainment as much as it used to be, still reaches the most people compared to television or billboards or other forms of advertising which allows companies to still reach a wide variety of listeners. Something that is also worth mentioning is that in times of crisis people tend to turn to traditional forms of media to get accurate information and luckily for organizations radio is one of those traditional forms of media.
Radio has been around since the early 1900’s and has been a source of information since the very beginning. Before televisions existed, radios used to be what families would gather around and listen to for entertainment and information. Even when the television did come out, they were so expensive that radios were still very popular even when television programs gained major popularity.
Something that also helped organizations is that rather than attacking the listener with advertisements that are supposed to be big and bold to get them to buy or use their product or service organizations used radio more as a means of communicating information. This form of advertising not only allowed the organizations to show what their company has to offer but allowed the companies to gain the listeners of the radio stations’ trust.
So. How effective was radio advertising during the COVID 19 pandemic? The answer to that question is extremely effective. Radio is what allowed some businesses to stay afloat during a time of great turmoil and crisis. The reputation of the radio allowed businesses to redirect their advertising efforts and make new campaigns in order to be able to survive during something that was completely new to everyone.
Radio has and will continue to be a reliable and trusted source of information for people even in times when communication can seem impossible.