How Much Does It Cost to Advertise on the Radio?
I have clients spending as little as $1000 a month and as much as $20,000 a month on radio advertising. Both of these are exceptional cases, and you’ll most likely have a budget somewhere in between. Most of my dental clients start with budgets between $2500 and $5000 a month.
That may sound expensive, especially when you multiply by twelve to see your annual spending. Maybe you think you can’t afford it. But if it is done right, there is no such thing as advertising that is too expensive. If it gets you the expected return, advertising is an investment, not an expense.
Proper planning, that views advertising like an investment, will budget advertising dollars for the course of the year in the same way that you should be funding all your investments. Marketing is not something you spend money on when there is a little extra at the end of the month. You need to make a long-term plan, commit to it, and stick with it.
So sure, $5000 a month does add up to $60,000 a year. That same campaign, if properly planned, should add a minimum of a quarter-million to your production that same year – and likely much more. Can you afford that?
Very illuminating post.
Advertising only “costs” if it doesn’t work. The dentists that are spending $5,000 a month do it because that $5,000 will bring them $10,000 or more in patient revenue — with the lifetime value of each patient driving the profit even higher.
Of course, this assumes that the copy’s good, that radio schedule delivers strong frequency to a desireable group of prospects, and that the practice has systems in place to track and follow up each lead. I imagine that these are the kinds of things that your consultancy works on every day.
The overhead in a dental practice makes a 2 to 1 ROI unprofitable. Usually dentists break even around 3 to 1. I’ve found that a decent practice can generate about 5 to 1, and a great practice can expect much more.
Excellent post. As always I enjoy reading your posts…
I was kinda lookin for the exact amount of money for a radio advertisement.
That’s like asking how much a car costs – it depends on the specifics. A small suburban station in the middle of the night could cost a couple of bucks. A morning drive commercial on a popular NYC radio station copld cost more than a thousand.