"It always comes back to the relationship the consumer has with the radio station. We know how to use that emotional connection to grow our clients’ businesses."

Jill Albert has been around radio for nearly two decades, first as a top seller for the Marketing and Strategy Division of Interep Radio, then as owner of her own business, appropriately named "Direct Results."

Jill understands how radio works. She uses that knowledge and her creativity to give her clients clear and measurable results using audio media to grow their businesses. 

"For years I’ve watched advertisers use GRPs and TRPs to make their radio buying decisions. We buy people, personalities and lifestyles. We carefully match buyers with sellers or radio station listeners with products and services to maximize sales and ROI. Every ad we place has a call to action and we are 100% accountable for ROI on every campaign we implement. 

The success ratio of the agency is 97% -- killer good! If you pay close attention and keep the data clear, you win every time. We are meticulous with the details, and it’s hard work, but by using historical data and following weekly results on all stations, we are able to measure response and optimize results to maximize advertiser profit. Every time we put a client on radio, we show them how to grow their business – I love it.

I saw how well radio could work at Interep when we began working with a tiny account called the Phonics Game. We showed them how to use radio personalities to talk about their educational product, which was used to teach children to read. Teaching a child to read is a personal and somewhat emotional experience. This played perfectly on radio. We started the campaign with less than $30 thousand dollars. Response, sales and the budget grew each week. By year three, this account was spending in excess of $14 million on Radio. 

We use radio and combine it with Internet, mobile and in store messaging. When beneficial, we partner advertisers to extend reach, the experience and ad effectiveness. For example, we designed and implemented a campaign for a CW show, 'Life is Wild'. We paired this client with Rainforest Cafés, because both target families and share a wildlife theme. The radio spot focused on tune-in for the show's premiere. Promotional spots named both advertisers and sent people to the restaurants and their websites (including the radio station sites) to enter a contest for a trip to a Florida Wild Animal Park attraction. The restaurant displayed graphics and information about the show in their lobby, on placemats and throughout the RFC retail stores. We included a third client, Orbitz, to facilitate travel of grand prizewinners to the theme park. Our message to drive tune in to 'Life is Wild' was heard on the radio, viewed on the websites, read about through direct mail via Rainforest Café mailers and experienced in-stores.”

It was a huge success. The show had a fabulous initial week; Rainforest Café used it as their centerpiece promotion and said it generated an 11% lift in restaurant sales. Orbitz ran a coupon on the Rainforest Café website and on RFC receipts that generated a redemption more than double their standard response. It was a win-win-win situation, although the CW show eventually went off the air because, unlike the campaign, it didn't quite live up to its promise.

All of that worked because the radio brands used their emotional connection with their listeners to drive traffic to the show, the websites and the restaurants. It’s easy to do. Just match the unique qualitative aspects and the profile of the radio station with your brands. You'll see after each week's response whether or not you've judged correctly. The right environment with a compelling message will always drive results.

Another reason radio works so well for our business, entertainment, health and beauty, restaurant, and even political accounts is that everyone is so busy. Sales managers, working moms, everyone. We are in our cars, we are out, and we are shopping at the last minute. And we are listening to radio. 95% of us listen to radio every week. Radio talks directly to people in the right environment to hear and relate to the message. And at the right time to act on the message. 

As for the future of radio, I have two teenage kids. They listen to the radio all the time. Do they listen to cds and ipods? Yes, they do. But they relate to events they hear about on their favorite radio stations, and they want to hear what their favorite djs think is cool to do, cool to use, etc.

The busier you are, the better educated you are, the more involved you are, the more likely radio is to reach you. I don't see radio going away anytime soon. As marketers, we need to be more creative in the ways we use radio to reach people, but bottom line; we rely on the relationship between listener and radio station. That is the key in effectively matching buyers and sellers. We deliver messages that elicit response to consumers most likely to find the product relevant to their lifestyle,"

And understanding and knowing how to harness that for her clients has been the key to success for Jill Albert and Direct Results.

You can reach Jill at Jill@DirectResultsRadio.com or 310-441-9100 x1.