You may have noticed a new tab on your Google AdWords control panel – “Audio Ads”. The Audio Ads option lets you run a radio ad campaign in a very similar fashion as a paid search ad campaign. When you click the tab, you have the option to “Create an audio ad campaign”. Sound familiar?
We at Work Media are excited about the prospect of being able to create and manage radio ads right alongside paid search ads, all from a single interface. There are probably a lot of marketing theorists and business school professors who would argue that it is not good for a single company, Google, to dominate so much of the advertising market on so many different platforms. But as business pragmatists, our view is “Who cares?” If it helps us make more money for our clients, and it makes life easier, then we’re all for it.
The first thing you do when setting up a campaign is to set your weekly budget. There are several pre-set options, ranging from $500 to $2,000, but you can set your own budget at whatever amount you want, as long as it is at least $25. The second step is to select your geographic market. The third step is to select your option for specific stations. You have the choice of either running your ads on whatever stations reach the most listeners at the lowest cost, or you can pick stations in particular formats. If you have a definable target market, then your best bet is to select stations that best cater to your market.
Now, this is a brand new program, so the number of stations on which you can run your ads at the present is fairly limited. For instance, when we were playing around with setting up a radio campaign, there were no sports stations available in our preferred target markets. But hey, this is cutting edge stuff, so you can’t really expect everything to be perfect yet.
The next step is to set a bid per thousand impressions. Same old auction format – tried and true.
After selecting the days and time blocks in which you would like your ads to run, Google will show you an estimate of how much you will spend and how much your cost per thousand impressions will be.
The next step is to either upload your audio ad or use Google’s ad marketplace to find a company to create your ad for you. Either way, the end result is that you will be running audio ads on multiple targeted radio stations without the hassles of having to deal with radio sales people. Beautiful!
If you could use some help running your own Google radio ad campaign, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or via email at Info@WorkMedia.net.