In the marketing world, radio has earned thereputation of being the odd step-cousin. You know the one. No one knowsquite what to do with him. Especially at family gatherings wheneveryone tries hard to avoid sitting with him. (After all, who knowsWHAT he'll start talking about.)

Much of thatreputation comes from radio being tough to track. On one hand, radiodoes work. Businesses do notice an increase in sales when they addradio to the mix. However, radio doesn't test well. In surveys andother tracking methods, radio tends to be the one with the dismalscores.

A good friend of mine, who's also amarketing consultant but before that she sold radio for many years, hasa theory about that. She says radio works on a subconscious orunconscious level. People remember the ad, but not that they heard iton the radio. So, they tend to credit a different medium for the ad,like the yellow pages. Yellow pages gets a boost while radio drops afew points.

Regardless, radio should not be ignoredbecause it does work. And many marketing consultants will probably tellyou radio is an excellent medium to reach a local market.

However, I feel there are possibilities beyond merely reaching local customers.

Internetradio shows are starting to take off in a big way. That meansadvertising and sponsorship opportunities are also taking off. Inaddition, "offline" methods have been shown to be pretty effective atdriving traffic online. If increasing Web traffic is your goal, usingtraditional media outlets to increase traffic should be a part of yourmix.

If people already know you (which they might inyour local market) they're more likely to be loyal. And they're morelikely to send other customers to your site. Depending on the costs ofradio in your community, radio may be a very affordable way to get agood viral campaign going. (A viral campaign is what happens when otherpeople pass around your business' e-mails to their friends and family,or send them to your Web site.)

Below are some other positive reasons to use radio:

*Affordable -- when you compare spot to spot, radio tends to be one ofthe least expensive media out there. However, one spot ain't going todo it. To reach your target market, you need to purchase several spots.That's why radio can also turn into one of the more expensive media.However, there are ways to keep your costs in line yet still reap thebenefits of radio -- for instance, buying less spots but running themall in one or two weeks, so your customers are more likely to hear yourmessage.

* Psychological, if you voice the commercialsyourself -- hearing your voice makes people feel like they "know" you.(Hence the popularity of audio on Web sites. In fact, marketing gurusclaim just by adding audio to a site substantially increases how manypeople buy.)

People tend to buy from people andbusinesses they know and trust. Hearing your voice helps them feel asif they know you. These psychological aspects may be another reason toconsider running a few radio ads in your local market even if you havean Internet business.

* Speed -- you can get your spot up and running in no time.

*Loyalty -- listeners choose stations based on the music or shows theylike and they tend to be quite loyal to that station. If you know whatyour customers enjoy listening to, it's an excellent way to reach them.(I include both music and talk shows in this.)

* Goodsupport medium -- radio works really well when paired with othermarketing mediums (like print, direct mail or television).

But for every positive, there's a negative. In the spirit of being objective, here are a few for radio:

*Background medium -- radio tends to be on in the background, whichmeans it tends to be ignored. Generally, your target market needs to beexposed to your ad more times than other marketing media before they'llact upon your message.

* Little staying power -- thelack of visuals again keeps radio from "sticking" with people. Atleast, that's what some of the marketing gurus say. But, here again mymarketing consultant friend differs. She thinks it's that subconsciousthing again.

And if you can write a spot thatcreates pictures in your customers' heads, you can actually work thisto your advantage. In fact, according to my friend, if the picture isdefined enough, not only will people remember it better, but they'llalso think it was a print ad instead of a radio ad. (More on the art ofcreating pictures using words in later issues.)

* Hard to track – it's impossible to know exactly how many people are tuning in at any given time.

Afinal note: Because radio is subconscious, keep that in mind whencrafting your ad. Repeat your business name a lot and any otherbranding info, so it gets into your customers' heads. Don't put inphone numbers. Instead, purchase a memorable Web site domain name andrepeat that. And remember to create "pictures" whenever possible.

Creativity Exercise -- How can you use radio in your business?

Would radio work for your business? Let's find out.

Take out a sheet of paper and a fun pen. (I'm partial to gel pens.) Draw a line down the center.

Onone side, put the header: Why advertising on radio is a good idea formy business. On the other side, put the header: Why advertising is abad idea for my business.

Now pick a side and start writing down reasons.

Youmight be more comfortable starting with the side that's easiest foryou. Then when you work on the other side, you can simply turn thereasons around.

For instance, let's say you startedwith the bad idea. One of your reasons was: My product is completelyvisual. You could turn it around by saying "Because my product is sovisual, I'll have to work harder to create pictures in my customers'minds. And because the customers create their own pictures, they'remore likely to remember them."

Or what if you startedwith a good idea, and one of the reasons was: "Because my business islocal." You could turn it around and say "Because radio is holding meback -- I'm only reaching this local market." (Ah, now I'm even goingagainst what I said earlier. Maybe with this statement you could lookfor ways to get your customers to spread the word outside the areaabout your business.)

As you saw by my last example,you'll be amazed at what comes out when you do this exercise. Even ifyou don't change your views on radio advertising, you may come up withnew and powerful insights to your business.

MichelePariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing,marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters thathelp subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketingand copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting newclients, selling products and services and boosting business. She canbe reached at www.writingusa.com.