Spots - Roll Back Malaria

STEP 6: BROADCAST YOUR SPOTSAvoid purchasing time in individual slots. One ad rarely sparks an action. Instead,buy blocks of time, or flights, because you can negotiate a better price. In addition, aspot played several times over a short period has more impact than a spot playedfewer times over a long period.For example, based on a target urban audience’s listening behavior, you might buy ablock of 48 spots to be played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: four spotsfrom 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and four spots from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for two weeks (eight totalspots aired per day x six days = 48 spots).Six rules for getting the most for your airtime1. Choose the station(s) that delivers your target audience. Station representativesare experts at putting their offerings in the best light. Make sure—look at thelistenership data—that the station(s) attracts the audience you want to reach.2. Beware of bringing your personal biases to your media decisions. Do not buytime on a certain radio station just because you listen to it—ask instead if yourtarget audience does. And, it works the other way, too. Do not refuse to buy timeon a certain station just because you dislike it or one of its presenters.3. Look for verifiable information from the station’s representative—audiencesize, listener profile, reach (the percentage of households with radios that aretuned to that station at any given time). Ideally, these calculations should be basedon information from third-party sources. Beware of any statistic described as“estimated”—ask about the source for that information.4. Air your spots during the hours your target audience is listening. The key is tobe consistent. Most people listen to the radio at the same time(s) each day. If yourtarget audience is in a rural community of farmers, consider their daily listeninghabits and other seasonal patterns. For example, during planting and/or harvestingseason your target audience may be in the fields from dawn to dusk and evenlonger without access to a radio, or with radio as a key companion.5. Broadcast each spot at least twice each day. If you can only afford two spots perday, play them at the same time on the same days week after week.6. Run the spot(s) for at least three to four months to give the audience thenecessary time to absorb the messages.How to broadcast your spots, or flightingSpots can be aired one at a time over a period, or different spots can be airedsimultaneously during the same period, which is helpful because not all members ofthe target audience are at the same point on the behavior change path.Flighting is a strategy for exposing (broadcasting/advertising) a single theme ormessage for a specific duration (such as one to three months) and switching orreplacing the themes over time. Flighting involves more advertising/exposure atSpot On Malaria: Guide83