{"id":17016,"date":"2014-05-06T00:01:13","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T07:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=17016"},"modified":"2014-05-05T21:42:20","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T04:42:20","slug":"phone-numbers-radio-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/","title":{"rendered":"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"phone<\/a>Recently I tweeted<\/a>, “Putting a client’s phone # in their radio commercial if customers don’t want<\/strong> to call is stupid. Even if it’s a vanity # or catchy jingle.” <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

That generated this response from Nick Summers<\/span><\/strong>, Production Director of Desert Radio Group\/Palm Springs, California.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Seems like I’ve been fighting the phone numbers battle forever. Below is an\u00a0e-mail\u00a0I recently sent to our AE’s. It\u00a0seems to have made an impression, as\u00a0a couple of them have shared\u00a0it with clients. Spots are getting approved without phone numbers.<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Damage Done by a phone number in a 30 Second spot<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

When a local retail advertiser insists on including a phone number in a 30 second spot, he damages his advertising message. A phone number does not make the success of a spot more likely. In fact, it is not a harmless, innocuous addition to the copy. In nearly all cases, insistence on a phone number damages the 30.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every second in a 30 is like oceanfront property. Every second has to be used to its fullest benefit. Including a phone number takes up at least 3 seconds. Reading it twice takes up 6 seconds.\u00a0 At that point, the client has wasted 20 percent of the time available with clutter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Few consumers will write a phone number from the radio.<\/strong> What\u2019s most important in the spot is the retailer\u2019s name, and a simple, broad, clear compelling message. Every second of the radio oceanfront property has to contribute to those two objectives. Anything else is clutter and dilutes the message. It\u2019s that simple. When the ad message is sufficiently compelling and they remember the retailer\u2019s name, they\u2019ll find him!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The phone number is white noise that goes in one ear and out the other. It\u2019s right up there with radio copy sludge like \u201cfriendly, knowledgeable staff,\u201d \u201cfor all your (blank blank) needs\u201d \u201cconveniently located at,\u201d \u201ctry us again for the first time,\u201d \u201cyou\u2019ve tried the rest, now try the best,\u201d and \u201cfor your shopping convenience.\u201d All do\u00a0damage to a simple, clear ad message<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll concede that a mnemonic phone number like 1-800-NEW CARS may be ok. When it\u2019s a phone-only call to action, a number is necessary.\u00a0 When a dry cleaner, hardware store, or yogurt stand, however, insist on a generic number like 325-5298, it\u2019s beyond useless. It takes up valuable time and damages the effectiveness of the commercial.<\/span><\/p>\n

Any spec or first take I do of a commercial will not include the phone number, unless it\u2019s appropriate as described above. I\u2019m asking that when a client says to you \u201cwhat about my phone number,\u201d please<\/em> do your client the service of explaining the benefits of not including it!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

A phone number is the worst possible use of his radio oceanfront property. It\u2019s as useless as including the retailer\u2019s birthday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, don\u2019t get into an argument.\u00a0 If they implacably insist, we\u2019ll include the number. At least, though, we will have tried to deliver the best possible radio copy, undamaged by copywriting clutter.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I tweeted, “Putting a client’s phone # in their radio commercial if customers don’t want to call is stupid. Even if it’s a vanity # or catchy jingle.” That generated this response from Nick Summers, Production Director of Desert Radio Group\/Palm Springs, California. Seems like I’ve been fighting the phone numbers battle forever. Below […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nRADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recently I remarked on the folly of including phone numbers in most radio commercials. 1 production director decided to teach his salespeople, in this memo,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently I remarked on the folly of including phone numbers in most radio commercials. 1 production director decided to teach his salespeople, in this memo,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-06T07:01:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"headline\":\"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-06T07:01:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/\",\"name\":\"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-06T07:01:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"description\":\"Recently I remarked on the folly of including phone numbers in most radio commercials. 1 production director decided to teach his salespeople, in this memo,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"description\":\"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\",\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/assistant\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS","description":"Recently I remarked on the folly of including phone numbers in most radio commercials. 1 production director decided to teach his salespeople, in this memo,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS","og_description":"Recently I remarked on the folly of including phone numbers in most radio commercials. 1 production director decided to teach his salespeople, in this memo,","og_url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/","og_site_name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio","article_published_time":"2014-05-06T07:01:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dan O'Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_site":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan O'Day","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan O'Day","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"headline":"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS","datePublished":"2014-05-06T07:01:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/"},"wordCount":521,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/","name":"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png","datePublished":"2014-05-06T07:01:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"description":"Recently I remarked on the folly of including phone numbers in most radio commercials. 1 production director decided to teach his salespeople, in this memo,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/smart_phone_texting_block_text_10927-320.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/phone-numbers-radio-spots\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"RADIO PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TEACHES SALESPEOPLE ABOUT PHONE NUMBERS IN ADS"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/","name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","description":"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c","name":"Dan O'Day","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/author\/assistant\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17016"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17020,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17016\/revisions\/17020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}