As a service to my radio friends, I want to point out a big problem that’s sweeping the airwaves. This big problem stems from a tiny little word: “or”. Use this word in your call-to-action and you've doomed your spot to failure. Sadly, I hear "or" a lot.

Too often, the writer/client thinks it's a convenience to give the listener a choice of actions so you’ll hear “call 1-800-xxxxxxxx OR, visit the web site xxxxxxx.com”. This is a mistake. Never leave it up to the listener to do your job for you. WE decide which SINGLE action the listener should perform to achieve your client's predetermined goal. If the client profits from phone calls, we ONLY tell the listener to call the phone number. If the goal is to generate web traffic, we ONLY give the web site. If the goal is to sell 10 cars over the weekend, we ONLY tell listeners to "take a test drive". No phone number, no web site, no "don't forget to ask about...".

So, the next radio commercials you hear, listen closely for the word "or" in the call-to-action. Every time you hear it, you can tell yourself YOU know how to write a better commercial than that...

Reader Comments:

Posted on 2012-02-02 from 69.156.1.105
Here Here !!! This just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The commercials these days are filled with unimportant information that clog my ears. I tune out.

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