I received the following two questions last week about the Best Radio Ads I posted.

1. “I love the page of radio ads you posted at MarketingForSuccess. I found one that works perfectly for my business. Can I use it or is it copyrighted?”

Yes radio ads are covered by copyright law and you can’t just “borrow” them to use for your own use. I added them to the site to provide you with ideas and inspiration for your marketing. Just because you can’t actually view the copyright doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The writers and producers went to a lot of effort to come up with just the right marketing copy and idea to get your attention and keep it. Learn from what they created but be careful not to violate copyright law.

2. “Remeber many, many years ago when Chevy ran the “Heart Beat of America” ads? They spent 60 million on it. People loved it, they were singing the jingle all of the time. Chevy lost major market share during that promotion. As I remember it was 8%. How do you know which ads are the best?”

The only way to tell if any ad works, web print or radio is to test it. Run the ad for a limited number or days and see if it generates leads and sales. If it pulls in prospects you know you’ve got a winner and you may want to run it more widely.

If if hardly generates any response, it’s a bad idea to keep spending on it or spend even more.

Of course to make the sale you need to have a product that people want. Even the best ad only works to generate interest, it can’t close the sale.

– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work