It's no wonder that farmers and others in the agriculture industry stay "in tune" with their market by being heavy consumers of radio broadcasting. Their livelihood often depends on the weather conditions and overall agriculture market; they need to stay in touch. For radio broadcast advertisers who want to reach farmers, this situation presents an ideal opportunity for them to get their message out and be heard.

Getting a spot (advertisement) out on the radio waves at certain times, with a certain frequency and within a certain geographical area, however, isn't a blindly executed "let's try this approach." Today, when advertisers decide to go with a particular radio station on a certain radio schedule, they expect that their message will reach the highest possible number of their target audience at the best times possible.

But expectations are different than guarantees. How, then, can an advertiser be assured his/her advertising dollar is being spent wisely on the right radio stations and schedules?

For Ted Haller, vice president/director of media planning at Kenrick Advertising, Inc., St. Louis, that is precisely what his company is out to do: Devise the most cost-efficient and cost-effective advertising schedules for its agriculture clients who advertise in 100 geographical regions from Ohio to Kansas and the Dakotas.

Radio listenership

Haller's job isn't guesswork. Quite to the contrary, he decides the optimum combination of schedules to buy for his clients by analyzing the results of a syndicated tracking study of radio stations called the Doane Media Study, or more typically, "the Doane." The study was developed and marketed by Doane Marketing Research, St. Louis. Conducted at frequent intervals, the Doane provides reliable information on the reach and frequency of radio listenership among farmers in certain geographical areas.

The Doane's geographical scope divides the U.S. into two geographical areas with surveys being conducted in each area every other year. The 1986 and 1988 studies cover Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The 1987 and 1989 studies include the rest of the U.S.

The study's participants are farmers with gross income from farming of $40,000 or more. The minimum sample size for the study is 100 completed diaries for each radio station's servicearea. Each radio station determines its service-area and these are determined before data is collected. Once a station identifies the counties to be included, it cannot change its list.

Insuring accuracy

All station call letters, frequencies, dial positions and locations are verified through a database which has been established by DMR. To help insure the accuracy of each seven-day diary which the farmers fill out, all of its contents are checked against this database.

"In its simplest form, the Doane gives radio stations a projection in terms of the number of farmers listening to that station at a designated time period in a certain geographical area," says Haller. "It identifies any changes in farmers' listening patterns from one study to the next and shows which stations are the strongest in a particular area."

Haller serves as the "buyer" for his advertising clients. He uses the Doane as a tool in deciding which radio spots to buy and how often to buy them. Haller says radio stations serve as the "suppliers" or the sellers. Stations sell themselves with the help of the results from the Doane. The hypothetical station WXYZ, for example, "places itself on a buy," in other words, goes to Kenrick in hopes of establishing an advertising contract with one of Kenrick's clients.

Perfect fit

Before such a pact is made, many variables must be considered to assure there's a "perfect fit" between advertiser and radio station. It is Haller's duty to most optimally "blend the market with the media.

"First of all, I want to see if a station coverage area is good and how strong it is. Will it add or enhance our chances of reaching the target audience? I also must decide if the station is in an area we want to target based on our clients' sales information for that area. Are these farmers the advertisers' target prospects? Also, does this station fit the advertisers' product category index and brand development index?

"As it's syndicated, the Doane comes out in a blue-sheet form, a farm broadcasting statement that individual stations put out," continues Haller. That sheet gives a variety of percentages. One is the strength of a station in relation to listenership at a particular time, for example, 5:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. every weekday morning. Another is the percentage of any listenership or Cumulative Audience (CUME) at any time during the week also between this block of time.

Study variables

For the first variable, says Haller, a radio station may have an average listenership rating of 21.2%, meaning on average, 21.2% of all farmers are listening between 5:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. every weekday morning at any given time during that period. For the second variable, a station may have a CUME average rating of 49.2%, meaning, at some point during the week and during this time block, 49.2% of all farmers are listening to this radio station. The difference between the two is known as a turnover.

"The turnover is important because with that information we can calculate how many spots to buy," says Haller.

A third variable is what's known as the total station CUME, which gives the total listenership of a radio station during the week between 5:00 a.m.- 7 p.m. That same station, for example, may find that its total target audience during this time period is 57.4%. Since its early hours' listenership CUME rating is 49.2%, it is obviously the most optimum time block in which to place a spot.

By segmenting out these various percentages, the Doane can increase the effectiveness and accuracy of placing an ad by as much as 75-80%, says Haller. "What it can't do, however, is tell us the best way to buy."

Increase effectiveness

Dave Travers, project director at Kenrick, has helped solve this problem by developing a software program that is integrated with the Doane. Because of the sophistication of the system, it is able to increase the effectiveness of placing spots at the right time. "We feel very confident that over 90% of the schedule is effective as opposed to only 75-80% on other systems," says Haller.

"What our program does is use the turnover number to determine how many spots are needed in that day to make sure the advertiser is reaching the target audience, with what frequency the advertiser is reaching the audience and to make sure the message is being delivered at the best time possible. In other words, from a media standpoint, we can increase the effectiveness of the advertising spots by knowing how much is enough in order to reach our target audience."

Continues Haller, "Our system shows us that for the same amount of money, we can usually increase the effectiveness of a schedule by as much as 20% just by rearranging the spots for the best way of being heard."

The basic form of this software program is being marketed to others, says Haller. One deviation of the program which the firm isn't marketing is what Haller calls "RANDI" (Random Audience Duplication Index). This component can do two things: Load an individual listening pattern or let RANDI simulate listenership to the radio itself based on the parameters of the Doane study.

"RANDI enables us to load in the radio schedule what we're about to purchase and predict if a farmer is listening to our spot. We can then compare the listening patterns on all the stations that have a Doane report with the Doane audience listening patterns for each station and we can see what's the best schedule to purchase." Adds Haller, "It determines how many spots we need and the best way of getting the message out and in front of the listeners."