Catholic Promotion

How to Produce Powerful Radio Commercials - with Jeffrey Hedquist

Jeffrey Hedquist

Just finished with another excellent radio teleclass with Jeffrey Hedquist that Sacred Heart Radio is sponsoring. These are so over the top. I think anyone would learn a lot from them for any kind of selling that involves audio communication.  In fact Jeffrey himself stresses this at the  beginning of the  class - what you learn is not just for radio.. you can use it for

• podcasts
• telephone messages
• speeches
• sermons
• lectures
• selling conversations
• talking to your kids, friends or spouse

I will probably get the recording tomorrow and will share it with you. But for now here are a few notes I took that I hope will whet your appetite.

• Metaphor bridges - tickle people imaginations - do this by entering into the experience of the listener.
• Robert Gallard (sp) “Good advertising is “entering into the conversation that is already going on.”
• Surprise!  Start with predictability and then pop the surprise.
• On hold messages - make them fun
• the higher the imagery the better the retention

There are four ways to communicate on the radio

1. Voices - monologue, dialogue
2. Sound Effects
3. Music
4. Silence

1. Voices - the simplest is the single voice

2. Dialogue - Use his “Secret Recording Technique”  Record a conversation without anyone knowing about it. (Do this only with friends that won’t take you to court!) What you will find is that actual conversations are full of interruptions, broken sentences, and disjointed thoughts.  Do this with your radio spot and it will sound much more believable.

2. Sound Effects - the sounds become another character in the radio plot. Such as a squeaking door, tire squealing, phone ringing, etc.

The second part of the class - involved learning how to BRAINSTORM for Creativity

Gather a group of people together from different parts of your organization - folks you might not think would have anything to “professionally contribute” to the session. They will often bring in the greatest new thinking to the mix. The receptionist, the plumber, the babysitter.. whoever!

Have two rules.

1. Always say “YES” to everything. Doesn’t matter how crazy… Just say Yes!

2. Take the crazy thought to the next level by asking, “Okay, where do we go from there with this?”

I just tried this in the kitchen with two of the sisters when I was explaining Jeffrey’s techniques. In giving them an example I said (looking at the dog) “Okay.. say you want to sell dog biscuits.. and someone says,

“Yeah! Let’s give a free Rolls Royce with every dog biscuit package they purchase!”

You will be tempted to say, “That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard!” or “Who let that person into the group?” But you don’t!

You say . . . .

“YES! and “Where do we go from there?”

And next comes this…. ”

“A chocolate Rolls Royce! They can eat it while the dog crunches on the biscuit.

It’s a zany idea, its crazy - but it has possibility and its fun. Now someone else pops up with another crazy idea and you say… YES! and “Where do we go from there?”

And pretty soon you have tons of wild, crazy ideas and some that are SOLID GOLD that you never would have found if you have negated them from the first get go.

Another way to do a commercial - is to tell the story but not the whole thing. This one is harder to explain - but powerful. You really need to listen to the recording as Jeffrey has lots of commercial examples for everything he is sharing  - and you will get a much fuller picture than what I can do here.

I would definitely say this is a recording you can listen to over and over.