Why Should Radio Stations Prioritize Advertiser Electronic Payment Adoption in 2025?

Increases in Pre-Payment Requests

Across the industry, there have been spikes in pre-payment requests. Some of this is due to adding new advertisers, which often means they must pay in advance. Other longtime clients may also need to pre-pay if they have a history of slow payments. Another reason for the increase could be a policy change.

Regardless of why these requests are increasing, the ability to receive pre-payments quickly is electronically. This feature should be part of your payments platform and allow for guest checkout or creating an account in a customer portal.

Simplifying Accounts Payable

Your local customers are looking for ways to streamline how they pay. Many have transitioned out of writing checks and into paying online. They understand the administrative expense and burden of sending checks. Some stations may think that since a customer has always paid by check, they want to keep doing so.

It’s time to reach out again to remind them that you have electronic payment options. It often takes a few times for people to realize a new option is available. This important refresher could drive them to make their payments online.

Mitigating the Impact of Late Payments

A recent study concluded that 73% of small and midsize businesses experience significant delays in receiving payments. The radio industry has a 72-day average to pay, which is very high. This can significantly affect your cash flow and operations. Further, a study on B2B payments found that low adoption of card payments correlates to an extra 15-day payment delay.

If you cut out the time to mail the invoice and then receive the check back, you can see this delay shrink. Plus, customers may be more apt to click the button to pay in an email. In some circumstances, they may not check their mail daily, creating a greater lag in receipt.

We’ve seen our clients that prioritize advertiser electronic payment adoption reduce days outstanding by up to 32 days.

Rising Collection Activities

You may also be dealing with a spike of accounts in the “collections” category. These are past-due balances that you haven’t officially sent to a collection agency or written off. They are still on your books, as you consider them to be collectable.

Managing collections without a payment solution is ineffective and time consuming. You’ll also be more likely to receive that payment with digital reminders requiring only a click. Getting more of your customers into your payments portal also means you can use things like a collections tool for outreach by accounting or sales staff.

Supporting Operational Efficiency

Every radio station wants to increase efficiency in operations. Many have staffing shortages or employees wearing many hats. Any areas you can find to streamline payment workflows will help the entire organization.

You’ll want to reduce the number of checks received and all the manual work involved. You may also be stuck with legacy payment processing systems that don’t integrate with your traffic or digital advertising system. These systems are technology, but they’re not effective in making operational efficiency gains.

An integrated payment system like PayNow handles all AR processes, streamlining radio station accounting. It combines invoicing, merchant processing and reporting and automates many processes.

With such a solution, you’ll see payments come in faster and much less administrative work.