As radio sets its advertising strategies, an interesting consideration is buzzing around. Should the industry be radio-first or digital-first? The 13th annual benchmarking report on radio digital sales asked this question. Most chose radio-first, but a new approach that encompasses all ad types is local-first.
What does local-first mean, and why does it matter? Let’s discuss.
Radio-First vs. Digital-First
Local businesses will spend more on digital advertising than traditional in 2025, per the BIA Advisory Services forecast. It’s the first year of this change, and it’s important to understand it. It doesn’t mean these companies are abandoning radio. In fact, 96% of advertisers surveyed in the benchmarking report said they’d continue to buy radio spots.
Digital ad spending is on a growth curve. Does this mean you should shift to digital-first? The current most popular sales approach, per the benchmark survey, is to lead with recommendations that deliver the results the advertiser expects. The top recommendation is radio in most cases. Only a small group said they were digital-first or led with digital tactics.
Digital in Every Proposal?
Is digital part of every pitch for most local sellers? The benchmarking data revealed that 58% of stations always recommend it, and 25% do when it makes sense. Digital advertising includes many different tactics, so there aren’t likely to be many scenarios when it doesn’t make sense to include to amplify radio spots.
Of course, you want to protect radio revenue. It’s high margin and easy to execute. Data on the new three-minute qualifier shows increases in radio audiences. Those boosts include drive time, weekends and younger demographics. It could make spots more valuable, but sellers still must contend with the argument that nobody listens to radio. That’s far from true. Radio ads perform well in recall and attention. It’s also a much more trusted medium than others.
As much as we love radio, we must also come to terms with it receiving less ad dollars than it deserves. So, revenue growth must come from somewhere, and that appears to be the role of digital.
You don’t have to make radio-first or digital-first the foundation for your strategy. Instead, write your story as being local-first.
What Does Local-First Mean?
Your knowledge of the local market and its players stands as your key differentiator against competitors. Being local-first means you have a toolkit of tactics to help businesses attract and convert audiences in their communities.
Your sales team should focus on recommending the right media plan for local advertisers that meets their goals. Local-first occurs when sellers propose campaigns that have the best chance to work together and drive performance.
You can be radio-first by always championing over-the-air spots as a foundation for advertising. By also being digitally savvy, you can layer in tactics that target because you already have reach with radio.
Radio and Digital: On the Same Team
Every conversation with a customer can include radio and two or three digital channels. Selling digital to your radio advertisers doesn’t have to impact the revenue from spot ads. When presenting campaigns that combine radio and digital, your clients will see their value as an integrated initiative. Data has shown the industry time and time again that these campaigns perform better.
When you share data and expertise, you become much more than a salesperson. You are a local media resource who can help any company navigate the advertising world. Moving into this role also means you’re more likely to win renewals and expand a customer’s budget.
The biggest barrier to achieving this isn’t digital acumen or convincing companies to buy digital from you. Much of the time, it’s operational inefficiency. Spot ads and digital typically live in siloes, and that’s a disconnect that needs a fix.
To enable the combination of radio and digital, we built Marketron NXT and its integration with our traffic systems.
Marketron NXT Empowers Radio to Be Local-First
With NXT, you can propose, order, report and bill on airtime and digital. It’s the only digital advertising platform built for radio. It’s simple and so much more than software. Users can access a learning academy, a library of resources, training and digital strategists.
We never lose the thread of radio, and NXT’s seamless integration with traffic demonstrates that.
Pivot to a local-first sales strategy with NXT. Get started by requesting a demo.
