The Internets ability to provide results has overshadowed the importance of a complete marketing campaign. In some cases, clicks on ads are a result of interest piqued by traditional media. Consumers may have initially heard about a product on the radio and then clicked on an ad because they remembered the original advertisement. Or, they may have heard an event sponsored on the radio while driving home and then searched Google to find out more. Radio, in many cases is the hook that brings the consumer to the Internet to make the final purchase.

Radio does much of the dirty work. It woos the consumer over to the product and it helps to develop brand recognition. Unfortunately when it comes to radio, they are missing out on the area where most of the profit is generated these days: upon final sale. Advertising trends are moving away from potential sales to actual sales as demonstrated in pay per click advertising. It is conceivable that advertisers may start to request pay per listen advertising and radio stations will be forced to change the business model from potential listeners to actual listeners. Thus forcing radio revenue even lower.

Radio must not hesitate to educate businesses about the function of radio in a marketing campaign. Unless new means of transmitting are found, this will require a hybrid model of radio, the Internet and mobile devices. Thankfully, innovative internet applications are now being developed which allow radio to expand its reach. These applications are allowing radio to utilize internet and cell phone technology to both gather statistics and become a part of the entire process – pitch, discovery and sale. Applications like these will allow radio to remain a dominant force in the music world and maintain or exceed revenue expectations.

The needs of small business owners will not change as we move out of a recession. Small business owners are likely to continue wanting to see conversion rates, click trails and specific audience trends. In order to survive this change in advertising, radio must experiment with new solutions that combine the best of both worlds. Then, armed with statistical data that shows how marketing campaigns are directly impacted by radio advertising, small businesses will return to radio for a complete solution to their advertising needs.