Myth #6: You Can't Measure Radio

TRUTH: That’s adorable. You mean YOU don’t know how to measure radio?

Just because you can’t click a dashboard doesn’t mean nothing happened.

Big brands know the secret:

Radio isn’t invisible — it’s just not needy. It doesn’t beg for clicks — it sparks real-world action. And smart marketers know how to track it.

Here’s how advertisers measure what you think can’t be measured:

- Web lift — Watch the website traffic spike after a well-placed ad. (Especially first-in-break.)

- Call tracking — Unique numbers tell you who called because they heard you.

- Promo codes — Why do you think every podcast ad sounds like a morning show now?

- A/B testing — Run in Market A, don’t run in Market B. Count the difference.

- Attribution tools — Platforms like LeadsRx, Veritone, and AnalyticOwl show the lift in real-time.

- Customer surveys — phone, web, text, and real-time attribution questions (see my LinkedIn post “Teach Your Team to Market the Marketing”)

If you’re still saying radio can’t be measured, you’re not exposing a weakness in the medium — you’re exposing a weakness in your toolkit.

So next time someone shrugs and says, “I mean, how do you even know if radio worked?”

Just smile and say:

“We checked. The traffic surged. The phone rang. The ad budget got renewed. Any other questions?"