Radio Results Blog

If you've been listening to Portland radio lately, then you've probably heard a lot of commercials for Procter and Gamble products. It's been many years since P&G has been on radio this much and there is a marketing lesson in this for Maine small business owners.

P&G is the largest advertiser in America. The company spends more than $7-billion annually to market its trove of iconic brands. This includes Pampers, Tide, Mr. Clean, Old Spice, Gillette, Crest, and Metamucil.

In April, P&G's Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard, told the Cincinnati Business Courier it was time for his company to re-invent its advertising. The goal is to reach more of the people most likely to buy P&G products – and to reduce wasteful spending.

Mr. Pritchard's reinvention of advertising is why so many commercials for P&G products found their way on to Portland radio stations.

Like thousands of other Maine small businesses, Northeast Technical Institute advertises on Portland radio to find customers.  In NTI's case, their customers are students looking to start a new career.

NTI, who has campuses in Scarborough, Lewiston, and Bangor, is one of 11 for-profit schools in the state that compete for the attention of the 3000 students who enroll annually.

"With a variety of career programs that appeal to men and woman in several age categories, and with a limited budget to recruit prospective students," says NTI President Jim Liponis, "it is hard to beat radio advertising."

I just don't understand. Why isn't advertising on Portland radio the first choice of every Maine small business owner? Hundreds of local companies know, that by any measurement, local radio is the superior way to turn prospects into customers. But, some other companies, perplexingly, still choose TV first.

In a moment, I am going to present a cogent case to prove that if a Maine business owner chooses to advertise on TV, then it must, to ensure success, also invest in a radio schedule.

Before I do that, though, I think it is important to insist on Portland radio's superiority as an advertising and marketing medium for any Maine business. I can distill my argument into three components: Reach, Recall, and Return.

Quick. What is the number-one job of every commercial that is purchased by a Maine small business owner on Portland radio? (Cue final Jeopardy music).

If you answered that the most important job of a radio commercial is to sell a product or service, then you would be wrong. Oh, so wrong.

The number one job of a radio commercial is to be heard. Only if a commercial is heard can it be remembered. And only when it is remembered, can an ad on Portland radio create a sale.

To buy a campaign on a Portland station, all anyone needs is a calculator and a budget. But injecting that ad into the medial temporal lobe of the brain (the place memories are made) is a little more challenging.

For Maine small business owners, advertising on Portland radio seems to be a day job. Although most radio stations broadcast 24 hours, some advertisers believe no one tunes-in at night. Not only is this wrong, these misguided companies are missing a valuable marketing opportunity.

Last week, 699,315 adult consumers living in southern Maine listened to a Portland radio station. This is substantially more than watched a local TV station; read a local newspaper; or thumbed through a local magazine.

But, just because the sun sets, radio listeners don't roll up their ears. According to Nielsen, 46% of consumers who listen to Portland radio between 6am and 7pm also listen at night.

A variety of successful Maine small business owners invest in advertising on Portland radio to market their products and services. A slew of research clearly proves radio reaches mores consumers in southern Maine that any other ad medium.

These studies also show, that radio advertising provides business owners with the highest return-on-investment as well.

Studies are one thing. But, cash register receipts provide the definitive proof of radio advertising's potency.

If you were 1 of the 700,000 listeners who tuned-in to a Portland radio station last week, there was a good chance you heard commercials for Royal River Heat Pumps, a Freeport based HVAC dealer; Saco River Dentistry, a Buxton based dental practice; and The Time Pilots, a Portland based wedding band. Each of these small businesses report jaw-dropping results from their radio advertising investments

If, during the first 6 months of 2018, sales at your Maine small business did not expand by at least 5.5% versus the same period in 2017, then you are not grabbing your fair share of retail growth. According to the latest census data, 5.5% is the amount by which the retail sales economy has grown.

So, if your sales have have been flat or edged up by only a couple of percent, then that means your competitors have been eating your lunch. Advertising on Portland radio can help you claim the share of business growth you are leaving on the table. Here's how I know.

The 700,000 people who tuned-in to a Portland radio station last week could not help but hear commercials for Amazon's Prime Day. Radio advertising is not a typical part of the company's advertising mix. Last week, though, Amazon broadcast a ton of commercials across the AM and FM dials.

Here's what Maine small business owners can learn from the world's second largest retailer: Advertising on radio delivers stunning results at the cash register. Cha-ching!

There are 75,072 adults in Southern Maine who have an annual household income of $150,000 or more. This is just under 10% of the population.

Why should Maine small business owners care about this segment of the population? This tiny slice of the population accounts for 40% of all retail spending, that's why. We're talking $4.4 billion in cha-ching!

If a business owner wants to claim an unfair share of these rare and valuable southern Maine consumers, then advertising is required. And which medium is most capable of reaching these big spenders? Portland radio.

According to Nielsen, 94.6% of these big earners tune into a local, Portland radio station each week. This is far more than watch local TV, read local newspapers, or thumb-through local magazines.

Thousands of Maine small business owners depend on Portland radio to attract new customers. Radio advertising works so well that even TV networks benefit from it.  A recent study demonstrates just how well.

First of all, radio reaches more adults each week than any other medium. More than TV. More than smartphones. More than newspapers. More than anything. Last week, for instance, almost 700,000 consumers living in southern Maine tuned into a Portland radio station.

So, when a national TV network wanted to compel viewers to tune-in to a recent mini-series, it advertised the show on the radio. To determine if the advertising paid off, Nielsen, a media research company, partnered with Cumulus Westwood One, a radio broadcasting company, to measure the results. Let's just say the results were spectacular.