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Has anyone tried radio advertising? If so what was your experience?
😥 i tried radio seeral years ago. Got absolutely nothing out of it. Seems that most people listen to the radio either at work or in the car. I stayed with it for a few months also.
How many spots a day/week did it run?
I think radio advertising is awareness advertinsing. Like billboards or bus stop benches and things like that. Slowly you get your hooks into people so when they do look for someone to call, their inner voice is whispering “Heavens Best, Heaven Best”. Consistant, well thought out long term approach. YMMV
I hate to have to agree with someone from Canada on too much…but he is right. For the past 2+ years we have a 2-3 times a week as on the local Christian station (obtained in a trade of services) and many customers have heard our ad. It happens to be one of the few Christian stations in the country that is in the top 3 in its area consistently and on occasion #1.
I am not sure that it is the primary reason we were chosen…the Heaven’s Best name is like a magnet in Lancaster County, PA…the buckle of the Bible belt.
Additionally, radio is very expensive…Yellow Pages/ Book are still #1 for us and I am sure most operators. We have recently taken 1/2 page ads in all 3 Yellow Books/Pages in Lancaster County and every day I am getting calls and setting appointments…every day!
We just checked out stats for jan and Feb the last 3 years and the increase has been dramatic…of course there is some benefit from repeats and referrals, but here are the numbers:
Jan-Feb 04 vs Jan-Feb 05 an 11.4% increase for the 2 months
Jan-Feb 05 vs Jan-Feb 06 a 71.0% increase for the 2 monthsOnly variables are time in business, added son full-time and 1/2 page ads.
No coupons used during the year and actuall withdrew some advertising in the local paper.I have to say that our photos in the YB/YP ads are mantioned by nearly every new customer…statements like “you look just like the guy in the YB ad”… duh…
I would up my YB/YP ads with an internal coupon or discount for mentioning the ad every time over radio or anything else. Much bigger bang for the buck in my opinion.
Hope this helps. Minor apologies to the northern friend…I always enjoy your replies and humor.
Dave
Dave, i think your story is the bomb! Carpet cleaners come and go. There are few short cuts to growing quality clientel. Wait till you hit years 4,5,6.
Ron, if you have the budget, advertise every place you can. if you throw enough mud on the wall, some sticks. But advertising dollars are net dollars. Maybe 2 to1? 3 to 1?
As always, YMMV
We bartered radio time for cleaning the radio station. Radio stations don’t like to spend money, but they will barter. When we used the radio spots, we also ran ads in the paper. . . advertising blitz. The good news was the results were good, the bad new is, radio results were hard to track. That being said, we don’t ordinarily buy radio spots because they are too expensive for what I think it may generate.
The #1 position in our Yellow pages has 14 vans and has been business since 1950 or thereabouts. #2 listing is Stanley Steamer and #3 listed is Heaven’s Best. All 1/2 page ads. Being in business only 2.5 years and having such a placing is a coup.
I let the other guys advertise in the Clipper and ValPak and pay huge amounts…All surveys I have read show the Yellow pages to the the #1 place customers look for carpet cleaners.
Coupled with a coupon and a nice ad, it is getting responses…a bomb???
Guess I don’t understand that term and Is served in SEA.
Dave
it’s da bomb, and its a good thing
Tried it for an year on a special ad program that gave me a minimum of 3 ads per day, one was during prime time morning local news show. Additional free ads were palyed if the station had open ad space that was not sold to others. I usually got 5 to 6 ads per day and as many as 10 per day occasionally. Cost was approx $3000. Got a lot of air time, and a lot of name recognition. I tracked the customers and a lot had heard the ad but they usually got word of mouth recommendation of other customers that really convinced them to have me clean the carpet. Or they heard the ad after the talked with someone else. Effectiveness? In my opinion, not real effective but everyone that listened to the station heard the ad and maybe planted a seed. They wanted me to do it again but I passed on it this time.
I also was called by a local radio station and asked if I was interested in bartering. I was quite leary because I had advertised with another local station (news talk) and had poor results. To my surprise I got a tremendous response with this particular station (news talk) and I attribute it to the type of add what they refer to as a “live add” or basically a testimonial. I had met with the radio personality (very well known and liked) and we discused “the deal.” At this time I made it clear that the services I offerd was above and beyond the others in town and the results coupled with customer service is what differentiates my company from the the others. After I cleaned the radio stations terrible carpet and got outstanding results the “live adds” went out as a true testimonial by the radio personality. It only went out once a day for 1 month and I’m still getting calls and the add ended a month ago.
I am considering doing this; however there are 7 operators in my “radio area” (including me). Unfortunately the AZ guys don’t seem to be big on advertising like I am.
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