You prize good word-of-mouth don’t you?

We all do.

Word-of-mouth may not create business, but it helps create a preference for your business or brand in the heart of the hearer.

Good radio advertising can have the same effect, only multiplied and amplified.

Radio is word-of-mouth on steroids.

Individual word-of-mouth travels slowly and unpredictably. Nor can you control it. Whereas a good radio advertising campaign travels faster and wider, while under your complete control. In this way an effective radio advertising campaign accelerates the inevitable outcome of word-of-mouth*.

What’s more, local radio advertising is today’s biggest bargain in advertising, often far underpriced for the value received.

Consider:

• Radio reaches more people every day, every week, than any other single medium. In fact, radio has kept its reach while TV is eroding. See for yourself; read the charts.
• Radio is the only pure-speech medium. Why is this important? Speech is our primary form of communication, and it’s why radio advertising is so powerful! (Skeptical? Here’s a logical demonstration. Try conducting your business without speaking. Seriously. Use only text, graphics, symbols, printed materials, etc. in communicating, but don’t speak. See how far that gets you.)
• Radio is everywhere and goes anywhere. We listen when we walk, when we drive, when we’re doing chores, etc. Radio is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe.

“Media research shows that only two percent of the population are consciously aware of radio as a vital source of information in their lives—about the same percentage who, when questioned, report air as one of the ingredients they consume in life. […] People don’t remember radio as a source of information, because they do not consciously listen to it. Rather they bathe in it and sit in it. Just as we are not conscious of our breathing, we are not actively aware of radio-mediated sound in our environment. Yet we are deeply involved with radio, and we are strongly affected by radio programming that allows us to participate.” (Tony Schwartz, The Responsive Chord, pp. 75-76)

• Radio offers you affordable repetition of your message. Repetition is the mother of learning – and of persuasion! No wonder radio’s R.O.I. is better, dollar-for-dollar, time-for-time, than any other medium’s.
• Radio is accountable to its advertisers. Chances are you’ve been hearing about widespread online ad-fraud lately; it’s been all over the news. But they’re not talking about radio.
• Brands and businesses are built by mass-reach, spoken-word media. And that includes businesses and brands right here at home. Local success stories abound, and I’d be delighted to share them with you.

A bit of advice. Beware of entrusting your reputation to social media, review sites, and other shiny online “opportunities” not under your control, where negative comments, unfavorable reviews, sabotage by disgruntled ex-employees or impossible-to-please shoppers, etc. can tarnish your brand and business, and adversely affect your word-of-mouth. However, when you advertise on radio you control the content of your message, all of it, in an environment that favors your success.

Listen, business owners whom you know and respect are continually growing their market share by means of their radio advertising. You can, too. We’re as close as your phone, and we’ll be glad to talk with you.

After all, it’s what we do for a living.

*This works in the opposite direction, as well. An effective advertising campaign will cause a bad business to fail sooner. Bad word-of-mouth travels even faster than good, as your own experience will confirm. A business (or event) that fails to live up to the expectations of those who respond to its advertising will find it more difficult to win them back next time.