Radio Advertising

[1stclasslawns]

Right now the advertising budget is nill, however I am thinking of trying some radio. The radio station has a thing once a year called "bids for bargens" where an advertiser pays for advertising with products or services. I will give $300.00 worth of service which is a years chem. and fert. for most lawns in this town. And they will give me 330.00 worth of advertising. Twelve fm spots and 3, callouts on the am side of the station on their"party line" which are never less then 3 min and somtimes as much as 7 min. In my town "party line" is a big thing.

I havent seen much on the board about radio, so what do you think.

Jim

[strickdad]

i dont know to much about radio, but a large competior of ours dropped yellow page ads and is now running ads on (am) radio in our town. i havent talked to him to see how effective it is. if nothing else it will be effective in getting your "name " out there, and that is very important in this biz.

[Rex Mann]

Jim,

Use a Media Broker to get radio ads at alot lower cost.
They will save you $.

Peace,

Rex

[brentsawyer]

I went to a local station sales info meeting several months ago about buying packaged ads for the year, way over my $$ though. But a good rule of thumb is a dollar a second for radio, also repetition is a big thing. You probably won't see squat until people hear your ad several times. Just think how many other things your mind is on when you listen to the radio. Heck, sometimes it's hard for me to remember the ones that are played over and over. But if you do go this way as far as advertising, be prepared for a large investment.

[Eirik]

No one does it around here....I think it would reach a lot of people that normally would not see your name out in the field.
People who are not on your daily route, or in the neighborhoods you currently maintain. It's subconscious...
I looked in to it about 4 months ago,$1,000 for three spots a week, two times a day (6:30am-noon) for three months.
We are currently budgeting for this out of the "new equip." budget, and will give it a shot next spring.

[heygrassman]

Use a Media Broker to get radio ads at alot lower cost

This is typically washed out with the agency fee. The normal agency break is 15-20% for <b>large</b> volume.

This is not a bad idea in this scenario given your true cost is $30 in chem. In general, unless you have a really compelling offer radio is not a great idea. You have to rely on the customer remembering how to get in touch with you.

Ask the rep to provide you with demographics. If you find that they are targeting 18-25 yr olds then and your ideal customer is not in that age group you are not going to see great returns at all. If it is <18 this gets even worse. With radio, consistency is key. Radio is great if you pound away at it. This is the same as billboard. Radio and billboard are difficult is getting that call to action. Flyers are much better in that the potential customer is picking up the phone with flyer in hand. Radio and bill board do not typically work that way.

Make them prove to you that is the right tactic for you. Like Strickdad said it is a great way to get the name out there. I would not count on radio lighting up the phone lines.

As it relates to pricing, that can vary. Where I am a 60 second spot retail is $90. There are always promotions that run. The key is the demographics that is targeted at the time the spots are running. Drive time is always a good time for play.

One great tactic is to hang as many flyers about a week before or after your spots hit, and the potential customer says... "oh yea that is the guy/gal from the flyer (or radio). Call it a one / two punch.

Good luck would love to hear the results.

Jeff

[gkell88]

A colleague in my area essentially built his business from scratch using radio. Afternoon and morning traffic reports were his method, and it was very effective, and very expensive. As mentioned above, watch that demographic.

[1stclasslawns]

Demographics for the time slot I am getting is 65% 30 to 55 range, From blue coller to executives. This station has over 70% of the market share in town and even more away from town.
Their prices are $20.00 for a 30 sec add. and on the call out interviews $25.00 for 3 minute but they sometimes go as long as 6 or 7 min for same price, These are on a call in show that individuals call in and sell their own stuff a VERY large listening audience.
There are bank execs that always listen. It is one of those things that has been around for years, the radio station tried to get rid of it several years ago and when they told the sponsors, they were told if they did the advertisers would pull all advertising. It would have killed the station.

[strickdad]

well naturallawn, are you getting any type of return?

[JVS]

what's your close ratio on your other marketing?

[HOMER]

I did some mowing for a radio station in return for advertising. The ad ran for 2 months and I gave it up.............zero calls. All they had to do was hit a button, I was doing the real work.

Didn't work for me.

[1stclasslawns]

Addss start in the morning, :rolleyes: but we have 4 inches of snow on the ground right now.

I got mulch to put down and can't get anything donw .


Jim

[philk17088]

:dizzy:
Our local radio rep has called 3 times but I still can't figure out how it works. The set up and amount of spots and the dollar amount was as confusing as a whole life insurance policy written on the back of an IRS form being explained by a 3-card monty dealer!
I said no just because it was easier than saying yes.