Common Advertising Questions

Before we articulate an "advertising philosophy," here are some important answers to questions to get you started as well as to tell you how we approach things....

Define your goals, objectives, challenges, strengths, competitors, and distinctives. Then determine what you want to do about it. When all is said and done, "what do you want to accomplish ?"

Discover the reason people use your product or service. People make emotional decisions most of the time. What are the emotions that are driving people to your business or service ? Feeling good about themselves ? Feeling safe, young again, important, "with it ?" There are any number of reasons, but what are they ? Contrary to our logic, people are not calling, coming or shopping because of "friendly, knowledgeable sales people," or "convenient hours," or "the best prices." These are all cliché, and quite frankly, no one believes them any more.

Radio is an intrusive medium which echoes in the mind of the listener. It must be used that way. As an advertiser you need to "climb into the listeners mind"..... and stay there ! You need to be willing to make a commitment to using radio advertising properly. You may have heard someone say... "I tried radio once.... but it didn’t work." More often than not, they were never committed to making it work. Quite frankly, to think in terms of anything less than 13 week of advertising in most cases. Lack of commitment is one of the greatest killers of all advertising attempts. Radio advertising also requires an investment. You need to invest in generating a return. Like any good conservative investment, radio advertising pays off big when you are willing to invest and commit, then watch the dividends steadily grow. Finally radio advertising thrives on consistency. Too many advertisers panic when in the first three or four days the phone isn’t ringing off the hook. Don’t panic ! We’ll tell you up front, that it’s going to take nearly 13 weeks for you to realize the full extent of the investment that you are making. By that time, you’ll be glad that you did and we’ll have the privilege of adding you to our long list of satisfied advertisers, many of whom have been reaping the benefits of advertising with us for nearly 10 years.

The answer to that quite simply is a lot ! This is a relative thing, however. For some people, a lot will be once a day over 52 weeks. For others, it will mean six a day for 13 weeks. We really need to look at your particular challenges and objectives and zero in on a plan that will meet your budget. Another common concern in this area is to ask "how much are the ads ? " Although you will find our stations to be a tremendous "bang for the buck," this is the wrong way to approach the situation. The issue is RESULTS ! Think of it this way. One or two radio ads that cost $50 each and produce no results are quite expensive. A hundred ads at $100 each that grow your business ten fold would be a steal. Think about it.

It is our firm belief that advertising should be entered into as commitment which is never expected to end. Knowing that it will take at least 13 weeks for you to achieve satisfactory response to your investment, we all need to think "long term." It is also critical to realize that at any given time, only a certain number of our listeners are "in the market" for your product or service. Therefore, if you advertise today and disappear a month or two down the road someone else is going to reap the benefit of your investment. Plan ahead and plan to be around when the listener who didn’t need your services today does need them tomorrow. If you’re not there to benefit from their business, your competitor will be.

With millions of radio listeners in and around the Boston to Worcester, Rhode island and Southern Maine & New Hampshire, if even only ½ % of them began to use your product or service, imagine what that would mean to you. Radio works ! That is proven time and time again in hundreds of markets throughout the US each hour of each day. Use the medium correctly and you’ve made a decision that will pay dividends for as long as you can handle the business. Use it wrong and chances are, when you "try" newspaper, cable, television, billboards, or any other medium, it won’t work either. Using advertising properly is critical and does not vary appreciably from medium to medium.