For most of my lifetime, television advertising was considered the "gold standard" of marketing. For a Las Vegas small business owner craving massive reach, TV used to be the medium of choice.

Over the past few years, however, advertising on Las Vegas radio has become the dominant medium for achieving reach as television audiences dramatically erode.

Take last week for example. Almost 1,502,898 adult consumers tuned-in to their favorite Las Vegas radio stations. This is significantly more than watched local TV, read a local newspaper, or logged-on to a streaming media site like Pandora and Spotify.

 

For the past 40 years, Las Vegas radio has reached more than 90% of all consumers. But, look what has happened to TV's audience.

Each year, Las Vegas consumers spend $6.9 billion in restaurants and drinking establishments.  Adam and Phyllis Barkin have earned a big slice of that retail pie when they took over Above The Crust Pizza in 2016.

"Six months after we took over the company, we began to invest in advertising on Las Vegas radio to drive business to our first store on West Ann Road," says Mr. Barkin, who is responsible for Above The Crust's marketing.

"I admit, I was skeptical that radio advertising would work for us. But after 30 days, three to five people were coming in every day and telling us they heard about Above The Crust on the radio," he adds. "They were even repeating our tag line, 'If it's good enough for THE family, it's good enough for YOUR family'. They all wanted to be part of the family."

Advertising on Las Vegas radio stations is processed by the brain five-times faster than visual advertising.  This is awesome news for local business owners who depend on radio to market their goods and services.

Las Vegas consumers will recognize the first few notes of Jingle Bells five times faster than they can identify a picture of Santa Claus.  That's because it takes the human brain 5/100th of a second to process sound.  On the other hand, it takes a full quarter of a second to process visual stimuli.

This difference in processing time may seem inconsequential. But, for Las Vegas small business owners who is fighting to inject their advertising messages into the mind of consumers, that .20-second gap can be the difference between success and failure.

You've done the research. You now know that by every measure, radio advertising is the most effective way for your Las Vegas small business to market its goods and services.

You have learned, for instance, 1,502,898 consumers regularly tune-in to their favorite Las Vegas radio stations.  That's more than 90% of all adults.

You've also learned that, on average, adults spend almost two hours per day listening to Las Vegas radio.

If you dug deep enough, then you know radio advertising delivers, on average, a $10 lift in sales for every $1 invested. This is a remarkable ROI for any Las Vegas small business owner.

What you may not have figured out, however, is what is the best time of day to advertise on Las Vegas radio?

Of all the advertising options available to Las Vegas small business owners, streaming audio services like Pandora and Spotify are the least effective.  Here's why.

According to Nielsen, after the content of a commercial is considered, the element of an advertising campaign that drives sales the most is reach. In other words, making sure the most people possible are exposed to the advertiser's message is crucial.

When it comes to achieving reach among consumers, Pandora and Spotify rank dead last.  Advertising on Las Vegas radio stations, actually, can reach 235% more consumers than these two streaming-audio platforms combined.

It may surprise many small business owners that Las Vegas radio stations have a larger reach than Pandora and Spotify even among millennials.  Clearly, it is a myth that younger consumers are ditching legacy media in favor of digital options.

Tires. Oil changes. Air filters. Batteries Brakes. Tune-ups. Wiper Blades. Scheduled maintenance.

Over the past 12 months, Las Vegas drivers spent a total of $898,000,000 maintaining and repairing their cars and trucks. Needless to say, every small business owner with a service bay is looking to grab the biggest share of that automotive jackpot.

With more than 180 service bays at 10 locations, Ted Wiens Complete Auto Care has been winning this game for over 70 years. 

So, how does family-owned small business compete with the major chains?

"We primarily advertise on Las Vegas radio stations to keep our brand strong," says Jennifer Wiens, the company's brand manager. "We are all about the Ted Wiens name. People may not need tires or service tomorrow or the next day, but when they do, we need them to think of us."

On November 1, 1940, KENO signed on as the first radio station in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since then, local business owners have depended on radio advertising to successfully market their goods and service.

Using any advertising metric, despite the inundation of new media options, radio remains the most potent medium for fulfilling the marketing objectives of Las Vegas area business owners of every size.

In the age of all things digital, is advertising on Las Vegas radio still effective? Meet five local small business owners who say, YES!

It's time to set some misguided Las Vegas small business owners straight.  When we say everybody listens to Las Vegas radio, we mean EVERYBODY.  Generations X, Y, and Z. Boomers, and, yes, millennials.

You know...millennials. Those are the "kids" who came of age at the turn of the millennium (which is debatably either 2000 or 2001).  This means 18-34 year olds. 

In the Las Vegas metro (Clark County, Nevada) 117,000 millennials make-up 37% of the population and will deliver $16-billion to local cash registers.

Attention Las Vegas business owners! Millennials DO, indeed, listen to the radio...almost every single one.

If you were one of the 1,502,898 adults who tuned-in to a Las Vegas radio station last week, you probably heard a commercial for the Panda Law Firm (aka Peters & Associates).

"Advertising on Las Vegas radio stations has been an integral part of the firm's growth," says Scott Chatley who has been handling the marketing for Panda law since 2010. "We bought our first radio commercial in 2011 and have been on the air ever since."

Market research affirms Mr. Chatley's use of radio advertising to expand the firm's caseload.

Each week, Las Vegas radio stations reach significantly more local consumers who are likely to hire an attorney than are reached by local TV, local newspapers, or streaming audio sites such as Pandora and Spotify.

If you were one of the 1,502,898 adult consumers who tuned-in to a Las Vegas radio station last week, then you, no doubt, heard Aaron Taylor. You know, 'The Real Estate Guy'.

"Radio, by far, is my biggest source of advertising," says Mr. Taylor. "We have sold more homes and made more money since I started advertising on the radio than I have at any other time before then."

Mr. Taylor had been a very successful real estate agent prior to advertising on Las Vegas radio stations. He established O48 Realty in 2003 and quickly expanded to 116 agents.

"In 2008, I lost everything," says Mr. Taylor. "When the real estate crash happened, I wasn't prepared. The company's expenses were far greater than what little money was coming in."

"I needed a home run to turn the business around. A base hit would not do," says Mr. Taylor, who is very fond of sports analogies. "Advertising on Las Vegas radio was a home run."