The Greek philosopher Plato was born 2188 years before there were radio stations in Las Vegas.  There's no doubt, though, he could have written some great commercials.

Plato once said, "Those who tell stories rule society." This quote sounds very familiar to rule #7 for creating a memorable commercial for Las Vegas radio:

Rule #7: Tell a story… listeners are hardwired to emotionally respond to features and benefits when presented in story-form rather than as a list. The advertiser should be the hero of the story.

Lee Habib wrote in the National Review a few years ago, "Stories are packed not with hard data but with something far more powerful: emotional data. That’s why we remember them and why they’re so easily transported, even through generations. Stories stir our souls."

When a Nevada small business owner buys a 60-second commercial on a Las Vegas radio station, she is limited to about 160 words to persuade listeners to become customers.  To be successful, then, each word needs to be carefully selected to fulfill the desired marketing objective. 

A telephone number comprises seven words. Ten if the area code is included.  If the number is repeated three times during the commercial, then it will consume 21-30 words or up to 18% of the total.

So, should a local business owner sacrifice a significant portion of a radio commercial to insert a phone number? Except for certain circumstances, described below, the answer is no. 

Here are the facts.

Marketers call them Generation Z.  Las Vegas small business owners call them teenagers.  Whatever 12-17 years old are called, they live in homes cluttered with video games, smartphones, and tablets. They have easy access to Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram, and hundreds of other apps their parents have never heard of.

What may come as a surprise to many local business owners, despite an over-abundance of options, Las Vegas radio stations dominate teenagers' media consumption.

Last week, according to Nielsen, 147,100 teens tuned-in to Las Vegas radio. On average, each of these 12-17 year olds spent 90 minutes per day listening.

Las Vegas consumers will spend $39 billion on goods and services over the next year. To claim a significant portion of those expenditures, small business owners need to be at the top of customers' minds when it comes time to buy.

Since 1940, when KENO became the first radio station in Las Vegas, thousands of business owners knew, intuitively, that advertising on the medium was a potent way to be remembered when a purchase was imminent. 

Now there is proof that radio advertising creates the brand awareness necessary to drive sales.

There are many ways for local small business owners to advertise. Options include local newspapers, local magazines, local television, and online. But to achieve the “3-Rs” of advertising success each, Recall, and Return, no other medium delivers results as effectively and efficiently as advertising on Las Vegas radio.

"Radio, by far, is my biggest source of advertising," says Aaron Taylor, (aka The Real Estate Guy). "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."

"After our first year on the radio," says Mr. Taylor, "we had gone from selling 50 homes a year to 300." By any measure, a home run."

Some of the bravest people in Las Vegas are small business owners.  These hearty entrepreneurs invest their passion, their hope, their time, and, of course, their money despite the odds.

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), the good news is that 80% of small businesses make it through the first year. After that, though, only about half will make it to their fifth anniversary. Even fewer, 33% will keep their doors open for ten years.

CBInsights performed an analysis to determine the top ten reasons small business owners fail.  I have included the entire list. But, of particular importance, is reason #8, "poor marketing". This subject will be discussed in more detail because this is where advertising on Las Vegas radio stations can help business owners not to fail.

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.