Ask any Las Vegas small business owner how to measure the success of an advertising campaign. The answer will almost always 'sales.'

According to Nielsen research, the media-element of a campaign that has the most significant effect on sales is reach. This is the number of different people exposed to the advertiser's message.

There are more ways than ever to advertise. But, which of those options has the largest reach among Clark County consumers?

Doug Schoen, an advertising professional with 35 years of experience, writes in Forbes: "You wouldn’t know it from all the media coverage focused on streaming video and streaming music, but radio actually has the most reach among American media consumers. 93% of adults listen to the radio each week as compared to 87% who watch TV, a substantive difference."

By April 15th next year, 885,929 residents in the Las Vegas area will file a tax return.  More than 53% of these returns will be completed by the taxpayer themselves, either by hand or with the help of an online provider like Turbotax.

Every season, Clark County small business owners who specialize in tax preparation services lose customers to the do-it-yourself options.  This year, 412,00 local consumers will spend $79,600,000 with tax professionals. But, based on the average cost of services, more than $91,000,000 will stay in the wallets of the DIY crowd.

To clawback this enormous amount of money from the DIY market, local tax services will need to advertise the valuable benefits of using a professional.

The best advertising option for tax professionals is on Las Vegas radio stations. Here's why.

Las Vegas small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services since 1941.  That's when the Laura Belle and her husband Maxwell Kelch put the first successful local radio station, KENO on the air.

Today, there are 35 radio stations that serve Clark County. Each provides a unique blend of music, information, and entertainment.  Some stations focus on politics or sports. Some play country music. Some play the hits. Some play classic rock. Some are on the AM dial. Some are on FM.

When KENO began broadcasting, there were no TV stations in Las Vegas. Those would come 13 years later. Also, there was no social media, YouTube, Sirius/XM, Pandora, Spotify, or smartphones. Each of those would be products of a new Millenium.

With an overabundance of advertising options now available to small business owners, does advertising on Las Vegas radio still make sense?  Here are five facts that serve to answer that question.

Advertising is critical to the success of every Las Vegas small business owner.  One of the most powerful elements of any advertising campaign is how many people it reaches.

Nielsen, the world's largest consumer insights company, found that advertising reach has a more significant effect on sales than branding, recency, and context.

There are many ways a local business owner can advertise. This includes traditional media like Las Vegas radio, local TV, and newspaper. It also includes online advertising options such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pandora.

They type of customer an individual business needs to reach depends on the goods and services the company sells. For instance, a daycare operator might want to reach households with young children. On the other hand, a real estate agent could be looking for consumers in the market to purchase a new home.

If you don't have time to read this entire article, then I will tell you right now. The best way to advertise in Clark County is on Las Vegas radio.

A vital function of advertising is to build mental availability, which nudges a consumer toward the purchase of a product or service. It also serves to provide public notice that a product or service exists and is available for purchase.

Consumers in the valley are are expected to spend at least $39 billion at retail this year. To claim a greater share of this giant pool of cash requires local business owners of every size to advertise their goods and services. As Professor Jef Richards at Michigan State University points out, “Advertising is totally unnecessary…unless you want to make money."

 

Advertising on Las Vegas radio stations is the best way for local small business owners to reach the lucrative, local mother market.  Here's why.

Las Vegas consumers will spend $39 billion over the next 12 months. Forbes magazine reports that it is moms who control 85% of all household purchases. Locally,  there are more than 371,000 mothers with children under the age of 17 at home.

Las Vegas small business owners need to pay special attention to these mothers and their wallets. For example, compared to the general population, over the next 12 months, local moms live in households that are

• 48% more likely to take a family vacation
• 25% more likely to purchase a car or truck
• 80% more likely to buy furniture
• 86% more likely to purchase a major appliance
• 17% more likely to buy a mattress
• 147% more likely to buy a new house/condo
• 165% more likely to purchase a boat
• 25%% more likely to buy carpeting/floor coverings
• 58% more likely to move
• 39% more likely to look for a new job

There are two reasons why advertising on Las Vegas radio stations is more effective than advertising on TV.

The first reason is reach.  In a study conducted by Nielsen, the number of consumers who are exposed to a commercial contributes profoundly to the number of sales it will create.  This is discussed in depth in the free eBook, "Seven Steps For Advertising Successfully In Las Vegas."

Among all media available to local business owners, Las Vegas radio offers the biggest reach.

The second reason why radio advertising is so powerful has been revealed in a new study Mindshare, an advertising agency that buys media for some of the most successful companies in the world including General Mills, Nestlé, Domino's, IBM, Rolex, and John Deere.

According to AdWeek, the Mindshare study used brain activity detected from electroencephalograms (EEGS) and galvanic skin response technology (which measures changes in sweat gland activity) to get a deeper sense of how advertising resonates with people.The Mindshare study indicates that when a brand tells a story using audio media, it elicits a 21% higher emotional intensity than the same story told using visual media.

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.

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.

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.