It's a fact. Unless a consumer remembers your business when it comes time to buy, then it is likely they will purchase from someone else. Staying top of mind, therefore, is critical for every Central Savannah River Area small business owner who wants to grab a share of the area's $9.3-billion retail market.
Advertising on Augusta radio provides local business owners with the most affordable way to move to the top of customers' minds. But, before discussing how to get remembered, we must understand why consumers forget.
Every second, local consumers are exposed to 11,000,000 pieces of data. A consumer's brain, however, is only capable of dealing with about 50 pieces of this data at a time. So, if my calculus is correct, a consumer forgets approximately 10,999,950 things every second.
Hermann Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who, during the 19th century, pioneered the experimental study of memory. He is most famous for the discovery of the 'Forgetting Curve'. This curve demonstrates how rapidly the ability to recall information erodes over time.
The Ebbinghaus Curve indicates that unless people make a concerted effort to remember, the ability to recall information drops by 40% after just 20 minutes. At the end of one day, recall drops to just about 25%. Quickly after that, recall diminishes into oblivion.
What this science suggests is that to be remembered by potential customers, it is critical that CSRA business owners advertise consistently. According to many local marketers, Augusta radio allows for this
Jade Ross, the marketing coordinator for Augusta based First Choice Home Builders, has learned the value of advertising consistently on local radio.
"In 2018, we sold 48 homes," says Ms. Ross. "The year before we sold 32."
"Advertising on Augusta radio stations has been very important in the growth of our company," she says. "We have used it to build our brand so that when people in the CSRA are ready to buy a newly built home, the first company they think about it us."
First Choice began advertising its spec and semi-custom luxury homes on Augusta radio in 2013. The campaign was limited to one radio station during the fall of each year.
"This worked well for us for five years," says Ms. Ross. "Prospective homebuyers were telling us all the time that they learned about us from our radio advertising."
Late last year, though, First Choice began advertising more aggressively on Augusta radio stations.
"It dawned us," says Ms. Ross, "that we could probably magnify the results if we were on more radio stations over a longer time."
First Choice now advertises all year long across six different radio stations.
"More than ever, people are calling us because they hear us on different radio stations. The biggest difference we've noticed, though, is increased traffic to our website."
Since the company began advertising more consistently, web traffic has been 17% higher on the days radio commercials run.
Why is frequency so important? According to Ebbinghaus, repeated exposures to a message will increase recall.
There is no magic number of exposures that will cement a memory in consumer's brains. Despite popular myth, the number is not three.
According, however, to Erwin Ephron, the father of modern-day media planning, the more frequency, the better. "Today," said Mr. Ephron, "serious students of advertising understand there is no formula answer to the effective frequency question. They believe most exposures are reminders."
A study by Nielsen, in fact, does indicate that when advertising on radio, higher levels of frequency create an exponentially greater lift to sales.
The study, conducted over three months, revealed that a radio advertising campaign conducted by an auto aftermarket retailer delivered $21 in increased sales for every $1 spent on commercials.
According to Westwood One, the company that commissioned the study, every exposure to the advertiser's commercial contributed to sales lift. The greatest lift derived from listeners who heard the retailer's commercial 7+ times.
Many advertising experts, including Mr. Ephron, believe simple repetition is not enough. Because, according to Ebbinghaus, recall plummets drastically after exposure, advertising can become most effective when exposure to a commercial occurs within close proximity to the time of purchase. Mr. Ephron referred to this phenomenon as "recency."
Another study reveals that radio advertising is the best tool CSRA small business owners have to achieve recency.
Data provided to trade publication Inside Radio from cross-platform measurement service USA TouchPoints clearly demonstrates the link between radio and retail.
According to the study, radio’s ubiquitous in-car presence is such that more purchases are made within 30 minutes of radio listening than are made after tuning to satellite radio, streaming audio and downloaded music combined.
USA TouchPoints reports that 13% of the time that purchases were being made, radio was listened to in the same half-hour, compared to just 3% each for satellite radio and streaming audio. And 45% of the 18-64-year-old population made a purchase and listened to radio in the same half-hour during the week, which is five times higher than internet streaming audio."
So, when it comes to being remembered by consumers who are ready to buy, the key for CSRA small business owners is frequency and recency. According to research, the more of both, the better.
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