Advertising on Portland Radio Brings Smiles To Maine Business

There are 25,782,816 teeth in southern Maine. Over the next 12 months, according to Nielsen, 62% of them will end up in the offices of 600 or so practicing dentists.

The majority of dentists in southern Maine are self-employed, making them, by definition, small business owners. These owners are fighting, dare I say, tooth-and-nail for their share of $280 million in patient billing.

Advertising on Portland radio has proven to be an effective way for some dental professionals to recruit patients…and not just because radio is an “oral” medium. Buxton, Maine based Saco River Dentistry, for example, credits its radio advertising with contributing to a 426% increase in new patients this year versus last year.

For any Maine small business that advertises, including dentists, it turns out that the reach of an advertising campaign ranks very high in factors that ultimately convert a target audience into paying customers. Earlier this year, Nielsen released a study that found just that.

Advertising on Portland Radio Maine Small Business Owner Effective Commercials

For dental practices, as Saco River Dentistry discovered, Portland radio reaches more consumers who go to the dentist than any other local medium. More than local TV. More than local newspaper. More than local magazines.

Advertising on Portland Radio Maine Small Business Owner Reach versus Frequency

To achieve its success advertising on Portland radio, Saco River Dentistry used a combination of :15-second and :60-second commercials. Some of these commercials utilized live commercials featuring Blake & Eva, award winning radio hosts from Coast 93.1. Listen to an example of these live commercials.

These types of live, unscripted commercials make sense for many Maine business owners.

A study conducted a few years ago at The University of California, Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism found that 82% of radio listeners have parasocial feelings for their favorite radio personalities.

According to the study’s author, Paula Woodely, a parasocial interaction “describes one-sided interpersonal relationships in which one party knows (or feels as though they know) a great deal about the other. The most common form of such relationships is between celebrities and their fans. There is an ‘illusion of intimacy’ between media personalities and audience in parasocial interactions.”

Key Findings of The Study

Hopelessly Devoted: 30% of respondents spend 51-75% of their time with radio listening to their favorite personality. 34% of respondents spend 26-50% of their time listening to their favorite personality
Insatiable Appetite: 81% of respondents said they listen to their favorite personality “whenever I can”
Can’t Leave Home Without Them: 55% of respondents listen to their favorite personality on a computer or mobile device when they are away from their radio
Seeks Long Term Commitment: 63% of respondents have listened to their favorite personality for 4+ years

As discussed in the Small Business Guide To Effective Radio Advertising, to ensure the success of an advertising campaign, stations should be chosen based on QUALITY not QUANTITY. One factor, then, that should be considered is the quality of parasocial interaction listeners have with the station’s on-air personalities because:

75% of respondents turn on the radio because they know their favorite personality is on the air
79% of respondents listen to that radio station because their favorite personality is on the air
85% of respondents change the station less frequently when their favorite personality is on the air
72% or respondents talk to their friends about their favorite personality or what they heard on the program

But most importantly, more than 50% of people with favorite radio personalities have considered or purchased a product/service advertised during their favorite radio personality’s show.

Dr. Nicholas K. Roy, owner of Saco River Dentistry, explained the success of his campaign on Portland radio. “When people come to the dentist, they want to know who they are seeing. They want to feel the energy of the person. They have to trust that person.”

“Radio”, says Dr. Roy, “Is the only way to get that message across.”

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