Radio Results Blog

Nobody can speak more passionately about a business than the owner of the company.  Think about Victor Kiam of Remington Razors who proclaimed in radio and TV commercials, "I liked the shave so much, I bought the company." Or Lee Iacocca of Chrysler who told Americans, "If you can find a better car, then buy it."  And, of course, George Zimmer of Men's Warehouse, "You're going to like the way you look; I guarantee it." Add to the list, Claudia Risbara of Risbara's Greenhouse in Portland, Maine who voices her company's radio commercials.  According to Claudia, "When people hear my name and voice, it seems to stop them from what they are doing and listen to what I have to say." 

Portland, Maine is a tough place to own a restaurant.  According to an article in Mainebiz, the city has one eating establishment for every 118 people.  That means Portland has almost twice the restaurants per capita than even San Francisco. And not only is there an abundance of restaurants, there are lots of good, even great restaurants.  Epicurious calls Portland the "Northeast's Top Dining Spot." Bon Apetit named Portland "the foodiest small town in America."  The New York Times, no less, says, Portland, Maine is "one of the best places to eat in the Northeast."  So when a local deli wanted to compete for customers against a city full of award winning eateries, they turned to a medium that captures the flavor of the local community...radio.

The year was 2003.  Ninety-three percent of Americans listened to radio each week.  But what else could they do in the olden days?  Facebook did not exist; that would come a year later.  2003 was the year iTune's was born but there were only 200,000 songs available then, far short of the 100,000,000 titles available today. And back then you needed to plop down $535 for an iPod to listen to downloaded music.  Now, of course media players are free on phones and tablets.  Also is 2003, YouTube was two years from existence; Twitter was three years from birth; Amazon Kindles were four years away; and iPads would not show up for 7 more years.  No wonder radio still flourished in 2003, there was nothing else to do!  So, ten years later, has technology killed the radio star? Absolutely not!

According to the Small Business Development Center, one millions Americans reside in senior care facilities.  This industry generates $178 billion dollars annually and the competition for residents is fierce.  The four largest assisted living companies, Brookdale Senior Living, Sunrise Senior Living, Emeritus, Senior Living, and Atria Senior Living, account for only 13% of the revenue.  The remaining 87% is made up of more than 13,000 small and mid-sized communities including Scarborough Terrace in the Portland, Maine area.  To compete successfully in this crowded business category, Scarborough Terrace turned-up the radio...and it's working!

Mathews Brothers of Belfast, Maine is the oldest manufacturer of windows in America.  Since 1854, the company has been making all sorts of windows that can be found in homes throughout New England. Despite 159 years of success, the company has one problem.  In the words of Bob Maynes, Mathews Brothers Director of Marketing and International Sales, "We are the oldest company in the country that no one ever heard of."  But in just six weeks, radio solved the problem.

April is National Lawn Care Month...and landscape companies have a lot to celebrate.  Last year, according to The National Gardening Association, 24 million households in the U.S. spent almost $30-billion dollars on lawn and landscaping services. M.J. Storey Landscape Construction, a small business in Southern Maine, nurtured its growth in this blooming industry by effectively adding radio to the company's marketing mix.  According to Michael Storey, the company's owner, "Radio has been incredibly successful for us. We experienced a 45% growth in one year once we went on the radio."

The people of Maine are stingy when it comes to charitable contributions.  In 2012, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Mainers gave only 2.8% of discretionary income to charity, the second lowest percentage in the country.  Only the people of Puerto Rico give less.  This makes fund raising in Maine, to the say the least, challenging.  Here is an example of how one Maine non-profit uses radio to successfully promote its largest annual fundraiser.

Michael and Mary Jean Major own Cunningham Security Systems, a small business that provides custom designed, high quality, monitored security systems to residential and business customers in the Portland, Maine area.  The Majors purchased the already successful company in 2005 from the founders, Nancy and Paul Cunningham. During their first two years of ownership, the Majors doubled their number of customers.  Quite a remarkable accomplishment considering the competition.

Leigh Kellis used to work for tips as a bartender in Portland, Maine.  She now raises dough in a different way.  In 2012, Leigh opened The Holy Donut, a bakery specializing in uniquely flavored doughnuts made from Maine potatoes.  Did I say potatoes?  Yes.  Every Holy Donut is made with all natural flavors, colors, no preservatives, and mashed potatoes.  Leigh, who admitted to CNN that she can be neurotic about food, will "only use ingredients that I would be willing to feed my 8-year-old daughter."  The results: Not only are the doughnuts delicious (I am a fan) sales have been, dare I say, sweet!

A billion people now use Facebook. More than 700,000 of these users are in the state of Maine.  Ry Russell, owner of The Saco Drive-in Theater in the greater Portland area, knew that he could sell more tickets by converting a small portion of Maine's social media users into fans of his page: facebook.com/sacodrivein. Using traditional radio advertising to achieve his goal, Ry expanded the business's number of Facebook followers from 2800 to 16,000 in just over 2 years.