In this episode of Market Share, discover how plumbing and HVAC companies can leverage radio advertising for growth. Host Clay Radford discusses the impact of radio on website traffic and customer engagement. Analytic Owl's findings provide essential data on the effectiveness of different ad durations and times, offering a roadmap for successful radio campaigns.
Clay Radford :
Welcome to another episode of Market Share, the podcast where we dive deep into the latest trends, insights, and opportunities in the world of marketing and advertising. I'm your host, Clay Radford, and today we have a fascinating topic that will be a game changer for plumbing and HVAC companies. We'll get into it right after this. For 22 years, I've worked in the radio industry. I went from being a high schooler working part-time to now owning and managing the stations I started at. I work with hundreds of local businesses every month, helping them to build their brands and to reach new customers. On the show, I'm going to share with you how you can use radio to scale and grow your business. I'll also share my stories, trials, and tribulations of being a business owner. My name is Clay Rafford, and welcome to Market Share, the Entrepreneur's Podcast. Did you know that the average age of a U.S. home is nearly 40 years old? With the current stagnant housing market, more people are staying in their homes longer, which means there is a steady stream of opportunity for plumbers and HVAC companies. But how can these companies effectively reach the target audience? The answer might just be radio. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, radio has proven to be an excellent way to not only promote emergency services, but also to get listeners thinking about profitable replacements, upgrades, and renovations. In the Radio Matters blog, RIB cites recent research from Analytical Industry Insights that sheds light on the impact of radio on website traffic and how advertisers can maximize its optimization. From July of 2021 to June of 2023, Analytic Owl found that a whopping 84% of plumbing services website visits and 75% of HVAC website visits that came immediately following radio commercials from search engines like Google or Bing. Only 14% of plumbing visits and 24% of HVAC visits came from users entering a specific website address. This is a key point that Analytic Owl emphasizes. In Google Analytics, the referencing source metric identifies the last website a visitor was on. This can give the impression that all of the traffic should be attributed to search engines. However, many of these visits are actually from people who had just heard a commercial and then used a search engine to get to the site. Understanding this behavior is critical for grasping the full impact of radio advertising. The research also highlights that people will overwhelmingly use search engines to find a website, no matter what the call to action is used. Hard to remember website addresses, dedicated phone numbers, and response codes all attempt to create a narrow response path that most people simply won't go down. Analytic Owl's findings show that both plumbing and HVAC categories had consistent response rates from Tuesday to Saturday. The best performing time slots was from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 30 second ads drove a 2% lift in web traffic. This is important consideration for those using 15 second or 60 second ads. But it's not just about the quantity of visits. It's also about the quality. Radio visitors drove quality visits with sessions durations averaging 1 minute and 14 seconds and averaging 1.7 pages viewed. This indicates serious interest in response. Bounce rates were under 50%, meaning fewer people just visit a single page before leaving the site. Over 50% of the site visitors use a mobile device, which is a great reminder that radio audiences can easily respond anywhere and everywhere. Scarborough's USA 2023 Release 2 finds that radio reaches 86% of adults who are planning any home improvements, 84% with HVAC plans, and 86% with plumbing plans. This makes radio an incredibly effective medium for reaching potential customers who are already in the mindset of making home improvements. So if you're in the plumbing or HVAC business, it's time to consider the power of radio advertising. Not only can it drive immediate web traffic, but it can also attract quality visitors who are generally interested in your services. Well, that's all for today's episode of Market Share. If you'd like to continue this conversation for plumbing and HVAC businesses, feel free to contact me at Radford Media Group, 660-885-6141 is the phone number, or shoot me an email, clay at radfordmediagroup.com. Once again, I'm Clay Radford, and thank you for tuning in to Market Share, the entrepreneur's podcast.
