• If you need to ward off increased competition or generate additional sales, then advertising is a necessity. Because you cannot personally tell everyone in Central Illinois about the benefits of doing business with you, you need to develop an advertising plan using a mass medium (Radio, TV, billboards, etc)

• When you advertise you are buying the audience of that medium. Regent Broadcasting of Peoria provides five distinct and unique audiences so your advertising dollars are not wasted reaching people who are unlikely to do business with you. This allows you to focus on those customers that will!

If radio were invented today, it would be all the marketing rage. Why? Because we live in an on-the-go society, and unlike newspaper or television, radio is with us everywhere; in the car, at work, and in the home. Radio is an affordable, mobile, and intrusive medium that provides advertisers with the ability to target a specific audience. When used correctly, radio provides a cost-effective marketing platform for nearly any type of business!

• Radio can expand your market reach
• Target your best prospects
• Generate sufficient frequency
• Reach mobile Consumers
• Motivate people to shop
• Establish a relationship with customers
• Break through competitive clutter
• Make a lasting impression
• Maximize advertising investments

• Radio is many times overlooked as the most effective media. We believe that is because it is the oldest electronic media. Radio goes everywhere! It wakes you in the morning. It drives with you to and from work. It mows your lawn with you.

Research our website to answer the basic questions. Much of the information regarding our five stations is available here. You can also contact us via email by visiting our Contact Page. Or, make an appointment to have one of our Marketing Consultants visit with you. After answering a series of questions and telling us what you would like to accomplish, we can advise you of an appropriate plan of action or provide you with a written marketing program and demo commercial!

• That solely depends on what you would like to accomplish. Many factors are taken into consideration when determining an advertising budget. A rule of thumb is to use a figure based on 12% of your annual sales, subtract your cost of rent or location and use the remaining dollars for advertising.

• Although you can purchase a low impact advertising schedule for a few hundred dollars, most of our advertisers invest $600 - $2,000 per month. Finding a budget that you're comfortable with, while providing a sufficient return on investment, can be developed via a marketing analysis.

• We suggest that you use 50% of your advertising budget on General Advertising, 25% for those Regular Sales Events and 25% for Special Opportunities and seasonal campaigns like Christmas.

Unless you're having a special event, TOMA (top-of-mind-awareness) advertising yields the greatest long-term benefits. Not everyone needs your products or services today, so advertising for a month is a crapshoot. Reminding a large group of consumers who are most likely to do business with you about your Unique Selling Position over and over is most beneficial. When any of our listeners need your product, our goal is to have your business in their top-of-mind recall.

• Not using enough frequency to get their message heard! Six times frequency equals sixty percent retention!
• Expecting immediate results and throwing in the towel before the advertising can work. Successful advertising takes time and a plan.
• Not having the right level of commitment and focus. Many business owners think they need to do a little of everything instead of doing one thing well. It's been said, "I throw my advertising dollars against the wall and hope some of it sticks."
• Advertisers will tend to deviate from “The 33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising.”* *Michael Corbett, Pinnacle Book.

Be realistic about your expectations and the investment that you're willing to make!

• That depends on how and what you advertise. If you were to run 20 commercials in one day on any radio station and advertise that you are giving away $100 bills, you would find a traffic jam in front of your location. But, to gain Top of The Mind Awareness, one should advertise every day, over the entire year. An advertiser should commit to a minimum of 13 weeks to realize the results that an effective ad campaign can make.

• Not everyone is in need of your products every day. So, advertising on a radio station for one month and then billboards for the next month is nothing more than a gamble. “What you say, times how many time you say it, is the only thing that works in advertising today!” Make a plan and stick with it!

• What is the profile of your customer? Once you have determined who you would like to reach, find a station that has the best chance of reaching those prospects.

• Regent Broadcasting of Peoria has five great radio stations with five distinct formats and target audiences. Match your target consumer with our audiences by reviewing our individual station profiles.

• We can produce your commercial or we can suggest an outsource company to create it.
• In-house production costs are free for all customers.
• Since we firmly believe that “What you say” is equally as important as “How many times you say it,” we put extra care in how your message is created.
• It is our mission to couch your message in a well-produced audio commercial that will motivate our listeners into becoming your customers.

Ask yourself, “Why should the customer do business with me?” Be specific. “What truly makes you different than your competition?” “What is your unique selling position?” Look at your strengths and your competitor’s weaknesses. Create a short but memorable slogan that gets your message across to the consumer. “Just Do It!” and “Got Milk” are a couple of examples.

After ensuring that you have a “Rock Solid Marketing Plan ” in order, stick to a well planned advertising campaign month after month. When you deliver a well-constructed message consistently to the right consumers, your advertising will make you money!

A bare minimum to invest would be $500 per month. With this level of investment it would allow you to dominate a segment or program on one of our great radio stations. As your business grows, you can then increase your investment to dominate two day parts. From that point you can dominate a radio station, followed with dominating the medium. The idea is to use your budget to create the desired frequency that will ensure your message is heard.

• We believe that it is best that you lay out an annual plan for your advertising. Use the figure of 12% of your annual sales, minus the cost of your rent or location.
• For a company with $1 million in gross sales, 12% would be $120,000. If your rent is $70,000 per year, then your ad budget is $50,000.
• Assign 50% of that budget to spend over 12 months. Break down your spending by month based on month-by-month sales averages. If you do 10% of your sales in April you should spend $2,500 in April.
• Assign 25% of your budget to regular sales. This would be $12,500 annually or $3,125 per quarterly sale.
• Assign 25% of your budget to special opportunities and holiday sales. This would allow you to take advantage of any special opportunities that may arise during the year. An inflexible budgeting process would not allow you to take advantage of a great idea that may come up in mid-year.

The right message delivered consistently. Whether you're a doctor, lawyer or carpet cleaner, a well-developed commercial (great copy) stating your unique selling position will keep you in the consumers mind when they need your services.

With great frequency! You are putting much faith into a one or two day event. Make sure you have a campaign that is going to reach the maximum number of consumers at least 4- 5 times! Our Marketing Consultants would be glad to show you how to achieve that frequency!

Television & Cable Advertising:
Although a sometimes effective marketing weapon, producing a good commercial that doesn’t look cheap runs thousands of dollars, and buying prime time can cost hundreds of dollars for just thirty-seconds. Television advertising that is effective, meaning acceptable frequency and good placement on a popular network or program, can be costly. Cable advertising is fragmented into hundreds of channels. Getting enough reach and frequency to realize a return on your investment could be costly.

Newspaper Advertising:
Newspaper is more of an information medium than it is a motivational medium. What is important to remember is that your potential customers will read, see, note, or associate you advertisement or message at a time when they are already motivated to buy, but seldom before that. Newspaper was great twenty years ago when we had the time to sit and read it everyday, but unfortunately, it doesn’t play as well in today’s mobile and fast paced world.

Yellow Pages:
Like newspapers, the yellow pages is primarily an informational rather than motivational medium. Place your business’s name in the consumers’ sub-conscious prior to opening the yellow pages, and the yellow pages just might work better for you. Most consumers say they would be more likely to call a business with a smaller yellow page ad that they had previously heard of, from radio perhaps, than an unknown business with a larger yellow page ad. Radio can prime your prospects with your unique selling position prior to ever going to the yellow pages, giving you the best shot to receive their phone call.

Billboards:
Billboards are a great tool in introducing a new product or service to a marketplace or in providing directions to your location. However, telling the story of your business’s benefits in just a few words and a picture is difficult at best. Billboards tend to be too expensive to use as a major part of most businesses marketing campaigns, however, a high-profile billboard can add a splash if you have the budget and are already effectively TELLING your story on radio or television.

Other Radio Stations:
We’re big radio fans because of radio’s ability to deliver a high-frequency advertising campaign to a targeted audience. If any of our radio stations's audiences don't fit your customer target, let us know. We’ll be happy to recommend a radio station that fits your target and provide you with the contact information that you require.

Experience has shown that if you consistently follow the basic rules for successful advertising, your chances for success improve greatly. If you choose not to have a good game plan for marketing your business, or if you choose to break the basic rules of advertising, than your chances for success are not good. Our job is to assist you in developing a plan and to keep you focused on your marketing objectives. That’s why we go through a regimented process that includes our marketing analysis, the assembling of an effective schedule, and development of great copy for your message. This process stacks all the odds for success in your favor. Our account managers are trained not to be good salespeople, but good marketers. Suggesting a campaign that does not work is as unacceptable to us as it is to you.

HERE ARE A FEW SUCCESS STORIES FROM OUR ADVERTISERS

We accept cash, check and all major credit cards. We are happy to extend 30-day payment terms with approved credit