Women influence 95% of all purchases and control 80% of all household spending.

She specifically points out their spending habits in these categories:

• Domestic Products

“Buying the ‘small stuff’ has always been in the woman’s domain. Part of her domestic duties as wife and mother has been to keep the family healthy, warm, and well nourished. From the family meal to the family doctor, from shirts for her husband to shoes for her kids, chances are those choices have always been hers.

“What many marketers haven’t caught onto yet, though, is that women’s spending power now extends far beyond shoelaces and shirts.”

• Big-Ticket Items

“In the past, the big-ticket items like cars, insurance policies, and major appliances were historically bought by – and therefore marketed to – men. Things have changed! Nowadays, women need their own cars, their own computers, their own cell phones, and their own investment accounts – among many other new big-ticket items – and so manufacturers are facing a whole new market.”

• The Buying Power of Single Women

“Get this: Single women head 27 percent of households in the United States. Did you register that? More than one out of four U.S. households! Thus, a substantial portion of the market for cars, computers, and cell phones, for instance, is dominated by women serving as sole decision makers.”

• The Buying Power of Married Women

“Looking at married households (55 percent of U.S. HH), the fact of the matter is that the woman of the house spends not her own paycheck but a good deal of her partner’s as well. She still handles all the domestic spending. And when it comes to the big-ticket items, not only is she buying her own products – like the single women above – but she also has a disproportionate say in the shared decisions, such as cars, investment accounts, and family vacations.”

So, what’s the “take-away” from all this information? Again, it’s that – Women influence 95% of all purchases and control 80% of all household spending.

1. THE RIGHT DEMOGRAPHICS. Every year Talkers Magazine does a research project to profile who’s listening to talk radio. And, every year their survey confirms that the talk radio listener is, “diverse, educated, attentive, active and affluent…” If this describes your customer – it’s a perfect match!
2. TARGET AUDIENCE. Not only are the demographics of talk radio great – but with specialty talk shows on politics, health, relationships, lifestyles, finance, consumer advocacy, sports, etc., we can identify shows that are a perfect match for your service, once we know the audience you’re trying to reach!
3. EFFECTIVE SALES TOOL. Publicity is definitely not paid advertising. But it can be far more effective. Just ask Dr. Arnold Goldstein, well-known financial advisor and author, “The interest in our books from radio interviews has far exceeded the response we’ve seen from our advertising campaigns. Dollar-for-dollar, talk radio interviews has shown a much better return!”A compelling radio interview can promote your product or service without the audience even realizing it! And, as hosts don’t want to be bombarded with phone calls with questions about your company, they’re highly motivated to frequently mention your website or toll-free number.
4. THIRD PARTY ENDORSEMENT. Talk radio hosts have loyal followings – that’s how they maintain their ratings. And listeners tune in daily to hear what their favorite host is talking about. As that host is often thought of as an old friend or even a trusted advisor, when you appear as a guest on their show, listeners hear an implicit endorsement of you, your service and your message!
5. CREDIBILITY. This is a crucial ingredient in every marketing campaign – and talk radio supplies it in abundance. One of our clients told us, “…every show I’ve appeared on – the host tells his listeners about my great expertise, my many accomplishments and how proud they are to have me as a guest! Of course, the more important I am, the more important the host appears to be. As far as promotion and credibility goes – it just doesn’t get any better!”
6. TIME TO TELL YOUR WHOLE STORY. As a guest – you get not just 60 seconds, but ten to sixty minutes of quality time with a very targeted and attentive audience. You have enough time to talk about your service and in many cases you have a chance to answer questions from callers. It’s a perfect way to get your full message heard and understood by the audience!
7. COST-EFFECTIVE PROMOTION. Talk radio interviews are all done by phone. So without ever leaving your home or office you can have a direct and oftentimes live conversation with consumers around the country. Plus our fees for this publicity service are minuscule compared to what you’ll spend in advertising dollars to buy the same amount of air time!
8. IMMEDIATE EXPOSURE. You can be on the air within two to three weeks! And, because talk radio keeps up with changing times and topics, we can continuously create new angles for your topic that reflect current events, to keep you on the air and in the news on an ongoing basis.
9. BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK. With probably 1,000 + talk radio interviews under his belt, nutritional products spokesperson, Dr. W. Wong says, “Talk radio is the greatest way to get your message across to a large group of people at one time. There’s a captive audience during morning and evening drive times, in the middle of the day with stay-at-home moms and people in the workplace and for those folks awake late at night. It’s better, cheaper and faster than TV appearances. Without question – talk radio provides the best bang for the buck!”

And what about the 10th reason? You tell me! In the comment field below share with everyone your success stories using talk radio and other reasons why talk radio really is a terrific promotional tool.

The face of radio has changed quite a bit over the past decade here are just a few of the changes. The hosts of major-market radio shows, which had extremely attractive audiences, used to bring guests in the studio for long chats. Not three or four minutes, but how about half an hour or longer! This was a time when a guest could knock off a couple radio interviews and send sales soaring. What has changed? First, there are not as many big stations that accept guests – many have changed to a music format or don’t accept guests that have a product or service to sell. Another change is that the amount of guest air-time has been greatly reduced. Radio talk shows nowadays find that listeners are more likely to stay tuned if they have three 10-minute guests per show rather than one guest featured for 30 minutes.

Unless you are a big name, the chances of hitting pay dirt with a couple of large radio interviews are pretty slim.

As a public relations expert who has been in the industry for over two decades, I believe that in order to get your book, product or service the exposure that it deserves, it is crucial that you know what the playing field is like. Now that you are aware of the competitive nature of this media marketplace, let me share a suggestion for anyone who is just starting out with their book promotion: small radio stations.

Below are some great reasons why small stations can really make a difference in the promotion of your book!

The More Interviews You Do…

When it comes to publicity, and in this case radio publicity, quantity is very significant. This means that you shouldn’t scratch a radio show off of your hit list or reject their booking request just because they doesn’t have the hottest host or the highest wattage. Every show counts! The more interviews that you do the more buzz you are building. Although it would be awesome to exclusively book yourself on shows in the top 5 radio markets that are 50,000-watt stations and hosted by a celebrity…but this no longer the norm. Don’t let this be a mental block, there is power in numbers…meaning quantity!

Think about it: even with a 1,000-watt station, you are still reaching an audience. So say a 1,000-watt radio station has around 100 listeners, it’s a waste of time right? Wrong! What if you had the opportunity to speak to an auditorium full of 100 people about your business? Would you go? Of course you would! Keep this in mind when looking at stations. Every small station has value and adds to your overall quantity which fuels the buzz.

Practice Makes Perfect

Imagine it: getting booked on your first show in a major market with a top host. You probably have never even given an interview in your life. Possibly you may do a few practice runs with a friend or colleague, but nothing live on the air. So you get on the air, the host throws you off your topic, you get lost, agitated all resulting in a very unprofessional start.

I have seen it with numerous clients; it takes at least 10 radio interviews before most guests get comfortable behind the microphone. This is the beauty of small stations. With a substantially smaller audience they give you the real live feel without the fear of massive embarrassment. At the end of the day small radio stations allow you to practice how to be not just a focused guest, but one that sounds like a “radio pro”.

No Fear, No Errors

Not everyone is a natural born communicator, and if you are an author whose expertise is in the written word it is rare to find a great author who is also a great verbal communicator. First time authors are especially prone to stage fright – yes, even on radio!

Stage fright on the radio has one major result: errors! Typical errors for first time guests on talk radio include not giving out the web site address or 1-800 number. Or giving them out too much or not enough! A huge mistake is to mention your web address and phone number too often and in turn upset the host, who will let you know in no uncertain terms that this is their show and not an infomercial.

Technical guests have a tendency to slide into techno-babble, and even good guests inevitably walk out of their first few interviews knowing they could have been better. Wouldn’t it best if you are new to the radio game to make your mistakes in front of a smaller audience? Getting your feet wet in on 1,000-watt radio shows will help you remove your fear factor and reduce the amount of error for when you get on the big-time shows!

Give Your Message a Tune-Up

When you are just starting out promoting on talk radio it can be pretty tough to know what your true message is. You know what your business is about and the passion that you have for it, but everything seems relevant! How do you cut it down? This is yet another great function of starting out your campaign on smaller channels….you find ways of trimming down your book’s message to a few powerful words.

The more you get to talk with interviewers, even though the audience may not be huge, will enable you to crystallize your thoughts on your topic. Hey, it may even give you new ideas about your topic that you never realized before the interviews!

Don’t Let Size Fool You: Be Prepared

Booking small stations can be an adventure. Be prepared to run into some hosts who are unprofessional. To beat this make sure you confirm an interview at least twice before you are scheduled to appear on the air. These hosts may also not be as prepared as their big-time counterparts (meaning they probably have not read you book). So you will need to be ready to walk them through your major topics.

The best idea is to prepare for these interviews by considering how you would explain your book to a stranger on the street that you have met for the first time. Just know that some very bright people listen to some very small radio stations; make sure not to talk down to your audience.

Talk radio, (one of the most under-utilized goldmines I can think of), can be a powerhouse in terms of promoting your book, your products, your company and services.  As I write this to you, I’m reminded of a great example of this.  A few years back we worked with Dr. Will Wong, a phenomenal media spokesperson who represented two different companies with natural health products.  Both companies focused all their marketing efforts on ongoing talk radio campaigns.

Now listen to this….

The first company went from $55,000 in sales to $7 million in a two year period.  The second company went from zero in sales to $6 million in the same amount of time.

Will called me one day so excited, to tell me, “Every morning now, I come into the office to the sound of our phones ringing off the hook and a very happy sales staff!  We’ve not only increased our direct sales, but our stores are calling to restock their shelves and we’ve obtained more distributors.  In the past we’ve tried all sorts of marketing, advertising and PR, but this talk radio campaign has been by far the most productive!”

The winning formula that I’ve seen work over and over is simply this:  having a message with mass appeal; a spokesperson who can talk about their message as it relates to top news stories and is skilled at using the air time to effectively promote their product without sounding like an infomercial!  A winning combination!

And it really does make sense.  The beauty of talk radio is that you are having live conversations with people all over the country.  Even better, you are talking with a host who invited you on because he or she felt their audience would be interested in what you had to say.  The result: instant credibility with a very captive audience.

But Will isn’t the only example.  Over the years I’ve seen many talk radio successes which is why I’m such a believer in the power of talk radio as a great promotional vehicle.  Who knows, this could be just what the doctor ordered to explode your own business!