When Joe Quigg was a kid growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he purchased his first set of tires from Ed’s Tire & Auto Service. His sister shopped there. His mom and dad shopped there. Then, in 2004, after 20 years of living elsewhere, Joe purchased the company from the original owner, Ed Melvin.
If you were one of the 288,946 consumers who tuned-in to a local radio station last week, chances are you heard a commercial for Ed’s Tire & Auto Service. Advertising on Fayetteville radio is the only medium Mr. Quigg currently uses to promote his business
“Every week that goes by,” says Mr. Quigg, “five or six customers tell me they came in because they heard us on the radio.”
“When it comes to spending money, I am very conservative,” continues Mr. Quigg. “I don’t like spending money I don’t have to. Our sales have grown every year since I have owned the business. Radio has been a big spend for us, but it has also been a big part of our growth. I wouldn’t be willing to do without it.”
After he took over Ed’s five Fayetteville area locations, the previous owner, Mr. Melvin, served as a mentor. “I had a corporate background in software sales.” explains Mr. Quigg. “I came to the automotive business green, knowing nothing about it. The smartest thing I did in the beginning was not to shake up the way things were running. Ed had a great staff at the time with low turnover.”
Marketing and advertising, though, was one of the few areas of the business where Mr. Quigg departed from the past. “Ed,” says Mr. Quigg, “had been huge in the yellow pages and local newspaper before I took over. He feared that if we quit advertising 4 days a week in the newspaper, then the world would end.”
Advertising On Fayetteville Radio Is Right For Us
“I knew, though, that advertising on Fayetteville radio was right for us,” continues Mr. Quigg. “When I was in corporate sales, I was spending a lot of time in the car. My radio was always on. So, I knew it could reach the customers of Ed’s Tire.”
In 2009, Mr. Quigg started cutting back on newspaper advertising. “I began to reinvest the money on Fayetteville radio stations, instead. We started with just a little here and there.”
As his advertising strategy began to show positive results, Mr. Quigg stopped newspaper advertising all together and started adding more Fayetteville radio stations into his mix. “Everyone has a car and all of them need service, he says. “Being a military and a blue-collar town, customers know it less expensive to maintain your current vehicle than to spend hundreds of dollars per month on payments for a new car.”
We Make Sure Our Radio Commercials Reach Customers On Payday
To optimize his investment in radio advertising, he focuses his commercial schedules around the 1st and 15th of every month. “Fayetteville is a military and payday town and those are the days the military gets their checks,” Mr. Quigg says. “We make sure people hear about us when people have money in their pockets. Radio really helps us do that.”
Mr. Quigg estimates that members of the military and their families accounts for 50-60% of his business. He knows, however, that the military population is very transient in nature. “One of the first things new military residents do when they arrive at Ft. Bragg is to find a local radio station they like. Being on radio all the time along with word-of-mouth referrals from commanding officers really helps drive these new residents to our business.”
“I really do think that having our advertising on Fayetteville radio consistently and having people hear our ads time after time,” says Mr. Quigg, “has played a real role in our success.”
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