PSA: I ran a local radio ad for my shop versus a targeted Facebook ad for the same $500

The radio spot ran for two weeks on our town's main station, and I got maybe three people who mentioned it. The Facebook ad, which I set up myself to target people within 15 miles who liked similar businesses, ran for one week and brought in over 20 new customers. The radio just felt like shouting into a void, hoping the right person was listening at the right time. With Facebook, I could see exactly who was clicking and even message them directly. The difference in tracking and actual results was HUGE. I'm never going back to guessing with broad local ads. Has anyone else completely switched from old-school advertising to digital and seen a similar jump?

3 comments

3 Comments

cameronmurray23d ago

Radio ads are like trying to find a specific person in a crowded stadium by yelling their name once. You spent five hundred bucks just to remind a few people that radio still exists. Meanwhile, Facebook lets you walk right up to people who are already looking for a new place to eat and hand them a coupon. It's not even a fair fight anymore, like bringing a phone book to a drone strike.

the_logan23d ago

My buddy owns a small bike shop. He ran a radio ad during drive time for a week. Got two customers from it, both over 65. His Instagram ad for the same price brought in 17 sales from people under 40 in a single weekend. He said it felt like fishing in a stocked pond versus the whole ocean.

xena_lopez20d ago

Yeah, "fishing in a stocked pond" is the perfect way to put it. I saw an article that said most local radio ads are basically just expensive background noise now unless you're selling reverse mortgages or something.