The Greek philosopher Plato was born 2170 years before there were radio stations in Tampa Bay.  There's no doubt, though, he could have written some great commercials.

Plato once said, "Those who tell stories rule society." This quote sounds very familiar to rule #7 for creating a memorable commercial for Tampa radio:

Rule #7: Tell a story… listeners are hardwired to emotionally respond to features and benefits when presented in story-form rather than as a list. The advertiser should be the hero of the story.

Lee Habib wrote in the National Review a few years ago, "Stories are packed not with hard data but with something far more powerful: emotional data. That’s why we remember them and why they’re so easily transported, even through generations. Stories stir our souls."

When a Tampa Bay small business owner buys a 60-second commercial on a Tampa radio station, she is limited to about 160 words to persuade listeners to become customers.  To be successful, then, each word needs to be carefully selected to fulfill the desired marketing objective. 

A telephone number comprises seven words. Ten if the area code is included.  If the number is repeated three times during the commercial, then it will consume 21-30 words or up to 18% of the total.

So, should a Tampa Bay business owner sacrifice a significant portion of a radio commercial to insert a phone number? Except for certain circumstances, described below, the answer is no. 

Here are the facts.

Marketers call them Generation Z.  Tampa Bay small business owners call them teenagers.  Whatever 12-17 years old are called, they live in homes cluttered with video games, smartphones, and tablets. They have easy access to Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram, and hundreds of other apps their parents have never heard of.

What may come as a surprise to many local business owners, despite an over-abundance of media options, Tampa radio stations dominate teenagers' media consumption.

Radio advertising is processed by the brain profoundly faster than visual advertising.  This is valuable news for Tampa Bay business owners who depend on advertising to market their goods and services.

Local consumers can recognize the first few notes of Jingle Bells five times faster than they can identify a picture of Santa Claus.  That's because it takes the human brain 5/100th of a second to process sound.  On the other hand, it takes a full quarter of a second to process visual stimuli.

This difference in processing time may seem inconsequential. But, for a business owner who is fighting to inject her advertising message into the mind of a potential customer, that .20-second gap can be the difference between success and failure.