3 minute read
ADVERTISING SUCCESS STORY
Radio: The Window To Success
By Rob Dumke
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Brothers Harley and Aaron Magden grew up in home improvement: Their grandfather founded Regency Windows in Cleveland, and their father ran the company until he sold it in 2005. That’s when the brothers decided to take their talents to Baltimore, where Window Nation was born in 2006.
“My brother and I started the business 15 years ago,” Harley says, “but we grew up in the business. We opened our business with a little different model from my father. We started with one location in 2006, and now we have 16 locations.”
Harley tells Radio Ink that once they got the systems and procedures in place in Baltimore, they felt the best way to grow was to expand to new markets. “One hundred percent of our growth has been organic, and it’s through opening new markets,” he says. “It’s kind of unique in our industry because most companies in our business are located in one town or they are franchise-based. We are the largest seller of replacement windows, residentially speaking, that isn’t tied to a franchise.”
Radio has played a major role in the expansion. Harley says, “We use radio in every market, and in some we use it exclusively, like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. In those markets that’s our number one media spend. In our other markets we use radio to help complement and enhance our other media usage — newspaper, TV, etc.”
Radio helped lead to success in their hometown of Cleveland, and that eventually led to Window Nation’s purchasing the assets of Regency Windows when Regency went out of business in 2012.
Harley Magden says, “We liked radio, and more specifically Talk formats — News/Talk, Sports Talk, or a station with a morning Talk format, because people are engaged. What we saw was that people were going toward satellite radio and streaming services to listen to their music, but they want to hear local about news, weather, sports. Listeners are very engaged and very loyal to those stations that provide those services.
“We almost always find endorsers or influencers in the market. We meet with them, we share our story, our experiences. We get them involved and actively engaged. They spread our good word.
“For instance, in Philadelphia, which is probably our most successful radio market, we use Beasley for the cornerstone of our campaigns. They have a lot of good stations with strong local personalities that have significant tenure in the market.
“We like working with Beasley because they are not your large, national corporate radio owners. They are more personal; they really want to be a partner with you and make sure you are successful. The thing we like about them is that they are always willing and open to ideas; they help us out when times are tough. They take more of a vested interest in us.”
The good feelings are mutual, according to Paul Blake, VP and director of sales for Beasley Media Group Philadelphia.
“Window Nation is the ultimate ‘radio’ client,” Blake says, “integrating endorsements, custom ideas, targeted digital, and event advertising to maximize their campaigns. They have a sophisticated measurement system to ensure accountability and effectiveness. It’s gratifying to partner with a company that truly invests in knowing that our campaigns get results.”
Harley Magden, while working in the family business, studied at John Carroll University with a double major in finance and marketing. The lessons learned then make it clear to him now that the ROI in radio, for Window Nation, is well worth it.
“We probably spend close to $5 million a year on radio. It’s grown over the years. We have used radio for 15 years because it is as effective today as it was years ago, despite the shift in where people get entertainment and information.”
He goes on, “Radio has other resources we can use, things like streaming and podcasting; for us, that is very beneficial. We find for us that radio doesn’t require a lot of up-front costs for creative; you can change things on a daily basis because there is a lot of flexibility. For these reasons it has become a great vehicle for us.”
Harley says, “If you utilize radio correctly, it has a tremendous value. Radio has a lot of benefits other products don’t have. If you want to target specific groups of individuals, that’s what radio does. The good thing about radio is that you can buy for the market you are looking to hit.”
