It’s a classic story of how a small company grew to be the biggest in their local business by using advertising smarts and AM/FM radio.
Columbia, MO-based Steve’s Pest Control began in 1988 by Steve Hotsenpiller and wife Anita with one truck and an ad campaign on a local radio station. As the business and their revenue grew, they continued to set aside 8.5% of that revenue for advertising, buying time on more stations and eventually becoming one of local radio’s largest advertisers.
Steve’s now has 90 trucks and leads all pest control competitors in the state. Based on a December 2023 MARU/Matchbox survey of nearly 100 consumers in the Columbia-Jefferson City, MO market, Steve’s dominates unaided brand awareness, total ad recall, purchase intent, use, and brand preference vs. its competitors — including nationwide giants Orkin and Terminix — with radio spots that outscore the U.S. average in positive response, as reported in Westwood One’s weekly blog.
“Steve’s Pest Control offers Madison Avenue a master class on creating future demand, and how building a brand is the main driver of long-term growth and profit,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says. “These days Madison Avenue is obsessed with the science of measuring the short-term sales effect of advertising and converting existing demand. Steve’s knows what Madison Avenue has forgotten: to generate substantial sales and profit, a business needs to create future demand rather than just obsess over converting existing demand.”
According to MARU/Matchbox, when asked which pest and insect control services come to mind, 34% of respondents mentioned Steve’s vs. 23% for Orkin, with even the “none” response at 16% outscoring Terminix (6%). Additionally, 43% of consumers who have lived in Columbia-Jefferson City for at least 10 years were able to name Steve’s Pest Control on an unaided basis, while 19% who have lived in the area for less than 10 years were able to name Steve’s unaided.
“This is great lesson for local retailers,” Bouvard says. “Your business might be super famous, but every day new people move to town who have never heard of your business. An important reason to continuously advertise your business. Also, advertising memories fade.”
The study shows that Steve’s Pest Control owns its category as the best-known brand, compared to most other categories tested where “don’t know” is the most common response.
The results prove the power of radio, with Steve’s across-the-board dominance in every state of the consumer journey. “This is significant, as advertising recall is the most responsive measure of advertising activity,” Bouvard says. “Steve’s usage of AM/FM radio advertising has built a dominant brand. It is so impressive for a local business to win against big national brands!”
In great part, this is due to the memorable nature of the AM/FM ads, with 48% of respondents having seen or heard ads for Steve’s naming it as the source, vs. 36% for TV.
“By patiently investing in brand building advertising to create future demand, Steve’s Pest Control has made his service ‘easy to think of, and easy to buy,’” Bouvard says. “His lighthearted and humorous ads have ‘created positive feelings and associations’ with ‘broad reach ads that people find interesting and enjoyable.’ In the end, Steve’s Pest Control’s lesson for Madison Avenue is that advertising is not about manically measuring short-term performance, it’s about “being known before you’re needed.”
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