"Our main goal has always been to grow every year just like we were a brand new business," says Daniel Pilquist, Vice President of Operations for Pilquist Enterprises, Inc. "Aggressive advertising helps us make that happen."

Pilquist Enterprises owns and operates 12 NaturaLawn franchises throughout the Delaware Valley. The business was founded by Daniel's father, Dean, in 1991. "My Dad started with one truck and one service rep out of a small location in Doylestown," he says. "We are now the largest franchisee in America.

NaturaLawn provides Philadelphia area homeowners with weed-free green lawns using an environmentally friendly approach. "We offer a proprietary, organic-based fertilizer that focuses on secondary and micronutrients as well as bio-stimulants to transform the home's soil ability to produce green grass," says Daniel.

The business, which started with franchises in Bucks and Montgomery County, quickly grew to eight fueled by telemarketing, direct mail, and customer referrals.

By 2008, the Pilquist's NaturaLawn franchises were serving 3500 customers per year. To achieve greater growth, the company began investing in advertising on Philadelphia radio stations.

"I wish I had known about radio advertising when we opened up our first store in 1998," says the Dan DiZio the co-founder and CEO of Philly Pretzel Factory. "It would have allowed us to grow even faster than we did."

With permission of his Mom, an 11-year old Mr. DiZio began selling pretzels on the treacherous intersection of Roosevelt Boulevard and Rhawn Street in Northeast Philadelphia. His inventory was remnants from his neighbor, who owned the Kensington Soft Pretzel bakery.

"On the first day I sold 1000 pretzels", recalls Mr. Dizio. "After splitting the profits with my neighbor, I had $100 left in my pocket. A lot of money for an 11-year-old."

Shortly after that, Mr. DiZio began recruiting 40-50 classmates a day to hawk even more pretzels on street corners all over the neighborhood.  This early taste of franchising kept his pockets very full through middle school, high school, and into college.

This was the origin of what, today, is a $50,000,000 a year business with 175 stores in 17 states. Eighty-five of those locations are within 40 miles of Center City Philadelphia. Mr. DiZio has gone from selling 1000 pretzels per day to 175,000,000 per year.

"Radio advertising has been instrumental in our growth," says Kristin Smith the controller for Hatfield, Pennsylvania based World Wide Stereo. The iconic Delaware Valley retailer has been selling every imaginable type of home electronics from car stereos to home theatres since 1979.

"Many competitors have come and gone during our 40 years," adds Emily Cole, the company's Director of Marketing. She and Ms. Smith rattle off a long list of names including Tweeter, Silo, HiFi House, Circuit City, and Sixth Avenue.

"Radio has been the one advertising medium we have been using consistently all this time," says Ms. Smith.

Radio is hard-baked into the DNA of World Wide Stereo.  The company's founder and CEO, Bob Cole, first became hooked on electronics as a kid growing up in the 1950s. He remembers building his own radio with some copper wire and the wooden-spool from some sewing thread.

Of all the advertising options available to Delaware Valley business owners, streaming audio services like Pandora and Spotify are the least effective.  Here's why.

According to Nielsen, after the content of a commercial is considered, the element of an advertising campaign that drives sales the most is reach. In other words, making sure the most people possible are exposed to the advertiser's message is crucial.

When it comes to achieving reach among consumers, Pandora and Spotify rank dead last.  Advertising on Philadelphia radio stations can reach 266% more consumers than these two streaming-audio platforms combined.

Households in the Delaware Valley are projected to spend $18.7 billion on home improvements over the next 12 months. Landis Block And Concrete in Souderton, PA uses advertising on Philadelphia radio to successfully earn the biggest possible share of those dollars.

The company is co-owned by Jarrod and Jamie Nyce. Their grandfather started the company in 1943 as Nyce Crete in Landis, PA which is still operated by the brothers.  Originally, the company primarily sold ready mix concrete to contractors.

That all changed, when the brother's father purchased Landis Block in 1987.  In addition to serving contractors, the new company had a retail business selling stone, block, concrete products, and other building materials to homeowners and do-it-yourselfers.