Modern Economy, 2013, 4, 652-658 http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/me.2013.410070 Published Online October 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/me) Does Radio Advertisement Influence Sale of Herbal Products in Ghana? Evidence from Ho Municipality Edward Kwame Ayimey 1 , Dadson Awunyo-Vitor 2* , John Korbla Gadawusu 3 1 Department of Marketing, Ho Polytechnic, Volta Region, Ghana 2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana 3 Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Volta Region, Ghana Email: * Awunyovitor@yahoo.co.uk Received August 4, 2013; revised September 2, 2013; accepted September 12, 2013 Copyright © 2013 Edward Kwame Ayimey et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Radio as a medium of advertising is very popular among marketers of fast moving consumer goods because it can reach wider audience in both rural and urban areas. In recent times, the popularity of radio as an ideal medium of advertising is gaining ground among herbal medicine producers apparently for commercial gains. This study aimed at analyzing the effect of radio advertising on the sale of herbal products with specific reference to the Ho Municipality. Convenience sampling technique was used to sample the respondents. In all, data had been collected from a sample of 50 respondents comprising ten (10) herbal retail shop operators and forty (40) final consumers of herbal products. Interview guides were used to collect data from the management of herbal retail shops and questionnaires were used to collect data from the consumers of herbal products. Analytical tools used include descriptive statistics and correlation. The study revealed that the majority of consumers got to know of the products through radio advertisement. Also, empirical data analysis suggests that 60.7% of the sales of herbal products could be attributed to advertising. In view of the above findings, further studies may be directed towards identifying other factors that influence the sale of herbal products within the municipality. Keywords: Radio Advertisement; Sales; Herbal Products; Ho Municipality; Ghana 1. Introduction Promotion of business activities in general is an age-old practice. In the early days of civilization, human eco- nomic activities were given publicity through various means such as directional signs and display of names and symbols among others. These traditional methods have been improved upon to include modern forms of adver- tising such as in the print media (newspapers, magazines) and electronic media (television, radio, the internet and mobile phones amongst others). The multiplicity of sources of promotion has resulted in the practice whereby an ad- vertiser has to make choices based on the ability of the medium of promotion to attract the target audience (Frank [1] 1994; Pearce and Robinson [2] 2009). In Ghana, just like other parts of the world, promotion of goods and services is becoming the norm. Promotions are done not only to attract consumers but also to inform, educate and gain competitive advantage over competitors and in- crease overall market share and sales (Eiriz and Wilson [3] 2006). Most advertising messages direct customers to retail stores where the products can be bought. As a con- sequence, retailers engage in extensive promotional ac- tivities by engaging all kinds of media especially radio. Many products and services receive massive radio adver- tisements and are largely targeted at both rural and urban dwellers. A large number of these people listen to radio whilst doing other things (Rajagopal [4] 2010). In view of the huge listenership that radio communication enjoys, it has become a fertile ground for advertising of goods and services with the aim of improving sales. However, it must be noted that sales are influenced by many factors besides advertising, such as the product features, price, availability and competitors’ actions etc. The fewer the controllable factors, the easier it is to measure advertis- ing’s effect on sales (Bennett and Rundle-Thiele [5] 2004; Kotler and Keller [6] 2006). The listenership of radio and its influence on advertis- ing have never been in dispute. In the United State of * Corresponding author. Copyright © 2013 SciRes. ME