In 1939, WFNC became Fayetteville’s first radio station. Ever since then, North Carolina small businesses in the Sandhills have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services.

“Although the media landscape has changed, no matter how you look at it,” says James Grafstrom, General Manager of the Crown Complex in Fayetteville, “radio is still in the forefront. People are in their cars every day whether they going to work or coming home. During that time, they are listening to Fayetteville radio. They might be listening to a rock station; a pop station; a rap station; a talk station; or a county station. But the bottom line is they are listening.”

“I have no doubt if we stopped advertising on Fayetteville radio,” adds Gary Brown, General Sales Manager of Powers Swain Chevrolet, “our sales would drop off.”

There are 5 measurable reasons why advertising on Fayetteville radio is so remarkably effective for local small business owners.

Warren Buffett is worth $84-billion dollars. Forbes magazine calls him "one of the most successful investors of all time."

In 1996, Mr. Buffett invested in GEICO and folded into the stable of 60 companies he owns. Today, it is the second biggest auto insurance company in America.

If you were one of the 288,946 consumers who tuned-in to a Fayetteville radio station last week, you most likely heard a GEICO commercial. That's because nobody invested more in radio advertising last week than GEICO.

Why would the third richest man in America invest so heavily in radio advertising?

Results of new survey* show, in fact, radio is the most trusted medium in America. Decidedly, so. Here is what the survey found:

The Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation has been advertising on Fayetteville radio non-stop for 16 years.

“Everything we do on the radio has the sole purpose of cementing our place as a good corporate citizen in the communities we serve,” says Walter White, the company’s Vice President of Corporate Communications. “No other local medium allows us the opportunity to communicate with all of our members so effectively and affordably.”

Cape Fear Flooring in Fayetteville started out as a carpet cleaning company 19 years ago operating out of a tiny house. This year, the company moved into a brand new, 6000 square foot showroom and warehouse along with their 28 employees.

“We began advertising on Fayetteville radio in 2000, a year after we opened,” remembers co-owner, Amie Crouter. “We had just expanded into water mitigation a few months earlier. I had just set up an account with Mohawk, one of the largest manufacturers of floor coverings in the world. And, we had just sold our first flooring job even before we had hired an installer.”

After 18 years, Cape Fear Flooring still advertises on Fayetteville radio. “Radio advertising has really driven our growth from the beginning,” says Ms. Crouter. “We have always asked new customers how they found out about us. Overwhelmingly, we are told they heard our radio commercials.”

The 10 most memorable brands in America have something in common. They all advertise on Fayetteville radio.

According to the YouGov Brand Index, the brands whose commercials generate the highest awareness are Geico, McDonalds, Verizon, AT&T, Walmart, Subway, Direct TV, T-Mobile, Progressive, and Walgreen’s.

If you were one of the 288,496 people who tuned into a Fayetteville radio station last week, then chances are you heard the ads for these companies. All 10 are among the biggest users of radio advertising.

A Fayetteville small business owner was considering cancelling his advertising schedules on local radio stations. “Nobody listens to the radio anymore,” he shared with me. Henry Gordon Selfridge probably rolled over in his grave when I told the customer, respectfully, “You are wrong.”

Mr. Selfridge, a London department owner store, had coined the phrase “the customer is always right” back in 1909. This was 30 years prior to the first Fayetteville radio station, WFNC, going on the air. This was 25 years before Daniel Starch and his rival George Gallup invented the science of market research.

So, in 2018, with terabytes of market research just a mouse-click away, we know anyone who says that ‘nobody listens to local radio’ is wrong. In fact, we know, for sure, that 92% of all consumers, which is almost everybody in Fayetteville, still listens to traditional AM/FM radio.

Allison Rogers landed the job of Marketing Manager two years ago at Fayetteville Regional Airport. The airport, built in 1949, was originally known as Grannis Field. Today, most people refer to it by its three-letter designation, FAY.

As, part of her job, Ms. Rogers is responsible for convincing her target consumers that FAY offers competitive ticket prices and is more convenient than using one of North Carolina’s larger airports. Her target flyers include area residents planning vacation travel; Fayetteville small business owners traveling for their jobs; and members of the Ft. Bragg community traveling for non-military reasons.

Advertising on Fayetteville radio plays a major role in the marketing efforts to attract these target travelers to the concourses of FAY. “Of all the media we use, advertising on Fayetteville radio provides us with the affordable reach and frequency we need for our marketing to be effective,” says Ms. Rogers.

Does a Fayetteville small business ever reach the point where they can afford to stop advertising? Can a business ever have so many customers that advertising no longer makes sense?

Fayetteville’s Public Works Commission doesn’t think so.

The municipally owned utility provides electricity and water to 113,000 Cumberland County residents.

If you were one of the 90% of area consumers who tuned-in to a Fayetteville radio station last week, then you probably heard commercials for PWC. And the week before that. And hundreds of week before that.

One of the biggest challenges faced by Fayetteville small business owners is how to find qualified candidates to fill open jobs. When a local company doesn’t have enough employees, its ability to achieve revenue and profit goals is severely challenged. 

Local small business owners have discovered that recruitment advertising on local radio can be amazingly effective in finding new hires.

The North Carolina Works Commission reports half of all business owners are struggling to fill open jobs. With the unemployment rate in the Fayetteville area at a 10-year low, it seems everybody who wants a job has a job.

The Commission also reports that local business owners are still using recruitment strategies from a time when candidates were plentiful. This includes recruitment ads on job boards like Monster or Indeed; newspaper classified advertising; social media postings; and help wanted signs. But the fact that jobs remain open indicates the old ways are no longer effective.

Over the past year, according to Nielsen, 113,481 consumers in Cumberland and Robeson Counties in North Carolina purchased furniture and mattresses. Nearly 90% of these buyers tune-in to a Fayetteville radio station every week. This is substantially more furniture buyers than watch area TV stations or picked up a newspaper.

It only makes sense, then, that Fayetteville small business owners who operate furniture and mattress stores would find success advertising on local radio. Kimbrell's, a heritage North Carolina, retailer has recently learned this first-hand.

When Joe Quigg was a kid growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he purchased his first set of tires from Ed’s Tire & Auto Service. His sister shopped there. His mom and dad shopped there. Then, in 2004, after 20 years of living elsewhere, Joe purchased the company from the original owner, Ed Melvin.

If you were one of the 288,946 consumers who tuned-in to a local radio station last week, chances are you heard a commercial for Ed’s Tire & Auto Service. Advertising on Fayetteville radio is the only medium Mr. Quigg currently uses to promote his business

“Every week that goes by,” says Mr. Quigg, “five or six customers tell me they came in because they heard us on the radio.”

During the past year, more than 21,000 people in the Fayetteville area sought the help of an attorney for personal reasons such as real estate transactions; bankruptcies; criminal defense; traffic offenses; personal injury; divorce; wills; and civil matters. This has produced legal fees exceeding $77-million dollars.

With almost 24,000 other lawyers in North Carolina competing for a share of this revenue, how can a new attorney hope to hang a shingle and make a living? Nicole Cotton of The Cotton Law Firm built her law practice over the last 8 years in the same way many other successful Cumberland County small business owners started out: advertising on Fayetteville radio.

Every Fayetteville small business has a brand. "Your company's brand," says Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, "is what your customers say about you when you are no longer in the room."

A few years ago, customers of the Crown Complex weren't saying good things. Advertising on Fayetteville radio helped remove the tarnish from the Crown's public's perception.