This year marks the 80th anniversary of WFNC, the first radio station in Fayetteville.

Since 1939, Fayetteville small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services to local consumers.  During the next 12 months, these consumers are expected to spend $7.1 billion.

By any measure, radio is still the best way to advertise in Fayetteville. Last week, for instance, significantly more consumers tuned-in to a local radio station than watched local TV; read a local newspaper; or logged-on to Pandora and Spotify.

To buy radio advertising effectively, there are some terms every Fayetteville small business owner should know.  Here is a list of helpful definitions.

This year marks 80 years since WFNC became the first radio station in Fayetteville.  From that time, small business owners in Cumberland and Robeson Counties have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services.

So, it is a fair question for a 21st-century business owner to ask: Is Fayetteville radio is still relevant in the life of North Carolina consumers?

"You wouldn’t know it from all the media coverage focused on streaming video and streaming music," said media expert Doug Schoen in Forbes Magazine, "but recent Nielsen data shows radio actually has the most reach among American media consumers." 

Last week, for instance, significantly more local consumers tuned-in to a Fayetteville radio station than watched local TV, read a local newspaper, or logged-on to a streaming audio site like Pandora and Spotify.

If you were one of the 288,946 adults who tuned-in to a Fayetteville radio station last week, it is likely you heard a commercial for Indeed.  That's because, last week, Indeed, the world's largest online job site was also radio's biggest advertiser.

The reason Indeed invested so heavily in radio advertising is that they have far more job openings posted on their than site than there are job-hunters to fill them. 

This is not unlike the predicament of Fayetteville small business owners who are also having difficulty finding and hiring qualified candidates.

What Indeed has figured out is that there are not enough unemployed people or disgruntled workers looking for jobs, especially among those in white-collar professions. So, the company is looking to attract what human resource experts call the 'passive job seekers'.

It turns out that advertising on Fayetteville radio is also  the best way for any business owner to recruit, hire, and retain those passive, white-collar job seekers.

Striking a wrong note is the most potent tactic a North Carolina small business owner can use when advertising on Fayetteville radio stations. This can ensure commercials are heard and remembered.

At the moment a radio commercial starts, 11,000,000 other pieces of data are battling for the attention of the listener's ear. To win the fight, an advertisement must do the unexpected. Why?

Humans don't have earlids.  This means every sound a person is exposed to makes it as far as the brain. But, the brain can only process about 50 pieces of information at a time.  If you do the math, that means 10,999,950 bits never make it in.

Here's a quiz for Fayetteville small business owners:

Which of these online sites reach more adults each month than traditional AM/FM radio: Google? Netflix? ESPN? YouTube? Twitter Facebook?

The answer may be a surprise. Radio reaches more adult consumers every month than all websites and apps.  This is critical information for Fayetteville business owners to know so as to be able to choose the best way to advertise their goods and services.

The number one media characteristic that contributes to the success of an advertising campaign is reach. This is a measure of how many different people are exposed to an advertiser's message.

Fayetteville consumers are expected to buy $8.1 billion worth of local goods and services over the next 12 months. To claim the largest share of those dollars requires small business owners to advertise.

“Think you have a great product?” asks the Small Business Administration. “Unfortunately, no one’s going to know about it unless you advertise.”  The SBA goes on to say, “Advertising, if done correctly, can do wonders for your product sales, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business."

According to the eBook Seven Steps for Success, "There are many ways for small business owners to advertise. Options include local newspapers, local magazines, local television, and online."

"But to achieve the “3-Rs” of advertising success, Reach, Recall, and Return, no other medium delivers results as effectively and efficiently as advertising on Fayetteville radio."

For budget-conscious small business owners, there are three tactics that can be employed to make sure every advertising dollar spent on Fayetteville radio stations works as hard as possible.

Forty percent of contractors reported that they turned down jobs this year because they don't employ enough skilled blue-collar workers. In North Carolina, there are twice as many job openings for truck drivers as there are qualified candidates.

Overall, half of all local employers say they are having difficulty hiring enough blue-collar employees to fulfill the increasing demand from customers.

According to the North Carolina Works Commission, a significant reason why the recruitment efforts of many companies are failing is that they still depend on strategies from a time when qualified candidates were plentiful.

These failing strategies include posting on job boards like Monster and Indeed; publishing employment ads in local newspapers; and pleading on social media pages. Some small business owners are still depending on help-wanted signs.

What many business owners have discovered is that the best way to recruit blue-collar workers is by advertising on Fayetteville radio stations.

Advertising on Fayetteville radio stations is the best way for North Carolina small business owners to reach the lucrative, local mother market.  Here's why.

Fayetteville consumers will spend $7.1 billion over the next 12 months. Forbes magazine reports that it is moms who control 85% of all household purchases. In Cumberland and Robeson Counties there are more than 87,000 women with children under the age of 17 at home.

Fayetteville small business owners need to pay special attention to these mothers and their wallets.