Fayetteville area small business owners need employees...desperately.

According to a report from the National Federation of Independent Business, 26% of small business owners say finding qualified workers is their number one problem. 

The report goes on to say that 88% of small business owners looking to hire new employees are finding there are no qualified candidates.

The historically low unemployment figures in Fayetteville appears to be the root cause of local hiring woes. The metro area's jobless rate stands at 4.8%. There are just not enough qualified workers to go around.

Most small business owners have exhausted the traditional methods of recruitment. These include online job board posts, newspaper ads, referral bonuses, and help wanted signs. All to no avail.

To successfully attract the qualified applicants they yearn for, local small business owners need to command the attention of 'passive' job seekers. The number one source for these candidates is Fayetteville radio.

For Fayetteville small business owners who depend on Valentine's Day to spike first-quarter sales, this year could prove to be a battle as the decline in celebrants is expected to continue.

Based on estimates from the National Retail Federation, 197,000 Fayetteville consumers will be participating in the holiday this year. This is 20% fewer than ten years ago.

There is good news, however, for local  business owners. Although there are will be fewer customers, local Valentine's Day spending is expected to grow to $32.1-million. This is 28% higher than a decade ago.

So, how does a Fayetteville retailer or restaurant win the battle for the hearts and wallets of romantic consumers?  Advertising is a necessary weapon to win this war.

No weapon is as potent as advertising on Fayetteville radio.

The buying power of Black consumers in the Fayetteville area is now $3.7 billion. Over the past 19 years, according to Nielsen, the pace of spending by African Americans has grown 28% faster than by White consumers.

If a local small business owner would like to earn a larger share of this spending, the best place to start is with advertising.

"For African American consumers, advertising of all types is an important touchpoint in their shopping journey," says a recent study by Nielsen. "African American consumers are more likely than the total population to agree that advertising provides them with meaningful information about the product use of other consumers."

"African Americans are avid media consumers, across multiple media channels, which gives advertisers ample opportunities to connect with them."

The best advertising medium, though, for small business owners to reach local African American consumers is on Fayetteville radio.

Small business owners in the Fayetteville area must advertise to claim a fair share of the $8.5 billion retail economy.

“Think you have a great product?” asks the U.S. 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 sales, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business."

During 2019, many Fayetteville small business owners sought advertising guidance on the advice pages of www.AdvertiseInFayetteville.com. Below are the top ten most-read articles from the past 12 months.

There's a reason many Fayetteville small business owners target their advertising towards consumers who have completed a four-year college degree. It's because, typically, university graduates earn $29,106 more per year than those with only a high school diploma, according to The Federal Reserve.

There are, according to Nielsen, 65,496 college graduates living in the Fayetteville area. In total, this population generates $5.1 billion in annual take-home pay. To tap into a similar pool of spending power, a marketer would need to reach 113,526 consumers who did not go beyond high school.

The number of people reached by a campaign is, generally, what determines the cost of advertising. So, for a Fayetteville small business owner operating on a tight marketing budget, spending can be kept in check by targeting those consumers with the most money to spend. In this case, college graduates.

Attention Fayetteville small business owners. The five busiest shopping days of the year are imminent.

Based on data from the National Retail Federation, more than 251,000 Fayetteville consumers are likely to shop beginning on Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.

“The tradition of Thanksgiving weekend holiday shopping has become a five-day event with consumers spending money in stores, supporting local small businesses, and online with their mobile devices and computers,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Even as people are starting to purchase gifts earlier in the season, consumers still enjoy finding good Thanksgiving deals and passing time shopping with family and friends over the long holiday weekend.”

Based on the NRF findings, here are the number of shoppers local business owners can expect on each of these five days:

Almost 81,000 adult, Fayetteville consumers belong to a fitness club. These memberships bring in close to $150 million in sales to local gym owners.

January is critical for the small business owners that operate gyms in the Fayetteville area. According to the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association, this one month alone, accounts for 10.8% of annual membership sales. New Year's resolutions are the reason for this early year spike.

To capture a larger share of the $16.1 million local consumers  will spend on gym memberships in January, requires fitness center owners to advertise. The best way to do this is on Fayetteville radio. Here's why.

Ask any North Carolina small business owner how to measure the success of an advertising campaign. The answer will almost always 'sales.'

According to Nielsen research, the media-element of a campaign that has the most significant effect on sales is reach. This is the number of different people exposed to the advertiser's message.

There are more ways than ever to advertise. But, which of those options has the largest reach among Fayetteville consumers?

Doug Schoen, an advertising professional with 35 years of experience, writes in Forbes: "You wouldn’t know it from all the media coverage focused on streaming video and streaming music, but radio actually has the most reach among American media consumers. 93% of adults listen to the radio each week as compared to 87% who watch TV, a substantive difference."

Fayetteville small businesses that sell products or services to pet owners should sit up and take notice.  Local consumers will spend $99,000,000 this year on behalf of Fido and Fluffy. This amount has increased 323% since 1994, with no sign of letting up.

According to the American Pet Products Association, here's how spending on furry companions breaks down:

• Food: $40,701,242
• Supplies/OTC Medicine: $21,839,691
• Vet Care: $24,817,831
• Live Pet Purchases: $2,978,140
• Other Services: $8,934,419

The biggest month for sales of pet-related products and services is, by far, December. That is when 10.5% of all annual spending happens in this category.

Small business owners who sell mattresses in the Fayetteville area might be losing sleep.

Last year, local consumers spent close to $17 million for new mattresses.  A recent survey conducted by Piper Jaffray indicates that many retailers believe  that the category will become even stronger during the last four months of this year.

The reason for the owners' sleep loss is that many customers are bypassing local stores and buying their mattresses on the internet. According to Statista, 37% of buyers are now purchasing from one-of-175 direct-to-consumer sites like Casper or from online retailers like Amazon. 

To keep customers shopping local requires advertising.

Advertising is critical to the success of every Fayetteville small business owner.  One of the most powerful elements of any advertising campaign is how many people it reaches.

Nielsen, the world's largest consumer insights company, found that advertising reach has a more significant effect on sales than branding, recency, and context.

There are many ways a local business owner can advertise. This includes traditional media like Fayetteville radio, local TV, and newspaper. It also includes online advertising options such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pandora.

They type of customer an individual business needs to reach depends on the goods and services the company sells. For instance, a daycare operator might want to reach households with young children. On the other hand, a real estate agent could be looking for consumers in the market to purchase a new home.

The charts below reveal how the different advertising options available to Fayetteville business compare in terms of the ability to reach customers with specific characteristics. This includes age, income, education, employment status, political affiliation, number of children, ethnicity, and planned purchases.

Two things are remarkable about voting day in 1920.  It was the first time, ever, women could participate in the selection of the U.S. President. It was also the first time live election results were broadcast on the radio. Not to mention, it was also the first radio broadcast, ever.

The voters' choice that night was between Warren G. Harding  and James M. Cox.  Both men had derived their political power as successful newspaper publishers.  It is quite ironic, then, that one of these men would reach the highest office in the land on the same night that the nascent radio broadcasting business began its takedown of the newspaper industry.

Nowhere is this takedown more apparent than locally, where Fayetteville radio has become, by far, the advertising medium with the largest reach.