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.

Over the next 12 months, Fayetteville area consumers are expected to spend $8.5 billion at retail.  To capture a larger share of this cash, small business owners in Cumberland and Robeson Counties should consider advertising.

The US Small Business Administration recommends that every Fayetteville small business advertise consistently.  “Think you have a great product?” asks the SBA. “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."

Local business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services since 1939. This was the year Wall Christian Ewing and Harry Layman put the first local station, WFNC, on the air.

Today, Fayetteville radio, by any key advertising metric, is still the best way for business owners to reach local consumers.

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."

By April 15th next year, 161,148 residents of Fayetteville will file a tax return.  More than 53% of these returns will be completed by the taxpayer themselves, either by hand or with the help of an online provider like Turbotax.

Every season, Fayetteville small business owners who specialize in tax preparation services lose customers to the do-it-yourself options.  This year, 75,519 local consumers will spend $14.5 million with professionals. But, based on the average cost of services, more than $16.6 million will stay in the wallets of the DIY crowd.

To clawback this enormous amount of money from the DIY market, Fayetteville's tax services will need to advertise the valuable benefits of using a professional.

The best advertising option for professional tax professionals is on Fayetteville radio stations. Here's why.