Radio advertising is processed by the brain five-times faster than visual advertising.  This is awesome news for Fayetteville business owners who depend on radio to market their goods and services.

Fayetteville consumers will recognize the first few notes of Jingle Bells five times faster than they can identify a picture of Santa Claus.  That's because it takes the human brain 5/100th of a second to process sound.  On the other hand, it takes a full quarter of a second to process visual stimuli.

This difference in processing time may seem inconsequential. But, for a Fayetteville small business owner who is fighting to inject their advertising message into the mind of consumers, that .20-second gap can be the difference between success and failure.

No! Satellite radio has had no effect on the number of people who tune-in to Fayetteville radio stations each.  For that matter, Pandora and Spotify have not affected local radio listening either.

The fact is, AM/FM radio reaches more consumers each week in Fayetteville than all other advertising media. Satellite, it turns out, has barely been a blip on listeners' radar.

Last week, for example, 93% of Fayetteville adult-consumers tuned-in to a local station vs. the 16% that connected to Sirius/XM, the only remaining provider of satellite radio service.

There is historical significance to the 93% reach number mentioned above.

Is advertising on Fayetteville radio just a day job for local small business owners?  

Thousands of North Carolina companies depend on radio advertising to market their goods and services. But most of these business owners choose to buy commercials only between 6:00 am and 7:00 pm.  Is this a good idea? Maybe not.  Here are the facts.

During the course of last week, for instance, 288,946 adult consumers tuned-in to their favorite Fayetteville radio stations. This is significantly higher than the number that tuned-in to a local TV station, read a local newspaper, or logged on to Spotify and Pandora.

But radio listeners do not roll-up their ears just because the sunsets. According to Nielsen, 50% of people who listen to the radio during daylight hours, also tune in at night.

To put this in perspective, more people listen to Fayetteville radio at night than listen to satellite radio, Pandora, and Spotify combined.

Of all the advertising options available to Fayetteville small business owners, streaming audio services like Pandora and Spotify are the least effective.  Here's why.

According to Nielsen, after the content of a commercial is considered, the element of an advertising campaign that drives sales the most is reach. In other words, making sure the most people possible are exposed to the advertiser's message is crucial.

When it comes to achieving reach among consumers, Pandora and Spotify rank dead last.  Advertising on Fayetteville radio, actually, can reach 300% more consumers than these two streaming-audio platforms combined.

Despite, some local business owners' perceptions to the contrary, streaming audio services like Spotify and Pandora have not made a dent in the dominance of Fayetteville radio among local consumers.

Last week, among all the advertising media available to Fayetteville small business owners, 288,946 adult adults tuned-in to a local radio station. This is substantially more than watched local TV or read a local newspaper.

Furthermore, more than twice as many adult consumers, tuned-in to Fayetteville radio stations than used a streaming audio site like Spotify or Pandora.