Fayetteville, North Carolina area business owners have an abundance of options for marketing their goods and services to local consumers. New research from Nielsen, however, indicates that advertising on Fayetteville radio is still the best way to reach local shoppers.

Every week, according to Nielsen, Fayetteville radio reaches 282,794 adults. This is significantly more than are reached by social media, local TV stations and cable systems, newspapers, streaming video and audio, and podcasts.

In addition to listening to their favorite Fayetteville radio stations over the air, Nielsen reports that 73,320 adults also listen to local stations online every month.

As a matter of fact, according to a study conducted by Edison Research during the third quarter of 2022, among Adults 25-54, 17% of all time spent listening to local AM/FM stations occurs online. This share of online listening has nearly doubled since 2016.

Me: Alexa, how many consumers In Fayetteville, North Carolina have access to a smart speaker?

Alexa: According to a recent Nielsen study, 80,762 Fayetteville adults own a smart speaker. This is 23.1% of the local population.*

Me: Alexa, what exactly is a smart speaker?

Alexa: According to Wikipedia, A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and hands-free activation with the help of one "hot word" (or several "hot words"). Some smart speakers can also act as a smart device that utilizes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other protocol standards to extend usage beyond audio playback, such as to control home automation devices. This can include, but is not limited to, features such as compatibility across a number of services and platforms, peer-to-peer connection through mesh networking, virtual assistants, and others. Each can have its own designated interface and features in-house, usually launched or controlled via application or home automation software. Some smart speakers also include a screen to show the user a visual response.

Me: Alexa, what brand of smart speakers are Fayetteville consumers likely to own?

Based on projections from the National Retail Federation (NRF), Fayetteville, North Carolina consumers are on track to spend $6.2-billion with retailers by the end of this year. This would be 13.5% higher than was spent in 2020.

To earn a significant share of these retail dollars, Fayetteville area business owners are expected to spend $108-million to advertise by year's end, according to Borrell Associates. This company tracks advertising expenditures in local markets across the U.S.

To ensure they are spending their advertising and marketing dollars wisely, many Fayetteville business owners research how to best target prospective customers by using local media. An exceptional resource for local business owners to investigate the media habits of localconsumers is on the advice section of AdvertiseInFayetteville.com.  

Here are the top five most-read articles on the site in 2021:

Advertising is critical to the growth and ultimate success of a Fayetteville small business. The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends that mature businesses should budget 7-8% of its annual income for advertising the company's goods and services. 

Businesses who are in their early growth phase, however, should plan on investing 10-12%.  Start-up companies that may not yet be familiar to their target consumers should consider investing even a larger percentage.

Deloitte, the world's largest business consulting firm, recommends that "radio advertising should be a big part of the mix for those buying advertising."

Fayetteville area small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services since 1939.  That's the year Wall Christian Ewing and Harry Layman put the first local station, WFNC, on the air.

Today, there are 28 radio stations that serve Cumberland and Robeson counties. Each provides a unique blend of music, information, and entertainment.  Some stations focus on politics or sports. Some play country music. Some play the hits. Some play classic rock. Some are on the AM dial. Some are on FM.

When Mr. Ewing and Mr. Layman began broadcasting, there were no TV stations in North Carolina. Those would come ten years later. Also, there was no social media, YouTube, Sirius/XM, Pandora, Spotify, or smartphones. Each of those would be products of a new Millenium.

With an overabundance of advertising options now available to small business owners, does advertising on Fayetteville radio still make sense?  Here are five facts that serve to answer that question.

Sometimes, radio advertising fails. There can be no debate, though, when implemented correctly, advertising on Fayetteville radio works, and works well.

“I can testify,” says Carolyn Barbour, “our radio advertising has created lifetime customers for our company.” 

Ms. Barbour and her husband Tommy own Budget Rooter, a Fayetteville based plumbing company with a long list of commercial, residential, and industrial customers. “We’ve tried other forms of advertising,” continues Ms. Barbour, “but they have all failed us.” 

Since 2007, Budget Rooter has not missed a single month of advertising on Fayetteville radio.  “Our radio ads have been so successful,” says Ms. Barbour. “we have increased the number of stations we run commercials on from two to five.”

Technology is changing the way people in Fayetteville consume media. This includes streaming audio platforms like Pandora and Spotify or the ability to watch Netflix on a smartphone.

But one thing has not changed.  That thing with the buttons and knobs that's been part of a car's dashboard since 1930. The contraption called radio.

Some small business owners believe the medium is outdated, and nobody listens to it anymore. But, contrary to that view, radio still reaches 92% of all consumers in America.

Locally, for example, last week significantly more consumers tuned-in to their favorite Fayetteville radio stations than watched local TV; read a newspaper; logged-on to Facebook, or signed-in to Pandora or Spotify.

Every vote counts.  Many times the difference between winning an election and losing is a handful of ballots. This is true in races for almost every elected office, referendum, and issue on the national, statewide, and local level.

To win a modern election requires advertising. Successful advertising requires reach. In the Fayetteville area, the most potent way to reach voters is on local radio.

Last week, for instance, 92% of all registered voters in Cumberland and Robeson County tuned-in to a Fayetteville radio station.  This is significantly more than were reached by local TV, local newspaper, or the major social media site like Facebook and Instagram.

Currently, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, there are 171,476 words in the English language. A handful of these words, Fayetteville small business owners can't use in their radio commercials. The Supreme Court of the United States says so.

Of all the words that can be used in broadcast advertising, however, there is one word that should be shunned: 'get' and all of its nasty derivative forms including 'got' and 'gotten'.  Here's why.

The typical 60-second commercial on Fayetteville radio consists of 160 words.  Depending on the station, each word in that ad could cost around $1.00.  It is important, then, that each word is carefully selected to engage listeners and then compel them to action.  This is especially crucial when using verbs. 

"One of the best ways of grabbing and keeping an audience is to use strong, descriptive verbs," says the Writing Center at the University of Houston.  'Get' is not that kind of verb.

This year, Fayetteville area consumers will spend $546 million in local restaurants and drinking establishments. There are hundreds of restaurants in Cumberland and Robeson counties hungry for a bite of that cash.

Unfortunately, many of the restaurants that are here today will be gone tomorrow. According to FSR, a trade magazine for the restaurant industry, 60% of restaurants fail within their first year. Eighty percent never make it to their fifth anniversary.

CBI Insights studies why small business owners, such as local restaurants, fail.  Reason number eight is poor marketing and advertising.  Good food and friendly service are not enough to make a cash register ring.

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.

The first radio station in Fayetteville went on-the-air in 1939.  Sixty-five years later, Facebook inaugurated the social media era.  Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, and hundreds of other sites quickly followed.

As social media matured from a novelty to part of consumers' daily rituals, some Fayetteville business owners began to experiment with advertising.

By every key advertising metric, though, Fayetteville radio remains the best choice for a small business to market their goods and services. Here's why.

In 1930, the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation put the first car radio on the market. They called it the Motorola. This in-car entertainment would setback a Fayetteville consumer about $120 which would be equivalent to $1200 today.

But, if you had that kind of cash, you would be able to cruise around in your Ford Model-A, DeSoto, Packard, or Studebaker and hear the music of the day from radio stations in Charlotte, Raleigh, or Atlanta. It wouldn't be until 1939 when Fayetteville would have its own stations.

Today, there's a radio in almost every vehicle on the streets of Cumberland and Robeson Counties. Despite the competition on the dashboard from other sources of entertainment, AM/FM radio remains the dominant choice for in-car entertainment.  This is great news for local business owners who depend on Fayetteville radio to market their goods and services.

Suppose you woke up one morning and found a 100-year-old machine in your basement. You soon discovered that every time you put a dime in the machine, one dollar came out.  How many dimes would you drop in that machine?

Good news for Fayetteville small business owners: such a machine exists and you probably have one in your car, at work, at home, even on your phone. It's called local radio.

Over the past few years, Nielsen has conducted over 20 studies to determine what type of return-on-investment (ROI) a business can expect from radio advertising.  Although the results varied by industry, the average company generated $100 in sales for ever $10 invested.  Turning dimes into dollars.