There are 8,690 small businesses in the Fayetteville, NC, Metro Area, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost every one of these businesses is competing for a portion of the $24.8 billion of local retail spending expected to occur in 2023.*

To capture the largest share of this giant pool of consumer cash, Fayetteville small business owners will need to consider advertising.

"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. Advertising, if done correctly, can do wonders for your sales., and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your company."

One of the best ways to advertise in Fayetteville may be on local radio, a fact not lost on the world's largest advertiser, Proctor & Gamble. Last year, P&G upped spending on the radio by 43% to $235 million, according to Vivvix (formerly Kantar Media), led by a big jump in local radio.

To ensure success, every Fayetteville, North Carolina business owner needs to advertise.

"Think you have a great product?" asks the US 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.”

There are dozens of ways for local small business owners to advertise. By most metrics, the best way to advertise is on Fayetteville radio. These measures of effectiveness, however, are often obscured by the glimmer and glitz of newer technologies. 

To help reduce the glare that often blinds business owners to the potency of advertising on Fayetteville radio, here are the top five things many local business owners get wrong.

Every week, according to Nielsen, 92% of adult consumers tune in to a Fayetteville, North Carolina radio station. This is significantly more people than watch broadcast TV, local cable, or video streaming services. It's more than use social media sites like Facebook or Instagram.  And, it's more than read local newspapers.

Fayetteville radio is also the medium with the greatest reach among millennials, a generation that not only has embraced an abundance of online media options but also accounts for nearly a third of all local consumer spending.

This reach advantage is a crucial reason why local small business owners depend on Fayetteville radio to market their goods and services.

A study released this week by Edison Research and NPR discovered that their six distinct types of radio listeners. The study also examines how each group of listeners engages with both programming and advertising.  These distinctions are important for Fayetteville small business owners to understand.

The six listener categories as described in the study are:

Despite all of the media options available for small business owners to market their goods and services, advertising on Fayetteville radio is still the best way to reach local consumers.

Adult consumers are spending 741 minutes per day consuming electronic media, according to a new study by Nielsen.  This is 7.8% more time than they spent last year and 11.2% more than in 2018.

The typical daily media diet consists of radio, live TV, time-shifted TV, DVD/Blue-ray devices, game consoles, internet-connected devices, as well as internet via computers, smartphone apps, and tablet apps.

According to Nielsen, despite all of these media options, local radio reaches the most consumers every week.

There is good news for Fayetteville retailers and restaurants.

As a result of the pandemic, one-third of consumers indicate they will pay a premium for local brands and products, according to a recent study by Ernst & Young

However, before consumers will buy from a local business in Raeford, Lumberton, Spring Lake, or any town in-between, they must know they can do so without risking their health.

Advertising is the only practical way to let Fayetteville area shoppers and diners know about the precautions and practices your small business has taken to reduce potential health threats.

Next year, according to Nielsen, 18,311 people in the Fayetteville area will be getting married.  Assuming that those folks are hitching-up with each other, that means there will be 9,156 weddings. 

USA Today reports that the average cost for these pending nuptials will be $25,265 including (but not limited to) rings, dresses, tuxedos, flowers, venues, photographers, invitations, limos, and rice (or birdseed for the ecologically inclined).

This means small business owners in Cumberland and Robeson counties who cater to the bridal market will be competing for a share of $231,326,340.

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.

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.

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.

What small business owners say in their commercials on Fayetteville radio stations and how they say it are the most important factors for turning listeners into customers.  

A study by Nielsen indicates that the creative elements of a commercial are responsible for 47% of an advertiser's sales result. 

Creative, it turns out, has a more significant effect on sales for Fayetteville small business owners than does reach, targeting, or branding elements. 

Producing and judging effective creative, though, can be a challenge for a North Carolina business owner. So, here is some advice from an award winning, advertising professional.

There are two reasons why advertising on Fayetteville radio station is more effective than advertising on TV.

The first reason is reach.  In a study conducted by Nielsen, the number of consumers who are exposed to a commercial contributes profoundly to the number of sales it will create.  This is discussed in depth in the free eBook, "Seven Steps For Advertising Successfully In Fayetteville."

In Fayetteville, among all media, radio offers local advertisers the biggest reach.

The second reason why radio advertising is so powerful has been revealed in a new study Mindshare, an advertising agency that buys media for some of the most successful companies in the world including General Mills, Nestlé, Domino's, IBM, Rolex, and John Deere.

When a small business owner buys a 60-second commercial on a Fayetteville radio station, she is limited to about 160 words to persuade listeners to become customers.  To be successful, then, each word needs to be carefully selected to fulfill the desired marketing objective. 

A telephone number comprises seven words. Ten if the area code is included.  If the number is repeated three times during the commercial, then it will consume 21-30 words or up to 18% of the total.

So, should a Fayetteville business owner sacrifice a significant portion of a radio commercial to insert a phone number? Except for certain circumstances, described below, the answer is no. 

Here are the facts.

Marketers call them Generation Z.  Fayetteville small business owners call them teenagers.  Whatever 12-17 years old are called, they live in homes cluttered with video games, smartphones, and tablets. They have easy access to Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram, and hundreds of other apps their parents have never heard of.

What may come as a surprise to many local business owners, despite the abundance of options for teens, Fayetteville radio stations dominate their media consumption.

Last week, according to Nielsen, 29,200 teens tuned-in to Fayetteville radio. On average, each of these listeners spent 90 minutes a day.

Fayetteville consumers will spend $7.1 billion on goods and services over the next year. To claim a significant portion of those expenditures, small business owners need to be at the top of customers' minds when it comes time to buy.

Since 1939, when WFNC became the first radio station in Fayetteville, thousands of business owners knew, intuitively, that advertising on the medium was a potent way to be remembered when a purchase was imminent. 

Now there is proof that radio advertising creates the brand awareness necessary to drive sales.

Everybody in Fayetteville used to watch TV, commercials and all. But, as media options proliferate, viewers are fleeing. This is not good news at all for television advertisers.

Last week for instance, according to Nielsen, only 74% of Fayetteville consumers watched broadcast television. To put this in perspective, 93% tuned-in to their favorite radio local radio stations.

Compared to two years ago, according to Nielsen, the C3 rating for CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox have plummeted by 27%, especially among 18-49 viewers.