Tampa Bay 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 Tampa Bay appears to be the root cause of local hiring woes. The metro area's jobless rate stands at 3.4%. 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 Tampa radio.

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

Based on estimates from the National Retail Federation, 1.5 million Tampa Bay consumers will be participating in the holiday this year. This is 20% fewer than ten years ago.

There is good news, however, for Tampa area business owners. Although there are will be fewer customers, local Valentine's Day spending is expected to grow to $248-million. This is 28% higher than a decade ago.

So, how does a Tampa Bay 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 Tampa radio.

When Tampa Bay consumers make their New Year's resolutions, many will have money on their minds.

A new study by Fidelity Investments finds that 67% of adults are considering a financial resolution for 2020. This is 10% more than last year.

The top financial resolution, among those considering one, is, 'saving more'. The study found that, when asked to choose, a vast majority of consumers would rather save $5000 than lose five pounds.

This fervor for finance is excellent news for Tampa Bay small business owners who cater to savers and investors. This includes financial advisors, insurance agents, bankers, accountants, and mortgage brokers.

To compete for a fair share of these resolution dollars requires business owners to advertise. By any metric, the best way to reach potential savers and investors is on Tampa radio.

The buying power of Black consumers in Tampa Bay is now $9.2 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 Tampa area 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 Tampa Bay's African American consumers is local radio.

Small business owners in the Tampa Bay area must advertise to claim a fair share of the $59.3 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 Tampa Bay small business owners sought advertising guidance on the advice pages of www.AdvertiseInTampaBay.com. Below are the top ten most-read articles from the past 12 months.

There's a reason many Tampa Bay 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, 669,408  college graduates living in the Tampa Bay area. In total, this population generates $52.2 billion in annual take-home pay.

To tap into a similar pool of spending power, a marketer would need to reach 1,160,307 consumers who did not go beyond high school. The problem is, there is only about 75% of that number in Tampa Bay.

The number of people reached by a campaign is, generally, what determines the cost of advertising. So, for a Tampa Bay 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, Tampa Bay consumers are expected to spend $59.3 billion at retail.  To capture a larger share of this cash,  local small business owners should consider advertising.

The US Small Business Administration recommends that every Tampa Bay 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 1922. This was the Tampa Bay Times put the first local station, WDAE, on the air.

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

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

Based on data from the National Retail Federation, more than 1.9 million Tampa Bay 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 650,000 adult, Tampa Bay consumers belong to a fitness club. These memberships bring in close to $1.1 billion in sales to local gym owners.

January is critical for the small business owners that operate gyms in the Tampa 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 $125.8 million local consumers  will spend on gym memberships in January, requires fitness center owners to advertise. The best way to do this is on Tampa radio. Here's why.

Ask any Tampa Bay 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 Tampa Bay 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."