It's time to set some misguided Tampa Bay small business owners straight.  When we say everybody listens to Tampa radio stations, we mean everybody.  Generations X, Y, and Z. Baby boomers, and, yes, the millennial generation.

You know...millennials. Those are the "kids" who came of age at the turn of the millennium (which is, debatably, either 2000 or 2001).  This means 18-34 year olds. 

In the Tampa Bay metro area (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Hernando counties), 904,100  millennials make-up 35.6% of the adult population and will deliver $16.7 billion to local cash registers.

But here's the thing about millennials that many Tampa Bay small business owners get wrong: millennials listen to the radio.  Almost all of them. 90.4% of them to be exact.

In May 2008, Susan and Jose Moreno opened Moreno's Bakery with three employees in a 2500 square foot storefront in Brandon.

"We were lucky to do $100 in sales per day back then," says Ms. Moreno. "Eleven years later, we now serve 600-1000 customer per day and have 50 employees."

Ms. Moreno cites her husbands baking skills and her advertising instincts for the success of their Tampa Bay small business. Ms. Moreno further credits a mix of cable TV advertising and commercials on Tampa radio stations with Moreno's Bakery's incredible growth trajectory.

You've done the research. You now know that by every measure, radio advertising is the most effective way for your Tampa Bay small business to market its goods and services.

You have learned, for instance, 2,193,604 consumers regularly tune-in to their favorite Tampa radio stations.  That's more than 90% of all adults.

You've also learned that, on average, adults spend almost two hours per day listening to Tampa radio.

If you dug deep enough, then you know radio advertising delivers, on average, a $10 lift in sales for every $1 invested. This is a remarkable ROI for any Tampa Bay small business owner.

What you may not have figured out, however, is what is the best time of day to advertise on Tampa radio?

"I didn't think radio advertising would work. I was not a believer," says David Perritt, Regional Operations Manager of Lakewood National Golf Club in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.

Mr. Perritt's opinion changed after he experimented with advertising on Tampa radio stations when the club first opened in January 2017.

"I have been extremely pleased with the results," he says. "The data shows just how successful radio has been working for us."

It's a fact. Unless a consumer remembers your business when it comes time to buy, then it is likely they will purchase from someone else. Staying top of mind, therefore, is critical for every Tampa small business owner who wants to grab a share of the area's $54-billion retail market.

Advertising on Tampa radio provides local business owners with the most affordable way to move to the top of customers' minds. But, before discussing how to get remembered, we must understand why consumers forget.

Every second, Tampa Bay consumers are exposed to 11,000,000 pieces of data. A consumer's brain, however, is only capable of dealing with about 50 pieces of this data at a time. So, if my calculus is correct, a consumer forgets approximately 10,999,950 things every second.

In 1922, WDAE in signed on as the first radio station in Tampa Bay. Since then, local business owners have depended on radio advertising to successfully market their goods and services.

Using any advertising metric, despite the inundation of new media options, radio remains the most potent way to fulfill the marketing objectives of Tampa Bay business owners of every size.

In the age of all things digital, is advertising on Tampa radio still effective? Meet 5 local small business owners who say, YES!

"Radio advertising is a huge part of our success," says Trent Taucher. His family has owned Budget Heating and Air Conditioning since 1992. "The constant repetition of our unique message on Tampa radio stations drives new customers through a door every day."

"When my dad started the business, we were a traditional selling and installing heating and air conditioning in homes and businesses. That's how it was for the first eight years," says Mr. Taucher. "Then in about 2000, our business model changed. We eliminated installations and began selling equipment directly to both residential customers and contractors from our warehouse."

"The success of our new business model depended largely on word-of-mouth. We quickly generated plenty of it with radio advertising."

For most of my lifetime, television advertising was considered the "gold standard" of marketing. For a Tampa Bay small business owner craving massive reach, TV used to be the medium that would deliver. Over the past few years, however, advertising on Tampa radio has become the dominant medium for achieving reach as television audiences dramatically erode.

Hungry Howie's is the 12th largest chain of pizza restaurants in America based on sales volume. The company has 551 locations. Seventy-one of the stores are in the Tampa Bay area.

For the past 33 years, advertising on Tampa radio has helped Hungry Howie's grow from just 20 locations in the Tampa Bay area to 210 throughout the state.

"Our Florida locations outsell all of the other stores across the country," says Barry Devine, founder of Devine Advertising, a St. Petersburg based small business who has been responsible for Hungry Howie's marketing since 1986.

"The only thing we do differently here in Florida," says Mr. Devine, "is we use lots of radio advertising. Far more than the Hungry Howie's locations in other states."

Michael Hollander and his family own Weather Tite Windows in Tampa.  When he took over the company in 2006, it was deeply in debt and nearly out of business.

Since then, Mr. Hollander has built Weather Tite into the 24th largest home improvement company in America. Quite an amazing feat for a company that only sells replacement windows and doors.

"Advertising on Tampa Bay radio has been a huge part of the company's success," says Mr. Hollander. "Ninety-two percent of our leads say radio is the way they heard about us. The leads we generate from our radio ads cost us $4.00 each. That's almost half of what I pay for leads from other sources."