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.

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."

By April 15th next year, 1.2 million residents of Tampa Bay will file a tax return.  More than 53% of these returns will be completed by the taxpayer themselves, either by hand or with the help of an online provider like Turbotax.

Every season, Tampa Bay small business owners who specialize in tax preparation services lose customers to the do-it-yourself options.  This year, 589,000 local consumers will spend $113,000,000 with professionals. But, based on the average cost of services, more than $129,000,000 will stay in the wallets of the DIY crowd.

To clawback this enormous amount of money from the DIY market, Tampa Bay's tax services will need to advertise the valuable benefits of using a professional.

The best advertising option for professional tax professionals is on Tampa radio stations. Here's why.

Tampa Bay small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services since 1922.  That's when the Tampa Times newspaper put the first local radio station, WDAE, on the air.

Today, there are 27 radio stations that serve the five counties of Tampa Bay. 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 WDAE began broadcasting, there were no TV stations in Tampa. Those would come 29 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 Tampa radio still make sense?  Here are five facts that serve to answer that question.

Advertising is critical to the success of every Tampa Bay small business owner.  One of the most powerful elements of any advertising campaign is how many people it reaches.

Nielsen, the world's largest consumer insights company, found that advertising reach has a more significant effect on sales than branding, recency, and context.

There are many ways a local business owner can advertise. This includes traditional media like Tampa radio, local TV, and newspaper. It also includes online advertising options such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pandora.

They type of customer an individual business needs to reach depends on the goods and services the company sells. For instance, a daycare operator might want to reach households with young children. On the other hand, a real estate agent could be looking for consumers in the market to purchase a new home.

The charts below reveal how the different advertising options available to Tampa Bay business compare in terms of the ability to reach customers with specific characteristics. This includes age, income, education, employment status, political affiliation, number of children, ethnicity, and purchase intent.

This year, Tampa Bay consumers will spend $4.3 billion in local restaurants and drinking establishments. There are thousands of local restaurants from Bradenton to Spring Hill  hungry for a bite of that cash.

Unfortunately, many of the restaurants that are here today will be gone tomorrow. According to FSR, an industry trade magazine, 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.

The first radio station in Tampa went on-the-air in 1922.  Eighty-two 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 Tampa Bay business owners began to experiment with advertising.

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