Marketers call them Generation Z.  Tampa Bay 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 an over-abundance of media options, Tampa radio stations dominate teenagers' media consumption.

Radio advertising is processed by the brain profoundly faster than visual advertising.  This is valuable news for Tampa Bay business owners who depend on advertising to market their goods and services.

Local consumers can recognize the first few notes of Jingle Bells five times faster than they can identify a picture of Santa Claus.  That's because it takes the human brain 5/100th of a second to process sound.  On the other hand, it takes a full quarter of a second to process visual stimuli.

This difference in processing time may seem inconsequential. But, for a business owner who is fighting to inject her advertising message into the mind of a potential customer, that .20-second gap can be the difference between success and failure.

Tampa Bay consumers will spend $54.1 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 1922, when WDAE became the first radio station in Tampa, 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 Tampa Bay used to watch TV. Commercials and all. But, as media options proliferate, viewers are fleeing. This is not good news for television advertisers.

Last week, for instance, according to Nielsen, only 79% of Tampa Bay consumers watched broadcast television. To put this in perspective, 90% tuned-in to their favorite Tampa 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.

The ten most memorable brands in America have something in common. They each advertise on Tampa radio stations.

According to the YouGov Brand Index, the brands whose commercials generate the highest awareness are Geico, McDonald's, Verizon, AT&T, Walmart, Subway, Direct TV, T-Mobile, Progressive, and Walgreen’s.

If you were one of the 2,193,604 people who tuned into a Tampa Bay radio station last week, then chances are you heard the ads for these brands. All ten are among the biggest users of radio advertising.

Here's what Tampa Bay business owners need to know about creating a memorable brand for their own companies using Tampa radio stations.

Some of the bravest people in Tampa Bay are small business owners.  These hearty entrepreneurs invest their passion, their hope, their time, and, of course, their money despite the odds.

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), the good news is that 80% of small businesses make it through the first year. After that, though, only about half will make it to their fifth anniversary. Even fewer, 33% will keep their doors open for ten years.

CBInsights performed an analysis to determine the top ten reasons small business owners fail.  I have included the entire list. But, of particular importance, is reason #8, "poor marketing". This subject will be discussed in more detail because this is where advertising on Tampa radio stations can help business owners not to fail.

There are many ways for Tampa Bay 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 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. Choosing the right Tampa radio stations was crucial."

How big does a small business need to be before it can afford to advertise on Tampa radio? The owners of Ana Delicias Bakery will be the first to tell you: size does not matter.

Ana Delicias Bakery in Tampa is not just a small business. It's a tiny, family-owned business with big ambitions. Advertising on local radio is helping the business raise the dough to grow.

"Radio advertising is not an expense for us, It is an investment," says Paula Tavarez who co-owns the bakery with her cousin Ana Lizardo. "That investment has paid off."

There are more than 200,000 small businesses in Tampa Bay.  Each of them is competing for a share of the $54-billion area consumers will spend this year.

To succeed, the US Small Business Administration (SBA) recommends that to succeed, every local business consider advertising. 

Just about every adult in Tampa Bay spent, on average, 15 hours last week listening to the radio.  As a matter of fact, more people tuned-in to their favorite Tampa radio station than watched TV; read a newspaper, or logged-on to Pandora and Spotify.

"Sure," a St. Petersburg small business owner says. "People are still tuning-in to local radio stations, but do they switch stations when my commercial comes on?"

Not to worry. Unlike TV, which makes avoiding commercials a breeze, there is no ad-skipping technology for radio.  As a result, a study by Nielsen reveals that 93% of radio listeners stick around for the ads.

This raises the question: Consumers are not button-pushing during radio commercials, but are they paying attention to the content of the advertising? Research says YES.

Over the next 12 month, Tampa Bay consumers will spend $54 billion on retail products.

Small business owners who want to compete for a share of this cash will need to advertise. As Professor Jef Richards at Michigan State University points out, “Advertising is totally unnecessary…unless you want to make money.”

Bottom line: Tampa consumers will only buy from retailers they know about.

There are many ways small business owners to advertise. This includes local television, newspapers, or streaming media platforms like Pandora and Spotify.

But regardless of what product a retailer sells, advertising on Tampa radio the best option. Radio reaches significantly more consumers in every major retail category than all of the other media choices.