According to Nielsen, 2.6 million adults in the Tampa Bay area have access to the internet. Eighty-two percent of these consumers conduct online research before making a retail purchase, says a report from GE Capital Bank. 

To reach Tampa Bay area adults in the market to buy their goods and services, businesses spent $1.9 billion in 2021 on digital adverting, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

This mammoth pool of online advertising dollars targeted at Tampa Bay consumers is being spent on a variety of digital resources including search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), display ads, video ads, audio ads, email, and social media. Each of these tools can precisely target consumers who are currently in the market to buy whatever it is a business is selling.

Most forms of online advertising are designed to compel Tampa Bay consumers to click on a digital ad that will transport them to the website of a company that sells whatever it is consumers are in the market to buy.  Is investing only in digital advertising enough to drive sales for a local business? 

Many marketing experts believe that online advertising needs to be part of a broader marketing strategy to be successful.

Last year, $1.9 billion in marketing was spent online to reach Tampa Bay area consumers, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

There is a correlation between the massive amount of money being spent to reach Tampa Bay consumers online and the extraordinary amount of time that these consumers are connecting to the internet via websites and apps.

According to Nielsen, 47.5% of Tampa Bay adults are spending 10-plus hours during an average week online. Furthermore, The Pew Research Center, a public opinion research company, reports that one-in-three consumers say they are online constantly. A 50% increase from 2015.  In all, 85% of consumers say they connect at least once daily.

To successfully market and advertise a Tampa Bay business on the internet requires a full-scale understanding of precisely what online marketing is.  Spoiler alert, having a website or having a social media site is not enough.

According to Nielsen research, 1.8 million people in the Tampa Bay area will likely participate in the upcoming election on November 8th. To sway these voters, candidates and political action committees are expected to spend a record amount on advertising.

AdImpact, a company that measures advertising expenditures by political campaigns, says more than $3.6 billion have been spent to reach voters so far in 2022. This puts spending on a course to obliterate the record level of campaign dollars set during the 2020 presidential elections.

Despite crumbling ratings, through August 1st, 58% of all political spending has been dished out to local TV stations, according to AdImpact.

Nielsen reports that since 2017, the reach of broadcast TV stations like WFLA, WTSP, WTVT, WFTS, and WEDU has decayed by 10%.

Despite an abundance of media options, Tampa Bay radio reaches the most consumers every week. 

According to Nielsen, every week 2.3 million adults tune in to their favorite Tampa Bay stations. This is more than watch local TV stations, cable, or streaming video. It is more than browse social media. It is more than listen to streaming audio services or podcasts. It is more than read local newspapers.

Not all listening to Tampa Bay radio happens on car radios, table-top radios, or boom boxes. Instead, local consumers also use their smartphones, computers, and tablets as a way to connect to their favorite local stations.

Neilsen finds that 29.2% of all consumers who listen to a Tampa Bay radio station over the air will, at some point during the month, also connect to a local station via the internet. As a matter of fact, during a typical hour, Nielsen data suggests that 10.9% of a station's total audience is listening on a device other than a traditional receiver.

If you're anything like the 2.2 million Tampa Bay consumers who, according to Nielsen, listen to or download a podcast every month, you probably already see the value in podcasting as a relatively new audio medium that entertains, enlightens, motivates, or informs listeners.

But if you're part of the 75% of local adults who are not regular podcast listeners, you're probably wondering why on earth would anyone want to listen to a podcast, let alone create one for their Tampa Bay business.

Launching a podcast might seem like a daunting test for small business owners without much technical background or an understanding of how to structure a compelling conversation that will engage prospective customers.

In reality, local small business owners can easily reach new customers with podcasts and complement their traditional advertising in Tampa Bay with a longer-form, conversational medium that showcases the company's knowledge in an authoritative manner.

Right now, at least one of the 128,637 businesses located in the Tampa Bay area is thinking about using the phrase 'March Madness' as part of upcoming advertising and marketing plans. Why not? It's a great use of alliteration. It's a familiar term. And, it's that time of year.

A furniture store in Clearwater might think it would be clever to use 'March Madness' in its commercials on Tampa radio to promote a big spring sale. A non-profit in St. Petersburg feels it would be a good way to describe its charity fun run on social media and online advertising. A sports bar in Brandon believes it would be a no-brainer to use the term in streaming video and audio ads to bring in scores of basketball fans.

It is, indeed,  tempting for a Tampa Bay small business owner to use this term for advertising or marketing purposes. But,  to avoid a costly legal battle, the use of this trademarked phrase should be a non-starter. Here's why.

Every week, 1.7 million Tampa Bay adults watch video programs delivered via the internet. This content goes by several interchangeable names, including OTT (Over-The-Top Television), CTV (Connected TV), and Streaming Video. For this article, we will refer to this type of content as Streaming TV.

Unlike traditional TV, cable, and satellite where the viewer needs to be in a fixed location, Tampa Bay consumers can access streaming TV anywhere using an internet-connected device. These include SmartTVs, Firesticks, Roku, smartphones, computers, laptops, tablets, and gaming consoles.

In all, according to Nielsen, 95.2% of Tampa Bay households have one or more devices capable of connecting to streaming TV. Although this medium is still new, streaming TV now rivals legacy media in its ability to reach local consumers.

Every week, Tampa Bay consumers are spending more-and-more time engaged with streaming TV.

Tampa Bay area business owners are expected to spend $1-billion advertising online in 2022. This, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks advertising expenditures across the country.

Borrell's forecast indicates that almost 50% of Tampa Bay's online expenditures will be in the form of paid search. The most recognizable type of this advertising is the paid ads that appear adjacent to the results of almost every search query on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Borrell's forecast also indicates that approximately 27% of online expenditures will be in the form of display advertising. This consists of traditional banner ads that appear across millions of websites and apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to SmallBizGenius.net, the average Tampa Bay area consumer is served more than 1700 of these ads per month.

Video advertising in Tampa Bay is forecast to account for 21% of all online ad dollars in 2022. Like search and display, millions of websites can support this type of advertising. This includes sites, apps, and platforms like YouTube, Roku Channel, Hulu, Paramount+, and most social media sites.

The remainder of online advertising dollars is expected to be spent on audio advertising, including streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify; or email marketing campaigns.

It used to be so simple. When a small business owner wanted to advertise on Tampa television, there were only a few options including, WFLA, WTSP, WTVT, WFTS, and WEDU. But slowly, the number of options expanded to include cable channels provided by Xfinity, DISH, DirecTV, and Spectrum.

Heading in 2022, local advertisers have even more options as internet-connected devices deliver hundreds of more programming choices to Western Florida consumers. Collectively, this type of content is called OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). For the purpose of this discussion, OTT & CTV will be referred to singularly as streaming video.

Streaming video can be viewed on any device that can connect to the internet. This includes computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Programing can also be accessed using a smart-TV, Roku Stick, Amazon Fire Stick, or a game console. In all, according to Nielsen, 95.2% of Tampa Bay households own a device capable of receiving streaming video.

In all, says Nielsen, 1.7 million consumers watch streaming video content every week. Combined, these internet channels now reach more adults every week than local newspapers, podcasts, and digital audio services like Pandora, Spotify, Sirius/XM. Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

Surprisingly, streaming video now reaches almost as many adults as local TV and local cable.