Thousands of Southwest Florida small business owners depend on radio advertising to successfully market their goods and services.

Take Bob Bigelow, for instance. He and his wife Dawn opened Biggy's Place, a 164-seat Fort Myers restaurant five years ago. Their sales have grown by 600% since they started advertising on Fort Myers radio.

"Three months after we took over the restaurant, we began investing hot-and-heavy into our radio advertising," says Mr. Bigelow. "I've been involved in marketing for over 37 years, but I have never been as overwhelmed by the response to our current advertising. Almost every day a new customer will tell us they learned about us on Fort Myers radio."

Conditioned Air is a Naples-based heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company.  Theo Etzel joined the company in 1995 as President and CEO.  That was the same year the company began advertising on Fort Myers radio as part of an aggressive growth strategy.

"To accelerate our growth at the beginning, we needed a strong platform to share the company's story," recalls Mr. Etzel. "So, we invested heavily in radio advertising."  To this day, Fort Myers radio is still Conditioned Air's predominant form of advertising.

There's a right way and a wrong way for SWFL business owners to advertise on Fort Myers radio.  Fortunately, there is a free resource at AdvertiseInFortMyers.com that can help replicate the successes of Mr. Bigelow and Mr. Etzel.

Really? Did you just call the 807,219 people who tuned-in to a Fort Myers radio station last week nobodies?

Don't worry, though. You are not the first SWFL advertiser who has made that mistake.  Media expert Doug Schoen used to share the same opinion. He came clean in a Forbes article.

"You wouldn't know it from all the media coverage focused on streaming video and streaming music," says Mr. Schoen, "but recent Nielsen data shows 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."

This is true in Southwest Florida, as well, where Fort Myers radio listeners far out-number the people who watch local TV; read local newspapers; or logon to a streaming audio site like Pandora and Spotify.

When an Southwest Florida small business owner advertises on a local radio station, the first words determine if consumers will pay attention. The article "Be Heard: The #1 Job of Commercials on Fort Myers Radio" discusses this topic in-depth.

When it comes time to buy, however, getting in the final word can be equally important.  Advertising on Fort Myers radio is often the last voice an SWFL customer hears before making a purchase in-store or online.

Being the last voice serves as a potent reminder to consumers that a business or product exists.  Especially since our brains make things very easy to forget. Science says it's so.

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

"Sure," a Naples small business owner said to me. "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.

If you don't have time to read this entire article, then I will tell you right now. The best way for any Southwest Florida small business owner to advertise is on Fort Myers radio.

A key function of advertising is to build mental availability, which nudges a consumer toward the purchase of a product or service. It also serves to provide public notice that a product or service exists and is available for purchase.

Consumers in Lee and Collier counties are expected to spend at least $22 billion at retail this year. To claim a greater share of this giant pool of cash requires local business owners of every size to advertise their goods and services. As Professor Jef Richards at Michigan State University points out, “Advertising is totally unnecessary…unless you want to make money."

The bottom line: It is difficult for anyone in Southwest Florida to purchase a product or service from a local business owner if they aren’t aware of it.