Advertising is critical for Southwest Florida small business owners looking to cash in on the $22-billion local consumers will spend at retail this year.

To successfully stay top of mind, many business owners advertise on Fort Myers radio stations. These local companies depend on radio's reliable reach, recall, and return-on-investment to convert listeners to customers.

For those local business owners who do not advertise on Fort Myers radio stations, here are five facts they need to know right now about the power of advertising on radio. 

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

SWFL consumers will 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 local small business owner who is fighting to inject their advertising message into the mind of consumers, that .20-second gap can be the difference between success and failure.

Everybody in Southwest Florida 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 SWFL consumers watched broadcast television. To put this in perspective, 93% tuned-in to their favorite Fort Myers 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.