Ask any Southwest Florida 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 SWFL 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."

Technology is changing the way people in Southwest Florida consume media. This includes streaming audio platforms like Pandora and Spotify or the ability to watch Netflix on a smartphone.

But one thing has not changed.  That thing with the buttons and knobs that's been part of a car's dashboard since 1930. The contraption called radio.

Some small business owners believe the medium is outdated, and nobody listens to it anymore. But, contrary to that view, radio still reaches 92% of all consumers in America.

In SWFL, for example, last week significantly more consumers tuned-in to their favorite Fort Myers radio stations than watched local TV; read a newspaper; logged-on to Facebook, or signed-in to Pandora or Spotify.

The first radio station in Southwest Florida went on-the-air in 1940.  Seventy-nine 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 SWFL business owners began to experiment with advertising.

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

Here's a quiz for Southwest Florida small business owners:

Which of these online sites reach more adults each month than Fort Myers radio stations: Google? Netflix? ESPN? YouTube? Twitter Facebook?

The answer may be a surprise. Radio reaches more adult consumers every month than all websites and apps.  This is critical information for SWFL business owners to knows to be able to choose the best way to advertise their goods and services.

The number one media characteristic that contributes to the success of an advertising campaign is reach. This is a measure of how many different people are exposed to an advertiser's message.