The buying power of Black consumers in Southwest Florida is now $1.8 billion. Over the past 19 years, according to Nielsen, the pace of spending by African Americans has grown 28% faster than by White consumers.

If a local small business owner would like to earn a larger share of this spending, the best place to start is with advertising.

"For African American consumers, advertising of all types is an important touchpoint in their shopping journey," says a recent study by Nielsen. "African American consumers are more likely than the total population to agree that advertising provides them with meaningful information about the product use of other consumers."

"African Americans are avid media consumers, across multiple media channels, which gives advertisers ample opportunities to connect with them."

The best advertising medium, though, for small business owners to reach local African American consumers is on Fort Myers radio.

Small business owners in Southwest Florida must advertise to claim a fair share of the $22.7 billion retail economy.

“Think you have a great product?” asks the U.S. Small Business Administration. “Unfortunately, no one’s going to know about it unless you advertise.”  The SBA goes on to say, “Advertising, if done correctly, can do wonders for your sales, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business."

During 2019, many SWFL small business owners sought advertising guidance on the advice pages of www.AdvertiseInFortMyers.com. Below are the top ten most-read articles from the past 12 months.

There's a reason many Southwest Florida small business owners target their advertising towards consumers who have completed a four-year college degree. It's because, typically, university graduates earn $29,106 more per year than those with only a high school diploma, according to The Federal Reserve.

There are, according to Nielsen, 357,458   college graduates living in the Fort Myers-Naples area. In total, this population generates $19.9 billion in annual take-home pay.

To tap into a similar pool of spending power, a marketer would need to reach 442,109 consumers who did not go beyond high school. The problem is, there is only about 79% of that number living in Southwest Florida

The number of people reached by a campaign is, generally, what determines the cost of advertising. So, for an SWFL small business owner operating on a tight marketing budget, spending can be kept in check by targeting those consumers with the most money to spend. In this case, college graduates.

Attention Southwest Florida small business owners. The five busiest shopping days of the year are imminent.

Based on data from the National Retail Federation, more than 667,000 Fort Myers-Naples area consumers are likely to shop beginning on Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.

“The tradition of Thanksgiving weekend holiday shopping has become a five-day event with consumers spending money in stores, supporting local small businesses, and online with their mobile devices and computers,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Even as people are starting to purchase gifts earlier in the season, consumers still enjoy finding good Thanksgiving deals and passing time shopping with family and friends over the long holiday weekend.”

Based on the NRF findings, here are the number of shoppers local business owners can expect on each of these five days:

Almost 214,000 adult consumers in Southwest Florida belong to a fitness club. These memberships bring in close to $398 million in sales to local gym owners.

January is critical for the small business owners that operate gyms in the SWFL area. According to the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association, this one month alone, accounts for 10.8% of annual membership sales. New Year's resolutions are the reason for this early year spike.

To capture a larger share of the $42.9 million local consumers  will spend on gym memberships in January, requires fitness center owners to advertise. The best way to do this is on Fort Myers radio. Here's why.

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."

By April 15th next year, 428,000 residents of Southwest Florida will file a tax return.  More than 53% of these returns will be completed by the taxpayers themselves, either by hand or with the help of an online provider like Turbotax.

Every season, SWFL small business owners who specialize in tax preparation services lose customers to the do-it-yourself options.  This year, 199,855 local consumers will spend $38,500,000 with professionals. But, based on the average cost of services, more than $44,100,000 will stay in the wallets of the DIY crowd.

To clawback this enormous amount of money from the DIY market, SWFL tax services will need to advertise the valuable benefits of using a professional.

The best advertising option for professional tax professionals is on Fort Myers radio stations. Here's why.

Advertising is critical to the success of every Southwest Florida small business owner.  One of the most powerful elements of any advertising campaign is how many people it reaches.

Nielsen, the world's largest consumer insights company, found that advertising reach has a more significant effect on sales than branding, recency, and context.

There are many ways a local business owner can advertise. This includes traditional media like Fort Myers radio, local TV, and newspaper. It also includes online advertising options such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pandora.

They type of customer an individual business needs to reach depends on the goods and services the company sells. For instance, a daycare operator might want to reach households with young children. On the other hand, a real estate agent could be looking for consumers in the market to purchase a new home.

The charts below reveal how the different advertising options available to Fort Myers-Naples business compare in terms of the ability to reach customers with specific characteristics. This includes age, income, education, employment status, political affiliation, number of children, ethnicity, and purchase intent.

This year, Southwest Florida consumers will spend $1.8 billion in local restaurants and drinking establishments. There are thousands of restaurants from Marco Island to Port Charlotte hungry for a bite of that cash.

Unfortunately, many of the restaurants that are here today will be gone tomorrow. According to FSR, a trade magazine for the restaurant industry, 60% of restaurants fail within their first year. Eighty percent never make it to their fifth anniversary.

CBI Insights studies why small business owners, such as local restaurants, fail.  Reason number eight is poor marketing and advertising.  Good food and friendly service are not enough to make a cash register ring.

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.