As Valentine's Day sales begin to dwindle, that's when Charlotte small business owners start thinking about Mom.

Mother's Day, which happens on the second Sunday of May, is second only to Christmas in terms of holiday spending. Last year, Charlotte area consumers spent more than $213-million celebrating the women in their lives. That number is expected to grow again in 2020.

To claim a significant share of this Mother's Day cash, local retailers and restaurants will need to advertise.  By almost every key metric, advertising on Charlotte radio is the best choice.

Like all small business owners, Charlotte area law firms need to bring in new customers to survive.  Unlike brick-and-mortar stores, the first contact many attorneys have with potential clients is on the telephone.

"Every day we advertise on Charlotte radio," says attorney Chris Hall of the city's Emory Law Firm, "we receive 10-12 calls from listeners seeking representation."

"We can track each of these calls back to our radio commercials," he says. "Around 25% of these callers will become paying clients. This is a very high rate of return for the money we are spending."

In the Charlotte area, there are almost 7000 practicing lawyers who compete to represent the 216,000 households who will seek legal representation this year. In all, these services will generate more than $540,000,000 in attorney fees.

To earn a fair share of this billing, area attorneys need to advertise.  As Mr. Hall has learned, by most metrics, radio advertising is a powerful way to reach potential clients.

Over 500,000 consumers in the Charlotte are now own a smart speaker. Ownership of these devices, including Amazon Echo and Google Home, has grown five-fold since the beginning of 2017.

According to Adobe Analytics, significantly  more consumers are asking Siri and Alexa to play music than any other activity.

Many North Carolina small business owners depend on local radio to advertise their goods and service. So, how does the use of smart speakers as an audio device affect their radio advertising's ability to reach local consumers? The answer is: none at all.

If you were one of the 1,827,300 consumers who tuned-in to a Charlotte radio station last week, then chances are you heard at least one commercial from GEICO, Progressive, or Liberty Mutual. That's because insurance is big business in North Carolina.

Each year, Charlotte area consumers spend $3.8-billion to insure their homes and cars. That's almost $1500 for every area adult.

There is good news and bad news for the 4900 local insurance agents who are competing to earn a substantial share of the home and auto premiums consumers are paying.

According to Nielsen, 236,000 policyholders in the Charlotte area are planning to switch insurance providers during the next 12 months.

There are many ways for Charlotte small business owners to advertise. Options include newspapers, magazines, television, social media, and streaming media.

But to achieve the “3-Rs” of advertising success, Reach, Recall, and Return, no other medium delivers results as effectively and efficiently as advertising on Charlotte radio.

"At least 40% of our new customers come because of our advertising on Charlotte radio," says Deb Filkins, co-owner of Cougar Run Winery in Concord, NC. "Eighty percent of these first-time customers will become repeat customers."

Ms. Filkins and her husband Tom, who produces all the wine, opened Cougar Run in December 2012 with an inventory of 1500 bottles. The retail store is located in a historic Coca-Cola bottling plant on the city's Church Street.

"Since we started advertising on the radio, almost half of our business comes from outside the Concord area, much of it from Charlotte." says Ms. Filkins. "We now sell more than 9000 bottles of wine every year.  Our monthly sales have grown from $100 a month when we opened to almost $14,000 today."

So, how can a local small business owner choose the best Charlotte radio stations to advertise on?

"I can prove that advertising on Charlotte radio works because I have seen firsthand what happens when we don't use it," says Bradley Byrd, General Manager of Queen Park Social in the city's South End.

Queen Park Social opened in March of 2017. The venue encompasses 22,000 square-feet of fun-and-games including eight bowling lanes, shuffleboard, ping-pong, vintage board games, a restaurant, and bar. 

"In our first year, we heavily advertised our Halloween event for an entire month on Charlotte radio stations. We sold the event out," says Mr. Byrd.  "The following year, we used only social media to promote the event. We ended up selling 800 fewer tickets."

Low unemployment, a boom in housing starts, and confident consumers are propelling robust sales for Charlotte area furniture stores.

In 2019, local consumers spent $1.2 billion on furniture and home furnishing. This number is expected to grow.

Based on estimates developed by Furniture Today’s Strategic Insights team and Easy Analytic Software Inc. (EASI), the total furniture and bedding market is projected to expand by more than 22% by 2024.

If a Charlotte area small business owner who sells furniture, furnishings, or home decor would like to grab a larger share of this expanding market, then advertising is necessary.  By almost every key metric, advertising on local radio is a sound marketing investment.

"At least 40% of our new customers come because of our advertising on Charlotte radio," says Deb Filkins, co-owner of Cougar Run Winery in Concord, NC. "Eighty percent of these first-time customers will become repeat customers."

Ms. Filkins and her husband Tom, who produces all the wine, opened Cougar Run in December 2012 with an inventory of 1500 bottles. The retail store is located in a historic Coca-Cola bottling plant on the city's Church Street

"During our first full month in business, we rang up $100 in sales. Tom and I were ecstatic," says Ms. Filkins.

The winery began to grow modestly drawing customers primarily from the Concord area.

There is probably not a week that goes by when the 1,827,300 listeners to Charlotte radio don't hear about Sona Dermatology & MedSpa. The company's advertising runs nearly every day.

"We will probably never stop using radio advertising in Charlotte," says Meigan Alexander, Director of Marketing for the company. "Radio has been a part of the company's identity since the beginning."

Sona was founded as a single location MedSpa in 1977 by Byron Ashbridge. "In the beginning," says Ms. Alexander, "most of what we did was laser hair removal."

Today, Sona has 20 offices across the country including one in Charlotte, Huntersville, and Ballantyne. In addition to hair removal, the company now offers CoolSculpting, Botox, skin rejuvenation, and MiraDry. 

Although Sona had been advertising successfully on radio for two decades, it became even more critical three years ago.

Many times the difference between winning an election and losing is a handful of ballots. This is true in races for almost every elected office, referendum, and issue on the national, statewide, and local level.

To win a modern election requires advertising. Successful advertising requires reach. In the Charlotte area, the most potent way to reach voters is on local radio.

The Charlotte area includes the North Carolina counties of Anason, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly, Union, plus Chester, SC Lancaster, SC and York, SC.

Last week, for instance, 89% of all registered voters in these counties tuned-in to a Charlotte radio station.  This is significantly more than were reached by local TV, local newspaper, or the major social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

Charlotte consumers are expected to spend $49.6 billion at retail this year, according to Nielsen. This means that every household, on average, will be paying out $45,800.

To capture a larger share of these dollars, local small business owners need to know the answer to two questions.

The first question is, where is this enormous amount of cash being spent?  The list below details the answer.

Charlotte small business owners need employees...desperately.

According to a report from the National Federation of Independent Business, 26% of small business owners say finding qualified workers is their number one problem. 

The report goes on to say that 88% of small business owners looking to hire new employees are finding there are no qualified candidates.

The historically low unemployment figures in the Charlotte area appears to be the root cause of local hiring woes. The metro area's jobless rate stands at 3.2%. There are just not enough qualified workers to go around.

Most small business owners have exhausted the traditional methods of recruitment. These include online job board posts, newspaper ads, referral bonuses, and help wanted signs. All to no avail.

To successfully attract the qualified applicants they yearn for, local small business owners need to command the attention of 'passive' job seekers. The number one source for these candidates is Charlotte radio.

Advertising is critical to the success of every North Carolina 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 Charlotte 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.

You've done the research. You now know that by every measure, radio advertising is the most effective way for your Charlotte small business to market its goods and services.

You have learned, for instance, 1,827,300 adult consumers regularly tune-in to their favorite Charlotte radio stations.  This is more than watch local TV, read a newspaper, sign-in to social media, or log-in to streaming audio services like Pandora and Spotify.

You've also learned that, on average, adults spend almost two hours per day listening to local radio.

If you dug deep enough, then you know radio advertising delivers, on average, a $10 lift in sales for every $1 invested. This is a remarkable return for any local small business owner.

What you may not have figured out, however, is what is the best time of day to advertise on Charlotte radio?

Two things are remarkable about voting day in 1920.  It was the first time, ever, women could participate in the selection of the U.S. President. It was also the first time live election results were broadcast on the radio. Not to mention, it was also the first radio broadcast, ever.

The voters' choice that night was between Warren G. Harding  and James M. Cox.  Both men had derived their political power as successful newspaper publishers.  It is quite ironic, then, that one of these men would reach the highest office in the land on the same night that the nascent radio broadcasting business began its takedown of the newspaper industry.

Nowhere is this takedown more apparent than locally, where Charlotte radio has become, by far, the advertising medium with the largest reach among local consumers.

It is not a gimmick. Many North Carolina business owners qualify for free local advertising on Charlotte radio. They pay nothing. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Bupkis. Free.

Henry Ford understood that the continual investment in advertising was necessary for a business to be successful. “Stopping advertising to save money," he said, "is like stopping your watch to save time.”

Sometimes, though, when daily expenses challenge their cash flow,  small business owners must prioritize spending.

When that happens, unfortunately, Mr. Ford’s advice is ignored and buying commercials on Charlotte radio will move down the list behind making payroll, maintaining delivery vehicles, and replenishing stock.

Many times advertising doesn’t make a list at all.

Some Charlotte business owners have discovered that their radio advertising doesn’t have to be sacrificed at all when belts need to be tightened. It turns out there’s a deep pool of “free money” that can be dipped into for the singular purpose of advertising. These funds are called cooperative funds, or co-op for short.

If you don't have time to read this entire article, then I will tell you right now. The best way to advertise in Charlotte is on local radio.

A vital 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 the Charlotte area are expected to spend at least $50 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."

It's time to set some misguided North Carolina small business owners straight: When we say everybody listens to Charlotte radio stations, we mean everybody.  Generations X, Y, and Z. Also, Boomers, and, yes, the millennial generation.

You know...millennials. Those are the "kids" who came of age at the turn of the millennium (which is, debatably, either 2000 or 2001).  This means 18-34-year-olds. 

In the greater Charlotte area, 628,000  millennials make-up 29% of the adult population and will deliver $16.5 billion to local cash registers.

But here's the thing about millennials that many local small business owners get wrong: millennials listen to the radio.  Almost all of them...85.6% of them, to be exact.

For Charlotte area business owners who depend on Valentine's Day to spike first-quarter sales, this year could be a battle as the decline in celebrants is expected to continue.

Based on estimates from the National Retail Federation, 1.3 million Charlotte consumers will be participating in the holiday this year. This is 20% fewer than ten years ago.

There is good news, however, for Charlotte  area business owners. Although there are will be fewer customers, local Valentine's Day spending is expected to grow to $215-million. This is 28% higher than a decade ago.

So, how does a local retailer or restaurant win the battle for the hearts and wallets of romantic consumers?  Advertising is a necessary weapon to win this war.

No weapon is as potent as advertising on Charlotte radio.