Last year, $1.6 billion in marketing was spent online to reach Charlotte area consumers, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

There is a correlation between the massive amount of money being spent to reach Charlotte consumers online and the extraordinary amount of time that these consumers are connecting to the internet via websites and apps.

According to Nielsen, 46.6% of Charlotte adults are spending 10-plus hours during an average week online. Furthermore, The Pew Research Center, a public opinion research company, reports that one-in-three consumers say they are online constantly. A 50% increase from 2015.  In all, 85% of consumers say they connect at least once daily.

To successfully market and advertise a Charlotte business on the internet requires a full-scale understanding of precisely what online marketing is.  Spoiler alert, having a website or having a social media site is not enough.

According to Nielsen, 1.9 million adult consumers in Charlotte use social media every month, an audience that continues to expand. As a result of this growth, social media has become a crucial part of local advertising campaigns.

Social media allows Charlotte business owners to continually be in front of their target customers and to stay top-of-mind. It allows businesses to communicate daily and be the first company on call when needed. Social media has become essential for marketing local goods and services.

The best part is that social media is free to use for both Charlotte consumers and business owners.

There is no subscription service for social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram which, according to Nielsen, are used by 77.6% of Charlotte consumers each month. There are no monthly payments or premium memberships required to unlock more services.

Right now, at least one of the 97,696 businesses located in the Charlotte area is thinking about using the phrase 'March Madness' as part of upcoming advertising and marketing plans. Why not? It's a great use of alliteration. It's a familiar term. And, it's that time of year.

A furniture store in Indian Trail might think it would be clever to use 'March Madness' in its commercials on Charlotte radio to promote a big spring sale. A non-profit in Matthews feels it would be a good way to describe its charity fun run on social media and online advertising. A sports bar in Rock Hill believes it would be a no-brainer to use the term in streaming video and audio ads to bring in scores of basketball fans.

It is, indeed,  tempting for a Charlotte small business owner to use this term for advertising or marketing purposes. But,  to avoid a costly legal battle, the use of this trademarked phrase should be a non-starter. Here's why.

Charlotte-area business owners are expected to spend $783 million advertising online in 2022. This, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks advertising expenditures across the country.

Borrell's forecast indicates that almost 50% of Charlotte's online expenditures will be in the form of paid search. The most recognizable type of this advertising is the paid ads that appear adjacent to the results of almost every search query on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Borrell's forecast also indicates that approximately 27% of online expenditures will be in the form of display advertising. This consists of traditional banner ads that appear across millions of websites and apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to SmallBizGenius.net, the average Charlotte area consumer is served more than 1700 of these ads per month.

Video advertising in Charlotte is forecast to account for 23% of all online ad dollars in 2022. Like search and display, millions of websites can support this type of advertising. This includes sites, apps, and platforms like YouTube, Roku Channel, Hulu, Paramount+, and most social media sites.

The remainder of online advertising dollars is expected to be spent on audio advertising, including streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify; or email marketing campaigns.

There are 92,427 small businesses in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area, according to the US Census Bureau. Based on projections from the National Federation of Independent Business Owners (NFIB), nearly half of these companies have job openings they cannot fill.

As a result of the acute labor shortage, says the NFIB, 29% of small business owners rank the quality of labor as the most important problem they face. A year ago, only 21% said finding workers was their biggest issue.

The labor crunch in the Charlotte area is being driven, in big part, by a record-high number of employees voluntarily quitting their jobs. Just last month, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.5 million employees across the country left their current place of employment.

According to the Wall Street Journal, those who are not currently working say they are in no hurry to return to the workforce. The lack of urgency stems from five primary reasons:

• 29% say they don't need to work right now because their spouse is employed
• 28% say they cannot return to work because of care responsibilities at home
• 25% say they don't need to return to work because they have a financial cushion
• 20% say they are fearful of returning to work because of COVID-19
• 5% say they do not need to return because of current unemployment benefits

There seems to be little chance that these resigned workers can be lured back into the labor force. Therefore, to fill open jobs, local business owners will need to focus their efforts towards recruiting among Charlotte's "passive" job candidates.

Based on projections from the National Retail Federation (NRF), Charlotte consumers are on track to spend $38.8 billion with retailers by the end of this year. This would be 13.5% higher than was spent in 2020.

To earn a significant share of these retail dollars, Charlotte-area business owners are expected to spend $1.1 billion to advertise by year's end, according to Borrell Associates. This company tracks advertising expenditures in local markets across the U.S.

To ensure they are spending their advertising and marketing dollars wisely, many Charlotte business owners research how to best target prospective customers by using local media. An exceptional resource for local business owners to investigate the media habits of localconsumers is on the advice section of AdvertiseInCharlotte.com.  

Here are the top five most-read articles on the site in 2021:

Every month, 1.7 million adults in Charlotte use social media, according to Nielsen. Seventy-six percent of these consumers use Facebook, far more than other sites like Instagram (also owned by Facebook), Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

As a stand-alone medium, Facebook is used by more people in Charlotte than watch local TV stations and cable channels. Only Charlotte radio reaches more consumers.

The large audience commanded by social media has attracted a significant amount of advertising dollars from local advertisers. According to Borrell Associates, a company that measures advertising expenditures across the county, Charlotte-area businesses are expected to spend $248 million on social media advertising, a 31.7% increase over 2022. The overwhelming majority of these dollars are being spent with Facebook.

Yesterday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the company was changing its name to "Meta".  This change, though, only affects the name of the parent company. There will be no change to the company's brands like Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp.

How will this name change affect Charlotte businesses that advertise on Facebook?

Almost 96% of Charlotte adults have access to the internet.  Ubiquitous technology such as computers, tablets, smartphones, and connected TVs allow North Carolina consumers to go online whenever they choose, which, for some adults, is always.

The Pew Research Center, a public opinion research company, reports that one-in-three consumers say they are online constantly. A 50% increase from 2015.  In total, 85% of consumers say they connect at least one time every day.

So, how are Charlotte consumers spending all this time connected to the internet?

According to Nielsen, streaming audio and video content, social networking, checking the weather, and banking are the top online activities for Charlotte consumers each month.

According to Nielsen, 2.1 million adults in the Charlotte area have access to the internet, equivalent to 95.7% of the population. On average, local consumers are spending 11.08 hours per week online.

Charlotte millennials, the first generation that grew up in a digital world, spend considerably more time online. Nielsen reports that, on average, Charlotte's 25-39-year-old consumers are clocking 13.99 hours connected to the internet.

So, how are Charlotte consumers spending their time online?

According to Nielsen, streaming audio and video content, social networking, checking the weather, and banking are the top online activities for Charlotte consumers each month.

The number of job openings in the Charlotte area has exceeded pre-pandemic levels, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Businesses of all sizes are adding employees in a big way, according to the ADP Research Institute, but still, large numbers of positions remain unfilled.

With the North Carolina unemployment rate still at 5.9%, Charlotte business owners wonder why they are having difficulty attracting applicants for open positions.

According to a recent article posted in The Economist, there are two major reasons why many sidelined workers aren't anxious to come to work. The first is fear.

How important is Twitter to Charlotte area consumers? Yesterday, for instance, the social media platform was mentioned in at least ten articles published by the Charlotte Observer yesterday.  Almost every local TV newscast included references to the site as well.

Twitter's outsized presence in the news, however, is enormously disproportional to the importance of the micro-blogging app in the life of Charlotte's consumers.

According to Nielsen, only about 19% of adults in Charlotte use Twitter during the course of a month. This is minuscule compared to other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

Twitter offers 20 different options that Charlotte small business owners can utilize to market their goods and services to local consumers.  The platform's minimal reach, however, can hamper the success of any advertising campaign.

Over 95% of Charlotte adults have access to the internet, according to Nielsen. Seventy percent of these consumers spend more than five hours a week connected.

Nielsen reports that Charlotte consumers go online to stay connected to friends and family; research products and services; learn the latest news, and obtain directions to where they are going and know what the weather will be when they get there.  

Here are some of the many reasons why Charlotte internet users go online each month

• Social Media: 77%
• Weather: 57%
• Online Banking: 54%
• Maps/Directions: 47%
• Product Reviews: 41%
• Current Events: 35%
• Restaurant Reviews: 30%
• Sports Scores/News: 28%
• Job Search: 19%
• Real Estate: 16%

And, of course, there is shopping.  Over the past six months, according to Nielsen, 82% of Charlotte consumers shopped online for every imaginable product and service including, cars, golf clubs, office supplies, wedding rings, mattresses, tires, medicine, shoes, socks, and eyeglasses.

To reach local consumers while they are online, Charlotte businesses will spend $587 million for digital advertising in 2020, according to Borrell Associates.  Here is how the money is being spent:

Following the lead of many national marketers, some Charlotte area small business owners are considering canceling or, at minimum, pausing their advertising schedules with social media network Facebook and its co-owned photo-sharing platform, Instagram.

According to the New York Times, "more than 400 companies, from Coca-Cola and Adidas to Ford and Lego, have vowed to halt advertising on the social network, in a growing protest over how it handles hate speech and other harmful content".

With the pandemic figured in, Charlotte small business owners were expected to spend $131 million on Facebook and Instagram advertising in 2020. This is according to Borrell Associates, a firm that specializes in the collection and analysis of local marketing expenditures in every city across the United States. But these expenditures could shrink if the protests become louder.

Every type of Charlotte business imaginable, including clothing stores, plumbers, HVAC repair, funeral homes, restaurants, dentists, and nonprofits, has come to realize how powerfully social media can contribute to their bottom lines.

Part of what makes Facebook and Instagram attractive to small business owners is the enormous reach these platforms have among consumers. Locally, the audience size for these two social media sites now rival Charlotte radio, TV, cable, and newspaper outlets.

For small business owners considering a hiatus from social media advertising, there is a viable way to redirect these dollars into a different medium without losing the marketing equity or momentum built-up on Facebook.

Type "CHARLOTTE REAL ESTATE AGENTS" into Google. In slightly over a half-second, the search will deliver 350,0000,000 results. Similar searches for Matthews, Mount Holly, Huntersville, Indian Trail, Gastonia, or Rock Hill produce a proportional number of returns.

Despite the economic hardships imposed by the Coronavirus crisis on Charlotte area consumers, the demand for real estate is booming. 

The Wall Street Journal published a trend yesterday indicating that mortgage applications for purchase a home have achieved levels equal to last year.

According to redfin.com, home buying demand is 16.5% higher now than it was pre-COVID-19 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Redfin attributes this explosive growth in real estate shoppers to two factors, including record-low mortgage rates. The other primary driver is a migration trend from expensive metropolitan areas as buyers hunt for more space at lower prices.

To capture a larger share of the robust market, local real estate agents need to stand apart from the millions of Google results.  Advertising on Charlotte radio will help accomplish this.  Here's why.

Facebook usage has swelled since the onset of the Covid-19. 

According to Nielsen, before the current chaos, 75% of Charlotte area adults used Facebook each month. This was significantly fewer than were reached by local radio each week.

According to the New York Times, however, since the start of the Coronavirus, daily Facebook traffic has increased by 27%. This compares to 33% growth in the amount of time consumers spend listening to local radio during a similar period.

Based on the surge in Facebook consumption, Charlotte small business owners might be tempted to purchase advertising on the social media platform to augment their regular, free postings. Here are are few facts these businesses should consider before investing.

Every week, 1,827,300 adult consumers tune-in to a Charlotte radio station. That is way more than are reached by other media, including local television, newspaper, social media, or streaming audio sites like Pandora and Spotify.

A more significant number for thousands of North Carolina small business owners who advertise on Charlotte radio is how many of these listeners stick around when their commercials come on.

A 2011 Nielsen study discovered that, on average, 93% of listeners stayed with the radio station they are tuned-to when the commercials come on. That number amazed many advertisers at the time who believed that audiences were far more likely to defect when the music stopped.

A lot has changed since 2011. Charlotte area consumers have many more media options and can instantly connect to each  with a button-push, mouse-click, screen-tap, or voice command. With all of these choices, do radio audiences still stay tuned during commercial breaks?

The chaos created in North Carolina by the onset of Coronavirus has been a disruptive force among consumers. 

Work routines, buying habits, family life, and media consumption have all been palpably affected. These are all factors that need to be considered by small business owners who continue to advertise their goods and services during the crisis.

Before the current chaos, advertising on Charlotte radio, by any metric, was the best way a local small business could advertise.

For instance, pre-Coronavirus, 1.8 million adult consumers tuned-in to a Charlotte radio station every week. This is significantly more than watched local TV, read a newspaper, accessed social media, or streamed audio from sites like Pandora and Spotify.

New research released from Nielsen indicates that amidst the current crisis, listening to local radio remains little changed. This is great news for those Charlotte small business owners who are depending on advertising for their long-term survival.

Suppose a Charlotte small business owner woke up one morning and found a 100-year-old machine in the basement of her store. She soon discovered that every time a dime was put into the machine, one dollar came out.  Imagine, now, how profitable that business would become.

Good news: such a contraption exists,  and every business owner probably has one in their car, in their store, in their home, even on their phone. It's called Charlotte radio.

Over the past few years, Nielsen has conducted more than 20 studies to determine what type of return-on-investment (ROI) a business owner  can expect from radio advertising.  Although the results varied by industry, the average company generated $100 in sales for every $10 invested. Turning dimes into dollars.

Charlotte small business owners are fighting the coronavirus battles on multiple fronts.  Their first objective is to keep their families and employees safe. Then, of course, there are the concerns of keeping their businesses healthy enough to survive current disruptions.

The business literature has an abundance of case studies showing how survival is often connected to a thoughtful communications and marketing strategy during challenging times.  

Business owners need to let North Carolina consumers know if they are still open. If their hours have changed. Or if they are providing alternative shopping methods (e.g., delivery, curbside pick-up).

Most importantly, it is imperative consumers know that a business will still be there for them when the crisis is over.

For those owners who are depending on communication to preserve their business, the best option may be to advertise on Charlotte radio.

Charlotte retailers spend a considerable amount of time and money marketing their small businesses on social media.  Is this effort paying off?

Each month, according to Nielsen, 1.5 million Charlotte area adults use Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. This equates to 72% of consumers.  This reach is rather anemic compared to Charlotte radio and TV, which attracts considerably more users in a single week than these social media platforms do over 30 days.

Among local millennials, the monthly reach of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is eclipsed by the weekly reach of Charlotte radio.

The number of consumers reached by an advertising campaign, according to Nielsen, is the media consideration that has the most significant effect on increasing sales. 

Seven years ago, the first Bisonte Pizza Co. location fired-up its ovens.

"Advertising on Charlotte radio really accelerated our growth," says Jim DaPolito. He and his older brother Steven are the owners and co-founders of the small business.

"Injust three years, with the help of our radio commercials, we had already achieved our year five sales goals."

The brothers were convinced to move to North Carolina from their native Buffalo, New York, by Steven's son, who had moved to Charlotte in 2007.

My son believed that someone could do very well down here serving up Buffalo-style pizza and wings," says Steven. "So, when he told me my first grandchild was on the way, I decided to quit my job in the automotive business in New York and move to Charlotte to open a restaurant."

Fortunately, Jim, who had 38 years in the food business, including running the largest pizza restaurant in the country, decided to make the move with his brother.

Charlotte consumers spent more than $49 billion with retailers last year. The National Retail Federation forecasts 4.1% more will be spent this year.

Who are the shoppers that will be spending all this money?

According to Nielsen, 47.8% of retail dollars are spent by Charlotte area consumers over the age of 50. This may surprise many small business owners because older consumers comprise only 36.6% of the area's adult population.

These older consumers account for the largest share of spending in almost every retail category. This includes furniture, cars, pet supplies, fast food, and electronics.

To earn a share of these massive dollars spent by these older consumers requires Charlotte small business owners to advertise.

How quickly the millennials have grown up.

According to Nielsen, 51% of all Charlotte area parents with children under the age of 18 are millennials.  

From the time their kids are born until they reach they are 17, these young parents will spend, on average, $233,000 per child. This does not include the cost of college.

Currently, there are 566,078 children under the age of 18 living in the Charlotte metro area. That makes the local parenting economy worth upwards of $131 billion. These dollars are being spent, among other things, on diapers, daycare, transportation, toys, education, electronics, clothing, and health care.

For North Carolina small business owners interested in competing for a substantial portion of this multi-billion dollar pool of parental cash, they must advertise to millennial moms and dads. By almost any measurement, advertising on Charlotte radio is the best way to reach this audience.

"In the 24 years I have owned my business, I never advertised," says Andy Huneycutt, founder of Indian Trail based Huneycutt Mechanical Services. "But last year I realized my company was standing still. So, we started advertising on Charlotte radio."

"I did a lot of research," he says, "and I found out that the most successful local companies were investing 8-10% of their gross sales back into advertising. They would do this consistently every year. The more money they made, the more they would advertise."

"As I was growing closer to retirement, I had to ask myself if I could really afford to invest that kind of money into advertising," he says.  "Then, I looked at the commitment my son made to take over the business in a few years and realized I couldn't afford not to advertise."

March is the biggest single month for used car sales in the Charlotte area. During these 31 days alone, local pre-owned vehicle dealers are expected to bring in $101 million in sales. This will represent 10% of their annual revenue.

By the end of May, these dealers owners will sell more than $282 million worth of pre-owned cars and trucks. This, undoubtedly, makes March-May 'used car season' in Charlotte.

Although most Charlotte used car dealers are small business owners, they do really big business. In all, over the next 12 months, more than 349,000 pre-owned vehicles will be driven off their lots.

To capture a larger share of the area's $1.1 billion used car market requires pre-owned vehicle dealers to advertise. By any measure, the best way for these business owners to advertise is on Charlotte radio.

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.

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 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.

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.