Boston area small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services since the first New England radio station, WBZ, began broadcasting in 1921.

Today, thousand of local companies still invent in radio advertising. Partly, because it reaches 3,543,709 consumers every week, significantly more than any other medium. But, also because commercials on Boston radio are effective.

Meet five New England business area business owners are currently advertising on Boston radio to capture a larger share of the $100-billion local consumers spend every year.

"We advertise on Boston radio because it brings in new customers," says Elizabeth Russell-Skehan, VP of Marketing at Russell's Garden Center. "We like radio advertising because the commercials provide us with enough time to explain all of the products and services we offer."

Russell's, located just off of Route 20 in Wayland, MA., is set on a 55-acre farm, seven of which are open for retail 360 days per year. Half of what the garden center sells are plants including, annuals, perennials, and shrubs. 

The other half of their sales come from hardgoods including, garden supplies, tools, seeds, specialty gifts, and toys.

At Christmas time, Russell's sells 3000 Christmas trees. The company is also a full-service florist providing flowers for weddings, proms, bar mitzvahs, and other celebrations.

"New customers tell us all the time that they learned about what we do from our radio advertising."

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

Based on estimates from the National Retail Federation, 2.4 million Boston area consumers will be participating in the holiday this year. This is 20% fewer than ten years ago.

There is good news, however, for local business owners. Although there are will be fewer customers, local Valentine's Day spending is expected to grow to $388-million. This is 28% higher than a decade ago.

So, how does a New England 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 Boston radio.

By April 15th next year, 1.9 million residents in the Boston area will file a tax return.  More than 53% of these returns will be completed by the taxpayer themselves, either by hand or with the help of an online provider like Turbotax.

Every season, New England small business owners who specialize in tax preparation services lose customers to the do-it-yourself options.  This year, 916,000 local consumers will spend $176,000,000 with tax professionals. But, based on the average cost of services, more than $202,000,000 will stay in the wallets of the DIY crowd.

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

The best advertising option for tax professionals is on Boston radio stations. Here's why:

There's a reason many New England 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, 1.7 million college graduates living in the Boston area. In total, this population generates $129 billion in annual take-home pay.

To tap into a similar pool of spending power, a marketer would need to reach 2.8 million consumers who did not go beyond high school. The problem is, this is more than double the number than actually live in the Boston area.

The number of people reached by a campaign is, generally, what determines the cost of advertising. So, for a New England 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.

"Advertising on Boston radio has helped to build our company's name and reputation," says Paul Kunze. "Without radio advertising, no one would know who we are."

Mr. Kunze is the Vice President/Director of Sales and Marketing for IntraSystems, a Braintree, MA. The company provides computing-infrastructure and cybersecurity solutions to mid-market and enterprise-sized companies.

The company was founded by Mr. Kunze in 1996 along with his childhood friend, Jim Hanrahan, who serves as President of IntraSystems.

"The majority of our customers are in the healthcare and financial industries," says Mr. Kunze. State and local governments are also a big part of our business."

"We work with our clients on assessment, design, product deployment, support, maintenance, and education. Few other companies can provide this depth of service."

"Our first customers came from cold-calls I was making from Jim's living room. It paid off, though, the first year we brought in $600,000 in sales."

In an attempt to accelerate growth, IntraSystems began advertising on Boston radio in 2002.

"We want to have a dominating presence in the area where people know us and love us," says Jim Nelson, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer of Salem Five. "Advertising on Boston radio helps us do that."

Salem Five is a mutual community bank based in Salem, MA. It serves both retail and commercial customers online and from 36 branches across Middlesex and Essex Counties.

"As a mutual bank, we are owned by our customers. That's how it has been since 1855 when we opened as Salem Five Cents Saving Bank," says Mr. Nelson. "We were called that because our first depositors were kids who could open up an account with a nickel."

Finding new depositors is essential for the long term success of the bank. "We need to continue to grow to be able to serve our customers better," says Mr. Nelson.

"Deposit gathering is about building brand, which we accomplish in part, with advertising. For the past ten years, radio has commanded the largest share of our advertising budget."

The ten most memorable brands in America have something in common: They each advertise on Boston radio stations.

According to the YouGov Brand Index, the brands whose commercials generate the highest awareness are Geico, McDonald's, Verizon, AT&T, Walmart, Subway, Direct TV, T-Mobile, Progressive, and Walgreens.

If you were one of the 3,543,709 people who tuned-in to a Boston  radio station last week, then chances are you heard the ads for these brands. All ten are among the biggest users of radio advertising.

Here's what New England business owners need to know about creating a memorable brand for their own companies using Boston radio stations.

For many generations of marketers, advertising on Boston television was considered the "gold standard". For a New England small business owner who craved massive reach, TV used to be the medium that could deliver.

Over the past few years, however, viewers have been abandoning local TV stations in vast numbers. This has propelled Boston radio into being the most potent reach medium among local consumers.

Every week, 3,552,145 adult consumers tune-in to their favorite Boston radio stations. This is significantly more than the 3,226,135 reached by local television.

For the past 39 years, Boston radio has reached almost 90% of all consumers. But, look what has happened to TV's audience.

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 Boston area, the most potent way to reach voters is on local radio.

The Boston area includes the counties of Essex MA; Middlesex, MA; Norfolk, MA; Plymouth, MA; Suffolk, MA; plus portions of Worcester, MA; and Hillsborough, NH.

Last week, for instance, 90.6% of all registered voters in these counties tuned-in to a Boston radio station.  This is significantly more than were reached by local TV, local newspaper, or the major social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.