Almost 989,000 adult consumers in the great Boston area belong to a fitness club. These memberships bring in close to $1.8 billion in sales to local gym owners.

January is critical for the small business owners that operate gyms in New England. 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 $196-million local consumers  will spend on gym memberships in January, requires fitness center owners to advertise. The best way to do this is on Boston radio. Here's why.

There are 4,800 new, single-family homes built in the greater Boston area each year, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Since 1934, National Lumber has been supplying local builders with the materials necessary to sustain that level of construction.

"We are now the largest independent lumber business in New England," says Steven Kaitz, who is the company's Co-CEO along with his sister Margie Kaitz Seligman.

"Advertising has been part of our continued growth over the past 25 plus years," says Mr. Kaitz. "Advertising on Boston radio is, by far, the largest part of what we do. It allows us to reach both builders and homeowners."

The first radio stations in New England went on-the-air in 1921.  Eighty-four years later, Facebook inaugurated the social media era.  Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and hundreds of other sites quickly followed.

As social media matured from a novelty to part of consumers' daily rituals, some Boston  area small business owners began to experiment with advertising.

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

"Advertising on Boston radio really helped to push our company into profitability for the first time. It was the tipping point for us," says Chad Langley, CEO of Teststripz. 

"If we hadn't started advertising on the radio when we did," adds Chad's brother Chris the company's CTO, "we would probably be out of business right now.

Teststripz was founded in 2011 by Chad. The company operates an online marketplace where people who suffer from diabetes can purchase low-cost supplies from others who have an oversupply. This includes test strips and meters.

"A lot of diabetics don't have enough health insurance to cover the cost of their supplies," says Chad. "A box of 100 test strips can retail for up to $250 in a pharmacy. Some people need to test up to 10 times per day. So the costs runs up fast."

The Langley's can offer the same box of strips for $55 by matching those in need with sellers who have more than they can use.

"Test strips are durable medical products, not drugs" explains, Chad. "It is perfectly legal for someone who has an oversupply to sell them to others as long as the boxes are unopened and weren't paid for by Medicare or Medicaid."

"We rely on advertising," says Chris, "to find these sellers. This is the only we can secure enough supply to fulfill the demand."

"Early on, we were posting flyers and putting magnetic signs on our cars. Even though they looked a little cheesy, it worked."

If you don't have time to read this entire article, then I will tell you right now. The best way to advertise in New England is on Boston 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 Boston area are expected to spend at least $100.9 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."