Advertising is critical to the success of every New England 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 Boston 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

You have learned, for instance, 3,543,709 adult consumers regularly tune-in to their favorite Boston 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 New England small business owner.

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

"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."