"Radio advertising has been instrumental in our growth," says Kristin Smith the controller for Hatfield, Pennsylvania based World Wide Stereo. The iconic Delaware Valley retailer has been selling every imaginable type of home electronics from car stereos to home theatres since 1979.

"Many competitors have come and gone during our 40 years," adds Emily Cole, the company's Director of Marketing. She and Ms. Smith rattle off a long list of names including Tweeter, Silo, HiFi House, Circuit City, and Sixth Avenue.

"Radio has been the one advertising medium we have been using consistently all this time," says Ms. Smith.

Radio is hard-baked into the DNA of World Wide Stereo.  The company's founder and CEO, Bob Cole, first became hooked on electronics as a kid growing up in the 1950s. He remembers building his own radio with some copper wire and the wooden-spool from some sewing thread.

Suppose you woke up one morning and found a 100-year-old machine in your basement. You soon discovered that every time you put a dime in the machine, one dollar came out.  How many dimes would you drop in that machine?

Good news for Delaware Valley small business owners: such a machine exists and you probably have one in your car, at work, at home, even on your phone. It's called local radio.

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

Delaware Valley consumers spend $1.3 billion on fine jewelry every year.  Angelo Breaux, President of Family & Co. Jewelry, invests in advertising on Philadelphia radio stations every week to successfully claim a large share of those dollars.

Mr. Breaux is the third generation of jewelers in his family.  His Grandfather started the business in 1937 from a tiny store-front in South Philadelphia.  In 1971, his parents moved the store to a 1600 square foot store in the Plaza 70 Shopping Center in Marlton, New Jersey.

Fifteen years ago, Mr. Breaux expanded the original Marlton store to 3200 square feet. Today, Family & Co. remains a family-owned, single location business selling brand name jewelry. 

"The customers at my Grandfather's original store in South Philly pretty much came from the neighborhood. Today, with the help of our commercials on Philadelphia radio, we draw customers from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware."

Mr. Breaux's decision to invest his marketing dollars in radio is supported by market research. According to Nielsen, Philadelphia radio reaches significantly more fine jewelry buyers than are reached by local TV, newspapers, or audio streaming sites like Pandora & Spotify.

If you were one of the 3,830,493 adults who tuned-in to a Philadelphia radio station last week, it is likely you heard a commercial for Indeed.  That's because, last week, Indeed, the world's largest online job site was also one of radio's biggest advertisers.

There is a good reason Indeed invested so heavily in radio advertising. The site has far more job openings posted than there are job-hunters to fill them. 

This is not unlike the predicament of Delaware Valley small business owners who are also having difficulty finding and hiring qualified candidates. These employee-strapped businesses can learn something from Indeed.

What Indeed has figured out is that there are not enough unemployed people or disgruntled white-collar workers searching for jobs. So, the company is looking to attract what human resource experts call the 'passive job seekers'.

It turns out that advertising on Philadelphia radio is the best way for any business owner to recruit, hire, and retain passive, white-collar job seekers.

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

You have learned, for instance, 3,830,493 consumers regularly tune-in to their favorite Philadelphia radio stations.  That's more than 90% of all adults.

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

If you dug deep enough, then you know radio advertising delivers, on average, a $10 lift in sales for every $1 invested. This would be a remarkable return-on-investment for any Delaware Valley small business owner.

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

The ten most memorable brands in America have something in common. They each advertise on Philadelphia 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 Walgreen’s.

If you were one of the 3,830,493 Delaware Valley consumers who tuned into a local 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 is professional advice business owners can use to create a memorable brand for their own companies using Philadelphia radio stations.

Of all the advertising options available to Delaware Valley business owners, streaming audio services like Pandora and Spotify are the least effective.  Here's why.

According to Nielsen, after the content of a commercial is considered, the element of an advertising campaign that drives sales the most is reach. In other words, making sure the most people possible are exposed to the advertiser's message is crucial.

When it comes to achieving reach among consumers, Pandora and Spotify rank dead last.  Advertising on Philadelphia radio stations can reach 266% more consumers than these two streaming-audio platforms combined.

If you don't have time to read this entire article, then I will tell you right now. The best way to advertise in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley is on Philadelphia 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 Delaware Valley area are expected to spend at least $98 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 Delaware Valley small business owners straight.  When we say everybody listens to Philadelphia radio stations, we mean everybody.  Generations X, Y, and Z. Baby 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 Delaware Valley, 1,245,444 millennials make-up 29.4% of the adult population and will deliver $32.3 billion to local cash registers.

But here's the thing about millennials that many small business owners get wrong: millennials listen to the radio.  Almost all of them. 89.8% of them to be exact.