Philadelphia area consumers cannot get enough pizza.

In 2012, there were just about 1,750 local pizza restaurants. Today, however, that number has grown to 1,900. In 2019, these establishments racked up $890,000,000 in total sales.

Fifty-nine percent of pizza sales in the Philadelphia area are rung-up by one of the top-50 chains like Domino's or Pizza Hut. The remaining 41% of revenue is controlled by independent, small business owners.

To compete for a larger share of the pizza pie in the Delaware Valley  requires local restaurant owners to bring in new customers. A proven way to accomplish this is with advertising.

The US Small Business Administration recommends that every local  small business advertise consistently.  

Consumers in the Delaware Valley spent a record $6.5 billion on home improvements in 2019. This level of spending is projected to drop modestly next year, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

“Declining home sales and home-building activity coupled with slower gains in permitting for improvement projects will put the brakes on remodeling growth,” says Chris Herbert, the center’s managing director.

“However, if falling mortgage interest rates continue to incentivize home sales, refinancing, and ultimately remodeling activity, the slowdown may soften some.”

If Philadelphia area small businesses that sell home improvement products and services would like to continue to grow despite the softening market, then advertising will be required.

Advertising is critical to the success of every Delaware Valley 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 Philadelphia 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.

Delaware Valley 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 Philadelphia area appears to be the root cause of local hiring woes. The metro area's jobless rate stands at 3.4%. 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 Philadelphia radio.

There's a reason many Delaware 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, 1.5 million college graduates living in the Philadelphia  area. In total, this population generates $112.7 billion in annual take-home pay.

To tap into a similar pool of spending power, a marketer would need to reach 2.5 million consumers who did not go beyond high school. The problem is, there is 100,000 fewer than that living in the Delaware Valley.

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

Small business owners in the Philadelphia area must advertise to claim a fair share of the $100.9 billion retail economy.

“Think you have a great product?” asks the U.S. Small Business Administration. “Unfortunately, no one’s going to know about it unless you advertise.”  The SBA goes on to say, “Advertising, if done correctly, can do wonders for your sales, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business."

During 2019, many Delaware small business owners sought advertising guidance on the advice pages of www.AdvertiseInPhiladelphia.com. Below are the top ten most-read articles from the past 12 months.