Delaware Valley business owners are expected to invest $1.3-billion during 2021 to advertise to consumers connected to the internet. This forecast was produced by Borrell Associates, a company that tracks business advertising expenditures across the country.

These online marketing dollars will be spent on banner advertising, search engine marketing, email, as well as audio and video advertising. This is all to capture the attention of shoppers and buyers as they go about their connected days.

According to Nielsen, 95.2% of adult consumers in the Philadelphia area have access to the internet. They connect, primarily, with desktop and laptop computers; smartphones; or tablets.

Ninety-seven percent of Delaware Valley adults spend at least one hour per week online, with most spending at least 10 hours connected.

There are 2,218,500 adult women in the Delaware Valley. Based on research from the Harvard Business Review, as a consumer group, females account for 70-80 percent of all consumer purchasing through a combination of their buying power and influence.  According to Nielsen, this will amount to between $74.4 billion and $85 billion this year.

Overall, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the US Census Bureau:

• Single women across all income brackets spend, on average, $34,817 on goods and service
• Working married women contribute over a third of their families’ incomes
• Over a quarter (29.4%) of wives earned more than their husbands in 2018, an increase from 15.9% in 1981.

Furthermore, according to research published by Forbes:

• The top homebuyers after married couples are single women (18%, double the percentage for single men at 9%).
• Women are 50% more likely than men to regularly watch online how-to videos.
• 94% of women between the ages of 15-35 spend over an hour per day shopping online.
• 70% of travel consumers are women.
• 85% of women say that if they like a brand, they will remain loyal to it.

For Philadelphia  area small business owners to successfully capture a meaningful share of the local female economy requires advertising.

Philadelphia's first radio station, WGL-AM, began broadcasting in March of 1922.  The process of getting the station's programming from the studio into the home of local listeners required tall-transmitting towers with miles of underground copper wire in the middle of massive fields.

For the next 69 years, this massive investment in real estate, steel, and cooper was the only method of delivering a radio advertiser's message into the ears of Delaware Valley consumers.

In 1993, however, new technology permitted Philadelphia radio stations to augment the reach of their tall towers by simultaneously streaming its over-the-air programming via the internet. This provided local consumers with the choice of listening to their favorite stations on their car radios, clock radios, and boom boxes or on an internet connected devices like computers, smartphones, or tablets.

Today, based on estimates from Edison Research, 11% of listening to local radio stations occurs on a streaming media device.  The ability for AM/FM to migrate from their tall towers to internet streaming allows Philadelphia radio to reach more local consumers every week than all other media.

Radio came to Philadelphia on February 8, 1922, when The Bureau of Navigation, Radio Services Division, of the United States Department of Commerce granted a license to station WGL. This station was the 42nd to be licensed in the county. 

Little is known about WGL except it was owned by Thomas Howlett who broadcast from home at 2303 North Broad Street near Temple University.

From that day, many predicted radio's success would succumb to advances from new technologies. In 1927, the challenge came from talking movies. In the 1940s, the predators were 13-inch TV sets. In the 1970s, it was 8-track and cassette tapes. In the past 20 years, there was a multi-flank attack from iPods, Zunes, YouTube, Sirius, XM, Pandora, Spotify,

So far, all of these challengers have failed. Not even a pandemic has been able to remove radio as a vital force in the life of Delaware Valley consumers.

Every week, according to Nielsen, more adults tune-in to Philadelphia radio than watch TV or cable. Use social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. Read newspapers. Or, stream music from Pandora or Spotify.

How important is Twitter to Delaware Valley consumers? Yesterday, for instance, the social media platform was mentioned in at least ten articles published by the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday.  Almost every local TV newscast included references to the site as well.

Twitter's outsized presence in the news, however, is enormously disproportional to the importance of the micro-blogging app in the life of Philadelphia's consumers.

According to Nielsen, only about 17% of adults in Philadelphia use Twitter during the course of a month. This is minuscule compared to other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

Twitter offers 20 different options that Delaware Valley small business owners can utilize to market their goods and services to local consumers.  The platform's minimal reach, however, can hamper the success of any advertising campaign.

Local radio came to Philadelphia on February 8, 1922, when The Bureau of Navigation, Radio Services Division, of the United States Department of Commerce granted a license to station WGL. This station was the 42nd to be licensed in the nation. 

Little is known about WGL except it was owned by Thomas Howlett who broadcast from home at 2303 North Broad Street near Temple University.

In March of 1922, however, the second radio license in Philadelphia was awarded to WIP owned by the Gimbel Brothers Department Store. Early programming included remote-broadcasts of live  music featuring Charlie Kerr and his orchestra from the Cafe L’Aiglon at 15th and Chestnut Streets.  

For almost 100 years, Delaware Valley small business owners have depended on local radio stations to successfully market their goods and services through depressions, recessions, wars, and natural disasters. Even now, during a pandemic, advertising on Philadelphia radio remains a dependable way to make cash registers ring.

Here are five facts every Delaware Valley small business owner needs to know about local radio in 2020.

Over 96% of Delaware Valley adults have access to the internet, according to Nielsen. Nearly 70% of these consumers spend more than five hours a week connected.

Nielsen reports that Philadelphia area consumers go online to stay connected to friends and family; research products and services; learn the latest news, and obtain directions to where they are going and know what the weather will be when they get there.  

Here are some of the many reasons why Philadelphia area internet users go online each month

• Social Media: 79%
• Weather: 58%
• Online Banking: 55%
• Maps/Directions: 52%
• Product Reviews: 48%
• Current Events: 39%
• Restaurant Reviews: 34%
• Sports Scores/News: 30%
• Job Search: 22%
• Real Estate: 16%

And, of course, there is shopping.  Over the past six months, according to Nielsen, 81.3% of Philadelphia consumers shopped online for every imaginable product and service including, cars, golf clubs, office supplies, wedding rings, mattresses, tires, medicine, shoes, socks, and eyeglasses.

To reach local consumers while they are online, Philadelphia business owners will spend $1.3 billion for digital advertising in 2020, according to Borrell Associates.  Here is how the money is being spent:

There are 1.5 million adults in the Delaware Valley who have earned a four-year college or postgraduate degree, according to research from Nielsen. A study from the Federal Reserve indicates that these educated consumers have been least affected by the economic consequences of the pandemic.

"While the labor market disruptions have affected workers in a wide set of industries and occupations, those without a college degree have experienced the most severe impact," say Mary C. Daly, Shelby R. Buckman, and Lily M. Seitelman authors of The Unequal Impact of COVID-19 in the Economic Letter published by the Federal Reserve of San Francisco.

Although the unemployment rate increased among consumers of every education level in late March when the Governor of Pennsylvania lockdown the state to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, the smallest increase was among those with bachelor or postgraduate degrees, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Seven months later, job recovery among those with college degrees is closer to pre-pandemic levels than consumers with lower levels of educational attainment.

Many small business owners have seen the correlation between advertising and survival during the economic crisis inflicted by the pandemic.  With precious few dollars to invest, it is crucial that every advertisement reaches consumers who have disposable income to buy. Right now, the most likely spenders are customers with college degrees.

By key advertising metrics, the best way to reach consumers with higher education is on Philadelphia radio.

There is cheerful news for small business owners from King of Prussia to Cherry Hill and every city and town in between.

Based on the latest projections from the National Retail Federation, holiday sales are expected to grow 3.6%-5.2% over 2019.  This means despite the economic ravages of the pandemic, Delaware Valley shoppers will be spending between $12.6 and $12.8 billion on gifts and other trappings of the season.

The NRF forecast is based on an economic model that takes into consideration a variety of indicators including employment, wages, consumer confidence, disposable income, consumer credit, previous retail sales and weather. NRF defines the holiday season as November 1 through December 31. Numbers forecast by NRF may differ from other organizations that define the holiday season as a longer period or include retail sectors not included by NRF, such as automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants.

"Consumers have shown they are excited about the holidays and are willing to spend on gifts that lift the spirits of family and friends after such a challenging year," says NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. "We expect a strong finish to the holiday season." 

“Given the pandemic, there is uncertainty about consumers’ willingness to spend, but with the economy improving most have the ability to spend,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. “Consumers have experienced a difficult year but will likely spend more than anyone would have expected just a few months ago."