"I can tell which weeks we are advertising on the radio," says Colby Orr, "because our showroom gets busy and phones start ringing."

Mr. Orr and his wife April opened Olympus Granite on Bobby Jones Expressway last June.

Before buying the store, both Mr. and Ms. Orr had considerable experience in granite countertop retailing and as entrepreneurs. They purchased the current business from a struggling owner, changed its name, and locations.

"The store had been on Washington Road in Evans. But we wanted to be in a location with more traffic. Now, we have 100,000 cars a day pass by," says Mr. Orr. "That's interstate type traffic."

For the first few months, most visitors were drawn into the showroom by the giant slabs of polish granite placed along the side of the road.

"They are like giant billboards," says Ms. Orr. "Curious drivers would pull in to see what we were all about.  That's how we got most of our first customers."

"During our first three months our sales were averaging $100,000," says Mr. Orr. "We were paying the bills, but we needed more to help us to grow."

Mr. Orr believed radio advertising could accelerate sales. But, his wife was skeptical".

It's a fact. Unless a consumer remembers your business when it comes time to buy, then it is likely they will purchase from someone else. Staying top of mind, therefore, is critical for every Central Savannah River Area small business owner who wants to grab a share of the area's $9.3-billion retail market.

Advertising on Augusta radio provides local business owners with the most affordable way to move to the top of customers' minds. But, before discussing how to get remembered, we must understand why consumers forget.

Every second, local consumers are exposed to 11,000,000 pieces of data. A consumer's brain, however, is only capable of dealing with about 50 pieces of this data at a time. So, if my calculus is correct, a consumer forgets approximately 10,999,950 things every second.

Central Savannah River Area consumers are expected to spend $1.3 billion on this year's holiday shopping, based on predictions by The National Retail Federation.  This would be a 4% increase over last year.

Deloitte, one of the world's top four accounting firms, forecasts similar growth.

"The projected holiday season growth is, in part, due to the current health of the labor market,” said Daniel Bachman, Deloitte's U.S. economic forecaster. “Near record-low unemployment rates, coupled with continued monthly job creation, may encourage people to spend more during the holiday season. The economy is still growing, albeit at a slower rate. Additionally, we continue to see consumer confidence elevated, which also helps boost holiday spending."

For most CSRA retailers, holiday spending brings in about 20% of annual sales But, long gone are the days when the bulk of this shopping occurred between Black Friday and Christmas.

Suppose you found a 100-year-old machine in your attic. You, then, quickly learned that every time you deposited a dime in the machine, one dollar popped out.  How many dimes would you drop in that machine?

Good news for Central Savannah River Area  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.