According to Nielsen, 421,864 adults in the Augusta, Georgia area have access to the internet. Eighty-six percent of these consumers conduct online research before making a retail purchase, says a report from GE Capital Bank. 

To reach Augusta area adults in the market to buy their goods and services, businesses spent $333 million in 2021 on digital adverting, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

This mammoth pool of online advertising dollars targeted at Augusta consumers is being spent on a variety of digital resources including search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), display ads, video ads, audio ads, email, and social media. Each of these tools can precisely target consumers who are currently in the market to buy whatever it is a business is selling.

Most forms of online advertising are designed to compel Augusta consumers to click on a digital ad that will transport them to the website of a company that sells whatever it is consumers are in the market to buy.  Is investing only in digital advertising enough to drive sales for a local business? 

Many marketing experts believe that online advertising needs to be part of a broader marketing strategy to be successful.

Last year, $333 million in marketing was spent online to reach Augusta, Georgia area consumers, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

There is a correlation between the massive amount of money being spent to reach CSRA consumers online and the extraordinary amount of time that these consumers are connecting to the internet via websites and apps.

According to Nielsen, 47.4% of Augusta adults are spending 10-plus hours during an average week online. Furthermore, The Pew Research Center, a public opinion research company, reports that one-in-three consumers say they are online constantly. A 50% increase from 2015.  In all, 85% of consumers say they connect at least once daily.

To successfully market and advertise a Augusta business on the internet requires a full-scale understanding of precisely what online marketing is.  Spoiler alert, having a website or having a social media site is not enough.

Despite an abundance of media options, Augusta, Georgia radio reaches the most consumers every week. 

According to Nielsen, every week 391,000 CSRA adults tune in to their favorite Augusta stations. This is more than watch local TV stations, cable, or streaming video. It is more than browse social media. It is more than listen to streaming audio services or podcasts. It is more than read local newspapers.

Not all listening to Augusta radio happens on car radios, table-top radios, or boom boxes. Instead, local consumers also use their smartphones, computers, and tablets as a way to connect to their favorite local stations.

Neilsen estimates that 29.2% of all consumers who listen to an Augusta radio station over the air will, at some point during the month, also connect to a local station via the internet. As a matter of fact, during a typical hour, Nielsen data suggests that 11.3% of a station's total audience is listening on a device other than a traditional receiver.

If you're anything like the 362,800 Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) consumers who, according to Nielsen, listen to or download a podcast every month, you probably already see the value in podcasting as a relatively new audio medium that entertains, enlightens, motivates, or informs listeners.

But if you're part of the 75% of local adults who are not regular podcast listeners, you're probably wondering why on earth would anyone want to listen to a podcast, let alone create one for their Augusta business.

Launching a podcast might seem like a daunting test for small business owners without much technical background or an understanding of how to structure a compelling conversation that will engage prospective customers.

In reality, local small business owners can easily reach new customers with podcasts and complement their traditional advertising in Augusta with a longer-form, conversational medium that showcases the company's knowledge in an authoritative manner.

Augusta, Georgia area business owners are expected to spend $121 million advertising online in 2022. This, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks advertising expenditures across the country.

Borrell's forecast indicates that almost 50% of CSRA online expenditures will be in the form of paid search. The most recognizable type of this advertising is the paid ads that appear adjacent to the results of almost every search query on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Borrell's forecast also indicates that approximately 27% of online expenditures will be in the form of display advertising. This consists of traditional banner ads that appear across millions of websites and apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to SmallBizGenius.net, the average Augusta area consumer is served more than 1700 of these ads per month.

Video advertising in the CSRA is forecast to account for 23% of all online ad dollars in 2022. Like search and display, millions of websites can support this type of advertising. This includes sites, apps, and platforms like YouTube, Roku Channel, Hulu, Paramount+, and most social media sites.

The remainder of online advertising dollars is expected to be spent on audio advertising, including streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify; or email marketing campaigns.

Every week, according to Nielsen, 444,000 adult consumers in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) watch something on television. But, of course, the definition of what it means to watch TV has changed since the time when the number of available viewing options could be counted on the fingers of a single hand.

Today, Augusta, Georgia area consumers have a gargantuan number of viewing choices. This includes programs from stations like WJBF, WRDW, WCES, WAGT, and WFXG. Or maybe cable and satellite systems like Xfinity, DISH, DirecTV, and WOW!. There's also content delivered over the internet from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.

No longer are Augusta consumers tied to the 21-inch Zenith in their living rooms. Instead, TV can be watched on giant LCDs, smartphones, and tablets from any room in the house, in the backseat of their cars, or practically anywhere else.

The best way to think about TV watching in the CSRA is in terms of three buckets:

1. Over-the-air...including all broadcast channels
2. Cable...including all premium and non-premium programming
3. Internet...including all streaming services. This is also known as OTT or CTV

Here's how many Augusta area adult viewers fall into each bucket. Remember, viewers are not limited to a single bucket.

Before Augusta, Georgia radio station WRDW signed on in 1930, local listeners were dependent on broadcasts from distant cities such as Atlanta. These early stations required tall antennas and miles of buried copper cable to transmit their signals.  Most radio receivers at the time were mostly handmade and involved a piece of crystalline mineral and a wire coil.

Over many decades in the CSRA, both the broadcasting and receiving equipment improved. In the mid-1920s this meant store-bought radios. In the 1930s this meant car radios. In the 1960s this meant transistor radios. In the 1970s this meant boom boxes. And, in the 1980s this meant Walkmen. But, despite these improvements, the fundamental technology of big towers sending a signal through the air to a radio receiver remained the same.

In 1994, there was a new way for CSRA consumers to listen to the radio. That was the year local stations across the country began streaming their signals over the internet and listeners could use their computers (later their smartphones and smart speakers) as receiving devices. No big antennas, no wires, and no actual radio needed.

In 2021, according to Nielsen, Augusta radio reaches more local consumers than any other advertising media option.

Neilsen finds, too, that 34.8% of all consumers who listen to an Augusta radio station over-the-air will, at some point during the month, also connect to a local station via the internet. 

According to projections based on Nielsen data, 437,000 adults in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) have access to the internet, equivalent to 95.7% of the population. On average, local consumers are spending 9.86 hours per week online.

CSRA millennials, the first generation that grew up in a digital world, spend considerably more time online. Nielsen reports that, on average, CSRA's 25-39-year-old consumers are clocking 12.7 hours connected to the internet.

So, how are CSRA consumers spending their time online?

According to Nielsen, streaming audio and video content, social networking, checking the weather, and banking are the top online activities for CSRA consumers each month.

Each week, according to Nielsen, 68.4% of Central Savannah River Area consumers watch video programs that aren't delivered over-the-air by local TV stations.  They aren't coming from a local cable company or by satellite.  Instead, these programs are being streamed directly to viewers via an internet connection.

This type of streamed video content is called OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). These two terms are sometimes are often used interchangeably but do have a subtle difference.

OTT generally means the video is watched on a small device like a computer, tablet, or smartphone.  CTV, on the other hand, typically means the content is viewed on a smart-TV or a regular television using a streaming device like a Roku or Amazon stick.

In the Augusta, Georgia area, OTT/CTV has exceeded the weekly reach of local newspapers and streaming audio services such as Pandora and Spotify. The medium is rapidly approaching the reach of local cable and broadcast TV stations.

Central Savannah River Area business owners are expected to invest $96-million 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 Augusta, GA area have access to the internet. They connect, primarily, with desktop and laptop computers; smartphones; or tablets.

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