Choosing The Right Type Of Advertising For Your Small Business

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Advertising is the primary way in which people find your business. There are so many different types of adverts out there, many of which influence us without us even thinking about it. How many times have you been in a store and bought something on impulse, only to realize that the product was in your subconscious thoughts thanks to an ad? This happens a lot, and it happens consciously as well. People often see adverts and instantly want to buy what’s on offer. 

 

Your small business needs an advertising strategy to spread the word about your company. You need people to know who you are and to come looking at what you have to offer. Needless to say, there are plenty of advertising methods that you need to look at and decide between. How can you choose the right ones for your business? Let’s explore some of the options and see where their strengths and weaknesses lie. 

 

Print advertising

This refers to adverts in forms of print media – such as newspapers and magazines. Despite the world being increasingly digital, print advertising is still popular as many people buy newspapers and magazines. Print ads in magazines are particularly effective as you already know the audience reading the mags, meaning you can pick one that aligns with your target audience. This boosts the likelihood that the people seeing your ad will be interested in what you’re offering. 

 

A downside of print advertising – and this is a common one for many advertising forms – is that it’s hard to measure how successful it is. You pay to have your ads shown, but how will you know if people buy your products after? If a sudden influx of purchases of the item you advertise happens, you can assume the advert is responsible, but it’s hard to ever truly know. 

 

Billboard/poster advertising

Billboard advertising is where you have an advert displayed on a large billboard for all to see. A big advantage of this is raising brand awareness. In fact, it’s a great option if you don’t want to advertise a specific product but would rather get your company out there. People can see your brand name and logo, drilling it into their heads. While it might not lead to sales, it can definitely make your brand grow and generate more interest around you. 

 

Poster advertising is similar but on a smaller scale. Here, smaller poster adverts are placed in areas like bus stops or train stations. Now, a cool benefit of poster advertising is that you can use QR codes. Presenting one on your poster lets people scan it and be taken to a link. If you’re advertising a product/service, it can take you straight to that page. This increases the chances of making sales, and the presence of the QR link makes it trackable and measurable. 

 

TV advertising

Companies still pay a lot of money for TV advertising, but you should approach this method with caution. TV ads reach huge audiences, but only when they’re shown on certain channels during certain broadcasts. Super Bowl commercials are worth millions because millions of people are watching, meaning maximum brand exposure for companies. However, small businesses will struggle to make an impact in TV advertising. How many adverts do you see that aren’t from already established companies? If you can name one advert that didn’t belong to a big business the last time you watched TV, that’s impressive!

 

TV advertising can be effective and it’s also easy to find where your target market is likely to be watching, then advertise to them. Still, it’s expensive – particularly if you try to compete with the big boys. 

 

Radio advertising

A lot of people spend hours a day in the car listening to the radio. Certainly, if you get ads on the radio during the morning, millions of people could be tuning in. Again, it’s a good idea for brand awareness, but how effective are radio adverts? It’s always good to get your name out there into people’s ears, and you never know how many people will actually be interested in your ad and what you’re advertising. 

 

Nevertheless, a similar problem occurs in that it can be super expensive to try and compete with bigger companies when advertising on the radio. Plus, you also have no way of gauging how successful your ads are and if they’re worth the investment. 

 

Online ads

Online ads refer to search engine ads and the ads you find on various websites. We can even include online video ads here as well, as they’re all part of the same group. These are arguably the most effective forms of advertising for small businesses. They work via PPC, meaning you only pay for the ad when someone clicks on it. This can be very cost-effective, meaning you’re basically guaranteed a lead per click, it’s just your job to convert them. 

 

Additionally, online ads benefit from being so easy to measure. There is an abundance of data provided by every single online ad you have. So much so that many startup owners have started educating themselves in business analytics and earning an analytics degree online, giving them the knowledge to truly understand their ads. By knowing how to conduct business analysis, you can learn so much about how effective your adverts are. In turn, you can easily tweak and test the ads to see if they improve, until you reach a point where loads of people are clicking them and you’re generating sales

 

A few things need to be taken into account when choosing how to advertise your business. Your target market is clearly the number one concern; what channels are they most likely to be found in. However, on the whole, if we’re talking about advert effectiveness, nothing holds a candle to online advertising. It is simply the best in terms of ROI, mainly thanks to the fact you can track everything and truly understand how much money an ad is making you. These other methods still have a place in the world, but online ads are the best. 

 

Jeremy

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