A business without marketing is like a car without gas. You have everything you need to get where you’re going, except for the most important part. You’re missing the only element that will actually move you anywhere, let alone out the driveway.
The right fuel in your gas tank can make or break your car. A successful advertising campaign is the same way. You can spread the word about your products or services and, if you work smart, the word will reach the right people.
But which advertising method is the best “fuel” for your business?
Picking the most suitable promotion option for your business comes down to selecting your target audience and choosing effective ways to reach as many people as possible. There are many options to choose from, so here is a list of advertising methods you should consider to promote your business.
- Print Advertisement
- Television Commercials
- Digital Marketing
- Display Ads
- Newspaper and Magazines
- Radio and Podcasts
- Direct Mail
- Product Placement
- Event Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Outdoor and Transit
Print Advertisement
Have you ever picked up a coupon flyer at the coffee shop or from the hood of your car? I know I have. They are literally everywhere. Anything displayed on any form of printable material that promotes some sort of product, service or offer to reach consumers, customers and prospects is referred to as print advertisement.
This form of promotion is the most conventional and traditional way of advertising. And, while some people online may say print is dead, it really isn’t. At least for now. It is actually still considered a pretty powerful marketing tool. People will always want something physical to touch so, until the entire world’s minds have been successfully rewired, print will offer great value as a form of advertising and promotion.
Television Commercials
According to the Nielsen ratings, 95% of people in the United States have a TV in their households. TV advertising gives you an opportunity to reach a wider audience with a single ad. Especially in the United States, watching TV is one of the most common leisure activities around. Studies have shown that the average American watches television five hours a day and 60% of consumers are likely to make purchases after seeing an advertisement on TV. Those are some astronomically good odds.
As with print advertisements, television commercials are older and more traditional ways to market and promote your offerings. People trust what they are familiar with. They know that TV ads cost quite a bit to put out, as well, which is like a mark of quality, so they are willing to take the chance and trust you. The logic is that someone who is trying to disappoint them wouldn’t spend so much money trying to promote their products or services. It’s a powerful tool, establishing trust and building brand awareness and credibility.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is an important marketing strategy, and that’s the understatement of the century. While every company has a different goal in mind, all try to achieve one thing: reaching more consumers and convincing them to buy. To do this, effectively, you have to take advantage of all the valuable marketing resources in the modern day world.
As more social media platforms are developed and tech users adapt to the digital world, everyone is on their phones, searching for information and connecting with each other, sharing and discussing what’s going on around them. The result is every business in existence experiencing a very real need for digital marketing in recent years.
Just as many have televisions in their house, those household members have smart mobile devices. Where people spend the most time, you want to put your advertisements in front of them to see.
While digital marketing is on the rise, it is slowly taking over the world of advertising. It has become the fastest, most cost-effective way there is to reach your target audience.
Display Ads
Display advertisements are a proven method for bringing your target audience to your website through bought advertising space on relevant websites with big traffic. Ready to be on display? Good, because that’s what’s on sale, here. Create text ads, animated banners, video ads and even a wallpaper featuring your product or service on 3rd party websites.
The main idea is to encourage online visitors to click-through from your display advertisement and to inspire them to take action, with that action being specifically to make a purchase. The vast majority of online display advertising is charged cost-per-click, otherwise known as (CPC). This means that, everytime a user clicks on your advertisement, you’re charged, up to a specific amount. While there are many different display ad strategies, it takes someone knowledgeable in the field to properly set up your advertisements so you get the most out of your money.
Newspaper and Magazines
This type of advertising methods is traditional and certainly more primitive, but you will be surprised at how effective they can be. Whether the Internet is ready to admit it or not, people still trust the newspaper and they love reading magazines.
The combination of newspapers and magazines between local, nationwide and national can promote your business to a wider range of customers than you ever expected. The great thing about this is that, although you are paying to get featured in printable material, most of these media companies have the digital version on-hand, as well, often featuring them online. With this combination behind you, you can reach more people and cover both aspects.
Radio and Podcasts
This method is actually known as verbal promotion and it is a great strategy for reaching your target audience. Radio is great and, once you’ve identified what station your target market is listening to, you can regularly advertise your business to consistently attract new customers. The downside, meanwhile, is that your audience might forget what they just heard. Therefore, it’s your duty to stay consistent with your message, so you can increase your chances of conversion.
Podcasting was one of the underdogs of advertising methods at one stage, but over the last few years it has grown to be an Internet outbreak. It is effective and highly entertaining for anyone to tune in from around the country. You can identify successful podcast shows that target your audience and promote your advertisement through them.
When dealing with verbal advertisements, a great tip is to make sure to create something that will spark an interest and be extremely memorable.
Also Read: How To Get Media Coverage For Your Business
Direct Mail
The art of sending attention-grabbing advertising materials through the mail is the go-to traditional marketing tactic used by many companies. To simplify, this is writing to your customers, directly. The more targeted your mailing list is, the better chance of conversion you will have.
This marketing method is popular with small businesses, offering a healthy return on your investment. Normally, when companies choose this technique, they use flyers, creative letters, postercards, catalogues, brochures and leaflets to distribute to the target area. People always check their mailbox and this is a great way to spark up an interest for customers to find out more about your product or service.
If you were wondering, this tactic is not dead and is not going to be until people stop using physical mail boxes to check their mail.
Product Placement
This is a form of advertising where branded goods or services are featured in a video that targets a large audience and is known as “embedded marketing” or “embedded promotion.” When you see a podcast show and they mention some sort of product without putting a sales spin on it? That’s product placement.
Another great example is, let’s say someone is talking about how to cook a turkey this Thanksgiving. They go through the whole procedure, and they use your branded knife to cut the Turkey at the end. The audience is focused on cooking the turkey while you the host is talking about how this knife from “X” company is flawlessly cutting the meat. It is not too direct and it effectively works to build greater trust in the brand while prompting viewers to take action.
Event Marketing
There are tons of events going around your town every week. Don’t believe me? You can see events state and nationwide with Google’s new event engine. Let’s take golf, for example. Everyone in the golf community knows “Web.com” because they sponsor many different golf events, every year, consistently. They know these events. They trust them. And, with enough brand awareness and consistency, they convert high volumes of customers seeking their services.
Paying to sponsor a local sports team or charity event is an incredibly effective way to get your business out there. People love going to events and, when a great number of people see and hear your branding, they automatically associate it with that specific event.
Before you consider this type of advertisement, make sure you know your target audience inside out, so you’ll know who will be attending the event.
Email Marketing
This is a modern-day marketing strategy and focuses on speaking to your existing customers. Your website’s visitors sign up for promotional sales or newsletters focusing on your brand. Some of the greatest strategies for getting people to give you their emails is by offering them some sort of inherent value, such as a free gift or coupon for your products or services.
As long as you treat your customers like they are special through your insights and offers, you will build outstanding customer loyalty while maximizing your conversions.
Outdoor and Transit
Just because the digital world is a hot topic doesn’t mean we should ignore the fact that billboard advertising still has a huge statement to make. It is traditional, but still effective, although this type of advertising option doesn’t really emerge as the top priority for many businesses.
Promoting your brand effectively outdoors is not all about great graphics design, much as you might expect it to be. It is about the execution of the message. You can expand your exposure by using transits to put your product or service ads on buses taxis, mobile vans, transit branches and pedicabs. If it has space to spare, get your name on there.
This form of promotion is excellent for brand awareness, expending for visibility and creating memorable experiences that make the most of your advertising budget. To increase your chances of conversion, create offerings that are quick to read and hard to forget.
Conclusion
To truly know if any of these types of marketing methods are right for your business, you will have to do your own case studies. We call them split tests, but whatever you call them, multiple ads, variations, and different methods are all effective in different combinations, so make sure to experiment and go with what works best for you.
This way, you will be able to effectively identify what is working and what is not working and shift more budget towards the working method. And, for things that aren’t working, you don’t want to keep feeding more money to it so, you know, don’t. That’s like feeding a dead horse and expecting it to run a race.
Also Read: How to Hire A Digital Marketing Agency?