Small businesses that need to grow their client base and improve their earnings need to invest in advertising to build their audience. There are lots of different advertising approaches that small businesses can take, such as choosing to focus on digital advertising, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, or more traditional mediums like radio, TV, or newspapers. Investing in the right advertising for your business can deliver a high return on your investment and drive more business.
Social Media Advertising
This is a popular choice for small businesses who prefer digital advertising, as the cost is affordable and you can be very selective with who you try to target. For example, if you own a physical retail business, you can use your targeting options to reach a very narrow audience so you’re reaching people in a certain demographic who live within a certain distance of your store. There are lots of different social media platforms that you can use for social advertising, depending on your audience.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a type of online advertising where advertisers pay a fee every time someone clicks on one of their ads, usually through a search engine. You will bid for ad placements in the search engine, setting a maximum price that you’re willing to pay to get those clicks. If your ad gets seen but isn’t clicked on, you won’t be charged anything. The most common platform for PPC is Google Ads. This kind of advertising is a kind of search engine marketing. It can work well for small businesses if you have a limited budget.
Mobile Advertising
Mobile advertising is a type of digital advertising in which adverts are delivered to users on their mobile devices, such as their smartphones or tablets. Mobile advertising might use:
- Mobile display ads
- Mobile search ads
- Mobile videos
- Mobile app ads, which drive downloads of your app
- Social media ads served only on mobile devices
A strategy for advertising on mobile can really pay off for your small business. Most adults own a mobile device, and many younger adults do the majority of their shopping online on a mobile device, so you have a good audience to reach.
Print Advertising
Print advertising used to be the main method of advertising for small businesses before digital advertising came into play. Print ad revenues are shrinking, and the costs can now be much higher than digital or social advertising. It’s also much harder to accurately measure how successful your campaign has been with print since you can’t know how many people saw your print ads and then made a purchase or became a client. However, if your business targets older, less digitally engaged audiences, print advertising can still be a good choice for your advertising. Print advertising can include newspaper adverts, magazine adverts, and adverts in brochures and flyers.
For most small businesses, a mix of advertising methods is usually the best approach. Choose the right methods to reach your audience for the most success.
