How to choose the right advertising for your business

by | How can we help, Marketing, Radio

Digital marketing has really changed the face of advertising in the 21st century. Business owners coping with the day to day running of the business are now confronted with so many more choices about how to reach their customers.

75 years ago advertising choices were limited to the local newspaper, but as radio became more localised it became a real option for small to medium size businesses. Magazine advertising and television grew in popularity but the high cost of advertising prohibited small businesses from trying these mediums. In the early 90’s television advertising prices came within the reach of local businesses and then in the 21st century, advertisers were confronted with a new means of building their customer base using digital advertising.

So how do you choose the right advertising for your business? And what are the pros and cons of each of the main advertising mediums?

Let’s take a look at traditional advertising first.


Newspaper

Pros

  • Trusted Media
  • Relatively inexpensive – producing a newspaper ad is relatively easy and the design and layout of the commercial is normally done by newspaper staff.

Cons

  • Limited readership – the latest news is available online as it happens, so many readers have moved to online newspapers and social media to get their daily fix.
  • Poor quality output.
  • Often news is outdated at the time of publication.

  • Magazines

    Pros

    • Allows you to reach your target demographic. If for example you are selling to golf enthusiasts, an advertisement in a golfing magazine can effectively reach your target audience.

    Cons

    • Expensive to produce ads.
    • Expensive to place ads.
    • Ad lifetime is short. (although longer than newspaper ads.)


    Radio

    Pros

    • Cost effective campaigns. This allows radio to offer options for long term brand campaigns and also short term ‘call to action’ advertising.
    • Easy to schedule your ads when you want them. If you are targeting shoppers, you can make sure your ads are placed when they are in the car on the way to the shops or planning their day.
    • Fast campaign start up. A 30 second ad is much cheaper to produce than a 30 second tv commercial.

    Cons

    • Conversions harder to track than digital marketing.
    • Radio can be used as background noise, so you need to have more commercials scheduled to get the cut through you need.


    Television

    Pros

    • Target specific time slots and reach potentially larger audiences.
    • Combines sight and sound in your commercial.

    Cons

    • Expensive. Television rates depend on how many people are watching at a given time or to a particular show. This means to reach more people you will need to pay more.
    • Creating a television commercial is expensive compared to other mediums.
    • Catch up TV has made ad watching a thing of the past.


    Search Engine Marketing (PPC)

    Pros

    • Pay per click (PPC) is easy to track, so measuring your results is simple which allows you to track your campaign.
    • You pay for clicks not impressions (only pay for people that click on your ad, not impressions which is the number of people who see it).
    • Can get results from the beginning of your campaign.

    Cons

    • You pay for leads NOT conversions.
    • Can be expensive if you do not have the tools to effectively handle lead generation or have the campaign set up correctly with the right keywords and phrases.
    • Can be more expensive in the long term whereas SEO can be more cost effective.


    Social Media Advertising (Facebook)

    Pros

    • Inexpensive. Reach targeted audiences that are ready to buy your product.
    • Works well with Ecommerce businesses and impulse buyers.
    • Easy to schedule your ads to your specific audience for concentrated results.
    • Good for short term awareness campaigns and call to action campaigns.
    • Video works well on social media and can be used in your campaign.

    Cons

    • Can be expensive if you do not have the tools to effectively handle lead generation or have the campaign set up correctly with the right audience. If the net is cast wide, you may not get the best results from your campaign.
    • Can be time consuming for business owners to set up, but once an audience is created, follow up campaigns can be done quickly.
    • Creating professional looking graphics and videos need to be outsourced for best results.


    All advertising, paid or organic has its pro’s and con’s and to help you decide what paid media is right for your business, you should develop a greater understanding of your target audience before moving ahead with any campaign.

    Regardless of what media you decide to use, paid advertising is a definite must for any business, but don’t expect results from day one. If lead generation was easy, everyone would be successful in business – there is no silver bullet to success, just a long slow road. If you are increasing your return on advertising investment, you are doing well.

    To help put you in the best place possible, use a credible marketing solutions agency that has happy clients or suitably qualified staff to make the decisions for you and to help you build a successful marketing strategy.



    Cheryl Jowitt is co-founder of Rebel Connect PL, a family owned and operated Australian business that provides total marketing solutions. Rebel Connect clients have access to advertising across the company’s radio networks, Rebel FM & the Breeze and Rebel Agency, a digital marketing solutions company providing website development, SEM and social media marketing strategies.

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