Online advertising is necessary for small and large businesses alike. But small business advertising is decidedly more difficult. Your staff is smaller and your marketing budgets are smaller too. How do you compete with bigger businesses under the circumstances?

The good news is that with the right strategies in place you can use advertising to drive sales. No matter what size you are. In this guide, we’ll share some tips to eventually help you raise brand awareness and grow your business on a small budget.

Using Google Ads

Small and local business advertising usually involves broadcasting your message to large groups of people. Hoping to catch the attention of a small percentage of them. You’d place an ad in the Yellow Pages or a local newspaper or perhaps buy a radio spot and hope for the best.

Online advertising is generally more cost-effective . Because you’re able to target your advertising budget at a more select group of people. And closely measure how that audience responds to your advertising.

One of the most measurable forms of online advertising is paid search marketing, a system that allows you to place advertisements in the search results when people are searching for products or services related to what your business offers. You then pay a small fee to the search engine every time somebody clicks on one of your ads. For this reason, paid search marketing is also known as PPC, or pay-per-click marketing.

PRINT ADVERTISING

Print advertising used to be the primary advertising method for small businesses before the advent of digital advertising. Now, print ad revenues are shrinking and as a small business owner you may find the cost is much higher than the cost of digital and social advertising. It’s also more difficult to measure the success of your print advertising campaigns, since it’s almost impossible to prove how many people who saw your ads in print went on to make a purchase at your store or become a client of your business. But, for some local businesses or businesses that target older, less digitally engaged audiences, print advertising can still be a good choice for your ad spend. Print advertising includes newspaper ads, magazine ads and ads in brochures and flyers.

OUT-OF-HOME ADVERTISING

Out-of-home or outdoor advertising refers to any advertising that reaches people when they’re outside of their homes. This includes billboard ads, digital signage, transit ads (i.e. bus shelters, train ads, subway stop ads, etc.), street furniture ads and ads in sports venues. Out-of-home advertising can be quite expensive, so be sure it fits with your advertising budget.