Small Business Advertising Ideas: Tips & Techniques

It’s not uncommon for businesses to make mistakes.

Most businesses will make mistakes at some point in their lives. Whether it’s a spelling mistake, a formatting error, or something more serious, you will inevitably encounter problems that can affect your business’ reputation.

The good news is that most people will forgive one or two mistakes. You see, people are generally pretty understanding when it comes to small business mishaps. But if you’re still making the same mistake over and over, it could actually be hurting your business.

Small Business Trend Advice

Try to avoid these common mistakes by taking the time to do things right the first time:

Don’T Have Typos On Your Website

Nobody wants to read a blog post or purchase a product from a company that has sloppy grammar and poor spelling. It’s unprofessional and makes you look uneducated.

Don’t Use Bad Grammar

It’s annoying! Some people are more lenient than others when it comes to words like “you’re” and “your,” but other grammatical errors will definitely get noticed and could hurt your reputation as an overall brand.

Do Not Make Promises You Can’t Keep

If you say your product is guaranteed to work, then it should work! Or else, you’ll lose.

Small Business Advertising Ideas

If you’re a small business owner, you probably don’t have a big advertising budget. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make a difference in the world and be heard above the din of the competition, though. It just means you have to be smarter about how you spend your money.

Trying to figure out how to advertise a small business on a shoestring budget can feel overwhelming, but there are some simple ways to get started without breaking the bank.

First and foremost, you need to determine why you want to advertise your business in the first place. What is it that you are trying to accomplish with your advertising dollars? If it’s trying to grow sales or market share, then consider other options like free advertising, word-of-mouth marketing, or even Facebook ads.

If it’s more about brand awareness, then look at media outlets that align with your brand and your target audience.

There are many methods for small businesses to reach their target audience and here are just some ideas:

Advertising on Social Media:

If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to advertise a small business, social media might be exactly what you need. Facebook is by far the most popular platform for getting in front of an audience, but LinkedIn has also been growing in popularity.

Traditional Advertising Ideas

Advertising is the act of calling attention to a product or service by paid announcements, visual images or other forms of non-personal presentation. It’s an extremely popular and effective method of promoting a business or a cause.

Advertising is used on a variety of media including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and billboards. You may choose to advertise through traditional channels or through social media, but either way, you will need to have time, money, and expert help to create quality advertisements.

There are several advertising strategies you can use to promote your business effectively.

Traditional advertising:

Radio ads offer businesses the opportunity to reach a wide range of people in their free time. Because of its low cost, radio is an excellent choice for local businesses with a small budget. To make radio work for you, be sure to ask about buy-on-air advertising opportunities.

This allows you to purchase airtime directly from the station at a discounted rate. Many stations will give you the opportunity to purchase airtime from them at a discount if you allow them to read your commercial copy over the airwaves (COPY).

You also have the option of doing your own voiceover or hiring a professional voice talent.

If you want to reach customers in their drive times, consider purchasing spots in the morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Ms_srnp5g

Online Advertising Ideas

Now, with millions of consumers spending time online, it has become very important to know how to effectively advertise your products or services. The key is to get the attention of your prospective customers. There are many ways you can do this, and in this article, we’re going to explore a few of them.

The first thing you’ll want to do is pick out the right website for advertising your product or service. You want a site that has a high amount of traffic — which means people will be able to see your product and service ads.

One good way to find a site that has the amount of traffic you desire is by using the Google Keyword Tool. This will allow you to specify how many visitors per month you’d like to have from your ad. If you’d like more information on this, please read our previous article “Online Advertising Ideas”.

It will give you more details about what exactly Google Keywords are and how they work.

Once you’ve picked out the right site, next you’ll want to choose between text advertising or banner advertising. Text ads usually have higher click-through rates than banner ads.

However, banner ads are usually much cheaper than text ads (of course if you buy them through someone else, who knows what the price will be!).

Social Media Advertising Ideas

How To Write The Perfect Call To Action (CTA) In Your Social Media Ads

A call to action is a direct request to the customer. It asks them to do something. These can be written in different ways and should be specific, relevant, and enticing to the customer.

Telling someone what you want them to do will not get them to do it. You have to give them a reason as to why they should take this action and also provide an incentive if they do. You also need to make it easy for the customer, who is much more likely to respond if your CTA doesn’t require too many steps or complicated action.

But how do you write a perfect CTA? Here are some ideas:

Get personal – there’s no better way of making your ad conversational than by addressing it directly to the reader. This makes it more personable and less of a sales pitch which readers often dislike. If you can’t incorporate someone’s name into the ad, use their occupation or company name instead.

Use emotion – this is an incredibly effective way of triggering people’s responses as we’re all emotional beings at heart. Play on emotions like humour, nostalgia or anxiety, whatever motivates your audience most, and you’re sure to get results.

   

Local Advertising Ideas

Do you have a website? Do you have a business that needs more customers? There are all sorts of ways to promote your business online, but if you’re just getting started and don’t have tons of money, you need to start with local advertising ideas.

Trying to advertise on the internet without knowing if you’re going to make a profit can be an expensive mistake. Instead, start small. Think about what your customers look like and what they do in the area where you live.

What do they read? Where do they get their news? How can you reach them? Is there a good way for them to notice your business before they’re ready to buy something from you?

You can start off with some simple, cost-effective ideas that will help get your name out there:

Let your customers know when and where your business is open by putting up signs near or around your store or office. You could also post flyers at nearby businesses or set up a table at events in the area.

Create some coupons for special offers on products or services that people want from local businesses. This won’t cost much but will let those who are interested know about your business without having to do a ton of work.

Write an article for the local.

Outdoor Advertising Ideas

Are you looking for real estate advertising ideas? If so, then you have come to the right place. We can provide some excellent tips to help you with this. Outdoor advertising is a great way to get your point across and that is why we are going to discuss it further.

You need to start by thinking about what it is you want your potential clients or customers to do once they see your ad. For example, do you want them to go to a specific website? Do you want them to call a certain number?

Do you want them to email someone? Whatever it is, make sure that the advertisement will actually accomplish that goal because there is nothing worse than putting up an ad that does not get results as you had hoped.

To help get your message across and really get noticed, you should use bright colors on a large sign. If you do not know much about color theory, just remember that red tends to stand out the most.

However, if your business sells something based on a particular color, then use that color in your ad. You could also try using pictures in your advertisement or even words if the picture is too difficult to understand.

The last thing we want to talk about is the placement of your advertisement.

Increase Your Chances Of Getting Found Locally With Google My Business

In the past year, Google has completely overhauled its local search result listings and what has resulted is a much more powerful tool for businesses who want to attract customers in their local area. This can be extremely useful for anyone running their own business, whether you are a plumber, electrician or a coffee shop.

Tying your business listing to Google My Business Page is the first step to getting found locally. All you need to do is sign into your Google account and then click on the “add new business or place” button.

Fill in all of the relevant information about your business and then Google will verify that it is accurate and complete. Once this has been done, you will be able to edit the listing whenever you want to make changes.

Once you have verified your business, the next step is getting your website listed on Google Maps.

There are two ways of doing this–one is making sure that you have a Google+ Local page set up (if you don’t already have one) and then claim this page as your own by linking it to your website; the second way of achieving this is by adding Schema tags directly onto your website code (this can be done easily with WordPress).

Advertise Your Business Locally

You can advertise your business locally in a variety of ways. Some of these methods are very inexpensive, and some are expensive. The type of advertisement you select depends on how much you want your business to be recognized.

TIP – Be sure to include the name of your website in your advertisements. This will help people easily find you on the web.

Online Business Directory Listings – You can get free listings in business directories. These are online versions of the local telephone book that are searchable by name, category, and location.

They provide a wealth of information about a business, including address, phone number, hours of operation, and a description of the goods and services offered. There are many different online business directories available; choose one that will best reach your target audience.

Business Category Directories – If you intend to target only a specific type of customer, such as pet owners or parents with children, there might be an online directory just for them. It’s not easy to find these directories because they’re usually buried within other sites, but they’re worth looking for.

You’ll pay for these listings through banner ads or sponsor links displayed on the site when someone searches for the specific topic you’ve targeted — dog boarding or day care centers for kids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Ms_srnp5g

Use Print Advertising To Reach Local Readers

If you want to use print advertising to reach local readers, you have a variety of options. One is local newspapers, and another is free community papers. Both are great for marketing, but there are some differences between the two, and you’ll have to decide which will work best for your business.

TARGETING LOCAL READERS

When using print advertising to reach local readers, the most important thing is to target them. If you run an ad in a newspaper intended for a national readership or one that covers a large geographical area, you’re not going to attract much attention from customers in your area. That’s because they don’t read those papers as much as they do local ones.

Running a regional ad in a national paper just isn’t effective. You have to identify the right paper and know who reads it so that you can direct your ad toward those people.

LOCAL PAPERS VS. COMMUNITY PAPERS

There are two different types of newspapers — local and community — and both can be used to reach local readers in different ways.

Local newspapers are delivered daily across an entire city or region. They cover news items from all over an area, but they might focus on specific sections within that region as well. Local newspapers are typically published.

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Business Listings

Once you have all the important business fundamentals in place, it’s time to make sure that your customers can find you.

Odds are good that your customers will search on Google or another online search engine before they come to your website. They’ll want to get information on the type of products you sell, the services you provide, and how much it will cost them to do business with you.

Now that we’ve gone over some of the basics, let’s talk about how to get found by new and existing customers.

The first step is to create a Google My Business listing for your business on Google. This free tool provides a free directory listing on Google Maps and Google Search. The primary benefit is its ease of use.

You don’t have to maintain any code or build any links, but it also comes with a suite of advanced features that can help you manage other aspects of your business presence online.

Once you have a listing set up, visit the page for editing and share it with everyone who works for your company (if they’re not already sharing it themselves). It’s important that everyone involved with running your business has access to this information so they can make updates as needed.

If you need help building out your business information, ask around.

How Much Should A Small Business Spend On Marketing?

How much should a small business spend on marketing? That’s a question that needs to be answered before you hire an outside marketing firm or use any other marketing method.

The simple answer is that marketing should cost no more than 5% of your sales. If you want to stay in the black, you can’t spend more than 5% of the amount of money coming into your business each year on marketing.

If your sales are $250,000 per year, you can spend $12,500 on marketing. You’ll have to do some math to get your actual costs.

Why 5%? In order for a business to grow and thrive, it must bring in more money than it spends. If you’re spending more than 5% of your sales on marketing, then you’re spending too much.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say your monthly sales are $5,000 and your goal is to increase that to $6,000 in one year. Your goal is a 10% increase in sales, which means that next year you want to make $600/month instead of $500/month.

To get from $500 to $600/month, you need to increase sales by 20%. In order for that 20% increase in sales to happen.

How Do You Develop A Marketing Plan For A Small Business?

By reading this article, you have already taken your first step toward establishing a marketing plan for your small business. As an entrepreneur, your job is to provide products and services to fulfill the needs of people in the marketplace.

Despite all the information on the Internet about how to market your business, you need to remember that there is no perfect marketing plan. If you want to establish a strong marketing strategy, you need to understand what works best for your company and your customers.

Marketing plans should include everything from advertising and promotions to public relations and social media. If you are planning to market a product or service of your own, it is important to keep in mind that marketing is not just about getting new customers; it is also about keeping existing customers satisfied so they continue to do business with you.

You might be thinking that creating a marketing plan sounds like something only big companies do. You’ll be surprised to know that even small businesses can benefit by having their own customized marketing strategies.

Smaller companies often focus on certain aspects of the general marketing strategies used by larger companies. This makes sense because smaller companies have fewer resources but require as much attention as any large company.

With a clear marketing plan in hand, entrepreneurs will be able to make informed decisions about their businesses.

Advertise At Local Movie Theaters

Movie theaters are a mainstay of American culture, and they are also a great place to advertise your business. There are several ways you can advertise at local movie theaters and maximize your exposure.

Time Of Day

The time you choose to advertise is important in the movie theater industry. Most people go to see movies on Friday or Saturday nights. While some movies do well on weekday evenings, weekend evenings tend to be the biggest draw.

If you are able to establish a partnership with a local theater chain, you may be able check out their schedule and see which shows they have scheduled during the peak hours of movie attendance. This will help you determine what times of day to run your advertisements in local newspapers or online.

Placement Of Ads

Advertising in a newspaper is one of the most common methods used for advertising at movie theaters. Newspapers offer special sections for this purpose, so if there is an ad section for “movies,” that’s probably where your ad will end up.

You can also post ads online through free websites like Craigslist and Facebook or by paying for ad space through Google AdWords or Bing Ads.

Television ads are another option for advertising at local theaters. This method is slightly more expensive than newspaper ads, but it has more reach.

What Is The Average Return On Investment For Small Business Marketing?

What is the average ROI for small business marketing? This is a question that has been asked by thousands of marketers over the years.

The question itself is a great one because it allows you to determine if you are getting your money’s worth in terms of the amount that you spend on marketing every month. Marketing is very important in any business, but it can be hard to tell if your marketing efforts are really working.

Trying to figure out what is the average return on investment for small business marketing takes some work. You have to be able to calculate the cost of all of your marketing efforts, and then figure out how much money they bring in.

By doing this it will be easy to see exactly what your marketing efforts are doing for you and how much they are really costing you.

Marketing can be broken down into several different categories: sales leads, brand awareness, customer loyalty, and customer acquisition. Each one will cost you money and take time out of your day that could be spent doing something else.

You have to decide which one of these four areas is most important for your business and make sure that you are focusing on just one area at a time so that you get the best results from your marketing efforts.