A successful advertising campaign spreads the word about your product to attract new business and increase sales. Companies can use many types of advertising strategies to get their messages to consumers.
Start with the Basics: What Is Advertising?
Advertising is the process of convincing a target audience to take a certain action, whether that’s subscribing to a newsletter or buying a product. An advertisement is a specific message a business puts out to engage and persuade their audience.
What Are the Types of Advertising?
Businesses looking to advertise their products and services have countless types of advertising techniques at their disposal. Some of the most popular types of advertising include:
1. Digital Advertising
Digital or online advertising is advertising delivered digitally via the internet, usually on a website or app. Compared to traditional forms, digital advertising gives you the advantage of using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to reach audiences more effectively. Types of digital advertising include:
- Paid search: With this digital advertising method, businesses bid on keywords to have advertisements related to those specific terms appear at the top of the search engine results page (SERP). With Google or Microsoft ads, companies bid on ad placement on those specific SERPs.
- Display: Display advertising includes images, popups, text and video ads that typically appear on the side of a relevant webpage.
- Native: Native ads are integrated into the platform on which they appear. Examples include search ads, promoted listings and recommendation widgets.
- Social media: These ads appear on social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
2. Telephone
Telephone advertising offers a hybrid of digital and direct advertising strategies. Companies can cold-call customers to advertise their products or services, or they can create mobile ads. Mobile ads include text or SMS (short messaging service) messages, banner ads, and ads in apps and games.
3. Print
Print advertisements are placed in hardcopy publications such as newspapers, magazines and brochures. Many companies also mail print advertisements to their audience directly.
4. Broadcast
Broadcast advertising includes mass-market media such as radio and television. It can be an effective way to reach many people, especially if you secure a prime-time slot during a major event such as the Super Bowl.
5. Outdoor Advertising
You can use outdoor billboards and the exteriors of public transit vehicles to advertise to your audience while they’re on the go.
6. Word of Mouth
One of the best ways to advertise your business is by word of mouth. When satisfied customers tell others about their positive experience with your business, those people are more likely to check out your services.
Which Type of Advertising Is Best?
The best type of advertising depends on your company’s target audience and specific needs. For example, if you know that your audience is active on social media, you should invest in digital advertising. You may also want to try multiple forms of advertising so that your efforts reach as many people as possible in the most cost-effective way.
Analyze Your Advertising Effectiveness
Contact Cint today to learn how Cint’s media measurement products can increase your advertising effectiveness.
