5 Advertising Vehicles to Boost your Budding Business
- Written by Brian Dwyer
Have you just opened a business venture? Are you the appointed person in charge of advertising? Would you want to boost your brand and business using different advertising mediums?
From widely known traditional channels like TV, radio, or print ads to more disruptive forms of advertising such as vehicle branding services, digital billboards, or animated videos, you have a world of advertising options to boost your business.
Advertising is a crucial part of any business. Whether your venture is a huge enterprise or a mom-and-pop specialty store, advertising helps by making your target customers aware of the products or services you offer.
Companies around the globe have long established that advertising is a fundamental component of any business. Its importance lies in each organization’s unique objectives. It is undeniable that advertising has an important role to play not only for the sellers or producers of these goods and services but also for the consumers and society as a whole.
Advertising, when used correctly and executed properly, can work to elevate your business. It can help you to successfully introduce a brand, product, or service to your target market.
For example, during the launch of a new car, advertising makes sure to put the word out there in an eye-catching, spectacular, and engaging manner.
Through strategic and carefully-crafted messages, advertising can be an effective motivator in spurring people to action. It helps promote your brand and drive people to take positive action towards your business.
Each organization has different goals, and advertising is one way to achieve these. Based on your own mission and vision, you can use advertising to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Utilizing a coherent and consistent advertising and communications plan can promote your offerings to your intended audience, drive sales, and improve customer loyalty and retention.
Advertising comes in many forms. Depending on your objectives and budgetary considerations, you can choose the right mix that works best for you. Here are some of the most common advertising mediums that you can consider helping boost your business:
What you see on television or the Internet and what you hear on the radio are all forms of broadcast advertising. Internet, radio and TV ads are some of the most popular mediums of advertising because of their far-reaching scope.
Usually, global conglomerates allocate a huge chunk of their advertising budget for advertising on broadcast channels, especially if what they offer is targeted to a mass audience. Some of the most popular ads are shown during peak seasons such as Christmas or New Year’s Eve or during special events like the Superbowl or the Olympics.
Because of their mass appeal, cost per ad is usually high especially if you place on the top networks, radio stations, or the most trending websites or social media sites.
Video commercials aired on these channels can be in the form of 15-seconders, 30-seconders, or even 60-seconders. Videos posted online can last longer. The cost also depends on the time it is aired. For example, product jingles on radio aired during primetime usually cost higher than those aired during regular hours.
As the name suggests, this is a clever yet not-so-obvious way of advertising a product or service. It can also be called product placement or product integration.
Product placement is when a product is subtly placed in a scene and people can see its brand name. For example, a movie scene can show a specific brand of a phone being used by the lead actor. These can be unpaid placements and, therefore, the company or brand has no control as to what will happen to the product or how the product will be used.
Product integration, on the other hand, is a conscious effort to subtly (and sometimes not-so-subtly) incorporate a certain product or service into a scene or the whole production. Product integration is usually a paid placement. This unique advertising placement can greatly influence people’s purchasing decision process.
A good example of this is when a certain car brand is one of the focal points of the story. Another example is when a delivery service is used and the characters sing praises on how it’s timely and efficient.
Out-of-home advertising (OOH) is another way of spreading awareness about your business. One of the most popular forms of OOH is billboards and lamppost banners or streamers.
Depending on its size, execution, and location, billboards, banners, and streamers can be quite costly. Because of this, there are other OOH alternatives that can be utilized at a more competitive price.
For example, vehicle branding is making its rounds and providing clients with an option to literally drive the message around. These roving ads reach a wider audience and grab attention with their creative designs.
Advertising using print media is also one of the longest forms of promoting one’s products or services. Ads can be placed in newspapers and magazines but can also be in the form of brochures, flyers, leaflets, and other printed paraphernalia.
The cost of each ad depends on several factors. For one, it depends on which publication you place ads in. Top newspapers and magazines usually have higher ad rates compared to less popular ones. Circulation is also a factor as papers that are distributed nationwide or even internationally charge a premium compared to local journals.
The size of the ad as well as the space where it is placed also has a bearing on the cost. Full-page ads cost higher than smaller sized ads. Ads placed in prime pages like the front page, inside front cover, inside back cover, and back page also have higher rates. The same also applies if ads are placed in special supplements or in highly-popular sections.
Public service ads are used to convey a public service message to the general public. It can be about major causes or issues like AIDS, global warming, or illiteracy.
These ads can be in different forms as well. Non-governmental organizations and even private companies usually use this kind of advertising to promote their corporate responsibility programs.
For example, some companies use animated videos or explainer videos to advocate for their sustainability programs. This is an ingenious way of putting their brand in a good light without any hard selling. In a way, it is similar to covert advertising as there is usually no blatant display of specific products or services; only the brand logo or name.
Getting the word out there about your brand or business is a good way to drive interest and sales. Just remember what your objectives are so you can discern which type of advertising is best for you. It’s not always about how much you spend on ads, but more on where you spend it and which vehicle gives you the best return on investment.
AUTHOR BIO
Brian Dwyer is the Director and owner of Colour Source Signwriters, a graphic production business specializing in various vehicle wraps, fleet signs and building signs. The company has been producing professional signage that captures the attention and matches the vision of delighted clients all over Australia since 1990.