Billboard advertising has the advantage of reaching a mobile audience.
When it comes to advertising your business, there are many choices and advantages and disadvantages of each. Some factors to consider in deciding which kind of advertising to use is cost and how effectively the advertising reaches your target audience.
Billboards
Billboard advertising -- traditionally the use of signs along the road to promote a product or service -- also includes signs used in transit systems such as on buses, trains and taxicabs. According to the website Small Business Notes, an advantage of traditional billboard advertising is that it has impact because of the large size of the advertisement. A disadvantage is that, unlike direct response advertising, it is difficult to calculate the effectiveness of this advertising media.
Coupon Books
Coupon books, most commonly used to reach homeowners, contain individual coupons with special discount offers. Coupon books allow for the sharing of distribution expenses with other advertisers. A disadvantage is that you are competing for attention with many ads in the same book.
Direct Mail
Mailing ads through the mail is a well-established marketing approach with the advantage of targeting prospects based on demographics, geographic location and psychographics. According to the website Power Home Biz, disadvantages include long lead time for creation and production, and production expense.
Event Marketing
Event marketing involves either buying billboard or printed program ads at any event or sponsoring the entire event. One advantage is the ability to reach a targeted audience with a specialized interest.
Internet
According to the website Podcasting News, online advertising is the fastest growing medium in history. Advantages include the ability to get immediate feedback on advertising results and to change ads in minutes. There are many different forms of Internet advertising such as Google Adwords, Google Adsense and video advertising. Google Adwords permit the purchase of ads that appear on the right side of Google search results. Adsense provides a method to place ads on other websites. Video advertising usually appears at the beginning or end of a video. Another Internet option is banner advertising where banner sized ads are placed on other websites.
Magazine
Magazine advertising provides the ability to highly target prospects. A disadvantage is that there is a long lead time in creating, placing and publishing ads.
Newspaper
According to the website Power Home Biz, newspaper advertising provides the ability to reach a large number of prospects in a specific geographic area. A disadvantage is that ad space can be expensive and that newspaper circulation is in a downward trend as more people read electronic media.
Radio
Radio advertising provides a way to reach a specific demographic audience. In addition, unlike print media, radio reaches out for prospects instead of prospects having to seek out a newspaper and related ads.
Television
Television is a highly visual medium that is ideal for image advertising says the website Power Home Biz. One disadvantage is that prime advertising slots are often sold out.
Yellow Pages
Yellow Page advertising reaches many highly qualified prospects ready to buy. One disadvantage is that competing ads are located in the same place.
