A billboard is an effective form of media advertising.
Marketing involves market research, and the promotion of products and services to customers to increase sales. The marketing process includes identifying the customer, finding out what the customer wants, providing the goods or services that will cater to the buying preferences of the customer and keeping the customer. Through the years, various marketing tools and strategies have been applied by businessmen to establish a market share; knowing these effective marketing tools can help you raise the bar of your business's sales graph.
Brochures
Brochures, or leaflets, are small booklets that contain an advertising or promotional message. Brochures are inexpensive, easy to print and are relatively easy to distribute. A brochure can be mailed, handed directly to a customer or left anywhere potential customers might be able to pick them up and read them. A good sales brochure should be attractive, well presented and should be able to immediately convey a sales message to a potential customer while providing enough information about the business's products or services.
Business Cards
A business card is a small card -- about the size of a credit card -- that contains a person's name, business or professional affiliation, title of position and other information such as office address, telephone number, cellular phone number, fax number, website address and email address. A business card is a convenient and immediate way of providing another person with the giver's contact information including services or products that the business offers. Business cards are intended to provide a brief information about the giver's business, to provide contact information, to attract attention and to serve as a memory aid.
Flyers
A flyer is a single piece of paper -- usually the size of a half page or whole page short bond paper -- containing an advertising message, contact numbers and business address. This type of marketing tool is inexpensive and easy to produce. Flyers are typically printed by the hundreds or thousands for mass distribution within a targeted marketing area, and are used by businesses to promote their products and services. Flyers are commonly handed out in locations where there is plenty of floor traffic, or inserted in between pages of a local newspaper prior to the newspaper's distribution.
Calendars
Calendars are used by people throughout the year, and are usually displayed in highly visible areas inside a home which is why some businesses use them as a low cost advertising medium. Businesses typically have calendars printed with their business name on top of the calendar. An attractive picture is often placed above the calendar to get the attention of passersby. Calendars are inexpensive ways of increasing a product's recall value among customers. Calendars are usually printed months before the end of the year, and are distributed to potential customers before the start of the following year.
Posters
A poster is a piece of large printed paper advertising typically attached to a a wall or vertical surface in a public place. Posters typically contain attractive pictures that are meant to catch the attention of passersby. An effective advertising poster should be placed in a highly visible area on a location that has the highest possible number of people passing by. A marketing poster must contain an effective marketing message designed to increase a product's recall value, and must be able to instantly get the marketing message across within a few seconds.
Websites
Websites have become increasingly popular advertising mediums especially with the advent of the Internet. More and more people are using the Internet which is why advertisers are creating websites that can be used to present promotional materials, as well as other information that can provide enough knowledge to enable the customer to purchase goods, or avail of services offered in the website. A website's address can be included in all advertising materials so that interested customers can view all the marketing materials and product information contained in the website via the Internet.
Radio Advertising
Radio is a convenient form of entertainment to a lot of people, but it is also an affordable advertising media that can reach a mass audience. Potential customers listen to radio in their homes, their vehicles, in waiting rooms, restaurants and other public places. Radio advertising delivers audio advertisements to listeners by broadcasting a series of 30 second or 60 second spots. An effective radio advertisement should result to listeners buying products or services, consciously or subconsciously as a result of hearing the radio advertisement.
Billboards
Billboards refer to large advertising structures placed along major traffic routes. The large size of a billboard easily attracts attention from a distance, but billboards are effective only when placed along a high traffic area where a large number of passerby can view it. Ads contained in billboards should instantly convey its marketing message once viewed by a consumer. An advantage of billboard advertising is its continuous presence when compared to a newspaper ad that will only run for a day, or a TV ad that will only run for 30 seconds.
TV Advertising
TV advertising is one of the most effective tools used in marketing because of the large number of people who are able to view the advertisement. TV advertisements typically lasts 30 or 60 seconds, and are usually inserted during commercial breaks within the TV program. Most TV commercial advertisements are produced in such a way that TV viewers will remember the advertisement long after the program has ended. TV advertisements tend to cost more than other advertising tools because of the cost of producing a motion picture TV advertisement, and because there are more people who can view the advertisement each time it is aired.
Print Media Advertising
Print media advertising commonly refers to newspaper and magazine advertisements. Placing printed advertisements in newspapers and magazines allow businessmen to promote their products and services to people within the geographical location covered by the magazine's or newspaper's circulation. The size of advertisements can be anywhere from a whole page to a fraction of the page. The front page and the back page of a newspaper, or magazine typically command the most expensive advertising spots. Colored prints cost more than black and white advertisements because of the higher cost of inks and additional color processing procedures.
