How to Invest Your Small Business Ad Budget Wisely
Three things pop quickly to mind when you’re confronted with advertising your small business:
1 – You know that it’s necessary if you want to succeed
2 – You don’t have a super-sized budget to do it with
3 – Where do you look for the best results for your investment?
Discovering the answer to that last part is the focus here, as there are many ways you can spend your precious ad dollars, some are more effective than others, and some faster than others. Let’s look at 7 of the top ways to effectively spend a small business ad budget.
7 Places to invest your small business ad budget
Local Print Ads – This includes both newspaper and Magazine ads, along with any other sort of direct mail pieces. The cost of reaching 1000 people with these types of advertising ranges from $20-$32. A local paper may yield the best results, since it is going to the most targeted audience.
TV ads – A bit better return on cost per 1000, at $8. If your business can outstrip your local competition by adding TV to the mix, it’s worth considering.
Radio interviews or ads – This one comes in at about $7 per 1000 people reached, and might be a viable option, particularly if you can interview or be interviewed by a popular local host or personality.
Facebook Ads – Probably the best deal out there, at $0.25 per 1000 reached, a Facebook ad campaign offers your small business a far wider reach than you would be able to create with most any other type of advertising.
Your Email list – Alert your customer email list to new products, promotions, sales and any other events that will get their interest. It is far, far easier to sell to a customer you’ve already sold to than to generate a new sale.
Local online ads – An economical way to generate local leads is by advertising on local business directories and on local sites that get a lot of traffic. These are easy to find in your local area.
Try Search Marketing – Probably the path of least appeal when it comes to small business owners, as they may not know enough about it. However, this fact may change their minds: Outbound leads such as print ads or direct mail convert at a rate of 1.7%, whereas search marketing leads come in at a robust 14.6%! Is that enough to help allay some fears?