You’ve decided you want to advertise your products or services, but you don’t know whether to spend your precious marketing dollars on a newspaper advertisement or social networking. Read on!

Advertising has literally been around for hundreds of years. From rock art and town criers to mobile billboards and cable television, the mediums have changed, however its purpose has not. Companies advertise to promote their offering and draw in sales. A number of different mediums are available today, including:

Skywriting
Direct mail
Newspaper advertisements
Inserts in publications
Magazine advertisements
Telemarketing
Radio advertisements
Television advertisements
Cinema advertisements
PURLs
Online advertisements
Interactive advertisements
Product placement
Social networking
Mobile billboards
Outdoor signage
Mobile phone advertisements
Plus many more

You may have noticed that some of the above mediums target mass groups of people, such as television advertisements, while others target a more specific group, like PURLs. The former is known as mass advertising, the latter as niche advertising. This distinction is important, as it affects the cost of your advertising.

Mass advertising works out cheaper per reach than niche advertising. For instance, by placing a newspaper advertisement, you could reach thousands of people, whereas with telemarketing, you may only be able to reach a few hundred. However the reason people choose niche advertising is that because it is specifically targeted at people interested in their product or service, the number of resultant sales may be higher than those obtained from mass advertising.

The reason you should know this information is that it influences what advertising you choose to undertake. You may determine that you want to target law firms located in your state with a special on business cards for a six month period. A quarterly legal magazine might be the answer, as it will sit around for a few months, or alternatively an online advertisement when people search for particular terms could also work.

My personal preference is to examine all public relations opportunities before spending money on advertising, as this may redefine what you’re trying to achieve. Then, test different advertising mediums on a small scale before spending your entire marketing budget on one medium. This is particularly important when you’re looking at advertising that may cost thousands of dollars and only net limited sales.

Good luck!