If you have a business, then you must figure out some strategies to grow it from point one. Every business grows from level zero. And in the journey of business development, adopting suitable types of advertising in business strategy certainly plays a highly important role. In fact, it is true that advertisement is essential for any business. 

Regardless of the fact that the business is small or big, various types of advertising help grow the audience and customers of the business. We can define advertising as a way of passing on the communication of the brand to the customers and/or potential customers. Through advertising, a business can get an instant boost. 

Business Potential & Advertisement

The ideal business should make the customers aware of its presence. It should be a self-description of the brand. It should be able to influence potential customers and turn them into customers. When we start a business, practicing suitable types of advertising helps us gain that attention. 

Target Audience Advertising

Right now, with the help of technology, we can avail the benefits of different types of advertising. For example, if any business requires national reach then advertising is flexible enough to do that for you. Or, if you are a book publisher, and you are looking to target readers or writers then you can do the flexible and specific targeting of your advertisements to get maximized results. Most importantly, it can be done through different types. 

Types of Advertising

A lot of research, strategy, and planning are required for the creation of an effective advertisement. Advertising has to be both impactful and clear. It should convey the right message and it should reach the right audience. Most importantly, it should grab the attention of the target audience. Specialized teams work on the advertisement to make it perfect. Such attention and effort are necessary for the success of an advertising campaign in all types of advertising.

However, choosing the wrong category of advertisement can be a big problem for the process. Therefore, before you finalize the choice of advertising for your requirement, let’s understand the individual importance of seven different types of advertising that can help grow your audience. 

Social Media Advertising 

Social media advertising is a highly effective way of advertising. These advertisements are conceptualized with the aim to target the hundreds of thousands of social media users on the numerous social media websites; the major ones being Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitter, etc.

We can categorize Social Media Advertising in two variants - paid and organic. 

Paid advertising is self-explanatory. It works as per the investment of the advertisement. The objective of paid social media advertising is to try to reach out to potential customers.

Organic advertising does not require a budget for advertising placement. Organic social media advertising is focused on existing customers.

Note: For a social media advertising campaign to be effective, there needs to be a perfect balance between its both variants.

The major benefits of Social Media Advertising are:

1. It enables to form a personal connection with the audience as the brand/business can post relevant content with a personal touch. 
2. Along with being cost-effective, it has the possibility of a wider audience reach. 
3. The word of mouth publicity is immense with social media advertising. 
4. Also, it is a source of getting a direct response from the audience in terms of feedback and comments. 

Online Classified Advertising

Online classified advertising is considered to be a Cheap-&-Best advertising choice. It helps to get a wider audience reach for your product or service. In short, it is a way of advertising that allows consumers to contact the seller directly. Consumers can simply contact the seller or company via provided contact information in the advertisement. Some very well-known online classified websites are OLX, Craigslist, Sulekha, Adclassified, etc.

We can categorize Online Classified Advertising in two variants - paid and Free. 

Paid classified advertising is done by paying standard charges of posting the advertisement on classified websites. It gives you an opportunity to stand out in the list of the free classified posts. 

Free classified advertising is available for everyone to avail without paying anything in return. You can simply register on the website and then post the advertisement without making any payment for that advertisement. 

Note: Since the free classified advertisement is highly popular, it can be less effective for business. Paid classified posting can be a better and stable approach for the business.

The major benefits of Online Classified Advertising are:

1. Although classified advertising is very beneficial for local and small businesses, recently, even bigger brands are placing their advertisements in such classifieds websites too. It gives flexible and direct client access.
2. In small matters, business owners get the freedom of hiring people with online advertisements without paying for the hiring agency. 
3. Creating an online classified advertisement doesn’t require assistance from the advertising agency. Anyone can post the classified advertisement without prior knowledge of it.
4. The online classified website doesn’t require too much time investment. You can post an advertisement in a few minutes.

PPC Advertising

PPC stands for Pay Per Click. In this form of advertising, the advertiser pays a certain charge when their ad is clicked. When the user clicks on PPC ads, that link takes them to the website of the advertiser. Although there is a price to be paid, it can become a matter of benefit if the user purchased a product of the advertiser. Such advertising focuses on proper research and it uses keywords for audience targeting. For example Google AdWords, Yahoo! Bing Network and Facebook, etc.

We can categorize Pay Per Click Advertising in three variants – Retargeting, Affiliate and Paid Search.

Paid Search Advertisement is a highly preferred PPC advertising category. In this form, advertisements are displayed in the search results of targeted keywords. So, this allows advertisers to get a high percentage of targeted keywords that can be highly beneficial for businesses of all sizes.

Retargeting Advertisement is another popular form of PPC advertisement which works on the basis of User Cookies. In simple words, this advertising understands user preference and requirement by tracking their previous online searches and actions. The advertisements are displayed on behalf of the collected data.  

Affiliate Advertisement follows a performance-based payment model. This is specifically beneficial for sell and publicity of products. This is also used for service and business promotion. However, if it is not done properly, the management of this form of advertisement can be a hard and risky process.

Note: For a small business to big size booming business, paid search is preferred most due to its targeting value. However, mismanagement of any advertising form can result in zero profit.

The major benefits of Pay Per Click Advertising are: 

1. Pay Per Click can be targeted to the correct demographic of the audience. And hence, it can be customized as per the requirement. 
2. It is cost-effective when compared with other forms of advertising. 
3. It helps to increase brand awareness. 
4. The results of a PPC advertising campaign are measurable i.e. the results can be effectively be determined.

Video Advertising

Video advertising on the internet has become a vital part of any advertising campaign nowadays. This advertisement requires just a short video, mostly of a few seconds and sometimes a minute-long video is enough to promote a brand. It is almost a trend of such advertisements between users. The audience likes watching such advertisements. The most popular example of such an example is Youtube Advertisement. Other examples of such advertisement offering platforms can be Facebook in-stream ads, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, etc.

We can categorize Video Advertising in two variants - Linear and Non-linear. 

Linear video advertisements are displayed during, before or after the video. It is similar to the television commercials that we see when we watch our favorite show. 

Non-Linear video advertisements run alongside the video content. It gets direct user attention since they are displayed without disrupting the video content. 

Note: Both advertisements have their advantages. However, if not targeted correctly, the risk of a drop in the expected response from the advertisement can be a big downside. 

The major benefits of Video Advertising are:

1. One of the many advantages of this form of advertising is that it can be displayed in all the devices and gadgets that have an internet connection. 
2. Another major benefit of video advertising is that a well-crafted video advertisement retains in the mind of the watcher. Hence, the advertisement made for video advertising should be able to attract the attention of the viewer in those few seconds. 
3. Such advertising also has the possibility of reach of a wider audience and there is always the prospect of the video being shared further. 
4. Last but not least of the many advantages of video advertising is the possibility of using the same video as posts in the social media accounts of the brand. 

Banner Advertising

Banner advertising is another form of advertising that helps grow the audience of the brand and business. The content of this advertising includes pictures and text matter. The one aspect of local banner advertising is that businesses, both small and big use it as an effective medium for advertising. 

We can categorize Banner Advertising in three variants – Flash, Animated, and Static. 

Flash banner advertisements are developed with the help of Adobe Flash technology. These are high definition and complex banners that allow advertisers to get the freedom of becoming interactive and creative in their GIF advertisements.

Animated banner advertisements are similar to flash banner in its benefits. It gives freedom of creativity to the advertiser. However, it doesn’t require Adobe Plugin for proper view. Animated GIF is friendly for most of the devices. Also, designing them is easy and quick as well.

Static banner advertisements are the simplest and most popular form of advertisement. These advertisements usually contain some flashy images, blinking components and changing text, etc without any change in the frame. Examples of such advertisements can be Free, Deal or Best Buy advertisement images. 

Note: Flash banner advertisement required updated flash plugin support. After analyzing the inconvenience of advertisers and consumers in flash advertisements, Google decided to ban the Flash banner advertisements section. The ban was official on 2 January 2017. 

The major benefits of Banner Advertising are:

1. The one great benefit of local banner advertising is that it can have interactive content too with coupons etc. 
2. The visual display of these ads makes an effective and lasting impact on the customer who has viewed it. 
3. It helps to create brand awareness to a large extent. 
4. It can be targeted to the required demographic of people in that particular area. 

Newspaper Advertising

Perhaps, newspaper advertising one of the oldest forms of advertising. Newspaper advertising is the most conventional form of advertising that is preferred by brands and businesses all around the world. Not only is it popular, but it allows advertisers to get certain targeted exposure to the brand. The range of this exposure could be thousand to millions based on the readership of the newspaper. Some say, they target the older generation who have a habit of reading the newspapers, but there is also a good number of the younger demographic who take newspaper reading seriously. The examples of popular newspapers are The Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Economic Times, etc.

We can categorize Newspaper Advertising in two variants - text and image. 

Text newspaper advertisements give details in text format only. Images are not included in such advertisements because they are meant for information only. 

Image newspaper advertisements are highly customizable since advertiser gets the freedom of beautifying the advertisement with the images. 

Note: This type of advertising is always beneficial for better reach. Therefore, this is used by most of the companies all around the world. Newspaper advertising can be highly advantageous for local advertisement. 

The major benefits of Newspaper Advertising are:

1. Running the advertising in newspapers gives the brand the flexibility to choose the language of the advertisement according to the region. Also, with pictures in the ads, it can impact the readers a great deal. 
2. Apart from the choice of black and white, it gives the possibility of placing the ad in color too. 
3. One can give the advertisement on a regular basis. 
4. It is cost-effective as compared to other mediums of advertisements and it is a trusted way of advertising which has a successful record for hundreds of years. 

TV Advertising

Television advertising is also a highly popular means of advertisement for businesses all around the world. The impact that TV ads can make is extra-ordinary. Certain taglines of commercials have become statements. These statements left an unchangeable impact on us. Television advertisements have great outcome potential. Therefore, advertisers still give it a preference to get a boost in their business exposure. 

We can categorize TV in two variants - Sponsored and Announcement. 

Sponsored TV advertisements are targeted for the purpose of getting vast coverage for promotion of product, service or business. This is a profit-based advertisement which is often used on the basis of proper targeting strategy.

Announcement TV advertisements are usually used by governments. However, sometimes companies or businesses also use it so that they can give certain pieces of information to the audience.

Note: All kinds of Television advertising covers the national and international audience. Therefore, the benefits and risks of these advertisements are similarly high.

The major benefits of TV Advertising are:

• The visual display of the content makes a massive impact on watchers and the brand name gets etched in the mind of countless viewers. 
• With a catchy TV advertisement, it is possible for the brand to grow its audience manifold. 
• Though it can be an expensive way of advertising when compared to other means of advertisements, it does have a massive reach of potential customers. 
• This form of advertising has stood the test of time with been effective in gaining audiences who become customers, thus maximizing profit for the brand.

Conclusion:

Along with the creative team of the company and with an advertising agency, the perfect choice from different types of advertising or a combination of the right advertising bunch is required.

With the right selection of advertising from various powerful types of advertising options, the business can easily get the desired benefits. It should be remembered that some form of advertising brings instant impact while others take time. But nonetheless, it fulfills the objective of what it is utilized.