In our modern world, there are so many different opportunities for advertising via different mediums. However, there are four main types of advertising that encompass most of the different adverts that you will encounter on a daily basis.
These common types of advertising can play a significant role in the success of your business and can provide many opportunities for growth. However, it is important to understand which type of advertising will be of the most benefit to your business.
In this article, we will look at the four main types of advertising, the scope they have, and how they can benefit different businesses.
What Is Advertising?
Advertising essentially boils down to the paid promotion of products, services, or people that is conducted via various channels.
Advertising can be a great way to establish a brand and an accompanying aesthetic, something that makes your company instantly recognizable, preferably from a distance.
Advertising can also play a huge role in bridging the gap between the company and potential consumers.
Good advertising campaigns attract your target audience and convince them to try your product or service.
Many companies will assign large budgets to their advertising and marketing departments so that they can create unique and effective advertising to help boost sales overall.
There are many different mediums through which a company can advertise its goods and services, all of which may require a slightly different approach to provide the same results.
Print Advertising
Print advertising is one of the most traditional forms of advertising and has been around the longest out of all the forms of advertising on this list.
Print advertising can be found in newspapers, magazines, promotional booklets, and fliers. The price of placing a print advert in a publication varies depending on a number of factors.
Aspects such as the circulation of the publication, readership, quality of the newspaper or magazine, and the size of the ad that you want to print all affect the cost.
Placing a full-page advertisement in a high-quality, popular newspaper or magazine will cost you significantly more than a smaller advert in a publication with a smaller readership.
However, the higher cost can be justified by the increased number of potential customers who will view the advertisement.
For some people, billboard advertising is also placed under the same bracket as print advertising due to the fact that a lot of billboard advertisements do not contain the ability to show video or produce sound.
Billboard advertisements will be significantly more expensive than other, more traditional types of print advertising but the reach that they have can be significantly broader depending on where the billboard is located.
Online Advertising
Online advertising is practically the opposite of print advertising in that it is one of the most modern forms of advertising. With the number of internet users growing exponentially, the need to advertise online is also increasing.
Within the realm of online advertising, there are so many opportunities to be as creative as possible with your advertising.
No longer are you limited to the eye-catching imagery and clever wordplay of print advertisements, rather, you can use video, sound, and even Gifs.
Whether you use banner advertisements on websites and blogs or wish to place adverts on social media sites depends on the type of product or service that you are trying to sell.
There are certain products that are going to sell better through online advertising that features video demonstrations such as hair and beauty products.
There are also products that will sell better through banner advertisements such as books or even food where stationary imagery can be used.
It is also becoming popular to utilize the follower count of certain users online to help promote your product through the use of adverts filmed and posted by influential internet users.
Television Advertising
Even though television advertising has been around for decades, it still holds its place as the kingpin of advertising.
It still repeatedly ranks as one of the top used and desired forms of advertising throughout the 21st century, mostly due to the effectiveness of this particular medium of advertising.
It is also because of this effectiveness that television advertising remains one of the most expensive forms of advertising on the market.
Television advertising often has elements that other advertising mediums do not have, such as jingles and high-quality effects and graphics.
If a brand is particularly popular or has a very high marketing budget, celebrity endorsements can also make for a great television advert.
Radio Advertising
Just behind print advertising in terms of longevity, radio commercials have been around for almost as long as radios have existed.
Similarly to television advertisements, radio adverts are likely to contain catchy jingles that are designed to stick in your mind to remind you of the advert.
Much like television adverts, radio advertising is a great way to reach a lot of people on a broad scale.
Another positive aspect of radio advertising is that there still remains a lot of scope to be creative with your adverts. Jingles can help with this but so can clever script writing and wordplay.
The goal of a radio advert is to ensure that your brand name or your unique product stays in the mind of the people who hear the advert.
Alternative Advertising
In addition to the four main types of advertising mentioned above, there are alternative types of advertising that can be utilized too. A form of advertising that is growing in popularity for many large brands and companies is known as covert advertising.
Covert advertising takes place mostly in TV shows and movies. Whenever you see a character in a new movie using an Apple computer that doesn’t have the famous apple logo covered by an obvious sticker, it is covert advertising.
The same way that your favorite TV show character might consume multiple Starbucks coffees per episode with the green logo facing the camera at all times.
In these instances, the company will have paid a fee to the production company to ensure that their products are front and center of any relevant scene.
This allows the company to almost subconsciously sell its products to you. Although you are not watching an advert in which you will be aware that something is being sold, the power of seeing a hero using a certain computer can make you want to purchase your own.
Final Thoughts
There are 4 main types of adverts that can be used to engage new and existing customers with your business.
Although there are some types of advertisement that are more popular than others and some that are more expensive, it is important to choose the type of advert that best suits your business.
In many cases, a mixture of two or more types of advertising is the best way to ensure maximum reach to potential customers.
These days, everything is online. You can’t get your business anywhere without a great online presence. With search engines forever changing, it’s difficult to stay on top of it all! That’s where I’ll come in.
Hello, my name is Jack O’Neil and I have been in the marketing industry for almost 10 years. I focus on online marketing, SEO, advertising, and more.
