As a small business owner, you’ve likely wondered if you really understand all the different types of advertising opportunities available to you. There are many different types of advertising, with prices ranging from very inexpensive rates to those that are quite costly. Because it’s so important for small business owners to allocate their marketing dollars wisely, you shouldn’t start spending money on advertising until you have a solid understanding of the different types of advertising.

About Different Types of Advertising

Online Affiliate Advertising – If you have a sales oriented website, you may want to consider starting an affiliate advertising program. This involves recruiting other online marketers to place advertisements for your company on their websites using an affiliate identification tag. When people click through from their websites to yours and choose to purchase from you, then you will pay them a referral fee commission. If you are interested in starting an affiliate program, consider setting up an account with Commission Junction or another affiliate advertising company.

Pay Per Click Ads – Another way to drive traffic to your website is by using online pay per click advertising. You agree to pay a certain amount of money for everyone who clicks on an advertisement for your company based on keywords that you select. Several companies allow opportunities to participate in pay per click advertising programs. A few you may want to consider are Google AdWords and Chitika.

Print Advertising – If your prospective customers are likely to read your local newspaper, you may benefit from advertising in the publication on a regular basis. If you market to people in a certain industry, you may want to consider placing advertisements in print magazines that reach decision makers in that profession.

Broadcast Advertising – Both radio and television advertising are forms of broadcast advertising. These types of advertising are available on a national basis as well as for local markets. If you have a retail store that draws most of it’s business from the geographic area where your storefront is located, market-specific broadcast advertising can be an excellent option for you. Some internet marketers, such as GoDaddy.com, utilize national broadcast advertising. However, most small business owners don’t have budgets large enough to support that level of broadcast advertising campaign.

Promotional Advertising – If you market your business largely through trade shows and business expos, you’ll want to consider investing in an inventory of promotional specialty products. Giving away quality items imprinted with your company’s logo can be a great way to boost your company’s image and sales.