Advertising is the art of telling and showcasing your business to people who might need to be made aware of its online and offline existence. According to statistics, more than $600 billion is spent by businesses annually on advertisements globally, with digital advertisement going as high as $800 billion. Advertisement is essential for big businesses, but do small businesses need to advertise?
Advertisements help you reach customers who are looking for products that your business is offering but need to learn about the existence of your business. Advertisements will help reach out to those customers and make them buy the product if the advertisement is attractive and offers the solution the customer needs.
Advertisement not only helps you get new customers, but it also helps brand recognition. For an advertisement to be successful, it should be aimed at the target market. If you are not advertising your business, you are probably missing out on many positive things, including potential customers. This article will enlighten you on whether you should advertise or not.
Why Do Small Businesses Need to Advertise?
Running ads for your small business is very important; statistically speaking, big businesses make huge profits and have many customers because of ads. So as a small business, running ads for your small business should be a priority for the following reasons.
Advertising for small businesses is a massive part of the marketing cycle.
1. Create Awareness
Running ads for your small business can help you create awareness about your brand and the products it offers to customers who might be looking for similar products and need to learn about the existence of your business. Creating awareness can be done by running ads focusing on your target market.
When your target market comes across your ad, they are more likely to become aware of your business products and services and make purchase decisions. Creating campaigns on your business awareness has been termed successful by many analysts. With online marketing, you can use cookies aimed at targeting customers who had previously seen your product but skipped it for some reason.
2. Reach the Target Audience
The aim of running ads should be to reach a target audience. Most of the time, Ads that focus on the target market are more successful than those that focus on the general market. It is worth noting that advertisements get your products in front of customers who might have no idea of the product and they wish to buy it.
Ads help you relay messages about a product or service to a specific audience and reach more specific customers. When you do ads that focus on your target audience, you will save money on too many advertisements that might reach customers who are not interested in your products. Running ads have been the most effective way of reaching new leads and customers.
3. Retain Existing Customers
A good business is one which can retain its customers in the long term and acquire new customers without spending too much on campaigns aimed at getting new customers. Advertisements also help retain existing customers since it’s a way of constantly engaging with them.
Through ads, your existing customers can see the new products and discounts your small business offers, and they can make the purchase. This continuous interaction with your customer helps your brand grow and expand.
Continuous advertising helps your customers remain interested in your brand and encourages them to be consistent with their purchases. Ads also act as a way of encouraging your customers to remain loyal to your brand. Existing customers who love your brand can even pay more than new customers.
4. Increases Brand Credibility
Advertisements help increase your brand credibility in the eyes of potential and existing customers in the long term. Ads work by showcasing your products’ best qualities and increasing the message your products are trying to convey. This also helps in boosting the reputation of your small business to customers.
Creating ads for your small business often lets you drive people on how they should perceive your products over others. The key message about your brand is spread even by customers who perceive your products as beneficial to their needs.
5. Puts your Business Ahead of the Competition
Running ads for your small business helps you stand out in front of your customers and gives you an edge over your competitors who are not running ads. Customers tend to forget about a product easily if it is not displayed before them. Running ads ensures that customers remember your brand and purchase it frequently, unlike your competitors.
Properly advertising your brand will ensure that your small business stays ahead of the competition and expands beyond your competitor’s reach. Thus, you will have increased access to a larger market than your competitors, hence growth for your small business.
Why Shouldn’t you Run Ads for your Small Business?
As much as ads for your small business are important, they also have disadvantages. some of the are address below:
1. It can be Costly
No small business pays for advertisement out of its pocket. This means that you will have to increase the cost of your products to get the money to run ads for your small business. To some extent, small businesses might incur huge costs in running ads which can drain their revenue.
Any business aims to maximise profits and reduce expenses. Ads tend to do the opposite of this by increasing expenses and reducing profits. If they focus too much on ads, small businesses can incur too much cost in running ads.
2. Confuses the Buyer
Many times, advertisements tend to lie to the consumer about the product’s quality when the product’s reality after purchase is different from what it seems. This confuses the buyer about whether the product is what it was advertised or it’s something else. This makes most customers to lose confidence in advertisements since they are deemed as the wrong presentations.
Another thing about ads is that frequent ads about a product tend to send the wrong message about the product that maybe the product is being advertised all the time because it is not selling. This assumption by customers can make potential customers to avoid purchasing a particular product or service. When this happens, the business is very likely to get losses.
3. Encourages Inferior Goods
It has been a habit for most sellers who sell bad goods or inferior goods to constantly advertise for these products to drive customers to purchase at the same price as a high-quality good. If you check advertisements clearly, you will realise that the goods advertised are mostly low-quality, which can deceive a customer who has yet to learn about the existence of high-quality goods at the same price.
This false ad of inferior goods can prevent you, as a small business, from selling high-quality products because your campaigns are really selling and reaching out to customers, and in the long run, customers might avoid purchasing your products because they will see the products as low quality. In the long term, you will spend too much on ads, which will yield nothing valuable since customers will be very aware of your low-quality products.
4. Waste of Time
Running ads for small businesses can be a total waste of time since you will have to invest time and energy in formulating ads that can capture the viewers’ attention. You end up putting little effort into the thing that matters the most for your business growth, like the quality of products.
It has been statistically proven that most businesses spend more time on ads than any other aspect of the business. Which can drain the business in the long term. Wasted time and money for the business can impact negatively due to the dismissal of important areas of the business.
5. It Increases the Prices of Products and Services
Ads are operated based on the revenue derived from the sale of products. To run ads frequently, your business may have to increase their prices to meet the demand for running the ads. The minute you increase the cost of services, customers may be put off. Which can go against the initial aim of the ad.
Increasing prices due to ads can also reduce customer loyalty since customers may prefer the cheaper option.
What Type of Business Runs Social Media Ads?
Social media advertisement is the art of running ads on social media platforms like Instagram, Google, Facebook, etc. Many types of businesses run social media ads, such as real estate, retail, consultancy, beauty products sellers, professional service providers and household equipment sellers. If your business is in the above category, you can run ads on social media.
Social media ads can be used to increase online presence for small businesses.
Pros and Cons of Social Media Ads
| Pros | – High access to a wide customer reach due to many social media users. – Less costly since you only need an account and an internet connection. – High return on investment due to reduced cost of advertising. |
| Cons | – It allows negative feedback, which can drain the brand since people can speak freely. |
What Type of Business Runs Newspaper Ads?
Social media ads have beaten newspaper advertisements for over a decade. But you can also advertise your business in newspapers to the targeted audience who love newspapers. Businesses like car companies, bookstores, real estate, and retail businesses are the most ideal for running newspaper ads.
Pros and Cons of Newspaper Ads
| Pros | – Trustworthy, more than 56% of UK citizens find print media trustworthy for the information provided. This means that people will trust your products easily. – Consumer usage and newspaper ads tend to reach a huge audience since 63% of adults, according to statistics, still read newspapers. – Diversified information, running ads in newspapers gives your customers access to increased information since you can state everything about the product and brand clearly. |
| Cons | – Running ads in newspapers can be very costly, especially if you wish to advertise it in a weekday newspaper. |
What Type of Business Runs TV and Radio Ads?
TV and radio ads are conducted on either live or scripted TV and radio. Some of the businesses that can take advantage of TV and radio ads are real estate, small training institutions, retail shops, and household shops. You can use TV and Radio ads to grow your business as a small business.
Local TV may be a good idea for smaller businesses as you want to target your local community.
Pros and Cons of TV and Radio ads
| Pros | – Access to a large audience running ads on TV and radio gives you access to a huge audience who get to see your products and services advertised. – More visual presentation TV gives you a more visual presentation since customers can see your products clearly as advertised. – Trust, people are more likely to trust a product or service if advertised on TV or Radio. |
| Cons | – Radio and TV advertisements can be costly for a small business looking to make it huge in the market. |
How to Set up a Budget to Run Ads and Manage them Correctly
Set clear campaign goals. Setting clear campaign goals will ensure that you focus on the specific goal without diverting and spending more on a goal that you had not set.
Track your expenses. Expenses are likely to occur during ads; therefore, tracking your expenses is very important since it helps ensure you spend within the budget.
Select the ad media carefully. This will help you prevent incurring more advertising costs on a particular media, which can be too expensive to sustain in the long run.
Setting a clear budget and goals will help you decide… Do small businesses needs to advertise.
Conclusion
Small businesses require to run ads for their businesses to stay ahead of the competition. Other than that, it helps you reach out to potential customers interested in your brand. Running ads can also be disadvantageous since they can cost masses of money. Analysing your business can help you make a sound decision on whether or not run ads for your small business.
