There are many choices for you to advertise your small business services.
The traditional methods of paid advertising for small business include print, direct mail, telemarketing, and perhaps a trade show or two. If you are a larger company perhaps radio, TV, and outdoor signage are part of the mix. As you surely know, the cost can be high for an ongoing campaign. The "free" options of networking, referrals, and word of mouth, while potentially very effective, take a time commitment that many businesses, especially new ones, cannot afford.
Very attractive are newer online medias of search engine optimization/marketing (SEO/SEM) of your website, social media, video, email, and RSS; some of which have a very low entry point as far as cost. Social media consisting of Facebook, blogs, and LinkedIn seem to be the current rage.
Some say the rise of online advertising is at the expense of traditional advertising. While there has been a sizable shift in revenue from traditional to online, online is very fragmented and can be very difficult to cost justify. Why? Because you have you take into account the amount of your time it takes to make it work, or in paying someone else to manage it.
Thinking longer term, this trend makes it's obvious to me that as the use of traditional media decreases, it will in fact become more effective and more valuable. As the use of online media increases it will become increasingly less effective and less valuable, e.g. how much will it eventually cost you to keep showing up on the first page of Google search results?
Yes, the choices have increased and that is good. So what should you do? Maybe the best combination is to use a blend of targeted print and online. What an idea!
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