Advertising is one of the biggest tools for small businesses to be successful. It allows them to get their name out there and let the world know what they have to offer. If you are advertising well then it is more likely than not that your business will grow along with your reputation and customer base.

But advertising can be expensive and the non-expensive ways can often be ineffective. It is vital that you take these small business advertising steps so that you can benefit from your advertising:

Know Who You’re Targeting

You should already have customer profiles – if you don’t then do this straight away. This is background information on the consumers that use you. It will have information such as where they live, how much money they make/spend as well as profile how they think. Use these profiles in order to build both demographics and psychographics that are similar. These should be the people that you are targeting with your advertising.

Track How You Are Doing

One of the most important small business advertising steps is to see how effective your advertising is. By using platforms such as Facebook Ads and Google AdWords we are able to see detailed statistics on your online advertising. You can check how your advertising is doing at any time. This will help you remove an ineffective advert or even tweak one that is doing well but could be doing better.

Know When You Should Advertise

If you are a company that sells seasonal products, then you don’t want your budget to spread evenly all year round. If you are a seasonal business, then you should focus on the months that you are busiest as well as slightly before. If your business is even almost all year round, then remember that events like Black Friday and Christmas should be focused on as they are the busiest periods. Keep an eye on your competitors as well, see when they focus in their advertising.

Branding Is Important

Can customers automatically identify that an advert is one of yours? While it may seem as if changing up themes with your ads is the best thing to do. This is not always the case. When customers start to resonate with your ads is when they usually at their most effective. Using similar themes throughout helps improve your branding.

Small Business Advertising: Resource Well

Using your resources to their most effective is vitally important for small businesses. Using Google AdWords will mean that you don’t have to constantly optimise your website for the best search engine optimisation and make more time for other parts of the business. Companies on smaller budgets may want to use Facebook Ads as they allow you to control your spend on a daily basis.

Use the Right Platforms

Survey the customers that are using your business. Ask them about their most visited sites online as well as any magazines, newspapers, podcasts or radio shows (and any other media platforms) that they may use. There is a good chance that potential customers will also use similar outlets. By advertising in the right places it helps spread the word about your small business quicker and to the right people.