Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a Fire 7 Tablet. Today, we will answer the following question: “what are some underrated ways to advertise?”
Advertising looks different for each product or service you decide to market. This is extra true in 2020, which has turned out to be an incredibly strange year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ways in which we live life, run our businesses, and reach out to other people changed drastically.
As you might expect, the ways we advertise products and services have had to change too. That’s why many people talk about advertising with Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads. These are all proven, tested, high-quality, highly recommended ways to reach people online.
That’s not the entire world of advertising, though. Far from it! In today’s post, I’m going to talk about two ways you can advertise your small business that I think are underrated.
YouTube Advertisements
YouTube is one of the most visited websites in the world. This was true even before the coronavirus pandemic started, and it was hardly a secret then. Sixty-four percent of surveyed social media users in the United States said they would use YouTube more while staying at home because of the pandemic.
Many counties and cities asked (or ordered) residents to stay at home during the global coronavirus pandemic. Subsequently, internet users turned to digital video and video-on-demand platforms to keep them entertained. With millions confined at home, content creators are having a field day with people craving new and original content.
New content is good even for businesses that don’t make content. That’s because new content makes YouTube advertisements even more powerful.
Whenever you go onto YouTube to watch a PewDiePie video, odds are, you have to watch at least one video advertisement first. Sure, a small business may not be able to blanket YouTube with advertisements, but that’s okay. Much like with other online advertising systems, you pay only for the number of people who see the ad. This makes YouTube great for exposing your products and services to a wide audience, even if you only have six seconds to do so.
Radio Advertisements
Another thing that will not change, regardless of the state of the world, is people’s love for music. People will always be tuning into their favorite radio stations, even if those radio stations are actually streaming services. Local radio advertisements remain a great method for small businesses to reach out to a local audience.
Radio tends to be overshadowed by flashier media like television and the internet. It’s still very widespread and the same content aired live on an FM station can be easily adapted into a podcast or YouTube video. The point is: you can’t forget about radio!
Through tapping into your local radio station, you can buy airtime to advertise your small business. Unless you are paying for Sirus XM or Spotify Premium, you probably don’t have ad-free music.
Lastly, a lot of radio stations are also recording their shows and releasing them as podcasts as well. This opens up even more opportunities for advertising!
Final Thoughts on Underrated Ways to Advertise
Reaching your target audience may seem tough, but you have more options than you might think. By using alternative forms of advertising, you can draw attention to your brand and spread the word even farther than you might expect.
Cast your net wide! Even as you use popular systems like Facebook, Instagram, and Google to advertise, remember you have other options. There are countless social media outlets, email marketing techniques, cold calling scripts, and the underrated advertising methods we listed above. You have lots of options!
