It’s no shame in admitting that every business wishes to receive optimum traffic from as many people and in turn make as much money as possible. Business executives and associates are always on the look-out for new ways to expand and promote their company – Both on a local and national scale – Dependant on business objectives. Being well into the 21st century, there are so many ways businesses now choose to advertise and in effect enhance exposure to potential customers. Seeing a large shift in traditional printed methods to online materials over the past few years, listed below is a breakdown of the 4 most popular ways of advertising businesses and increasing revenue and traffic to your company.
1. Yellow Pages & Thomson Local
The large yellow book that used to be hurled on your doorstep? Not used so much in 2014, this form of advertising used to be the most popular way of promoting your companies address / phone number and additional details. Published by category, homeowners used to be privileged to search through the categories to uncover a list of potential business names and phone numbers to call. This form of advertising is much more geographically led.
Both Thomson Local & Yellow Pages have now formed online directories to minimalise the production of books after concerns over environmental issues.
2. The Internet – Social Media, SEO, Online Directories
Internet, or the World Wide Web is proving to be one of the fastest growing advertising placements for businesses. Seeing a drastic change in the way people are communicating and using mobile devices to search for business information, it’s a given that your company information must be visible to your online followers in order to survive in this technology driven world.
Many businesses have online websites – Some informational based, and some online shops to allow their potential customers to seek first impressions and inform members of changes / promotions that are currently happening. Social Media is used as a marketing strategy in business to connect with customers and maintain a brands image online, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Instagram are amongst the most popular.
Search Engine Optimisation can run alongside Social Media Marketing and is growing increasingly popular and competitive to maintain high visibility in search engines including Google, Bing & Yahoo! – right where your potential customers are now looking. Google is the leading Search Engine in many countries and is thought to hold around 90% of all search queries within the UK.
Online Directories (Yellow Pages & Thomson Local as previously mentioned) are a perfect source of information where users are looking for business services. They tend to be classed as their own search engine in the same way people search in Google. It is of important to be listed amongst your competitors in these directories so that potential customers know you exist too!
A short list of high traffic directories are:
3. Flyers & Posters
Again, becoming less popular but still an equated form of advertising for businesses who are yet to form online. Posters were a more traditional way of advertising when the internet was first coming to existence. Flyers and Posters connect with the real world and should be eye-catching in the same way a website should be. Coming in a variety of sizes, companies tend to now employ people to interact with others and offer a written advert for the consumers to recall certain information at their pace and will.
4. Promotional Products
Many of us have received a free gift from a company in order for us to try and do business with them. With the primary aim of a promotional product to provide brand recognition, it is an advertising tool that instantaneously builds a relationship with the customer – When they receive something for free that they can use daily.
In 2012, BPMA conducted a survey and the following was stated:
- 66% of participants claimed they could recall the brand on the promotional product received with the past 12 months.
- About half (56%) said their impression of the company improved after receiving a branded item.
- Most participants (87%) kept a promotional item for longer than a year!
Lanyards, Wristbands, Mugs, T-shirts, Hoodies and electrical items are amongst the most popular forms of promotional items sold within the UK.
About the Author
Sophie is a zealous advertising enthusiast working on behalf of Aspinline UK – A specialist in promotional products including Lanyards, Wristbands & Keyrings.
Photo credit: Davide D’Amico
