Tips For Small Businesses: Advertising On A Budget

During this economic downturn, advertising budgets seem to have been one of the first items cut, leaving many companies without the option of using their normal outlets for advertising. But, even during economic slowdowns, there are cheaper alternatives (go online) to traditional advertising, an
Associated Press article recently reported. Here’s some ideas for low cost online marketing tactics for lean times.

Improving your company website’s search rankings or search engine optimization (SEO) on portals such as Google and
Yahoo! is one of the cheapest forms of online marketing. Sarah Baehr, a vice president at Seattle-based interactive marketing firm Razorfish said, “To boost your company rankings, make sure you’re in popular online directories such as YellowPages.com and DexKnows.com. While physical phone books may be old fashioned, busy online directories are still popular and will build your online presence.”

Banner ads, which have been around for many years, are also an affordable option. Google’s popular “AdWords” program is small business friendly; it’s self-serve, there is no minimum budget, and you pay only when customers click on your ad. Since many other web pages use Google for searches within their site and display the ads as well, you have another way to increase your online visibility.

The emergence of ad networks has been a boon to budget-conscious small business owners, said KSL Mediadigital media director, Ed Kelly. These networks use advanced software to identify very precise demographics of internet users. This precision means lower rates for you. Through these networks, you can target advertise to web-surfers in one city or in a single zip code. The networks buy ad space in bulk, so they can pass their savings onto you.

Pay-per-click, or pay-per-lead ads, as some clicks don’t come from legitimate customers, are becoming increasingly popular. If you can provide tracking tools for verification, you may even work out a pay-per-sale deal. In these cases, if your ad isn’t productive you pay nothing, and you can easily change your ad copy and try again.