The most successful companies use a variety of advertising techniques to reach their target audience and promote their products or services. Some common advertising techniques used by successful companies include:

1. Paid advertising: This includes techniques such as television commercials, radio ads, and online ads (e.g., display ads, search ads, social media ads). Paid advertising allows companies to reach a specific audience and target specific demographics. Think of GEICO and their radio and TV ads. Target and their retargeting ads. Anheuser-Busch and their OTT/CTV, television, radio, print, billboard ads.

2. Content marketing: This involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. Content marketing can include blog posts, videos, infographics, and other forms of digital media.

3. Influencer marketing: This involves partnering with influencers (individuals with a large following on social media or other platforms) to promote a company's products or services. Influencer marketing can be effective at reaching a specific audience and increasing brand awareness.

4. Public relations: This involves managing a company's reputation and building relationships with the media, customers, and other stakeholders. Public relations can include press releases, media relations, and event planning.

5. Social media marketing: This involves using social media platforms to promote a company's products or services and engage with customers. Social media marketing can include creating and sharing content, running social media ads, and engaging with followers.

These companies often use a combination of the above advertising techniques to reach their target audience and promote their products or services. They will continually test and measure the effectiveness of different advertising techniques and adjust strategies as needed.

Most importantly, they have the resources to utilize not only the most effective modes of advertising, but also multiple of them simultaneously. This is a luxury a small business does not have.

So why am I writing this?

Because it's important to see what the 'big guys' do then apply those successes, that they spend the money experimenting on, to your own small business.

For example Federated Media invested in a digital interface where you can have one of their radio station's at your finger tips. Create your own playlists. Listen to whatever song the station plays. Sounds pretty great, right? Your favorite radio station on demand! Except Spotify, Apple, Pandora, and more already do that and when people are listening 'on-demand' they tend to not care about the local aspect a radio station bring to the experience. So a smaller organization, like Big Rapids Media, decided not to do this. Thanks Federated for the experiment.

It's also worth applying even the basic concepts on a local level. For example, most businesses can't afford to put their logo inside Tiger Stadium for an entire season like the Ford Motor Company. But every business can put their logo on the Little League field next to the area's largest elementary school all spring, summer, and fall for $250 total.

Finally, in smaller markets realize the cost of local mass media and digital advertising is most likely not what you think, but you also get what you pay for. Not all radio stations are created equal, and not all media outlets reach the same amount of people.

For example, the Big Rapids Media Network is always offering 'package deals' for airtime like WBRN's Detroit Tiger Baseball Sponsorships and Reed City High School Football. These packages have live and recorded mentions along with commercials in and out of the games making them a full mix of name recognition and branding through commercial messaging, all in one. They also offer a Fire Sale that gives small businesses, even those with small advertising budgets, the opportunity to be on multiple radio stations for the price of 1. For businesses with no advertising budgets, they can participate in the Big Country Auction.

Additionally, Big Rapids Digital has digital advertising approaches that cost as little as $150 a month to target your competitors geo-locations. They can create websites for under $1000 and design graphics for no charge.

Being a business owner in a small market has it's challenges, but it also has it's perks. Such as affordability.

 

For more info on Big Rapids Media and Big Rapids Digital, contact JT Scarpelli at Big Rapids Media: scarp@bigrapidsmedia.com