For decades now, advertising has helped businesses to grow. Whether a radio spot or a billboard, the objective of business advertising is to persuade the customers to use a particular product. After all, a company could have the greatest product or service in the world, but if no one knows about it, the business will fail. Advertising can create not just awareness but also the demand for a product or service.
Businesses of all sizes must reach out to their prospective customers by promoting and advertising their goods and services.
The significance of advertising in India has increased in the modern era of large-scale production and tough competition in the market. Advertising today doesn’t help just the existing businesses to grow, it also helps new startups introduce themselves and their products to the public.
To illustrate, let’s consider the example of Patanjali Ayurveda Limited.
Case study: Patanjali Ayurveda Limited
What started in 1997 as a small-sized pharmacy, Patanjali Ayurveda is arguably the fastest-growing company in the Indian fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, a USD 50 billion industry.
Patanjali has launched a series of advertisements that openly take on other brands. The most famous of these is the Dant Kanti advertisement, which projects Patanjali as a brand that is extremely Indian. It also advertises Patanjali products as being all-natural, void of synthetic and artificial ingredients.
Patanjali Ayurveda shows how specific goals can be fulfilled with the help of business advertising. Advertising can build up positive customer attitude, overcome negative promotion or create a comparison in the customer’s mind, among other things. When done well, it works to grow the business.
5 business advertising tactics to try
All businesses use advertising, even if it’s only a hand-lettered sign on the door. Here are some fresh, modern options for promoting your business.
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Vehicle signage.
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Roadside billboards.
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Social media ads.
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A mobile-friendly website.
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Web banner ads.
Let’s learn more about each of these types of advertising.
Fresh options for small business
Business advertising in India today is not just limited to television ads. There are many effective advertising methods adopted here; advertisers or their agencies often decide to use a mix of several methods to deliver the message. Let’s look at a few of them.
1. Vehicle signage
Photo: Kumaravel Flickr via Compfight cc
Vehicle signage is very popular among businesses of all different sizes. It is a cost-effective way to get your brand in front of a broad, but random audience. This type of advertising works 24 hours a day for your business, whether the vehicle is in motion or parked in a prominent place near a busy intersection.
2. Roadside billboards
Billboards are a great way to reach a large number of people where they work, live and socialize. TV and radio might have greater coverage, but they can be easily turned off if the audience doesn’t want to watch or listen. Meanwhile, billboards are hard to ignore. Whether the audience likes it or not, when they pass by your billboard, they will have to see it.
3. Social media ads
Today’s businesses cannot ignore the value of social media marketing. India leads the world in the number of Facebook users, with men between the ages of 18 and 34 making up the largest share of regular users.
A few years ago, the priority was to get ranked high in Google searches. Today, businesses are beginning to focus on Facebook promotions.
By using social media advertising, you can expose your products and services to a larger number of people than through other methods of advertising. But unlike vehicle signage, these ads are presented to the type of people most likely to become customers.
Here are just a few social media platforms that serve ads:
- Social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn)
- Microblogging (Twitter, Tumblr)
- Photo-sharing (Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest)
- Video sharing (YouTube, Facebook Live).
Ads on social media are exploding — not just for big brands but for small businesses too. According to a 2016 survey of smartphone users in India carried out by Regalix, 86 percent of mobile social media users click on ads they encounter on social networking platforms.
4. A mobile-friendly website
A website is a great start to getting your business online, but not just any website will do. With more and more people switching from their desktops to handheld devices, it has become imperative to not only have a website, but to have one that can be viewed by everyone, regardless of which device they are using. Learn how to create a mobile-friendly website for your business in six steps.
According to eMarketer, the U.S.-based market research firm, the number of smartphone users in India is expected to reach 337 million in 2018. This is the highest growth rate predicted for any country in the world. It's thus important for Indian businesses to invest in making their websites as easy to open and use on a smartphone as on a desktop computer.
5. Web banner ads
If billboard advertising is used on roads, then a similar type called banner advertising is used on the web.
Web banners are the ads you see at the top, bottom or sides of the screen when you’re on a website or using an application. They can be static or animated and often feature images and a link to the advertiser’s website. You pay a small fee every time someone clicks on your ad, which is why these are called pay-per-click ads. While Google AdWords is the most well-known provider, there are many others.
Business advertising works
Advertising and marketing have become an essential part of the business world. If a business has a good product or an efficient service to offer, it must also master the art of selling it.
While some businesses might stick to conventional advertising methods, most of the leading players are resorting to fresh and modern options. Many small businesses are adopting online advertising because it is the best medium to reach potential customers quickly and in a cost-effective way. Thus, business advertising if done in a proper way can work in the promotion and growth of any business.
