10 Types of Advertising for Your Business

As of 2021, almost 70% of all global ad investments came from digital advertising. This growth has been attributed to rising rates of internet penetration and demand for online content, particularly during the pandemic. Now, global ad spending is expected to result in a total of $219.8 billion in 2024. Despite this huge shift towards digital, traditional advertisements are still very much in play. Therefore, understanding the various types of advertising is crucial for creating effective marketing strategies that leverage both new and time-tested methods.

In this article, we have categorized the most common forms of advertising to make it easier for you to sort through all of the available options. Which is best for your business? Let’s find out!

Advertising is the process of creating and distributing messages to inform and influence a target audience. These messages are crafted to promote products, services, brands, or ideas, and are typically disseminated through various media channels. It helps businesses communicate their unique value propositions and stay top-of-mind with consumers.

Over the ages, advertising has evolved to reflect changes in consumer behavior and technological advancements. From the use of town criers and carvings to promote goods in ancient civilizations to the introduction of print media in the 15th century and now digital advertising in the 21st century, the methods of advertising have continually evolved over time. This has raised the question, “What kind of advertising is better: traditional or digital?”

Traditional Advertising encompasses various offline channels, such as television, radio, print media (newspapers, magazines), billboards, and direct mail. It has been a staple for decades, but here are its key characteristics:

Digital Advertising, on the other hand, leverages online platforms like social media, search engines, and websites. Here’s how it differs:

Understanding these distinctions helps businesses choose the right mix of advertising methods to effectively reach and engage their target audiences. While both traditional and digital advertising have their unique strengths, the key to an effective strategy often lies in leveraging the best of both methods. To help you decide which strategies will be most effective for your company, let us take a closer look at the various types of advertising.

Online search advertising involves placing advertisements on search engine results pages (SERPs). These ads are typically displayed above or alongside organic search results when users enter specific keywords or phrases. This form of advertising is also known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising because advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their ad.

Google Ads and Bing Ads are the two primary platforms for online search advertising. With more than 80% of desktop searches on Google, Google Ads can offer extensive reach and advanced targeting options. Bing with 100 million daily active users, Bing Ads can also be effective, particularly for reaching audiences who use Microsoft's search engine.

Approximately one-third of consumers search for local businesses online on a daily basis, and 60% do so at least once a week. This highlights the importance for brands with multiple locations to develop advertising strategies that are both relevant and location-focused. To effectively reach the right customers at the right times, your multi-location business needs to leverage localized search advertising. Additionally, utilizing keywords is crucial to ensure your business ranks well on search engine results pages.

Social media advertising involves creating and sharing ads on social media platforms to reach and engage target audiences. These ads can take various forms, including images, videos, carousels, and sponsored posts, and are designed to fit seamlessly into users' social feeds.

Each social media platform offers unique advertising opportunities. Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads are popular for their extensive reach and advanced targeting options due to over 200 million businesses on Meta Apps. Twitter Ads are effective for real-time engagement, while LinkedIn Ads are ideal for B2B marketing and reaching professional audiences.

According to a recent study, 86% of businesses claim that social media marketing increases exposure, which has led to an increase in traffic and leads. Thus, companies seize these chances to promote their goods and services. Facebook, the largest social media platform with 3.05 billion users as of 2024, is one of the most effective social media platforms available. In fact, 26% of users who click on Facebook ads end up purchasing the advertised product, showcasing its high conversion potential. This makes Facebook a great option for companies looking to use social media advertising to interact with and convert their target audiences.

Print advertising is a type of advertising that refers to promotional content published in printed media. Newspapers, magazines, and flyers are advertisement examples for this type. Despite the rise of digital advertising, print advertising remains a valuable medium for reaching specific audiences and providing tangible marketing materials, which has 70-80% higher recall rate than digital advertising.

For 82% of consumers, print advertisements remain the most trustworthy when making a purchase, despite the decline in print media brought about by digital ads. A typical visitor to a digital news site stays there for less than five minutes, compared to the 20 minutes or more that print readers typically spend with their publications. This demonstrates the continued effectiveness and relevance of print advertising.

Direct mail advertising involves sending promotional materials directly to individuals' mailboxes. This can include postcards, catalogs, brochures, and personalized letters. Direct mail is highly targeted and allows for personalized messaging.

As a matter of fact, up to 90% of direct mail is opened, compared to only 20-30% of emails. Direct mail marketing is still proving to be a successful strategy for attracting customers and producing measurable outcomes. Because of its remarkable 29% return on investment, high open rates, personalization benefits, and overwhelming preference over email, direct mail is widely used in marketing environments.

Broadcast advertising includes television and radio ads, as well as online video ads and streaming service commercials. These ads leverage audiovisual elements to capture viewers' attention and convey messages effectively.

The global market for TV and video advertising is expected to reach US $337.5 billion in ad spending by 2024. With the potential to reach wide audiences and increase brand awareness, television and video ads are moving toward more focused digital platforms to reflect evolving consumer trends and technological improvements.

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is designed to reach consumers while they are outside their homes via billboards, transit ads, and digital screens. Billboards are large, static displays placed along highways and in high-traffic areas. Transit ads appear on buses, trains, and subways, reaching commuters. Digital screens offer dynamic and interactive content in urban areas and shopping centers.

A study by OAAA states that traditional and digital billboards elicit a 61% favorability rate among American consumers, higher than any other competitive channel. This kind of advertising is also known as outside advertising, and it has the highest ad recall of all core media. This is due to outdoor advertising's uniquely engaging approach.

Outdoor advertising is poised to become a more dynamic and influential medium in the global advertising landscape thanks to new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality.

Mobile advertising involves delivering ads to users on their mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. Advertising examples for mobile include SMS messages, in-app ads, and mobile web ads. SMS ads are text messages sent directly to users' phones. App ads appear within mobile applications, often as banners or interstitials. Mobile web ads are displayed on websites accessed via mobile browsers.

Mobile advertising reaches customers anywhere, at any time, by taking advantage of the widespread use of mobile devices. The high prevalence of mobile advertisements can be attributed to the importance of smartphones in the daily digital lives of young people, as evidenced by the 98.1% of those between the ages of 16 and 24 who use their phones to access the internet.

Product placement involves integrating products or brands into various forms of entertainment without interrupting the viewer's experience. In this type of advertisement, products can be placed in movies, where they are seen by large audiences. TV shows offer repeated exposure over multiple episodes. Online content, such as YouTube videos, allows for targeted and niche placements.

Strategic product placement in a variety of media formats and content is becoming more and more popular among brands. Consequently, product placement is predicted to generate 18.5 billion dollars in revenue in the US by 2024.

Consumer-generated advertising involves content created by consumers to promote brands, often shared through social media. This is commonly called user-generated content (UGC), which includes reviews, social media posts, and even contest entries where users are encouraged to create and share content for a chance to win prizes.

Before making a final purchase, 51% of consumers conduct online research on a product because real-world reviews increase their trust. In consonance with this, not only does consumer-generated advertising establish trust in your brand, but it also leverages the authenticity and influence of real customers.

Audio advertising involves delivering ads through audio channels like radio and podcasts. Traditional radio ads are broadcast on AM/FM stations during commercial breaks. On the other hand, podcast ads are integrated into podcast episodes, which can be host-read ads or pre-recorded spots that align with the podcast's content and audience. Both formats leverage audio to reach and engage listeners.

There has never been a better time for marketers and brands to take advantage of the revolutionary shift that audio advertising is going through. In fact, according to Edison Research, 51% of podcast listeners, who consume five or more hours of podcast content each week, agree that podcast advertisements are the most effective way to reach them. Ultimately, these listeners pay more attention to them than other forms of media.

Understanding the growth dynamics of audio advertising, the creative ad formats available, and the remarkable engagement rates that audio platforms provide are the keys to realizing this potential.

A successful advertising strategy combines both emerging trends and proven methods. However, experimenting with different formats and continually optimizing based on performance data is a never-ending process in advertising. To help you choose the right advertising strategy, Borzo would like you to consider the following:

The primary reason why we advertise is to establish brand image and increase brand awareness, which eventually generates sales. As orders increase, businesses need effective shipping solutions. This is where Borzo comes in. We offer fast, reliable delivery services that ensure your products reach customers on time, every time. By partnering with Borzo, you can focus on growing your business while we take care of your logistics needs.

Success can be measured using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as return on investment (ROI), conversion rates, click-through rates (CTR), and engagement metrics. Tools like Google Analytics and social media insights can help track these metrics.

When deciding where to advertise your business, consider the following top online platforms:

There is no one-size-fits-all answer for this, but the rule of thumb for how much a small business should spend on advertising is to limit it to 7% of gross revenue, with a minimum of 5% going toward marketing and advertising. For more aggressive strategy and fast results, spend 10-20%. You can also narrow down your target budget by looking into what is typical for your industry and what your competitors are spending.