Traditional vs. Digital Advertising: A Fair Comparison

What Is Radio Advertising

Radio advertising can help your small business reach an audience that you might be missing if you only advertise online or in print. Radio commercials are short and sweet, and they get your message over to listeners in a direct manner.

What Business Types Is Radio a Good Fit 

Radio advertising can be effective for a variety of businesses. However, it does have more success with department stores, mass product merchandisers, telecommunications providers, and industries that appeal to a larger audience, such as fast food services.

What Is the Average Cost of Radio

Radio ads will cost you, on average, between $100 and $5,000 a week, depending on the coverage area and the size of the listening community.

Determining ROI

There are numerous methods for measuring the ROI of your radio ad, but one of the most frequent and simple to do is to use a vanity URL, use a tracking phone number, ask where leads heard about you, and measure your sales while the ad is airing.

If you would like to learn more about the average costs of radio advertising, be sure to check out the post about it at Fit Small Business: Radio Advertising Costs.

Pros and Cons of Radio Advertising

Pros:

• The March 2021 Nielsen Total Audience Report stated that “TV and radio, still command the highest share of collective trust in advertising. In fact, 60% of people 35-49 consider radio spots very or somewhat trustworthy, with TV not far behind with this demographic at 59%.”
• Studies have shown that people respond to radio commercials better when it is around a sporting event. 

Cons:

• Results are harder to track than digital advertising.
• Less granular audience profiles.
• It is harder to experiment with radio ads than digital ads.

What Is Streaming Radio Advertising

While traditional radio advertising is primarily targeted at a local population, this can limit your reach. On the other hand, streaming radio advertising provides a national audience that is often segmented based on listener interest rather than geography. This digital age “radio” advertising enables you to target a much larger audience interested in your specialized products, as long as those offerings are not limited to your local area. Streaming commercials, on the other hand, can be costly in comparison.

What Business Types Is Streaming Radio a Good Fit 

Like radio advertising, streaming radio is best for businesses that aren’t tied to a geographic location. However, you can target a general geographic area with digital streaming ads.

What Is the Average Cost of Streaming Radio

Depending on the platform and reach, streaming radio ad placements will start at $250 for Spotify and Pandora, iHeart Media will be $5,000-$25,000 weekly, and Sirius XM is $10,000 per week minimum.

Determining ROI

Determining the ROI on streaming platforms will be similar to terrestrial radio; however, you have the option of having clickable content if the ads are presented in the app.

What Is Billboard and Billboard and Out-of-Home Media Media Advertising

Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising is advertising experienced outside of the home. For most people, this includes billboards, benches, or bus advertising that are seen while “on the go” and outside of the house.

Where Is Billboard and Out-of-Home Media a Good Fit 

An often-quoted The Arbitron National In-Car Study in 2009 shows that 71% of in-car passengers often look at the messages on roadside billboards, and 37% report looking at outdoor ads every time they pass one. 

Small businesses can best utilize billboards and Out-of-home Media if they are a business-to-consumer (B2C) brand. These may include business such as

• Real estate agents
• Home services (e.g., heating and oil, landscaping, construction)
• Law firms
• Restaurants and shops
• Fitness centers
• Convenience stores and gas stations

What Is the Average Cost of Billboard and Out-of-Home Media

Billboard advertising costs vary according to format, circulation, demographics, and impressions. Physical billboards cost $750 to $1,500 per month on average in rural areas, $1,500 to $2,000 per month in small to midsize towns, and $14,000 or more in major metropolitan areas. Depending on the location, digital billboards might cost more than $15,000.

If you would like to learn more about the average costs of billboard and out-of-home media advertising, be sure to check out the post about it at Fit Small Business: Billboards Cost.

Pros and Cons of Billboard and Out-of-Home Media Advertising

Pros:

• Great way to promote your brand if you don’t need immediate conversions
• Potentially high exposure 
• Low cost per impression
• Location targeting
• Effective for simple messages
• Reach a large, broad audience

Cons:

• Limited information with a chance of misreading
• Immovable
• Exposure time is incredibly brief, about eight seconds.
• The ability to measure effectiveness is a challenge.
• Billboards may be placed in areas with obstructions.

What Is Television Advertising

A television advertisement is a message that promotes and seeks to market a product or service. You and I both know that television ads aren’t the most budget-friendly form of advertising. However, it remains a popular channel, and it can be a very effective way to increase your brand awareness, promote your message to a broad audience, and stay top of mind. 

What Business Types Is Television Media a Good Fit 

If you are considering utilizing TV ads for your small business, there are two main types: broadcast and cable. They both reach distinct audiences. 

Traditional Broadcast TV will be your local channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX). These will also be the “free” over-the-air channels so anyone with an antenna can receive them, and you have a greater chance for your ads to reach more people. The downside is that you have less control over your target audience. Much like terrestrial radio, TV is best for department stores, mass product merchandisers, telecommunications providers, and industries that appeal to a larger audience, such as pharmaceuticals, car dealers, etc., fast food services.

Cable TV will be the channels a prospect is paying for, such as History Channel, MTV, Food Network, HGTV, etc. These channels and shows attract a particular audience and usually have a much smaller reach than broadcast TV. With these, you need to evaluate the audience and demographics they are reaching and make sure that yours aligns with them.

What Is the Average Cost of Television Advertising

For local television stations, a 30-second commercial might average $100 to $1,500, depending on the time of day. 

Now, if you wanted a Super Bowl ad to air during the LVI, then you would have shelled out 6.5 Million for a 30-second spot, according to Statista. However, generally speaking, for most national broadcast stations, the average TV advertising cost for a 30-second ad is around $100,000.

The above prices don’t include production costs that start at $2,000 and go up.

Determining ROI

Just like radio, there are numerous methods for measuring the ROI of your TV ad, but one of the most frequent and simple to do is to use a vanity URL, use a tracking phone number, ask where leads heard about you, and measure your sales while the ad is airing.

If you would like to learn more about the average costs of TV advertising, be sure to check out the article from Entrepreneur,  Skyworks Marketing, or Fit Small Business.

Pros and Cons of Television Advertising

Pros:

• Advertise nationwide
• Reach a vast audience
• Ideal for businesses that want to stay top of mind
• Ability to tell a story that isn’t possible in print or text

Cons:

• Difficult to track and measure performance
• Lack of audience targeting
• The audience is not actively seeking what you’re offering.
• People may be tuned in, but that doesn’t mean they’re paying attention to commercials.
• Requires a significant upfront investment

What Is Streaming Service, OTT, and CTV Advertising

OTT (over-the-top) advertising, streaming service, smart or connected TVs (CTV) is advertising provided directly to viewers via the internet via streaming video services or devices.

These services allow for easier audience targeting, and local geo-targeted advertising is expected to grow.

What Business Types Is Streaming Service, OTT, and CTV Advertising a Good Fit 

The short answer is if your business is trying to reach the 18-to-49-year-old demographic within a smaller geographical area. With OTT ads, you can target specific zip codes allowing for hyper-local marketing.

What Is the Average Cost of Streaming Service, OTT, and CTV Advertising

OTT Advertising can cost $10 – $40 per thousand impressions (CPM), making it very cost

Determining ROI

Determining the ROI on OTT will be similar to streaming radio. 

Pros and Cons of Streaming Service, OTT, and CTV Advertising

Pros:

• Rich targeting options.
• More engaging and powerful advertising formats.
• Different and rapidly growing audience.
• The ability to accurately measure and track the results of an ad campaign

Cons:

• Ad format limitations.
• Multiple platforms with different requirements.
• Lack of access to certain types of TV content audiences.

What Is Newspaper Advertising

Newspaper advertising has been the longest-running form of advertising for businesses to market their products and services. And as the name suggests, it involves placing display ads in a physical newspaper and may include an online component.

What Business Types Are Newspaper Advertising a Good Fit 

Statista reports that in a survey held in May 2021, “that most consumers never use newspapers as a source of news, and only 25 percent of adults aged 65 or above reported reading newspapers every day.” While this is unfortunate for the industry, this may be an excellent opportunity to market your small business with little competition, depending on your demographic. You should also evaluate the area you want to target as smaller, more rural areas may have better circulation and readership than larger, more urban areas.

What Is the Average Cost of Newspaper Advertising

The typical cost of a newspaper ad depends on the publication’s circulation size and location, frequency, and color(s). Ads are usually priced by column inch and may range from less than $10.00 to $1,300.

Now, if your local newspaper offers online ads that display on their website, you may want to consider these as they can be had for as little as $50 for a local small-town paper with a small circulation to thousands for a major publication.

Pros and Cons of Newspaper Advertising

Pros:

• Reach a local audience
• Attract new prospects
• Target based on broad interests
• Opportunity to use coupon ads
• Less competition based on decreased readership

Cons:

• Not every reader will read your ad
• ​​Difficult to measure ad performance
• It can be a challenge to make your ad stand out

What Is Magazine Advertising

Magazines and newspapers are the most common print media businesses used to advertise to target specific audiences. Magazine advertisements can be expensive for small businesses, especially if you are looking at national publications. However, consider smaller, more niche publications to provide a highly targeted and interested audience. 

What Business Types Is Magazine Advertising a Good Fit 

Magazine advertising is good for various businesses as long as the demographics and audience of the magazine match your clientele.

What Is the Average Cost of Magazine Advertising

The average cost may vary depending on the size of the audience. A small niche magazine with a small circulation may be able to offer you a quarter-page ad for $100, whereas the same size ad might run you $500 or more in a larger publication.

For example, Bloomberg Businessweek charges over $100,000 for a full-page black and white ad. If you were to run the same ad in INC., it would be over $65,000! Our last example is Time, which would run you over $170,000 for the same ad.

Pros and Cons of Magazine Advertising

Pros:

• Reach a highly targeted audience
• Benefit local publishers if they cater to a niche audience or community
• You can build a direct relationship with the publisher
• Magazine ads offer a strong visual presentation
• They can typically draw relatively high audience interest 
• Longer shelf-life compared to newspapers

Cons:

• It can be more expensive than comparable “print” media
• Higher lead time to publication

What Is Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising can be defined as a form of digital advertising that serves paid ads to your target audience using social media platforms such as TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

What Business Types Is Social Media Advertising a Good Fit 

Social media advertising is best for businesses looking to reach a new, targeted audience fast, and they have a database of clients above 5,000. With at least this many, you can create effective look-a-like audiences. This will allow you to reach the exact people you want to target cost-effectively. 

What Is the Average Cost of Social Media Advertising

Paid social is an affordable form of digital advertising with an average cost-per-click of $1.86 on Facebook and as low as less than 50 cents per click on Twitter. Most social media advertising platforms have a minimum daily ad spend of around $1 to $5, with the option to turn ads on and off at any time. There can be other costs associated with using social media advertising, such as the cost of social media marketing tools and social media management services. 

The average cost of social media advertising will range anywhere from $1 per day for impressions ($30 per month) or $15 to $200 per day or $450 to $6000 per month for other types of ads.

Pros and Cons of Social Media Advertising

Pros:

• Reach the right people through sophisticated audience targeting
• Retargeting options for people who have interacted with your content or visited your website
• You can choose how much or how little you want to spend on ads per day or per month.
• Generate more qualified leads due to audience targeting
• Influence buying behavior
• Campaigns are easy to track
• Drive traffic and conversions immediately (depending on your knowledge of your clientele)
• A complete picture of the ROI on each campaign

Cons:

• Easy to create ads and forget about them, leading to poor performance and increased costs
• Requires a lot of time and attention to maximize results
• Risk of ad fatigue or showing prospects an ad too early or too often and turning them off
• Potentially more significant investment upfront while you determine a good combination of copy, visuals, and content

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is an internet marketing method in which advertisers pay a price each time one of their advertisements is clicked. It is essentially a method of purchasing visitors to your website rather than attempting to “earn” those views organically, as with content marketing.

Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC. It enables small businesses, marketers, agencies, or advertisers to bid for ad placement in a search engine’s sponsored links when a user searches for a keyword related to the offering.

Every time our ad is clicked, we must pay a tiny fee to the search engine, directing a person to our website. When PPC works properly, the charge is insignificant because the visit is worth more than you spend. In other words, if we pay $5 for a click that leads to a $600 transaction, we’ve made a nice profit.

What Business Types Is Pay-Per-Click Advertising Advertising a Good Fit

Almost all businesses can benefit from PPC ads; however, there are some that may be better suited, such as:

• Companies with high client lifetime values like dentists and doctors
• Lawyers
• Service area businesses (plumbers, roofers, general contractors, landscapers, painters, etc.)
• Home Appliances
• Cars
• Hard-to-find products
• Florists, gift baskets, and costumes
• Wedding venues
• Location-specific businesses 

What Is the Average Cost of Pay-Per-Click Advertising Advertising

Since PPC ads are based on a bid, much like social media advertising, therefore pricing will vary. The below chart will give you a cursory overview of what costs may be per click, and you can see which category your business fits in.

(Source: Statista)

Pros and Cons of Pay-Per-Click Advertising Advertising

Pros:

• PPC ads can provide instant traffic
• Your return on investment is nearly double what you spend
• PPC user data helps your SEO strategy
• PPC ads don’t depend on algorithm changes
• PPC ads can reach audiences cost-effectively
• You can target potential clients when they are engaged
• PPC ad can help you focus on the local market
• PPC ads will let you send people to specific landing pages
• Target multiple audiences that use the same service
• PPC ads helps you cut through competition 
• PPC ads have impressive analytics
• You can start and stop your PPC ad campaigns at any time

Cons:

• Click-through rates can be low
• You pay for clicks regardless of conversion
• Hard to compete with more prominent companies
• Limited Number of Characters
• Keyword pricing can impact your budget
• 59% of users don’t trust online ads 

What Is Content Marketing and SEO

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as:

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

In other words, instead of pitching your services, you are providing beneficial and relevant content to your prospects and clients to help them solve their issues.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the strategies for building an audience for your website. The experts at Moz define SEO as:

A marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. SEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines.

In other words, properly practiced SEO helps make your website visible for potential clients when they are googling terms related to your products or services. Though SEO is not necessarily a comprehensive marketing strategy, it is an important habit for small business owners who want to make the most of their websites. 

What Business Types Is Content Marketing & SEO a Good Fit

Truly any business can benefit from content marketing and SEO, but if you need a general list, take a look at these: 

• Chiropractics
• Renovation & Remodeling
• Professional Services
• Educational Institutions
• Manufacturing
• SaaS & Cybersecurity
• Real Estate (Residential and Commercial), Warehouse, Storage, and Distribution
• And many more!

What Is the Average Cost of Content Marketing and SEO

When it comes to determining the cost of content marketing and SEO, it isn’t as straightforward as “advertising.”

According to a Sparktoro survey, prices can range from less than $500 to $10,000 per month. But as a general rule of thumb, most small businesses should expect to pay somewhere between $400 and $1,000 for the basics and $800 or more for more advanced and in-depth marketing.

Pros and Cons of Content Marketing & SEO

Pros:

• You become a reliable source for information.
• Your content attracts relevant clients and customers.
• ​​Relatively inexpensive when compared to traditional methods
• It has a compound effect and creates assets that last
• Supports other marketing and customer service
• Reaches the right audience (even those who reject advertising or those running ad blockers)
• Achieves better results and is cost-efficient

Cons:

• It can be hard to move away from traditional marketing methods.
• It can seem daunting and complicated with a high learning curve.
• It’s time-consuming.
• It takes time (at least 6-9 months, possibly longer depending on industry)