10 Kinds of Advertising

By: Nicky LaMarco

Reviewed by: Elisa Shoenberger, M.B.A.

Updated November 21, 2018

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In "Confessions of an Advertising Man," David Ogilvy wrote, “What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.” In order to have truly effective marketing for your product or service, you need a carefully crafted message catering to the medium you choose. Luckily, with the explosion of digital media, there are even more different types of advertisements.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

The ten common types of advertising are: display ads, social media ads, newspapers and magazines, outdoor advertising, radio and podcasts, direct mail, video ads, product placement, event marketing and email marketing.

1. Display Ads

This includes digital and newspaper advertising. Digital ads are the updated version of newspaper advertising; it’s the same concept but in 21st-century form. It means buying ad space on sites that are of interest to your target demographic. You can create text ads, which essentially look just like traditional print media ads, the floating banner above the site’s contact and even wallpaper with your product or service on the site background.

The major difference between display ads and the ads you find in newspapers is the use of search engine optimization techniques to reach your target audiences more effectively when they search for you. These types of advertisements are typically also Pay Per Click, which means you bid on keywords most associated with your service or products and pay for your results to be at the top of the search engine search. The another one is Cost Per Thousand, which means to pay a flat rate to show up in search results 1,000 times.

2. Social Media Ads

Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and pretty much all social media sites offer relatively inexpensive advertising. Paid social media ads are the kind of advertisement that focuses on reaching your target audience with how much you pay adjusted to how many see it and engage with it. Organic social media ads are the kind of advertisement that generates lots of word-of-mouth. Say you post something to your business Facebook page that offers a free product if followers click Like and tag a friend — that is the type of advertisement that is free to post and makes people aware of what you have to offer.

3. Newspapers and Magazines

These kinds of advertisements are traditional yet no less effective. Combining this type of advertisement between local, statewide and national print media is a great marketing campaign strategy. Plenty of people still reach for their morning newspaper or love to settle down with a hard copy of a magazine. Also, most print media now has a digital presence and can combine these types of advertisements with its virtual version.

4. Outdoor Advertising

Now that billboards have gone digital it’s a huge way to make an effective statement. Transit ads are another kind of advertisement that falls under the outdoors umbrella — feature your product or service on buses, taxis, bike messenger services and pedicabs. Promoting this way gives you excellent brand recognition as these types of advertisements are seen everywhere daily and make your offering hard to forget.

5. Radio and Podcasts

Verbal promotion is a type of advertisement that can be repeated often as part of radio or podcast shows. You can have a traditional type of ad recorded to be played or there is also the chance of sponsorship. Narrow down the types of podcasts your target audience subscribes to or the station they most listen to for creating the kind of advertisement customers like and remember.

6. Direct Mail and Personal Sales

Direct mail, or the art of sending a compelling sales letter by snail mail to your target audience, can offer a healthy return on investment for small businesses. The starting point is to identify your target market, then send an enticing offer out to all of those prospects. Measuring the responses helps you to see which type of customers are responding to this format, so you can use even more precision targeting with your next mail shot.

In a similar vein, direct or personal sales is still a big area of advertising, especially for small businesses. A good salesperson can use his or her skills to persuade a customer to buy a product. If the salesperson is especially effective, the customer will continue to spread the word about your product through recommendations and referrals.

7. Video Ads

This type of advertisement engages with your target customers on a digital level. Create a short video and post it on your social media or pay to have it run on sites like YouTube, Hulu and blogs. A video ad can be created by experts from an agency or even done by your in-house team — even if that team is comprised of just yourself.

8. Product Placement

This kind of advertisement is seen more and more. If you pay for a podcast host to mention using your product or pay a television show to feature a character talking about or using your service, that is product placement. You can also talk to popular YouTube channel hosts about this type of advertisement.

9. Event Marketing

Paying to sponsor a sports team or a charity benefit falls under event marketing. These types of advertisements mean a large cross-section of people hear your brand name and associate it with that event. Many companies also look to conventions for this sort of niche advertisement.

10. Email Marketing

A kind of advertisement that is focused on your existing customers, email marketing involves them signing up for promotional sales or newsletters focused on your brand. Email marketing is an updated customer loyalty promotion and works very well when you treat customers as insiders with VIP knowledge.

There are as many ways to utilize types of advertising as there are kinds of advertising. By diversifying your approaches in both traditional and digital worlds as well as focusing on your core target market while getting the word out about your brand to the people at large, you can grow by leaps and bounds.