With the vast expansion of social media, video tools, and content marketing articles, there seems to be no shortage of effective advertising techniques. Whether you are running a small business that only employs you or a global corporation generating hundreds of thousands of paychecks every week, there are many advertising methods that have been around long before the internet was commonplace.
Instead of getting intimidated by the newest and latest additions to the marketing mix, there are still traditional ways that haven’t fallen by the wayside to make products and services enticing to consumers.
Let’s dig right into five different advertising methods that have stood the test of time for your company to consider.
1.) Billboard Advertising
How often have you been driving through long stretches of highway roads, seeing the same painted lanes on the ground and the same green grass and trees off to the side of you? That repetitive landscape, as beautiful a gift of nature as it is, makes it that much easier for big, bold, colorful billboards to catch your attention as soon as they pop up.
There is no need to be frightened by what you assume the billboard advertising cost to be when you are trying to reach potential customers in your immediate area. When cleverly designed billboards are strategically situated in areas that receive plenty of traffic, they continue to reach large audiences as they have for decades upon decades.
People can observe interesting marketing messages on a billboard as they are traveling to school or work, whether they are the traditional printed billboards or they are the digital billboards that have the capability of displaying multiple ads.
2.) Yard Signs
As old-fashioned as yard signs stuck into the ground may sound, just think about how quickly they catch peoples’ eye, like a smaller version of a billboard, but in someone’s front long instead of the highway.
There has to be a reason why you can go from neighborhood to neighborhood and see the use of yard signs for advertising by real estate agents, for instance. It is because when it is time to let potential customers know who they are, yard signs work.
3.) Flyers
Interestingly enough, flyers for advertising are also a powerful marketing tool that can help capture the attention of your core audience quickly when they are created and launched properly. Handing out printed flyers can communicate your message, establish a localized face-to-face connection, and can even be incorporated with email marketing.
If you decide to go with the digitized online route with your business flyers, be sure to combine PDF files of your flyers into one single file to make emails easier to manage and to retain their image quality.
4.) Discounts and Special Offers
Whether you saw a discount sale on a television commercial, heard about a limited-time offer while listening to a local radio station, or you happened to receive discount coupons directly in your mailbox for a grocery store, saving money has stood the test of time when it comes to getting people to make purchases.
Offering unbeatable discounts on particular offerings is one way to enhance your marketing efforts, especially if the customer perceives value in the offer. Take Black Friday, for example, which is a much-anticipated event that consumers look forward to with the hopes of getting a discounted deal on their favorite product or service.
In summary, marketing is so diverse that many methods may work for you – traditional and new. Furthermore, if you think digital is the only way to achieve your marketing objectives, you may want to rethink your marketing strategy to include traditional marketing too.
5.) Memorable Slogans or Taglines
Slogans are statements that sum up a company’s goals. Taglines are catchy phrases that spark the image of your organization in the minds of consumers.
In comparison, taglines are typically shorter than slogans in expressing what a company is about because they are trying to make you feel good about that company. At the same time, slogans may take a tad longer to establish how that organization helps its customers.
Think of the company and product slogans and slogans that have lasted year after year:
- Apple: “Think Different”
- M&M: “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands”
- Maxwell House: “Good to the Last Drop”
- McDonald’s: ‘I’m Lovin’ It’
- Nike: “Just Do It.”
- Sprite: Obey Your Thirst”
- Wheaties: “The Breakfast of Champions”
Over the course of time, creating a catchy slogan that will remain in the minds of your audience long after they have read it is one highly effective way of making brands stand apart from the competitors in their industry. Standout slogans need to be clear, speak to the desired audience (not at them) in a tone appropriate to your line of business, along with including your company logo.