By Ted Dhanik 

Advertising is a necessary part of running any type of business.  While some small businesses rely on word of mouth referrals, it’s still a good idea to look into advertising to the general public.  There are a few reasons for this.  First of all, advertising allows companies to grow their client base exponentially.  Also, advertising helps to achieve one of the most important elements of running a business: brand awareness.

Many companies stick with traditional advertising because they either aren’t sure how online ads work or because they believe it’s cheaper.  Traditional advertising includes putting an ad in a newspaper, magazine, billboard or on television.  While this can be a good option for certain types of businesses, there are some disadvantages.  With these types of ads, it can be difficult to monitor whether a large number of viewers are exposed to the ad.  For example, if an ad is placed in a magazine, there is a big chance that viewers graze past the ad.  If an ad is on television, it’s crucial to have the ad or commercial play at times of the day when viewership is highest.

Online advertising can be expensive, however, it’s not typically more expensive than other types of ads.  There are some definite advantages online ads offer over traditional ads.  For example, one benefit to display ads is that they can easily be updated and changed without a lot of time, energy, or money.  Obviously, traditional advertising doesn’t offer this same convenience.  Another big perk of internet ads is that they can be tailored for a target audience more easily.  Particularly category and contextual ads are placed on websites that line up with the correct demographic.  This unique tailoring is what makes display ads successful.

Author bio: Guest post is submitted by Ted Dhanik, the president and co-founder of engage:BDR.  engage: BDR is a leading media company that offers marketing solutions for direct response marketers and advertisers.  Ted Dhanik has his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing from California State University, Hayward.  Ted Dhanik was previously the VP of Strategic Marketing for Myspace for over five years.