Classified advertising is a cheap and easy way for small businesses to connect with potential customers. It’s a great way to get the word out about your company, especially if you can’t budget for other forms of advertising. Most businesses should be able to find some form of classified advertising they can comfortably afford whatever the medium, be it online, in print or both.
Time and Money
Purchasing classified advertising for your business will typically work out a lot cheaper than buying other media space such as print, radio or TV ads. Some classified sites even allow businesses to advertise for free. With classified advertising, you typically won’t need to spend time creating an ad yourself or pay for the services of a creative agency to make one for you. Placing a classified ad is usually as easy as coming up with some short copy and supplying your contact details. If you want to design a more complex ad, many publications and websites that sell classifieds offer assistance.
Reach
Using classified ads allows you to focus your marketing on the areas you do business in and reach people who are likely to buy goods or services from you. You should place print ads only in publications that are distributed in locations you can serve. There’ll be little point in advertising in classified listings that are mainly distributed in areas you’re not willing to travel to or trade in. This won’t be an issue if your business is mainly online. Many online classified services allow you to specify the areas you serve, so your ad will come up when potential customers look for businesses like yours close to where they live. If you’re placing your ad in a local paper, ask for a media pack so you can see what type of readership it attracts to make sure your ad will reach the right demographic.
Access
Radio and television advertising is all well and good, but it’s not in front of potential customers all the time. If somebody experiences a leak and needs to contact a plumber, they’re not going to turn their on radio and wait until they hear an ad for one. Potential customers will be able to search for you all the time your ad is live online or for as long as they have your print ad lying around.
Contact
Some online classified services allow potential customers to contact advertisers directly through their websites. This means that people looking for the goods or services you sell can make an inquiry simply by tapping a link on a smartphone or clicking through to send an email from a computer.
Source: Small Business
