When someone thinks about advertising, they likely think about newspaper and magazine ads, TV and radio commercials, or any ad they see when they’re outside. While there are ways these ads could fall into the digital age of advertising, they all consist of the tried and true traditional methods of advertising.

Print Publications

Magazines are great for running local ads but can also run nationally or internationally. Of course, the more coverage you get the more it will cost. Running a large ad for more people to see is great, but it’s also great to stay in an affordable price range.
Newspapers are run locally for the most part, making them more affordable than magazine ads depending on the specs of the ad.
In the age of digital advertising, print publications have their advantages. With less publications, there is more space for your ads, and since there is less of a demand for it the costs might be more affordable as well.
Print also has its disadvantages. Before you commit to running an ad in a newspaper or magazine, make sure the readership is high enough that plenty of people will actually see the ad.

Broadcast Advertising

Radio ad prices depend on a few different factors, the frequency of the ad and the time of day it plays. Most ads range from fifteen to thirty seconds, while some get up to sixty seconds. The frequency of the ad is important, but it really only matters if you are able to get it to play at the time of day radio stations have the most listeners. The best time slots are those during morning and evening commute times, since the number of listeners peak at these times the costs will be higher to get your ad played in this spot. If your business offers something that might be advertised best with some kind of visual stimulation, radio advertisement probably isn’t the route you want to go with.

TV commercials are a great way to reach a much larger audience. You have more creative freedom and an opportunity to brand your business. That being said, TV commercials are one of the costlier forms of advertising. It can be costly to create the ads, but the most expensive part is paying for the airtime.

Outdoor Advertising

Billboards are best utilized in areas where traffic can easily become congested, like intersections and highways, so drivers have more time see the advertisement. The typical time for a billboard to be up is twelve weeks but you can run for longer or shorter time frames. You can either advertise using a physical billboard or a digital billboard. The advantages of a physical billboard over a digital one are that it can’t glitch, it’s less expensive and there are more existing physical billboards since they’ve been a staple form of advertising for many years.

With digital billboards, the production cost will be less, but the cost to advertise will depend on your time slot. Digital billboards usually show an ad for a few seconds before switching to another on a loop, this can help the advertising cost less as well. Other advantages of digital billboards include the ability to have more creative content, the ability to target the content towards the region it’s in, and the flexibility to change the content easily.

Car and truck signs are other affordable options and they can potentially have a larger reach. The signs put on the cars and trucks can last years, while other forms of advertisement only run for a few months. 

Skywriting is attention-grabbing and easily captivates everyone watching. Sky messages can be seen for miles and are easily readable in the sky. And since it’s in the sky you have as much space to work with as you want! Sky messages are perfect for crowded outdoor spaces such as the beach or outdoor event venue. 

Commuter benches are very cost efficient, and they work! Being at eye level, they are easy for commuters to notice whether they’re in a car, walking or biking. Since it’s outdoors, you will have geographic control over the ad and can customize each ad by location.
Rapid transit vehicles act as a great site for advertisements because they’re harder for someone to ignore sitting next to or across from it than when they’re fast forwarding through a commercial or driving by a billboard. The concept is very similar to that of commuter bench advertising, just in a different location and potential reaches more people and is fairly affordable.

Taxis have a few different advertisement formats available, while taxi toppers are the most popular the other options include taxi trunks, door wraps, and full wraps. You’ll want to have a budget set for this one because most of the cost depends on what kind of advertising format you want on the taxi.

Sides of buildings are great for ads, also known as wallscapes. The first thing you’ll want to do for this is know what size the wall is and have a plan for how to best utilize that. They’re usually placed in metropolitan areas.

Whether you need content updated or created from scratch, CloudSent can help with all your advertising and marketing needs! Whether it’s traditional or digital, we have an expert team ready to help your business grow! To see a full list of what Cloudsent can do for you, check out our creative and branding services here.