Best ways to advertise a small business online 

Promoting your business doesn’t have to be difficult with these online tools at your fingertips.

Advertising is now easier than ever, thanks to social media and search engines, which are teeming with both obvious and subtle commercials. However, this can also make for an oversaturated market, so smart businesspeople aim for certain types of advertisements that maximize customer engagement for as little cost as possible.   


An introduction to digital commercials 

Any prospective business needs to consider the likely costs of advertising. Hopefully, some of these stats help.  

Small businesses’ average advertising cost for using Google Ads is between $9,000 and $10,000 monthly. Given that 70 to 80 per cent of users ignore sponsored search results, a search engine marketing (SEM) approach is arguably the best since it has the advantages of sponsored content without overly relying on it.   

By 2026, it is expected that businesses will increase their annual social media budgets by 11.76 per cent. This shows a rising interest in using these platforms to attract potential new customers. However, there are ways to engage people on social media without spending much more money.  

On X (formerly Twitter), 77 per cent of users appreciate a brand more when it responds to their tweets, but typically expect a response within four hours of their tweet going live. Businesses usually take as long as 10 hours to post a response. Thus, as long as it can be done in a manner that best represents the company, it may be worthwhile to build the habit of quickly writing positive responses to customers online.  


Cheap ways to advertise in person and offline 

Meaningful engagement that doesn’t feel like just business to potential shoppers is one way to make a brand stick inside customers’ heads. Other ways include customer loyalty rewards programs to lock in long-time clients, giveaways or promotions to get new people interested, and even sponsoring a beloved local event. 

Hosting events in the local community is also a great way for business owners to get involved in the local area, meet customers face-to-face, and get creative with how they promote their products. However, this strategy requires a good understanding of one’s audience. For example, someone targeting customers who work 9-5 jobs should not plan an event in the middle of a work week. 

Press coverage is a great form of free publicity. Its only downside is that reporters need something newsworthy to run a story. Business development should ideally tie into something relevant to the larger world, such as launching a new product that fights against global warming. Knowing how to write a press release is crucial in getting journalists to accept a business story.  

Two takeaways for anyone writing a press release: keep it short and put the lede (the most interesting or eye-catching part of a story) at the top. To avoid over-promotion, smart business owners should only reach out to reporters sparingly, that is, when they have a good lede so that their updates appear more important.  


Search engine optimization and buying Google results 

While advertisements may be shown to at least a few people outside the target audience, good search results can often be exactly what a customer is looking for. Businesses can increase the probability that their name will show up at the top of search results on websites like Google by paying for a specific type of advertisement or using other methods.  

For instance, search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of using titles, hashtags, keywords and other forms of content to increase the likelihood of a search engine choosing to display someone’s product. Shoppers use various online platforms to look for products, the most prominent being Amazon and Google, followed by YouTube, Facebook, X and TikTok. 

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are sponsored search results, which can be distinguished from normal search results by a little logo or text box identifying them as ads. Mileage with PPCs may vary. Half of all users cannot distinguish paid search results from organic ones, while 51 per cent of Gen Z uses ad blockers. Besides possible effectiveness, the cost may be a worthwhile factor, with small businesses using PPC ads on Google paying between $100 to $10,000 a month.  

The combination of SEO and PPC is known as Search Engine Marketing. This is arguably the best method for increasing traffic to an online shop since it uses paid search results while helping a brand naturally reach more consumers without the potential turnoff of only doing so through ads. 

Callum Denault
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