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Type of media

There are many types of media available to businesses when advertising products and services. The choice of media type is extremely important to ensure a business is accessing their customers correctly. If a business is using the wrong type of media, it could send a negative message or not be seen by the target market.

Types of media include:

• Local and national press (newspapers, magazines and journals). These are very popular for advertisements, newspapers often have many loyal and regular readers. It is likely that lots of people will see a newspaper advertisement, however these advertisements cannot be targeted specifically at the target market of a business.
• Online is a very popular method of advertising. Business often use online methods such as email, social media, website banners, videos. Online advertising has huge benefits, it is often cheaper than traditional advertising methods and gives businesses the ability to target adverts at specific groups of people.
• Radio advertisements are popular with businesses. Smaller businesses may focus more on local radio stations, whilst larger business may advertise through national radio stations to reach a larger number of people. Radio advertisements are a great way for a business to get a message across to many people.
• Television adverts are one of the main methods of advertising for many businesses. Traditionally, TV adverts have been the most appropriate method for reaching a large amount of customers. TV adverts between the most popular programmes and at key times of the day can be very expensive. Most of the time, these adverts aren’t appropriate for a small business.
• Cinemas offer a great way to advertise to potential customers. Cinemas often show adverts before a film begins, making it difficult for adverts to be ignored or missed. Advertisers may also target their advertisements, for example if a toy business wants to use a cinema to advertise, they may have their adverts before a children’s film rather than an adults action film.
• Point of sale are very popular in retail shops, for both large and small businesses. Often businesses put displays at the point of sale, with the intention that customers will make impulse purchases at the till. These displays can be adapted quickly and regularly, however only a small number of items can be displayed at any one time.
• Leaflets are used by both large and small businesses. Leaflets are an easy way to create a strong, colourful message to customers to help persuade them to make purchases. Leaflets can either be given out by hand to people in a shop or in the street, or delivered to homes and other businesses.
• Directory listings are usually in the form of a book or magazine that provides a list of contact details for businesses. These are often created for local areas, and are often either cheap to advertise in or free to display details about the business.

The type of media used could also be impacted by the budget of the business, some types of media, such as television advertisements are very expensive, whereas leaflets are cheap in comparison. A small hair salon may benefit from leaflets, social media adverts, or advertising in the local newspaper. Whereas a large national restaurant chain may benefit from national newspapers, television advertising and social media adverts.