Being a small business, spending money on various platforms is tricky and also a cumbersome process. Given the budgetary constraints that small businesses have, spending money on the right platform is important as that would yield better results and ROI.
Before jumping into running your ads, it is very important to analyze the various options that are available to choose the right platform that best suits your business. It is also equally important to prepare a checklist and goal before planning to run an ad.
Why ads are important for small business?
- To improve brand awareness and attract new customers
- To convert visitors into customers
- To influence the customer decision
- To keep your business on top of your customer’s mind.
- To increase visibility of your business
Whenever we think about running an ad for a business, our mind immediately goes to Google ads because of its higher user interactions and active users. But there are many alternatives for Google ads with larger audiences.
Thinking for alternatives to Google or YouTube ads? Here are some of the disruptive platforms you can think for your next ad campaign with higher user interactions and ROI. Like Google & YouTube ads, we can control the amount spent on ads based on the clicks and conversions. And also, the target can be made based on their age, demographics and other factors which are likely to improve the conversions.
Top 7 alternative ads platform for your Small Business:
- Quora
- Amazon
- Microsoft Ads
- Reddit Ads
1.Instagram
Active users: Instagram is having 1 billion active users.
Instagram is becoming one of the biggest platforms with large user interactions. From a basic photo-sharing app, Instagram has now grown to become a vital marketing platform for businesses. You can target your prospective customers with six different formats.
- Stories ads
- Photo ads
- Video ads
- Carousel ads
- Collection ads
- Ads in Explore
2.Quora
Active users: Quora is having 300 million monthly active users.
Quora, as a knowledge sharing platform, it gained a lot of interactions in the last few years. Quora has answers for all your questions, and it also secures a top place in search results.
We can target the audience based on their Quora behavior, Keywords, locations and it can also be targeted based on questions. Quora ad will appear in the Quora question and answer space.
3. Amazon
Active users: 150 million active prime users
Amazon is the largest online marketplace worldwide. If you are selling products, home decor, outfits, accessories you should definitely try Amazon ads and you can expand your brand reach.
Amazon ad is one among the best platform to showcase your product and brand. You can target your audience with low ad costs and are more likely to influence the buying decision. Targeting with the right keyword will improve the ROI of your business.
While running ad in Amazon, you can target both the product and the brand.
4. LinkedIn
Active users: 760 million users
Best site for targeting the professional audience. More than 80% of B2B lead generations happen through LinkedIn. It also offers a different type of targeting called InMail. It is possible to send a direct message to 3rd connections using InMail credits. LinkedIn offers 6 different ad types.
- Sponsored Content
- Direct Sponsored Content
- Sponsored InMail
- Text Ads
- Dynamic Ads
- Lead Gen Forms (can be used with Sponsored Content & Sponsored InMail).
5. Pinterest
Active users: 442 million monthly active users
This visual bookmarking platform has its own user base and user interactions. 89% of pinners use Pinterest for inspiration on their path to purchase. Pinterest also offers different kind of ad types.
- Standard Pins
- Carousel Ads
- Video Pins Ads
- Shopping Pins
- App Install Pins
6. Microsoft Ads formerly Bing ads
Active users: 126 million active users
Similar to way, Google offers ads to its users, we can also target the desired audience in Microsoft ad, and is much cheaper than Google ads. It is worth exploring Bing ads if you are thinking about changing your ad channel. Competitive keywords can be targeted for a lesser cost because it isn’t used as heavily as Google.
7. Reddit Ads
Active users: 330 million
This unique community-centric social network encourages users to contribute to discussion-based threads called subreddits. Reddit offers two types of ads – Link ads and text ads.
There are many platforms that can be considered as alternatives for Google and YouTube ads. But the most important step to be considered before running your ads is to do a small bit of research and competitive analysis to identify a platform that can be used to target your specific audience.
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