Advertising is the attempt to influence the buying behavior of customers or clients with a persuasive selling message about products and/or services. In business, the goal of advertising is to attract new customers by defining the target market and reaching out to them with an effective ad campaign.

Target Market
Establishing the target market is the critical first step in any advertising campaign – you need to know who your intended audience is before you can reach them. If your target audience is senior citizens, for example, an advertising medium such as Facebook is a poor choice. Similarly, Millennials are much less likely to read newspapers or use the Yellow Pages.

Defining the target market involves building a demographic profile of the prospective customer by taking into account criteria such as age, gender, marital status, lifestyles, shopping habits, etc.

It is also important to check out the level of competition for your product or service with your target audience as you may need to compete on price and/or service.

Common Advertising Methods
There are many different types of advertising that are typically used by small businesses.

Online advertising: Online marketing includes a myriad of advertising opportunities, such as:

Local website advertising: Many municipalities and Chamber of Commerce chapters have websites that provide listings of local businesses.
Business web pages: Creating and maintaining a professional website with clearly outlined descriptions of business offerings, optimized for search traffic.

Email
Requires a customer email list and adherence to anti-spam regulations. Email newsletters can be useful for keeping in touch with existing customers and passing on information about new products or services.

Facebook
Taking advantage of social media by creating a business Facebook page and using it to regularly promote products and services. A common advertising venue for businesses such as restaurants who use Facebook fan pages to promote new menu items or specials and to receive feedback from customers. There are also a number of available 3 for doing business on Facebook.