The battle lines between traditional media and online media have not been clearly drawn. There is debate on whether or not it is best for small businesses to direct their limited cash towards more traditional methods of advertising or if it is worth it to market online. Let's look at the pros and cons of each.

Advantages of Traditional Advertising for Small Businesses

1. Traditional media reaches those who are not firm members of the online community... they are still out there.

2. Traditional forms of advertising can get away with asking for the sale without looking like spam.

3. Traditional marketing is great for building brand awareness because it comes into contact with target audiences during regular activities, like listening to the radio or reading the newspaper.

Disadvantages of Traditional Media

1. Rates can be comparatively high because of limited space and printing costs.

2. It can be difficult to track performance of a marketing initiative until considerable time has lapsed and even then it is a manual process of actually requesting feedback from customers.

3. There is limited circulation because it must actually reach the audience, so it may be better for local or even national exposure but the cost again is tied to the scope of the campaign.

Advantages of Online Media Advertising

1. Internet advertising can be much less expensive.

2. It is also easier to get value because it can be a cost-per-click arrangement. So the business is only charged if someone actually clicks on an ad instead of the more traditional payment for placement of offline advertising.

3. Because each click can be tracked it is also easier to tally conversion rates, as opposed to offline media which has to be manually collected after the fact.

4. It has a broader reach simply because of the global nature of the Internet.

Disadvantages of Online Advertising for Small Businesses

1. It is easy for your online ad to get lost in a sea of ads. This is tied to the basic concept of being a small fish in a big sea. Some marketers are of the opinion that online ads actually have less chance of success because there is so much competition for attention.

2. It is too measureable. Internet advertising statistics can be evidence that there can be too much of a good thing. Because it is so easy to collect data a lot of time can be wasted analyzing statistics that really don't add value because what really matters is how many people bought what you were trying to sell... everything else can be considered extras.

So which is better, online or offline? The answer to that is "it depends". The choice must suit the business, because there are clear advantages and disadvantages to both options.

Learn more about this author, Natalia Jones.
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