My web developer, who also provides web marketing consulting, offersa lot of tips about online marketing. One of the biggest areas missed by business people is using local media outlet’s online version of newspapers and television stations. Most people think that the advertising rates will be enormous, when in fact they may be reasonable. Below are several ways to use these media outlets:

Contest Sponsorships

While having a discussion with her, she mentioned one particular opportunity where the TV station had an online contest. They were looking for advertisers to sponsor a local sporting event. The highest sponsorship level would give them full exposure. They would be able to have their information on all of their marketing materials, which included guest handouts. Their logo would appear on tote bags, hats, cups and signage. They would also benefit from game day shout outs and website recognition. Another sponsorship level did not include marketing collateral, but was still well worth the sponsorship.

Advertise on TV Stations Videos

Have you ever missed the news and decided to catch up on the TV station’s website to find the video? Prior to the news is a commercial. These ads may not be expensive and… they can be narrowed down to target your audience.

For example, your business services only one or two zip codes. The marketing professionals at the TV station can develop an advertising campaign that will only show your ads online to IP addresses in a specific zip code. This would be great as a way to test how many people visit or call your company from these ads. If you are getting a great number of calls, you could then expand your campaign to other zip codes.

Banner Advertising

Banner advertising can work almost the same way. Each TV station or newspaper has their own way of producing ads on each of the pages. For example, if you are in the sports business – you could ask for ads in the sports section only. Or, if you trying to reach high school athletes – you could place an ad on the high school sports pages.

These types of campaigns require expertise by the sales professionals at each media outlet. Contact them for a meeting. The sales professionals are helpful and courteous and will be happy to explain everything to you.

So… reach out to your local media outlets! You may be surprised that you can actually afford to advertise with them.