What are means of communication and which ones you should use for advertising

In the past, you could count the existing means of communication on one hand. There were practically only 2 means of mass communication, and only a few select organizations dominated the transmission of information.

Nowadays, things are very different. Thanks to the internet and technological advances, new means of communication have emerged and anyone can transmit information and create relationships through it.

We all need means of communication in our daily lives, especially entrepreneurs, when it comes to advertising their business. And it is this last feature of the means of communication that we’ll be talking about in this post.

But after all, what are means of communication, and which ones exist? Keep reading!

What are means of communication?

Means of communication are systems that allow the communication between people and groups. It is through them that messages and information are transmitted.

The means of mass communication are those that allow the transmission of information from a broadcaster to many receivers at once. The main examples are TV, radio and the internet.

Advertising and marketing use the means of mass communication as one of the main forms of advertising products and services.

Therefore, those who work with this type of advertising, and wish to have positive results, need to understand what the most effective means of communicating are with their audience. And based on that, create solid strategies for each channel. 

The top means of communication

We can divide the top means of communication for a business’ advertising into 2 types: offline and online means of communication. Check them out below!

Offline means of communication

Television

Unlike what many people might imagine, television is still one of the most important means of communication, since a large part of the population still watches TV.

For this reason, large companies still earmark a large part of their advertising budget to this means of communication.

At any rate, while people still watch TV, they also browse the internet; one does not exclude the other. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen in the USA and published on ZDNet, 59% of those interviewed said that they always watch TV and use the internet at the same time.

This factor is a clear sign that advertising shouldn’t be focused only on one means of communication.

Radio

Radio is one of the oldest means of communication and is still widely used.

Despite the popularization of the famous podcasts, radio hasn’t lost its place as an effective means of communication, especially for advertising.

Among its main advantages, the one that stands out the most is its dynamism. People listen to radio on their cellphones, in their car and at home. The disadvantage is that they are doing other things while they listen.

Thus, advertising a business on radio requires a lot of creativity in order to get listeners’ attention.

OOH (Out-of-home) media

OOH, or out-of-home media is also known as outdoor media, which includes billboards, bus stop advertising and all street advertising.

It is quite traditional and is still widely used, especially if you want to do mass and geolocalized communication.

Online/internet means of communication

Website

Websites are the main means of online communication for a business’ advertising, whether digital or not.

They are the company’s address on the internet, as if it were its online headquarters.

That’s why it’s so important! The website should initially contain information about the business, the product or service and form of contact.

In addition, the website is also the basis for using other means of communication on the internet, such as a blog and email address.

In order to create a professional website, entrepreneurs don’t necessarily need the help from a professional. This is because nowadays, it’s very easy to create one on your own. Just study and learn a little about the subject.

What you need to know is that you’ll need to pay for your own domain and the rest can be done for free.

Blog

This means of communication has become quite famous, and in addition to mediating entertainment and information, it has become one of the main channels for organic marketing.

In other words, blogs are very efficient in getting people to know your business without having to invest money on it.

For those who wish to create a blog for content marketing need to focus on it and plan the strategy well.

Social media

Social media is the means of communication by which people relate to each other and entertain themselves.

However, for some time now, social media has become a much more open space for brands and entrepreneurs to promote their businesses.

Thus, business pages and profiles, marketplaces and the shopping version have popped up on the existing social media.

Ads have also become more strategic in these means of communication, where businesses can invest in the so-called Social Ads, which we’ll see later.

Email

If you thought that email was a thing of the past, you need to know that it is still one of the most used, popular and efficient means of marketing communication.

All major companies use email to boost their marketing strategies.

While email is a personal and informative channel, it allows businesses to talk to hundreds of people at once.

Email marketing strategies rely on platforms that allow perfect segmentation and automation to promote businesses. With it, you can obtain precision and personalization that stands out among other media.

Paid media

Paid media is a means of communication that is completely focused on internet advertising. It can be used to advertise on Google, YouTube, specific websites and blogs and on social media.

As the name says, you need to pay in order to advertise on the channels that provide this type of communication.

We can divide paid media into 2 major groups: Google Ads and Social Ads.

Google Ads

Ads are placed on Google through Google Ads. It allows you to advertise your business on search results pages, on YouTube and on Google partner websites and blogs.

Social Ads

These are ads on social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can create ads that appear as posts in the middle of other organic posts on the feed and also, boost posts that were posted normally, but that will have more visibility and engagement.

How do you choose the means of communication to advertise your digital business?

So far, you’ve seen that the possibilities are countless when it comes to using the means of communication in your favor to advertise a business, right?

But the challenge is when you have to choose the right channels to do so.

In order to solve this problem, we have listed a few tips that will help you. Check them out!

Know your target audience

The first tip to help you plan your advertising well on the right means of communication is knowing your target audience.

Every company and entrepreneur needs to define the business profile carefully, and this includes understanding the characteristics and main information about their customers or potential customers.

Based on this, you can identify the means of communication that your audience uses the most and gear your marketing efforts to them.

Create your marketing plan

The marketing plan is an important step to help you achieve good results with your strategies.

A good marketing plan should include:

• Business objectives and goals
• SWOT analysis;
• Persona;
• KPIs;
• Deadlines and budget.

In addition, you should analyze your competition and monitor the evolution of your strategies, measuring everything possible and obtaining solutions for problems that can be applied in the future.

Segment your content

Especially when it comes to advertising on the internet, a means of communication where segmentation is recommended and efficient, it is important to pay attention to the segmentation of the content.

Segmentation means targeting strategies towards those you want to consume your content, products or services.

For example, after you have defined your business’ persona (ideal customer) in your marketing plan, create content thinking about what this persona would like to read and see.

The more specific you are, the more accurate your content will be, which will make it easier to convert a visitor into a lead or customer.

Have an integrated channel strategy

Of course that, regardless of this subject of choosing the right channel and segmenting, you don’t have to choose only one means of communication for your advertising.

You can use an integrated multi-channel strategy, which can work well for your business. In other words, if you find it valid, you can advertise your business in as many means of communication as you want.

But you need to be dedicated to a defined strategy and be consistent in all the channels you decide to use. It is also important to pay attention to the originality of the content according to each media’s characteristics and style.

In addition, in order for the strategy to be truly integrated, the content of different channels must communicate with each other and demonstrate a uniformity of concept, strengthening your branding.

Online authority

Did you enjoy learning about the means of communication to advertise your business? Are you ready to start putting everything into practice on the most strategic media for your business?

Great! The next step, once you are already using the means of communication properly, is to achieve authority through them.

Especially on the internet, where there’s a lot of everything, standing out is crucial and you can achieve this by becoming an authority online.

Read our post on how to become an online authority and achieve the best results for your business!