17 Percent of Small Businesses Still Advertise Regularly in the Newspaper

You’d have a hard time convincing small business owners that print is dead. But perhaps someone should try.

Small Business Newspaper Advertising is Alive and Well

In a new survey of small business owners, researchers with G2 Crowd learned that 17 percent of small business owners still regularly run promotions in the newspaper. That doesn’t sound like a whole lot but consider now the numerous other forms of advertising, marketing and promotion available today. So many other forms are cheaper, easier, and can likely result in more positive results.

The results were released as part of G2 Crowd’s Crowd Views survey report.

In addition to print newspaper ads, small business owners are clinging to other forms of 20th Century promotion. Consider that 12 percent of small business owners surveyed said they regularly promote their company on the radio. And at least 7 percent use billboards to promote their business.

While these still may be effective means of promoting a business, they can be rather costly. And their messages are fleeting. Most newspaper ads are tossed in the garbage at the end of the day. And if a radio ad is played, heard, but forgotten, its impact has to be questioned.

Luckily, the same survey showed that small business owners who rely on these forms of advertising to promote their company aren’t in the norm. In fact, small businesses continue to adopt newer forms of promotion. Take, for instance, the 80 percent of small businesses who say they regularly use Facebook to promote their company. And the 51 percent using Twitter, 44 percent using LinkedIn, and 36 percent using Instagram.

The survey doesn’t indicate if the small businesses are paying for promotion on these social media sites. Other figures from the study — including the amount who pay for the older media ads — suggest those businesses aren’t paying for ads on social media. Another hint: just 19 percent of small businesses are paying for Google AdWords campaigns.

Man with Newspaper Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "17 Percent of Small Businesses Still Advertise Regularly in the Newspaper" was first published on Small Business Trends