Advertising Plan for Small Business: Why You Should Have One

If you’re planning to advertise your business online, whether on Facebook, Instagram, or Google, don’t do it without an advertising marketing strategy and a plan.  

As a marketer and someone who sees plenty of online advertisements, I’ve seen some good ones, but also many (unfortunately) bad ones. 

What’s even more unfortunate is that many of these bad advertisements come from small businesses. For instance, I recently stumbled upon an ad for a gardener on Facebook. The image was simply a picture of a lawn with a caption, “lawn mowing, pruning, weeding.” Nothing else. 

Like many small business owners, this advertisement was likely created in haste, without considering keyword research or understanding how simple adjustments to the words and image could actually double their bookings.

As a small business, you can’t afford to waste money on trial-and-error advertising because ads can be costly. So in this blog, we’ll look into creating an advertising plan and why you should have one before clicking “Publish” on that ad. And if you’re really stuck, it’s time to look at online marketing services for small businesses.

A Step-by-Step Advertising Strategy for Small Businesses

1. Know Who You’re Advertising To

The first step is to identify who the advertisement is for. In marketing, we call this ‘understanding your target audience’, and it is important because it creates a true north for your advertising plan. Once you know your audience, your messaging and image become easier too. 

Here’s what you should know about your audience when running an advertisement:

• Age
• Location
• Gender 
• Interest
• Social media platform preference 
• Their pain points 
• The keywords they use to find you (super important for Google Ads) 

Inkspot Tip: Don’t try to target everyone. This will blow your budget. Instead, focus on one customer group for one advertising campaign to give you more focus and clarity. 

2. Have a Solid Advertising Strategy 

Your advertising should come with a single, solid purpose. Start thinking of what your advertisement should be about: What do you want your audience to get out of it? What can you offer that would entice them enough to click on the ad? 

For example, if you’re a dentist planning an ad, don’t design one with just your business name and your services. Instead, think of a promotion, new product, or service you can highlight, and build your ad around it. 

Here’s an example of two different static image ads that will give you two different results.

3. Create a Strong Image and Copy 

The image is 80% of your advertisement. So think about creating a strong, eye-catching image that can get attention. Perhaps it’s your product discount in bold, perhaps it’s a picture of you with a tool and the words ‘Are you our next customer?’ 

Don’t be afraid to get creative here. Many small businesses stick to what is safe, but it can also run the risk of sounding boring. And when it comes to your advertisement copy, appeal to the customer’s emotions (i.e. how will they feel after using your product?). Remember to focus on the benefits to the customer. 

3. Set a Realistic Budget

A realistic budget is whatever you’re comfortable with, and I recommend starting small and working your way up – but remember that a lower budget gets slower results. Tools like Google’s Ads Cost Tool can be a handy estimator for how much you should spend on Google. 

Think of the price of your product and services, and how much you are willing to spend to get a customer to buy this service. If your ad is on Google, remember that understanding your audience, designing a creative advertisement, and knowing what keywords your customers use to search for you can significantly bring your advertising cost down. 

4. Test Variations of Your Ads (Optional but Recommended)

Consider testing different versions of your ad, which you can do in most social media or Google ads. This means using different copies and images for your ad, and it helps you gauge which advertisements are working the best. 

For example, Meta allows you to run different ad sets, enabling you to test and use different variations of images and copy for your campaign. You can also target different audiences for each ad set, but for a small business, I recommend sticking to one target audience per advertisement and trying out different kinds of images and copy. 

5. Don’t Forget the Post-Click Experience

What happens when someone clicks on your advertisement? This is where many small businesses go wrong. Many advertisements are sent to poorly built website pages, or straight to a contact form that prompts customers to enter their details. 

Here’s why this is a problem:

1. Customers are immediately turned off when they face a slow-loading website or a page that doesn’t match their ad. 
2. Many customers who click on an advertisement don’t want to be called or be prompted to purchase immediately. They want more information first. Asking for their phone numbers upfront may be the wrong approach. 

Consider whether your post-click setup encourages clicks or dropouts. 

Key Takeaway 

You don’t need a big budget to build a simple yet effective advertising strategy, but you do need a solid plan. Your advertisement should combine your message and image into one cohesive presentation, while taking into account your audience and end goal. 

If you need advice from someone who has worked on online advertisements for small businesses for almost a decade, I’m here to help. Contact Inkspot Marketing for a friendly, no-obligations chat. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I create an effective advertising plan for my small business?

Here’s how to create an effective advertising plan: 

1. Know who you’re advertising to. Understand their age, location, pain points, and how your product can solve their problems. 
2. Have a clear strategy with an advertising goal. You should also be confident that your advertisement can entice customers to buy. 
3. Create a catchy image and use emotional language in your copy.
4. Run and test your ads. Change them if they are not producing results. 
5. Make sure your customers are led to an informative website page when they click on the ad. 

What’s the difference between an advertising strategy and a marketing strategy?
An advertising strategy focuses only on advertisements that you do online or traditionally (i.e. printed advertisements or billboards). A marketing strategy, meanwhile, encompasses a range of broader marketing activities, including social media, content marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, email marketing, branding, and many others. Advertisements are a subset of your marketing strategy, and they should work together with your other marketing activities. 

How much should a small business spend on advertising?
It depends on your advertisement, the number of people you want to target, and your location. But a reasonable budget for small businesses would be around $20 – $30 a day. Advertisements can be quite costly if they are not done right, and many small businesses end up spending up to thousands without any bookings or leads. This is why an advertising plan is important, as it keeps you focused on your goals. 

What are the most common mistakes small businesses make when advertising online?
The first, most common mistake is not having the right setup post-click. An advertisement should ideally lead to a fast-loading landing page with more information on your advertisement. The second mistake is not using the right visuals and copy for the advertisements, which makes it less enticing to the viewer. Lastly, many small businesses also don’t run a few different advertisement variations to test out what works and what doesn’t. 

How do I measure the success of my advertising campaigns?
You can track the number of clicks, conversions, and cost per lead your ad has received. Monitor how many enquiries or sales your ads generate and compare them to your spending. Use tools like Google Analytics or Meta Ads Manager to track your results and change your strategy if you don’t like what you see.