May 13, 2006
Selling Yourself Online
The Internet is helping small businesses alter the way they sell themselves.
Some small-business owners are forsaking traditional advertising venues for online advertising - including ads in search engines Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. and free listings in online classifieds sites like Craigslist. Others are using Internet firms like Spot Runner Inc., which help small businesses create affordable commercials and buy air time for those ads in local television markets - something that’s usually too costly for smaller firms.
“The Internet has really leveled the playing field for the little guys,” says Jason Hacker, owner of Tech Plummer, a computer-repair company in McLean, Va. “The Internet and new technology helps me to get the word out.” Mr. Hacker recently began doing some TV advertising with the help of Spot Runner.
Small companies spend about $30 billion annually on advertising, according to market-research firm Kelsey Group. And old advertising standbys — local newspapers, community bulletins and the yellow pages — will likely continue to receive a large chunk of those ad dollars. The yellow pages “remains the single largest vehicle for small businesses,” says Greg Sterling, a principal at Sterling Market Intelligence, a research and consulting firm in Oakland, Calif., that focuses on online consumers.
Still, online companies like Spot Runner and small advertisers themselves see the potential for real growth for these newer ad venues — especially since the Internet allows small companies to more easily reach a wider swath of consumers. Here’s a look at where some of the small-business ad dollars are starting to shift:
Local TV Advertising
For many small businesses, marketing products on television has long been a pipe dream. “It’s very expensive to do TV,” says Bonnie Manjura, co-founder of Gilbert & Manjura, a small marketing firm in Longwood, Fla. “You can’t just buy one TV ad and reach the market.”
And small businesses that do buy air time on a local station usually can’t afford to spend a lot on the production — ending up with cheesy ads that run late at night.
But companies like Los Angeles-based Spot Runner are now making TV advertising more accessible. For less than $500, Spot Runner will customize one of several thousands of commercials it has created for specific industry segments. The advertiser can then book time in local TV markets through the Web site, and Spot Runner will deliver the commercial electronically to the TV broadcaster or cable company for insertion into the programming. Spot Runner takes a commission on the sale of the ad.
Barkinglot Inc., a Chicago pet-boarding service, ran a commercial in November in several local markets through Spot Runner. The ad featured a group of dogs talking about their time at Barkinglot. While the spot was a far cry from the elaborate commercials produced by marketing giants like PepsiCo Inc., it was still much better than the typical local ad fare that has lackluster graphics and a shakey camera feel.
Barkinglot paid $299 to create the ad and purchased $1,400 in ad time, which included having its ad run 144 times over a two-week period on Chicago cable systems. Barkinglot owner Brad Kriser says customer phone calls jumped by 20% during those two weeks.
To fund the move into TV, Mr. Kriser, who has a $40,000 annual marketing budget and has used it largely on local newspaper and yellow pages advertising, says he is cutting his newspaper advertising.
