Advertising is extremely important for businesses to get customers interested in their products. Today, we see ads everywhere – on billboards, TV, radio, internet and more. Companies use many different advertising methods to grab our attention and convince us to make a purchase.
These methods can be grouped into different types of advertising. Each type has its own unique way to reach people. Some use traditional routes like newspaper ads, TV commercials or billboards. Others use newer digital marketing on websites, apps, and social media.
Understanding the various types of advertising is key for businesses to effectively connect with the right customers. The right advertising type allows companies to deliver their marketing messages through the channels that work best.
This article will explore the major forms of advertising used today. We’ll look at how each type works, its strengths and limitations, and its role in helping businesses achieve goals like increased brand awareness and sales. From classic approaches to cutting-edge digital strategies, choosing the proper advertising types is essential for companies to grow in today’s crowded marketplace.
What is Advertising Today?
Advertising today refers to the various strategies and tactics that businesses employ to promote their brands, products, and services. It is an integral component of a company’s overall marketing efforts aimed at achieving specific goals such as acquiring new customers, building brand awareness, and driving sales. Advertising has evolved with technology, giving rise to digital platforms that complement traditional media like print, broadcast, and outdoor advertising. The key aspects of advertising are:
- A core marketing strategy to grow businesses
- Promotes brand visibility, product/service awareness, and customer acquisition
- Utilizes both traditional (print, TV, radio, billboards) and digital (online, social media, mobile) channels
- Allows targeting and tracking the effectiveness of campaigns
- Digital advertising enables precise audience targeting and personalization
Marketing vs. Advertising
While marketing and advertising are often used interchangeably, there is a distinct difference between the two:
- Marketing is the complete strategic process of building a business, which includes activities like market research, branding, product development, pricing, distribution, sales, and advertising.
- Advertising is a specific component within the marketing mix, focused on paid promotional tactics and messaging to create brand awareness, generate demand, and convince customers to take action (e.g., make a purchase).Types of Advertising
Main Types of Advertising
The various types of advertising done today are mainly categorized into traditional and digital advertising. These are explained as:
Traditional Advertising
Traditional advertising refers to the more conventional methods of promoting products, services, or brands through offline channels and mediums that have been around for a long time. This includes print media, broadcast media, out-of-home advertising, and direct mail marketing sent through postal services.
Traditional advertising has been a staple for businesses aiming to build brand awareness and reach mass audiences, though it tends to be more expensive and lacks the precise targeting capabilities of digital advertising. Despite the rise of digital, traditional advertising remains impactful, with statistics showing many consumers still pay attention to and engage with these offline ad formats.
Digital Advertising
In contrast, digital advertising includes the promotional methods that pull online channels, internet-connected devices, and digital technologies to deliver advertising messages. This type of advertising has gained significant traction due to the growth of the internet, mobile devices, and data-driven marketing capabilities.
It includes tactics like search engine advertising, social media advertising, mobile advertising, online video advertising, native advertising integrated into content, and consumer-generated advertising facilitated by user-created content.
The key advantages of digital advertising lie in its ability to target specific audiences more accurately based on data insights, provide engaging and interactive ad experiences across devices, and measure campaign effectiveness through robust analytics. Additionally, digital advertising often offers more cost-effective options compared to traditional media buys for businesses of all sizes.
Traditional Advertising

This old but reliable advertising type has further distributions, such as:
Print Advertising
Print advertising refers to using physically printed media like newspapers, magazines, brochures, flyers, and billboards to promote products, services or brands. It has been one of the oldest and most traditional forms of advertising, dating back centuries before the digital age. As per stats, almost 80% of consumers look towards print ads, while only 45% of consumers take immediate action on digital advertisements.
There are different methods of printing that are used as a medium of advertising. These are:
Newspapers
Newspapers remain one of the most popular print advertising mediums. In addition to classified ads for jobs, real estate, and other listings, newspapers offer display ads that can range from small space ads to full-page, visually impactful advertisements. Inserts or circulars printed as separate sections allow advertisers to include promotional materials like coupons and flyers within the newspaper itself. Some newspapers even sell advertising space on jacket wraps that go around the entire paper.
Magazines
Magazines are the second largest and most trustworthy branding medium after newspapers. It tends to be more visually impactful with high-quality printing. On average, 1/3 of the advertisers spend 20-40% of their budget on magazine advertising. Magazines frequently include advertorials designed to mimic the look of the publication’s editorial content and articles. Separate advertisement inserts can be loosely incorporated into magazines as well. Premium cover ads printed on the front or back of the magazine are the most coveted and expensive placements.
Brochures/Pamphlets
Brochures, pamphlets, and catalogs are another major print advertising category used heavily for direct mail marketing. Companies produce multi-page product brochures highlighting their offerings which can be mailed directly to prospective customers. Single-page flyers allow mass distribution of more concise print ads at events, retail locations, and public spaces. Lengthier catalogs showcase full product lineups.
Direct Mail Advertising
Direct mail advertising is a type of print advertising that involves sending physical advertisements directly to customers through the postal mail service. This targeted approach allows companies to reach a very specific mailing list of prospective customers. For instance, a new hair salon can create a promotional flyer announcing its grand opening and mail it to residents within a 5-mile radius, including discount coupons to attract new clients.
The power of direct mail should not be underestimated in the digital age. A key stat shows that 41% of Americans of all ages still look forward to checking their mail each day (according to LinkedIn data). Compared to email marketing where 80% of emails go disregarded, a remarkable 80% of direct mail pieces get opened by recipients.
Marketers leverage direct mail to send tailored coupons, promotions, and business updates straight to customer mailboxes. They often include website information and QR codes to drive online engagement with the physical mail piece as well. Companies can source direct mail lists from their existing customer databases or purchase third-party mailing lists from specialist providers.
Broadcast, Video, and TV Advertising
This category covers advertising through channels like television, radio, streaming video platforms, and podcasts that can reach large audiences. Its strength lies in engaging audio and visual storytelling capabilities.
Television Commercials
Television remains one of the most powerful mass advertising mediums. According to Statista, a global survey of marketers in 2021 was done, which added that 76% of people planned to increase their online video advertising budgets in 2022. Moreover, in 2023, 91% of businesses used video as a marketing tool, marking an all-time high since 2016.
With 90% of consumers watching videos on digital displays, the U.S. in 2023 spent an estimated $78.45 billion on video advertising. TV commercials provide opportunities for creative, attention-grabbing video ads during shows and programs. National television ads can be expensive but offer unparalleled reach. More affordable options include advertising on local channels, cable networks, or streaming services. A major advantage is the ability to create memorable branded stories using sight, sound, and motion.
However, ads only have a brief 15-30 second window to make an impact. As audiences become fragmented across channels, targeting the right programs/time slots for reaching intended audiences is crucial.
Radio and Podcast Advertising
While radio advertisement has been around for decades, podcast advertising is an emerging avenue. Radio ads are still effective for locally targeted campaigns through spot buys during peak listening times. They rely purely on audio to deliver marketing messages. Podcasts provide more niche targeting based on listener interests and show topics. Podcast host-read ads or pre-roll/mid-roll ad spots allow for creative messaging.
Key benefits include cost-effectiveness to reach targeted audiences and opportunities for uninterrupted listening. However, the lack of visual components and shorter audience attention spans are limitations of audio-only ads.
Out-of-Home (OOH) Outdoor Advertising
Out-of-home advertising influences physical outdoor spaces and locations where people spend time outside their homes to deliver marketing messages. As per Statista, the Out-of-Home Advertising market has extended and people are relying on it such that it is about to reach US$39.26 billion worldwide in 2024. With many consumers on the move, OOH aims to reach them while traveling, commuting, shopping, or just being outdoors. Major OOH formats include billboards, transit ads, and street furniture placements.
Billboards
Billboards remain the most iconic and impactful form of outdoor advertising. These large vinyl or digital displays are strategically positioned along major highways, city streets, and high-traffic areas to capture maximum eyeballs. Static billboards feature impactful visuals while digital billboards rotate multiple animated advertisements. The strength of billboards lies in grabbing the attention from pedestrians, commuters, and drivers through crisp visuals and minimal messaging. However, their viewing time is fairly limited as people pass by.
Transit Ads
Transit systems advertising places ads on buses, taxis, subways, trains, and other transportation vehicles that move throughout cities. These moving OOH displays can expose brands repeatedly to audiences along different routes. Formats range from full wraps covering entire vehicle exteriors to interior placards above seats. The captive audiences and repeated impressions allow for greater ad engagement compared to billboards.
Street Furniture Ads
This category covers OOH placements on public amenities like bus shelters, benches, kiosks, and litter bins lining sidewalks and pedestrian areas. Being situated at eye level makes them highly visible to people walking around urban environments. Street furniture OOH provides hyperlocal targeting in specific neighborhoods or high-foot traffic zones like shopping districts. However, these placements tend to be smaller with limited space for messaging.
Product Placement
Product placement is a form of advertising where branded products or services are incorporated into other media like movies, TV shows, music videos, video games, etc. Instead of running traditional commercials, brands pay to have their offerings featured and used by characters/personalities in the content itself.
This technique aims to increase brand exposure and product recognition organically within the narrative. When executed well, product placements feel authentic and create positive associations between the brand and the content. Major benefits include tapping into captive viewer audiences, implied celebrity/influencer endorsements, and the ability to bypass ad-skipping behaviors.
In line with its growing importance, product placement spending in the US exceeded $15 billion in 2022, according to PQ Media, with expectations to rise to $23.5 billion by 2026. Globally, product placement spending is anticipated to reach almost $41.5 billion by 2026. Moreover, Statista states that the global market is expected to grow by over 12 percent to $29 billion in 2023.
According to Statista, there is a significant growth predicted in earnings through product placement – which is observed from 2021 and is expected to grow till 2026.

However, product placements require careful integration to avoid being heavy-handed or disrupting the viewer experience. There are also ethical concerns around insufficient disclosures of paid product placements. Measurement challenges exist in quantifying the exact impact on brand awareness and sales from these embedded placements.
Guerrilla Advertising
Guerrilla advertising employs unconventional, often surprising marketing tactics to promote products/services in an inexpensive but memorable way. The core idea is to cut through advertising noise and capture significant attention through unique, creative strategies.
Common guerrilla tactics include street installations, flash mobs, experiential brand activations, stunts, undercover marketing, and ambient advertising that interacts with the surrounding environment. Brands get creative by transforming public spaces, objects, events into impactful displays that generate buzz.
The strengths are cost-effectiveness compared to traditional advertising, the ability to create share-worthy moments, and high engagement through out-of-the-box thinking. However, guerrilla efforts require extensive creativity, can be labor-intensive to execute, and risk potential public backlash if not implemented carefully.
Digital Advertising

Just like further divisions in traditional advertising, digital advertising is also categorized as below:
Online Search Advertising
With the rise of the internet and mobile devices, online search has become the starting point for many consumer journeys. Search advertising allows businesses to promote their products and services by placing ads directly within search engine results pages (SERPs). As per Statista, online advertising is the most popular digital advertising format in the United States, with companies spending $99 billion on search ads in 2022. Besides, market research suggests that search ad spending will continue to grow in the coming years, reaching $136 billion dollars by 2026.
Below are the major types of online search advertising:
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Advertising PPC ads are the sponsored text or product listings that appear at the top and sides of SERPs when users enter specific keywords or queries. Advertisers bid on these keywords and only pay when someone clicks on their ad. PPC enables precise audience targeting based on search intent signals.
Popular PPC platforms include Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and Amazon Ads. They use auction-based systems where ad rankings depend on bid amounts, relevance, and quality scores. GITNUX market data says that on a daily basis, approximately 80% of internet users see advertisements via Google’s Display Network, with 65% of small B2B companies acquiring customers through this channel.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Unlike PPC’s paid approach, SEO focuses on optimizing websites and content to improve organic search rankings for relevant keywords. This unpaid channel aims to make websites more discoverable and drive free traffic from SERPs.
Effective SEO involves technical website optimizations, quality content creation, earning backlinks, local search visibility, and adhering to evolving search engine algorithms. While it takes more time and effort upfront, SEO can deliver compounding traffic over time at relatively low costs. The challenges are staying up-to-date with search trends and facing increasing competition for rankings.
Here’s a comparison of search volumes on Google in three different years to better understand the worth of advertising through this medium.
Time Period | Searches (2016) | Searches (2020) | Searches (2023) |
Per Second | 63,000 | 81,000 | 99,000 |
Per Minute | 3.8 million | 4.9 million | 5.9 million |
Per Hour | 228 million | 292 million | 378 million |
Per Day | 5.5 billion | 7 billion | 8.5 billion |
Per Month | 167 billion | 212 billion | 255 billion |
Per Year | 2.00 trillion | 2.55 trillion | 3.1 trillion |
Product Listing Ads (PLAs)
These are visual shopping ads that appear in SERPs alongside regular text listings. E-commerce brands and retailers use PLAs to display product images, titles, prices, merchant names, and other details directly in the search results for relevant product queries.
For online retailers, PLAs are an effective way to drive high-quality, purchase-intent traffic at the bottom of the funnel. However, creating rich product data feeds and managing bids across large catalogs can be complex.
Social Media Advertising
With billions of active users spending significant time on social networks, social media advertising has become an indispensable part of digital marketing. It allows brands to reach audiences where they’re already engaged and connect with them through creative, interactive ad experiences.
As these platforms continue to shape the digital word, understanding their reach and user engagement can be effective to understand this advertising strategy. So, here is a graph representing that:

Facebook Ads
Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms that is used by over 3 billion users monthly. With such a large community, this platform is a comprehensive suite of ad formats and targeting capabilities to reach its massive user base effectively.
The key ways through which Facebook advertises is the feed ads, stories ads, live video ads, collection ads for product showcasing, and more. An advanced offering is Dynamic Product Ads which automatically promote an e-commerce company’s entire product catalog with dynamically generated creative tailored to each user’s interests.
A key strength of Facebook ads lies in the granular targeting options available to advertisers. Beyond basic demographics, businesses can leverage Facebook’s wealth of user data to reach precise custom audiences based on psychographic traits like interests, behaviors, life events, and more. Retargeting website visitors and existing customers is also possible.
According to a study by WordStream, Facebook ads have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 2.50% for lead generation ads across industries. However, the travel industry stands out with observed CTRs of over 6%.
Instagram Ads
As a visual-first platform owned by Facebook, Instagram ads focus on delivering creative experiences through feed posts, stories, reels, IGTV videos, and more. With over 2.4 billion monthly active users, Instagram ads can reach nearly all of them each month. Its younger, highly engaged user base and seamless shopping integrations aid product discovery and purchases.
Instagram inherits Facebook’s extensive ad targeting options while adding features like location mapping and influencer marketing capabilities. It is one of the best advertising platforms as being a top choice for influencer marketing, with 72% of marketers leveraging the platform for influencer collaborations. According to a survey, almost 62% of users express increased interest in a product after viewing Instagram Stories. It is why, Instagram’s global ad revenue reached $28.9 billion in 2021 and is projected to surpass $50 billion in coming years.
Twitter Ads
Twitter’s advertising suite promotes content through channels like Promoted Tweets, Accounts, and Trends. Ads leverage features like hashtags, video content, polls, and crucially conversation targeting based on relevant keywords/topics discussed.
This platform is ideal for brand awareness goals, real-time marketing around events/trends, and engagement-focused campaigns using timely, concise messaging.
LinkedIn Ads
On professional social networks, businesses can run Sponsored Content campaigns distributing content to feed streams based on user traits like job titles, skills, company, etc. Other formats like Message Ads and Dynamic Ads for personalized product promotion exist.
LinkedIn ads offer unique B2B targeting for lead generation, recruitment marketing, brand building within professional circles, and tapping into high-quality audiences for premium offerings.
Pinterest Ads
Pinterest’s immensely popular mood-boarding and visual discovery capabilities translate into a prime advertising platform for lifestyle, retail, and CPG brands. As of March 2024, with over 498 million active “pinners”, promoted pins and shopping ads sync seamlessly within the Pinterest browsing experience.
In categories like home decor, fashion, beauty, travel, and more, Pinterest enables brands to drive discovery, build awareness, and impact purchasing intentions at scale. Specialized ad offerings include influencer partnerships, promoted video pins, app install campaigns, and shopping catalogs integrated with e-commerce platforms.
Snapchat Ads
Snapchat’s highly creative and interactive ad formats like AR Lens campaigns, Snap Games, Story Ads, and First Commercial products are geared towards the younger millennial/Gen Z demographic. With 414 million daily active users, Snapchat presents opportunities for brands to engage these audiences through cutting-edge augmented reality brand experiences.
TikTok Ads
As the emergent video-sharing sensation and the fifth most popular social media platform, TikTok advertising unlocks viral opportunities by inserting brands within cultural conversations. Offerings include TopView video ads, Branded Effects filters, Hashtag Challenges, and working with TikTok creators. With over 1.5 billion monthly users worldwide, TikTok ads can build matchless engagement for brands successfully tapping into global internet trends.
Cell Phone Mobile Advertising
Do you know? As per a survey done, more than half of Americans (56.9%) are addicted to using their phones. The average spending is 4 hrs. 30 minutes daily while checking it 144 times a day. It is surprising to know that 75% of Americans check a notification appearing on their phones within the first five minutes.
With this widespread smartphone adoption, mobile advertising has become a crucial channel for reaching consumers on-the-go. Mobile ads allow brands to target audiences based on their device, location, app usage habits, and online behaviors. Common mobile ad formats include search ads, display banners, video ads, social media ads tailored for smaller screens, and ads within mobile apps. Mobile ads can leverage features like click-to-call, map directions, and integrated mobile payments to drive direct responses.
The key strengths of mobile advertising are the ability to reach people across all micro-moments throughout their day, leveraging location relevance, and facilitating instant actions like calls or navigation. Major platforms include Google Ads App Campaigns, Apple Search Ads, Twitter Ads, Instagram Ads, Facebook Audience Network, and specialized mobile ad networks. However, mobile ads have limited real estate and need to be optimized for seamless user experiences without being overly intrusive.
Consumer-Generated Advertising
This form of digital advertising controls promotional content created by unpaid consumers instead of brands themselves. It involves customers voluntarily generating advertisements through submissions like product reviews, testimonials, how-to videos, blogs, and social media posts.
By encouraging user-generated content (UGC), brands can foster more authentic word-of-mouth promotion from real customers who enjoy their products/services. UGC ads come across as more trustworthy than typical corporate advertising.
Major strategies include running contests for the best customer video ads, curating positive reviews for amplification, working with fan communities, and influencer collaborations. Consumer-generated ads can be highly cost-efficient while delivering a relatable brand voice.
However, they require deft management of legal concerns like disclosure guidelines, user permissions, and intellectual property rights over the fan-created materials. Brands may also have limited control over the creative quality and consistency of these consumer-driven promotions.
Native advertising
Native advertising refers to paid advertisements that are designed to blend into the surrounding content and user experience on websites, social media platforms, mobile apps, etc. Unlike traditional disruptive ad formats, native ads adopt the form, style, and functionality of the platform they appear on.
Common examples include sponsored content articles matching the editorial tone of a news website, promoted social media posts blending into user feeds, or recommended product listings integrated within e-commerce sites.
There are several key benefits of native advertising:
- These ads mimic organic content for a less disruptive ad experience than pop-ups or banners.
- Contextual relevance and seamless integration boost engagement, sharing, and click-through rates for native ads.
- Brands can share richer stories through long-form sponsored content with native ads.
- Native ads are versatile, adapting to web, mobile, and emerging channels like voice.
Major native ad platforms include content recommendation widgets, social media promotional tools, publisher partner programs, and specialized native ad networks. These benefits are reflected in the growth of the global Native Advertising Market reported by LinkedIn, which is expected to expand at a booming CAGR of 12.81% during the forecast period, reaching USD 4358.76 million by 2027.
Ending it here
In today’s busy marketplace, it’s critical for businesses to understand the different types of advertising to effectively reach their target audiences. Whether it’s using billboards or working with social media influencers, companies need to blend traditional and digital channels.
By choosing the right advertising methods strategically, brands can create engaging stories, build real connections, and grow by capturing the interest of modern consumers among many competing messages. Success comes from matching each advertising type’s strengths with overall marketing goals.

Neil Duncan, a professional in business innovation and management, has a deep interest in writing and sharing his voice by publishing articles on different b2b and b2c websites/blogs like this. He currently serves as the Vice President in AZ.
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