There's an old adage that holds that at least 50 percent of all advertising is a waste of money. It's probably true — and if you can figure out which half of your ad budget is useless, you'll save a bundle. But until you achieve this wisdom (which has so far eluded most marketers), you'd be wise to continue advertising full tilt and not take a chance on eliminating something that just might work.
Here's approximately how the average U.S. ad dollar was spent in 2001-02:
| Newspapers |
20 percent |
| Television |
26 percent |
| Direct Mail |
10 percent |
| Radio |
8 percent |
| Magazines |
20 percent |
| Billboards/Outdoor |
1.5 percent |
| Internet |
3.5 percent |
| Other |
11 percent-and it's these mini-media
you need to know about! |
| Total |
100 percent |
Here are the major types of advertising used by small businesses: