As a small business owner with great ideas, you’ve certainly struck gold operating your business in the US. America is the land of capitalism where anyone with a good idea and funding can set up shop and start operating a business.

However, there’s a big difference between running a business and running a successful business. Did you know that nearly 50 percent of small business owners end up shutting down after only five years?

To stay alive and thrive, you need to implement creative advertising ideas that will either save you money or maximize your reach consumers (or both).

If you’re a small business owner looking to make it big in your industry, keep reading for our top creative advertising ideas.

1. Push for Maximum Engagement on Social Media

In America, seven out of 10 adults use Facebook, most of them on a daily basis. That means that the majority of your audience, regardless of what industry you’re in, can be found in one convenient location.

However, simply running a Facebook business account isn’t enough. You must strive to gain followers, and just as importantly, get them to engage. Here are a few tips on how to do it through creative advertising ideas:

• Post engaging content your followers want to see (and link it back to your website)
• Encourage your followers to like, comment, and share your post with their friends and followers
• Run contests, competitions, raffles, and more while offering attractive prizes to keep people interested and spreading the word
• Engage back – always respond as soon as possible to comments, messages, etc.

2. Run a Community Event With a Local Charity

Next, remember that the community your business resides in is vital to your success. Give back a little and gain some spotlight in the process. Get involved with a local charity and create a community event that will bring in a lot of attendance.

For example, you could host a concert in the park with local musicians, set up a 5K race, etc. The key is to create a fun event that is sure to get members of the community excited. Start advertising months in advance to ensure maximum attendance.

Additionally, strive to get as many other local businesses involved as possible. Create a minimum sponsorship fee that will allow them to set up a booth to promote their business, as well as help fund the event. This will also create a great networking opportunity for you to build affiliate relationships.

Don’t forget to invite some food trucks. People have to eat and it will further encourage community attendance.

3. Use Creative Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the most creative advertising ideas that nearly always works. Use engaging content such as informative articles, infographics, videos, and images to draw attention to your brand.

Through this content, you’ll subtly drive traffic to your website and encourage sales conversions. The content needs to be creative, but relevant to your business.

If you’re pressed for ideas on how to pursue this line of digital marketing, this marketing firm can help. They specialize in digital marketing, branding, social media, and more.

4. Run A and B Advertising Campaigns

Part of learning how to thrive in your industry is about learning how to impact your target audience. While there are countless studies and data out there to assist you, you need to experiment to see what works for your specific business and your specific target audience.

A and B advertising refers to a strategy where you run two different ad campaigns simultaneously. After a period of time, you can look at the analytics of each ad to see how they performed. For example, on social media, you can gauge an ad’s success based on user engagement.

By running two ads simultaneously on the same platform and analyzing the data, you can start fine-tuning your ad creation to maximize the appeal to your target audience.

5. Run Landing Page Ads on Affiliate or Paid Host Websites

One of the most creative advertising ideas focuses on using landing pages to push users in a very specific direction. Landing page ads are pop-up windows on your site and your affiliate’s site. You can also pay to have other websites host your landing page.

The landing page itself contains a pointed message designed to direct traffic towards a call to action, such as subscribing to an email list, visiting a product page, etc. Use powerful incentives such as free content, exclusive discounts, access to webinars, and more to optimize success.

6. Create Email Campaigns With Value

Next, consider creating an email campaign for retargeting the consumers who already know you exist and like what you have to offer. As mentioned above, you can gain email subscribers with landing page ads, through social media channels, and through previous customers.

Your email campaign should start out subtly. A simple “thanks for joining, here’s the content we promised,” is great for the first email. Then, send an email explaining the company and a little story about how it came to be, the more personal it is, the better. Finally, you can start promoting products, services, and promotions.

Make sure the emails you send have valuable content in them or your subscribers will stop opening them. You have to give to get.

7. Run a Local Workshop for the Community

Finally, one of the most creative advertising ideas you can employ in your community is a workshop that offers valuable information, instructions, exercises, etc. These can be paid or free. The nature of your business will dictate the appropriate style of the workshop.

For example, a small health and fitness business could open up a food-prep workshop to the community to help teach people how to prepare healthy meals for their families. Alternatively, a small accounting firm could host a workshop instructing local business owners on how to create a spreadsheet to track their expenses throughout the year.

Want More Creative Advertising Ideas?

If you’re looking for more creative advertising ideas, we’ve only just scratched the surface. There’s a lot more where that came from. Check out some of our other articles for more great marketing ideas and advice on how to run a successful business.

Good luck!