Skip to Content

40 Best Marketing & Advertising Business ideas

Do you want to start a marketing & advertising business but you want to go niche? If YES, here are 40 best advertising business ideas & opportunities.

No business in this world can do without advertising and marketing, because these are the medium through which businesses draw customers than can turn into sales and profit for the business. This is why the advertising and marketing industry is a very big and very indispensable market.

According to Statistica, the united states is by far, the largest advertising market in the world. In 2016, more than 190 billion U.S. dollars were spent in advertising in the United States. This figure is more than double the amount spent in advertising in China, the second largest ad market in the world.

Forecasts show healthy projections for the ad market in the U.S. for 2017, as media advertising spending is expected to reach the 207 billion U.S. dollars mark this year. It should be known that business advertising and marketing has gone beyond television, radio and billboards like we used to know.

Today, there are various mediums one can use to advertise a business, and those avenues have created a lot of business opportunities for entrepreneurs. If you want to start a business in the advertising and marketing industry, we are bringing to you a few options you can leverage on.

Marketing & Advertising Business ideas

A. Marketing Agency

B. Telemarketing Company

C. Direct Sales Business ideas

D. Independent Marketing Consultant

E. Be a Brand Ambassador

Best Marketing and Advertising Business ideas

  1. Small-Business Advertising Agency

Put your advertising and marketing skills and experience to good use by starting an advertising agency focused on assisting small business owners to create knockout advertising campaigns that get the results they want and need from their tight advertising budgets.

Many advertising agencies concentrate on big corporations with massive advertising budgets, leaving small business owners to figure out how to best advertise their products and services. Advertising is costly, and small business owners cannot waste money on advertising that does not hit the target and get results.

Creating cost-effective advertising campaigns is one of the toughest challenges that most small business owners face. You can choose to solve this problem for them by creating low cost advertising for them. Note that your adverts must be effective or your clients may not call back.

  1. Set up an advertising/marketing training school

Marketing education is all about learning how to use the marketing process to take an idea and bring it to the consumer. There are several topics students of marketing education will study. They range from product development to market research and analysis.

New business spring up everyday, and they need marketers; you can do them a great service by setting up a marketing or advertising training school where you can train marketers that can align with the changing needs of the new business world.

  1. Become a Business to business advertising expert

Business to business advertising is advertising intended to communicate among businesses, as opposed to consumer advertising. Business-to-business advertising is directed at business people or companies who buy products for business use.

Business to business advertising is all about getting your target market to pay attention to your business in the hopes that they’ll buy something from you. If you are an expert with relating to businesses, you can become a B2B advertising expert and advise businesses how to go about their advertising needs.

  1. Become a tradeshow promoter

Setting up a booth at a tradeshow is a good way for people to promote their businesses. But sometimes setting up the tradeshow booth is not the problem, but getting people to notice it. If you are good at promoting events, you can always seek out people that organize tradeshows and offer to promote the shows for them.

  1. Became a TV advert creator

According to an article on All Business, a business management website, television is a common medium for advertising because it reaches a larger audience than printed ads. With TV, you have the ability to get creative by putting together a stimulating experience for your viewers–through visual effects, sound, colors and images–so that they are attracted to the product you are selling.

But the problem is usually that not everybody knows how to create an advert that can draw the audience on TV. If you have the skill of creating catching visual ads, you can become a TV ad creator.

  1. Become a market research analyst

As a market researcher, you’ll collect and analyze data and information to present to your clients. The information you provide helps them to make informed political, social and economic decisions. You may be employed directly by a company (known as client-side), where you’ll collect information on customer opinions, investment and marketing trends.

The majority of market researchers, however, are employed by marketing agencies that range in size, where work is carried out on numerous projects for different companies and industries. Market research analysts typically need a bachelor’s degree in market research or a related field.

Many have degrees in fields such as statistics, math, or computer science. Others have backgrounds in business administration, the social sciences, or communications. So, you need to be educated in any of the above mentioned areas or related disciplines.

  1. Create parade float for businesses

A parade float is an elaborately decorated three-dimensional figure or scene, mounted on a wheeled chassis that participates in a procession as part of a specific celebration. Most parade floats are self-propelled, although they may also be towed by another vehicle or pulled by animals.

These are good advertising avenues. If you can create good floats, you can use it to promote businesses instead of just creating floats for the fun of it.

  1. Become a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist

Every business that is hosted online need to be visible to readers, and the only to achieve this is to rank high in searches. This is why websites need to be search engine optimized, and this is where a search engine optimization specialist comes in.

As a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist, you have to analyze, review, as well as implement changes to websites in such a way that they are optimized for search engines.

In other words, as a specialist you should maximize traffic to a site by improving its page rank within search engines. Your task as an SEO specialist is huge as you must not only be a problem solver and decision maker but also prioritize as well as develop engaging content. Your revenue will be dependent on your success rate.

  1. Become a Pay Per Click (PPC) Consultant

The pay-per-click ads are the type of advertisements where the cost of advertising is usually determined by the number of clicks the ad receives. This means that the advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked on. As someone who intends to go into this type of business, you would have to research on and craft which keywords will be relevant for the campaign.

Also, a quality landing page that is persuasive and has relevant content has to be created. Creating and managing a PPC can be time consuming for a business, which is why this is a lucrative business for you especially if you are a PPC expert.

  1. Manage email marketing for businesses

As an email marketing specialist, you are responsible for the creation of email marketing campaigns that is set to promote a product or service. This means you will help businesses determine their target audience, devise a campaign as well as launch an email campaign that will generate leads for the business.

Your job is not only limited to sending out emails alone but also to use statistical analysis and reports to create this campaign. Once you have a satisfied client, you can ask them to refer you to their colleagues and friends who might need your services as well.

  1. Create Affiliate Marketing campaigns

This is a form of digital advertisement where advertisers usually place campaigns with a large number of publishers, who only get paid once the advertiser receives web traffic. As an affiliate marketer, your task is to promote another company or its product for a commission after a sale has been affected from your promotion.

This might not seem a huge way to earn money but if you promote for many companies, your revenue is likely to be huge than someone who is promoting for just one or two companies.

  1. Become a Social Media Manager

Social media managers are referred to as the voice of digital and advertising campaigns. A good social media manager can boost the visibility of an organization by creating effective online branding as well as advertising strategies. A social manager generates promotional content as well as manages a company’s social media presence by using various analytical tools.

You must be able to keep up with the latest trends – as you might be handling more than one social media platform – and know what new trend might affect your client positively or negatively. This is a job that pays handsomely and if you know your onions, you are likely to be a millionaire in a few years.

  1. Become a Retargeting Advertiser

Retargeting advertising is one way websites gain more traffic for their posts. Retargeting advertisements attracts a user into visiting a site by taking the user’s past web history into account.

This means that once a user visits a site, a retargeting campaign cookie is attached to the user, which then takes notes of the pages and products the user visits whilst browsing. Once the user leaves the advertiser’s site to visit other websites, targeted specific adverts similar to what the user searched for will then appear in certain ad spaces.

This is a form of digital advertisement that requires focus and proficiency and the ability to keep track of visitors. If you know your way around the web, this is a good promotion business for you.

  1. Become a Content Marketer

As a content marketer, you will need to create and distribute valuable, relevant content that is consistent and that will attract a specific audience with the aim of generating profitable customer action.

As a content marketer, you can use whatever means to deliver content to your audience such as infographics, webpage, podcasts, videos, apps, blogs and books. A content marketer helps create awareness into solutions for customers who have a need but aren’t aware of solutions. If you are a good content marketer, you could make some good money.

  1. Strategic Marketing Analyst

Markets are always changing and marketers need to keep up with these changes, that is why they is need for strategic and targeted ads to be created. A strategic marketing analyst studies and evaluates market trends.

As a strategic marketing analyst, you task is to determine what a company should produce dependent on market trends and how it should sell them. You would need to have good business strategies and tactics. This is a very lucrative business especially if you are experienced and proficient.

One of your primary tasks will be to design surveys in such a way as to identify consumer preferences and prospective markets for intending products.

  1. Digital Research Analyst

As a digital research analyst, you will need to research on different ways the digital media can be exploited for use in reaching out to consumers. This will help digital marketers make decisions and set priorities that will be to the benefit of the client.

As a digital research analyst, you will need to be detail oriented as well as able to churn out correct researches as the wrong research will lead to disaster. This is a job that will most likely give you lots of money.

  1. Become a Contest Marketer

A contest marketer is a part of social media marketing strategy. However, not all social media consultants can effectively handle all aspects of their tasks, and so they might outsource the parts that are needed to engage customers.

One of the ways they do this is usually through a contest, where prizes or other incentives are offered to customers. As a contest marketer, your task will be to roll out interesting contests that will keep consumers talking about your client’s brand and telling others about it as well.

  1. Write and Print an Online Marketing Journal

Journals are going online, so it would be wise to create an online journal that is aimed at teaching people latest marketing and advertising trends. The aim of the journal would be to update on marketing trends in the industry as well as provide tips and advice to digital marketers.

Starting out this business will require a lot of research as well as industry knowledge especially if you want your magazine to be the go-to as regards reference or knowledge update.

  1. Become an Influencer Marketer

As an influencer marketer, you are involved in ensuring that your client’s products or services are marketed using appropriate influence to sway the decisions of the buyer. This could be through personal testimonial on the website or the use of a celebrity, bloggers or personality.

Most times these companies might not have the ways of reaching all the kind of influencers they would want or might have no idea on which will be good for them, which is where you come in. You can help companies source for influencers and get paid doing so.

  1. Become an E-commerce Manager

E-commerce managers might not be as prominent as other kinds of businesses but it is a fun business that is very lucrative. E-commerce managers are usually responsible for the valuable experience the user has during an online purchase.

The e-commerce manager ensures that you come back time and time again to keep purchasing a product. As an e-commerce manager, you would need to adhere to and reinforce the brand standards set by your client while not overlooking sales target.

  1. Organize and promote Digital Events

Events are not only organized offline, they are also organised online. If you have the ability to organize and promote digital events for businesses, then you have a good business here. As a digital event organizer, your tasks are a bit different from the regular event organizer.

In organizing a digital event, you would need to segment your attendees and check those that will increase conversion rates. Your online ads for events would have to target visitors through retargeting campaigns.

One of the key attributes of a digital event organizer is having a quick response time to attendees of the events you are organizing which means that your online content which includes event website, agenda, emails, speaker profiles and networking platforms must be responsive.

  1. Become a Copywriter for Campaigns

Copywriting is a very lucrative business, as a copywriter, you get to earn high bucks from your creations. A proficient and profitable copy expert is one that writes something compelling in such a way that readers are persuaded to make a snap decision based on what has just been read.

Also, good copywriters not only write to appeal to the readers but so that the copy ranks well for specific search terms that people are looking for in the search engine.

  1. Install Digital Billboards

Digital billboards provide high impact and exposure by offering static messages that rotate every few seconds with mostly six to eight advertisers sharing the same location. An individual plant operator is usually in charge and can own several digital billboards places in strategic locations with permission or a settled fee with the landowner.

This is a lucrative business as one strategic spot offers you at least six businesses or brands and at most eight. If you are operating more than one digital billboard, then you are looking to making your millions in a few years. This is a very expensive but very lucrative business to start in the advertising niche.

  1. Open a Digital Advertising Agency

An advertising agency is a business that creates, plans, and handles advertisements and promotion on behalf of its clients. An advertising agency is independent of the brand or client it is promoting. An agency can handle all the aspects of marketing including branding strategies as well as sales promotions for its clients.

If you are starting an advertising agency, you would do well to be grounded in the industry thoroughly and be on top of trends. For you to become known, you would have to send an introductory letter pitching your services to target clients. Once you get a satisfied client, your portfolio will gradually increase and so will your revenue.

  1. Become a Advert Production Manager

As an advertisement production manager, you will be responsible for adverts and how they are placed on websites, television and other modes. During an advertising campaign, the advert production manager is usually the intermediary between clients and ad agencies.

The other task may include being in charge of how a company or brand promotes itself to the public. As an advertisement production manager, you might be required to make snappy decisions sometimes and also possess critical thinking as this might be the difference between the success or failure of the promotion of a client’s product or service.

  1. Set up a Mobile Marketing Consultancy

Mobile marketing consultancy is a form of advertisement where the internet is used as an avenue through which mass communication can be sent to mobile devices which include smart phones, electronic book devices, personal digital assistants (PDA), and portable entertainment players as well as tablet computer devices.

In becoming a mobile marketing consultant, you will need to decide what form of mobile advertisement you wish to specialize in which includes Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), Apps, Location based Mobile Marketing, Mobile Banner Ads, and Broadcast Voice Messages.

  1. Become a Communications Consultant

As a communications consultant, you are empowered with the task of developing and writing content which might include internet, video, print and email for either internal or external use. As a communications consultant, you would need to generate your own business through adverts and word of mouth referrals.

  1. Become a Google Display Ads Consultant

A Google ads consultant helps in effectively using Google Adwords to serve online ads that are a form of contextual banner ads used in the Google Display Network which includes Gmail, YouTube, and Blogger and so on. The ads can be in text, image or even video mode.

This would require that you become a pro of some sort as most marketers usually rely on someone who is an expert in this field. This is a very lucrative business idea for you to make money from.

  1. Become a Communications Analyst

A communications analyst uses skills in communications, problem resolution as well as analysis to manage digital communications networks. A communication analyst ensures that the structure of a network, its hardware and programming protocol is determined.

As a communications analyst, you will gather information from businesses, customers, and marketing strategists so as to use in monitoring performance and also make changes that is based on data size or user quantity requirements.

  1. Retail Digital Signage

Retail digital signage is used to improve the customer’s engagement by driving more foot traffic into stores. This is done by placing digital signs outside a store so as to attract customers both potential and existing. When done properly, a retail digital signage influences consumer behavior as well as how they see the business.

The advantage of this digital signage is that it can update on trends thereby costing the store or business less than they should have if using print. You can go into this business by linking with the manufacturer of digital signage and then selling them to store that would need them.

  1. Create Digital Video Ads

This is a new form of advertising that is referred to as Outstream Video Advertising. This new form of advertising is gradually replacing the traditional way of serving video ads. You can get the interest of clients over this kind of digital video ads especially if they learn how it works, which tilts more in their favor than the traditional video ads.

This kind of business will require you to be savvy and intuitively know what the users might like. This means the video has to hold the attention of the user enough to watch it till the end.

  1. Ad Banner Design Creator

Banner marketing is a type of advertisement rectangular in shape and placed at either the top, below the fold, or on the sides of a website. All banner ads come in varying sizes.

The banner ad is usually referred to as a display ad. As a banner designer, you have to be savvy enough to blend the ads effectively into the provided content. You can create banner ads for as many companies as you like, as long as you are able to keep up with the demands.

  1. Create Interstitials

Interstitials are ads that pop up in a separate window whilst a user is waiting for a page to load. Interstitials have varying sizes and can either be full page blockers or smaller ads.

However, not all users are usually pleased with interstitials as they usually look for a way to close down the page. Before deploring this kind of digital advert, ensure that it is one that is likely to catch the user’s attention. Studies have shown that more users click on interstitials than banner ads.

  1. Text Messaging Consultancy

This is usually a form of advertisement that is limited to mobile phones and tablets alone. Advertisements through this form is usually via Short Messaging Service (SMS) where the sender sends a message according to the limit of the character allowed for phone devices or send a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) where other than characters, videos, audios or pictures could be sent as well.

This form of advertisement might be in use for companies who have a limited budget and are trying to explore cheap means of digitally advertising their business. As a consultant, you would need to craft compelling messages for your client so that it would spur clients into patronizing your client’s product or just promote your client’s visibility.

  1. Become a Semantic Advertiser

Semantics advertisement has to do with the study of the meaning behind words and phrases. The audience listening to a semantic advertisement will need to decode the message. As a semantic advertiser, you would need to ensure that your target audience aptly interprets the slogans, images as well as the ad copy.

  1. Become a Contextual Advertiser

As a contextual advertiser, you should be able to create ads within the context of the viewer’s content. The adverts are usually on a website where the message is presented to viewers that read informational articles on the said subject. This means that for instance, if a viewer reads on how to keep the house cool during the hot summer, the advertiser’s contextual adverts will place cooling units’ adverts along the margins so as to attract potential customers.

  1. Set up a Branding Consultancy

As a branding consultant, you will help a company make key strategic decisions regarding their products or services, using your marketing expertise.

As a brand consultant, you are required to provide analysis and solution to help companies sell their products successfully. Branding consultants influence all phases of marketing, right from the design stage to its advertisement and then distribution.

  1. Become a Search Engine Marketer (SEM)

In Search Engine Marketing (SEM), advertisers pay every time users click on their listings. Those who click are usually directed to the advertiser’s website rather than the advert. This helps businesses to know what users search for.

A search engine marketer promotes websites by increasing their visibility in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). As a search engine marketer, you can use the various tools available such as contextual advertisement, paid placement, or even free search engine optimization techniques so as to drive ad placements.

  1. Become an Online Advertising Consultant

Online advertising consultants help businesses create and sometime manage internet marketing and advertising campaigns in such a way as to optimize web traffic. As an online advertising consultant, you would have to conduct research, analyze statistics and trends, as well as develop Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies.

Asides, helping companies find the most appropriate places to advertise and gain prospective customers; you might also need to assist with developing advert campaigns that can either be used online or via other mediums. Your pay will most likely be dependent on your experience and success rate.

  1. Become a Podcast Creator

The podcast has led to various opportunities for the digital marketing industry. Those who have engaged in producing podcasts have seen the new clients that podcasting brings. This is probably because people tend to prefer audio content as it is deemed more personal than a text or visual based advertisement.

However, producing a podcast is not an only once affair. It is something that should be consistent and which many companies might simply not have the time for, hence the need to hire someone who can do great episodes of podcasts for a fee. This is a great business opportunity for you, as all you need to do is have as many clients as you can.