Want affordable, effective marketing? Give social media a try.

While online marketing isn't magic and it isn't free - it's becoming much more affordable and effective than traditional marketing.

Of course, marketing online doesn't mean you can forget all the elements of any good traditional campaign. You still need to have something to say. You need to have a product or service to offer. And you need to deliver your message to the right people.

But if you choose to do all of these things online - through a blog, a social media site, or one of many other channels - it's generally going to be a lot cheaper than sending that same message on the radio, in a newspaper, or on TV.

And effectiveness? Online marketing has that, too. Particularly social media marketing. For example, you put your message out on a social media site, and your customers go to that site, by choice, to find it. Better yet, when they get there, they can interact with your message and your company.

This type of marketing, where your customers are coming to you, is often referred to as inbound marketing.

So, just how much more affordable can inbound marketing be than other types of marketing?

HubSpot, a company that provides software to help companies leverage inbound marketing and turn visitors into qualified leads, provides some data on the estimated relative cost per lead. This cost is compared to other marketing channels in their presentation: How to Use Social Media for Lead Generation

The estimated relative cost/lead/channel breaks down like this:

• Blogs/social media: 55% below your average cost/lead/channel
• Email marketing: 49% below your average
• SEO: 48% below your average
• Direct mail: 34% below your average
• Telemarketing: 29% below your average
• Trade shows: 18% below your average

Many business owners are skeptical of social media, but these statistics suggest it's time to give it a try.