You might think that it's a no-brainer to use online resources to advertise an online business. But before you spend your entire advertising budget on Google, your own website, your eBay Store, and banner ad networks, keep in mind that good old-fashioned print publications are the best way to reach particular customers.

That's what I learned during recent conversations with two entrepreneurs who successfully sell antiques online. Mike Kramme Sr., the owner of SeeAuctions.com and a Stillwater, Minnesota-based antique mall, reminded me that many antiques collectors are "old school." They might get some information on the Internet, but his primary means of advertising is through print publications.

Another experienced seller, Kenneth Markley of Old Timers Clocks) pays to advertise only through his website, GoAntiques, and a single printed journal that targets a narrow audience of watch and clock enthusiasts.

"There is a lot of competition online, but anyone who is reading an antiques newspaper is really into antiques," says Markley, of Camp Hill, PA. "We've tried ads in Antique Week and Maine Antiques Digest, but our specialty product doesn't draw much attention in a general interest paper. Instead, we take out a half-page ad in the journal of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, which is sent to 35,000 people."

Eric Best is CEO of Mercent, which handles online advertising and marketing for well-known brands like Brookstone, Petsmart, and Guess. But even he concedes that in certain situations it still makes sense to advertise on old-fashioned ink-and-paper rather than paying for pixels on a Web page.

He notes that, although printed sales catalogs are as important as ever, they are shrinking in size as retailers seek to cut printing costs. "More and more, you are seeing print catalogs with shortcut keys attached to each product description so shoppers can find them in an online search form."

Best says sellers should consider print ads in two particular instances:

• You can't sell enough online to hit your sales targets,
• You need to find specialized avenues to reach niche markets, such as comic book collectors, antiques dealers, and hobbyists of all sorts.

Of course there's a big problem when someone sees your ad in the local paper or antiques journal and decides to visit your website: you don't know for sure how or when they found you. Even if you conduct a survey, you can't count on customers to remember or to answer the questions at all.

In contrast, online advertising can be tracked easily; you can determine exactly what attracted a buyer to your website, down to a specific "conversion event." The "Return on Ad Spend" (ROAS) is far more efficient than with traditional offline advertising. It can be easily targeted to new market segments. For big corporations, such data is invaluable when it comes time to prepare budgets and spend the big bucks.

But small-time, mom-and-pop businesses actually have more flexibility when it comes to trying different advertising venues, and some don't cost anything at all. Markley, in particular, has tried a scattershot approach without having to attend antique shows on the East Coast. A retired psychiatrist, he and his wife Susan inherited the business from her father after his death. They don't have extensive experience in business or advertising, so how have they been able to attract business from around the world to their online presence?

He's joined his local Chamber of Commerce, given talks to service groups like the Rotary Club, written articles for the local newspaper, and been interviewed on radio and TV shows. While it's nearly impossible to track the results from such "offline" activities, they are free. "I hate to spend money on advertising because you never know if it will pay off. But if you don't do anything, nothing will happen," Markley says.

Offline advertising is "contracting," according to Best. But he is quick to point to savvy marketers who use innovative alternatives to the Web. "Zappos, which sells shoes online, will do anything they can to delight and retain a customer. In a brilliant move, they decided to place signs on the inside of the bins in which travelers place their personal objects (including shoes) at airport security stations," he says.

He cites a recent AdAge.com study of how U.S. advertising dollars were spent in 2007: online advertising rose by 33 percent, but at $4.2 billion it was still a small part of the overall media spending of $61 billion.

"Even today, the volume of impressions you are able to reach on the Web is still very small relative to the offline world. If you count every magazine subscriber and billboard or TV viewer and compare that number to the total of online Web browsers, you have a pretty significant difference. But at the pace at which things are changing, that difference will shrink quickly," Best says.

Tip: If you're looking for niche newsletters and other publications, search the online search engines like Google and Yahoo, but don't forget your local library. Reference librarians can help you find directories that list print (and online) newsletters!