16 Free and Inexpensive Ways to Market a Local Business
16 Free and Inexpensive Ways to Market a Local Business
Start-ups can be expensive and don't always leave a lot of money for marketing, but don't worry. Here are some practical ways to promote a new enterprise with a minimal investment. Select combinations of old school and high tech techniques for the best results.
Old School
1. Place flyers, posters and business cards in prominent places in the community. It's old-fashioned, but it works, and it is a cheap method of local marketing.
2. Choose a parking lot where potential clients might be, but does not belong to direct competition. Slide a card or small flyer with a coupon under the wiper blade of some of the cars. It may sound silly, but it works. Experience says one in ten to one in twenty will call or visit.
3. Go to a parade and throw cheap cards out into the crowd like confetti. It's a very old trick, but it still works.
4. Advertise monthly in the local "things to do" magazine or newspaper. Look for low priced advertising, and use it consistently.
5. Always give everyone a card. No matter where an entrepreneur is, or what they are doing, they should be handing out cards to strangers as well as friends. This is the most traditional method of local marketing ever but it is effective.
6. Join a few charity organizations and clubs in the community, and meet other professionals and entrepreneurs who might use your services.
7. Inform the town's newspaper(s) of the new enterprise start up. They may write an article about it for free. Many small town newspapers will gladly help with local business marketing, and will offer a free article with the hope of gaining an advertising client once the new location is established.
8. Shop online for inexpensive promotional gifts, and give them away at community events. Always attend community events with plenty of business cards and small promotional items. Local marketing is fun at county fairs, town festivals and parades.
High Tech
1. Put up an interesting, attractive and informative website. Post to it frequently with interesting articles about the business.
2. Social networking online works for local business marketing too. Promote the website on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Make sure many of your friends' are local. Try to Friend everyone in town. Write on Facebook about the new store, shop or restaurant, and tweet your website URL from time to time.
3. Schedule posts so that it tweets pre-programmed messages while the business is open.
4. Look for directories and listings to list the business on. On Google, Yahoo and YouTube type in the name of the city, and the type of business being promoted. There will be many listing services, with little maps, and listings of all kinds. Get listed with all the free ones.
5. Develop an e-mail list, but do not abuse it. Customers must opt in and agree to be contacted to receive the e-mail, in order to fulfill legal requirements. Sign up sheets and online forms must be worded correctly in order to make the list compliant with the law. Create an informative monthly newsletter with plenty of local information specific to the field, and specific services offered by the company. Post the information on the company website, too.
6. Create a blog about the business, and link it to the main site.
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