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Advertise For
PENNIES ... Make THOUSANDS
By Sarah J Doyle
It makes no difference if you have
an internet site, brick and mortar store, or a work at home business, it
is a fact that none will succeed if nobody knows you're there.
Advertising IS the key to success;
however advertising doesn't have to cost a fortune! Of course, the big
display ads cost advertisers many thousands of dollars, and "pay per
click" advertising on search engines can add up to big dollars very
quickly if you're not carefully targeting proper key words.
There are many ways that we can
promote our businesses literally for PENNIES, that can rake in THOUSANDS
of dollars in sales. Listed below are just a few ideas that work well,
and I'm sure you'll be able to come up with additional ideas once you
start working with these.
MINI-FLYERS are an ultra cheap
form of advertising. Mini-flyers can be made 4, 6 or 8 to a regular
sheet of paper that tells about your home business, store or website,
and would include your business name, URL for website, phone number and
brief information about your business. Make copies of this page on
brightly colored paper, then cut them apart. The mini-flyers can then be
put into each of your bills as you pay them. Think about it, the clerks
who open bills all day surely get bored with the job, so when they open
your envelope and your brightly colored mini-flyer falls out, what do
you think happens? Of course, the clerk will pick it up and look at it.
They may also hand it around to others in the office. This one simple
addition to your bills could bring in lots of new business!
FREE AD ON YOUR ENVELOPES. You can
either use labels, or glue or tape one of your "mini-flyers" on the back
or front of each envelope and package you mail out. There is no way of
knowing how much "free" advertising these mini-flyers will generate -
after all, you're mailing the letters and packages anyway, so why not
take advantage of that and give your advertisement a "free ride"?
ENCLOSE SALES LITERATURE in all
outgoing orders. If you already have a business where you send out
orders, NEVER send out a "naked" package! If you simply enclosed the
customer's order and receipt and mail the package, you're missing out on
one of the very best sales tools available! Any additional sales
literature you can enclose in the package (other items you offer for
sale, information on another website to visit, etc) could bring you
extra sales. It is a well known fact that if a customer buys from you
one time, they're more likely to buy again and again, if they are
satisfied with your service and products that they bought in the
beginning.
BUSINESS CARDS are one of the
cheapest methods of advertising that I know of. Many times, people will
have 1,000 or more business cards made, then put them on a shelf and
never use more than a dozen or so. If you have a business or website and
don't have business cards - GET THEM! Hand out the business cards to
prospective customers, leave one on the table at the restaurant when you
go out to eat. Many restaurants and other businesses have a location
where you can put a small business card holder with several of your
cards in it for future customers to see and pick up as they pay their
bill.
MAGNETIC CAR SIGNS can be one of
the cheapest forms of advertising around. Your "one time" purchase cost
will give you years of advertising, and will move to every part of town
as you do your errands, etc. Always try to park your car at the end of a
row of cars and walk the extra few feet to the store simply because the
car sign will then be seen by everyone driving by as well as all those
coming into the store parking lot.
SCREEN PRINTED SHIRTS. This also
is a "one time" purchase that will last for years, and will be read by
people wherever you are walking - through stores, standing in line at a
check out register, etc. These don't have to be fancy, just "to the
point" so people reading them will know what they represent. I saw one a
few days ago that simply had a pair of glasses on it (the symbol of the
website) and the words "Specterweb.com" --- everybody knows to put the
http:// in front and in this case I wrote it down just so I could go
there and see what it was (and this will work the same way for you). You
can make enough of these shirts for you to wear, or perhaps some of your
family might want a "free" shirt (they will be advertising your website
when wearing it), or you always have the option of selling or giving
them to customers as a free gift for placing an order.
About the author:
Sarah J. Doyle is author of over
25 business, sewing and how-to books and owner of 7 business, sewing and
craft websites. Visit
http://YouCanWorkAtHomeNow.com for more tips, free articles and
how-to information on work at home careers and opportunities. Visit
http://SarahJDoyle.com
for additional articles and information.
(c) Copyright 2004, Sarah J.
Doyle. All Rights Reserved. |
