by R Marie Taylor

Created on: June 15, 2008

Advertising is used to attract new customers and encourage existing clients to buy from you again. The methods you choose to use can be very inexpensive, or even free and still work quite well. Here are some ideas that may work for you:

Hand out Flyers... You can design the flyer yourself, just keep it simple, uncluttered and easy to read. These can be distributed at your place of business, door to door, placed on cars or handed out on a public side-walk. You can do this yourself or hire a pamphlet distributor to do it for you. Laws vary from place to place to try not to break any in your area. It's very important to make sure to stay in contact with existing customers and a monthly flyer that is either hand delivered or mailed to your ever expanding list of customers, advertising special prices or offers is an excellent and cost effective way to stay in business.

Post Signs... You can post signs on every public bulletin board in your area. All you have to do is jot down the places that allow people to post community information such as local stores and laundry mats. Some small businesses will allow you to post a sign or leave flyers for their customers to read. The types of businesses most likely to allow you to do this are family owned restaurants and dentists offices...

Yellow Page Ad... You can place a very effective ad in the yellow pages for a small amount of money. For example, let's say you offer a handyman service, then you could order the smallest ad size on offer and keep it simple:

Joe's Handyman Service
*No Job Too Small
*Free Estimates
*Great References
license no: x2135zt
555-555-5555

If you're working with a very small space then use as few words as possible and make every word count for something! Yellow page ad's are great because the ad can be found in the same place over a long period of time and it gives you a bit more credibility with a potential customer as well.
Newspaper Ad

Radio/Television Advertising is usually the most expensive choice and may be cost prohibitive for most small businesses. But you may be able to work out a good price with a local station. This type of advertising is most effective if your ad gives the potential customer clear and engaging information on what your product or service is all about and how to get it. You should definitely have a physical location, a phone number or easy to remember website to direct people that may be interested in what you have to offer.

Word Of Mouth Advertising can make or break a business. Your business will generate this type of advertising whether you want to or not because people will talk to their friends and family about the good or bad experience they had with your business or service. All of your efforts to make your company visible will be in vain if you garner a reputation for poor service, unjustified high prices or unreliability. So, the best advertising really is quality products and services that are consistently delivered in a friendly, professional manner. This will keep your existing customers coming back and they'll send their friends over time.

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