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13 Free or Cheap
Effective Advertising
Methods
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by: Donnie Baird
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Advertising is the life blood of any
business, no matter how big or how small. No
advertising usually means no business. Large
companies have an almost unlimited source of
advertising dollars. Small business owners on
the other hand, are limited in the amount of
money they have for advertising. So, the
problem is how to make ones advertising dollar
get the most bang for the buck. It's not enough
to advertise. Your advertising must be
effective. So, once you have a website or an ad
to advertise, check out the following ways to
advertise for little or no cost.
1. Advertising coop- Many businesses,
especially work at home businesses, offer
advertising coops. They will send people to
your business for a fee. Usually the fee is
relatively small. This is nice because you
already know that these people have at least
some interest in your business. Although they
may not spend a penny with you, you at least
get the exposure.
2. Website-The age of the internet has expanded
the possibility of owning your own business to
an almost unlimited number of people. It also
has expanded the advertising audience to a
tremendous amount of new people, world wide,
who otherwise you would never have been able to
reach. Although websites will cost you to get
hosted, you can advertise it many ways for
free. Things like link exchanges and article
submissions allow you to get exposure to your
website with no cost except for you time. And
as we will see in a moment, your website can be
advertised many other ways for free. The
advantage of a website is that it centralizes
all your business and products into one central
location. It gives you somewhere to send people
so that you don't have to do as much selling
because you let your website do the selling for
you.
3. Answering Machine-Change the message on your
answering machine to reflect the fact that you
are now in business for yourself. You could say
something like," Hello. You have reached the
home office of John Doe of My Business.com….."
That way when you call that person back, they
may ask you about your business and thus the
door is open to discussing your business.
4. Put a sign in your front yard or in the yard
of a friend or relative with your name and
website address on it. This is a good way for
your neighbors to find out about your new
business as well as any people that ride by
your house.
5. Place a magnetic sign or bumper sticker on
your car. Now, when you are riding down the
road, sitting at a stop sign, or leaving your
car parked at the mall or grocery store, you
are getting free advertising.
6. Wear your ad-Place your website on a
sweatshirt, tee-shirt, or a hat. So, when you
are out in public, people will see you ad and
again it will open up the door to discussing
your new business.
7. Flyers-There are many places that will allow
you to place a flyer about your business.
Businesses like grocery stores, libraries,
laundromats, hair salons and others will let
you place a free ad on their public bulletin
board.
8. Business cards-Don't leave home without
them. You never now when the chance to hand one
out will happen. You may see an old friend,
meet someone looking to get out of the 9-5 rut
or who is in need of a new opportunity.
9. Free Classifieds-Use the internet and the
many free classified ads on it to advertise
your business. A search using "free
classifieds" will give you an almost limitless
number of places to submit your website and
ad.
10.Ezines or electronic magazines are also a
good place to advertise your business. Some
charge a fee for placing your ad in the best
location, some let you advertise for free.
Again a web search will allow you find numerous
ezines to place you ad in.
11.Place your web address in your e-mail
signature.
12.Place a flyer or business card in your out
going mail.
13.Word of Mouth-The least expensive form of
advertising and maybe the most effective way to
advertise your business is word of mouth.
Simply tell those you come in contact with that
you are in business for yourself. They will
tell others and they will tell others and it
can go on and on. Sooner or later someone will
take a look at what you are doing.
Obviously, there are many more ways to
advertise your business for little or no money.
The point is you don't have to have the big
bucks to successfully advertise you business or
product. There are many people who have started
and become extremely successful in their
business on a shoe string advertising budget.
There is hope for the small business owner. All
you need is a website or add, a little
creativity, a little time, and you too can
advertise your way to success without going to
the poor house.
About the
Author
Donnie Baird has been
involved with work at home businesses for 4
years and is the webmaster/owner of
http://internet-work-at-home-opportunity.com .
He lives in North Carolina with his wife and
two children.
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