Various Reasons Free Still Works

For the small business owner, advertising can be a major expense. When you add that to the cost of commercial printing costs it an seem as though advertising costs go above and beyond any potential profit that one may incur because of advertising efforts.

If you know the right methods, you will know that you can do many ways to advertise your business, which would not cost anything. Many of these methods will allow your business as much if not more exposure than it would have received with paid advertising.

Using free advertising to offset the costs of commercial printing is something many businesses do not utilize as much as they could or should. Whether it is because they are not familiar with free advertising options or have been led to believe that only high paid advertising is effective is unknown. Some of the methods from which you can choose include the following:

•       Place business cards or copies of your circular on bulletin boards in high traffic areas in your community.

•       Sometimes small newspaper will place advertisements free when they have unused space.

•       You can sometimes “buy” free ad space from mail order publications in exchange for writing informational articles for them.

•       Include your advertising slogan on any letterhead or envelopes you utilize to increase your business’s exposure.

•       Include your advertising in your email signature as well as in your fax correspondence. Both of these will give your business exposure each time you send something to potential vendors, publishers, customers, or anyone else who may be interested in your product or service.

These are only a few of the ways you can utilize free advertising. Of course, online methods include free advertisements in addition to the above. Some businesses tend to also place advertisements on doorsteps or on the windshields of cars but in most cases this is not effective because the information tends to be tossed to the side and never viewed. These methods can be used in addition to other methods you choose but are not ones upon which you should place much emphasis.

One very visible advertising method is placing your business cards on bulletin boards in spots that have high traffic. Some businesses have places just for that, purpose or you may choose to scatter a few on counters in retail outlets you frequent.

The key to success is choosing those methods that allow your business exposure to the greatest amount of traffic. If your business operates both online and offline you must develop a balance allowing the greatest exposure to both markets. The greatest exposure for any business is a combination of online and offline advertising even in cases where the business does not tap into the online market.