Advertising Offline
You heard me right. You NEED to advertise your website offline. How you do this depends on the nature of your business. Many people have a great deal of success putting a decal on their car with their website, so they are advertising every time they go for a drive. Best of all, this idea only costs the price of the decal. You can get decals online at places such as Webdecal at very affordable prices, or shop locally.
Do not dismiss the power of the humble business card. They can be handed out freely, to cashiers, new acquaintances, at networking events, just about anywhere. You can leave them on bulletin boards at the store, the post office, anyplace that doesn't mind you leaving a few. Best of all, they are affordable. Just make sure your URL is printed on them and a quick phrase about your business to catch interest. You can get 250 just for the cost of shipping (about $5) at Vista Print, but they will have their logo on the back, or you can pay about $10 or so more to not have the logo on the back. Personally, I strongly recommend not having the logo on your business card, it's amateurish.
For more detail, try flyers or brochures. You can give a quick overview of what you offer, some pictures, or whatever you need to say that a business card just can't do.
Free offline advertising is wonderful to get. One of your best resources is the press release. For the cost of getting it written, you can get tremendous amounts of publicity from one of the most reputable sources of all - the reporter. People simply trust you more if they read it in the paper or hear in the news about your business. Take advantage and get a press release written for your business today. I do this at my business, Aspects of Design, regularly just $60, but if you're reading this, I'll drop it to just $50. Just tell me you saw my bargain in my free report. You never know what you'll find in these things. I'll even give you links to free places to distribute your press release.
Bumper Stickers
You've made a sale, why not let your new customer have a chance to tell the world about your business while driving around. You'll need a good design that people will want to place on their cars, so it has to be a fairly subtle form of advertising, not just "Visit my site!" Humor often works well, just as in getting emails forwarded. Make sure the print is easily read at driving distances, and that your URL is easily visible. This is probably a fairly difficult form of advertising to pull off successfully, but it's unusual enough to have some great potential.
|
