WOMENSAVENUE.com

No one has ever found success by doing nothing.

1. Put your website on notepads, pens, newsletters, bumper stickers, coffee cups.

2. Flyers – When you buy your morning newspaper, slip some flyers into the rest of the newspapers.

3. Business cards (You can make up your own or get them free through VistaPrint)

4. Article marketing is one of my favorite method of advertising. If you write articles and then use a service to publish them, your articles become viral.Your articles will spread like a virus and could have the potential to be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.

5. Participating in online discussion forums is an excellent way to get the word out about your business – and it is free. Build relationships first and use your signature file to let everyone know what you do and who you are.

6. Free classifieds

7. Targeted ezine advertising is one of the most cost effective ways to advertise your business.

8. Paid ads – such as solo ads. Test, test, test. Your success depends on your ad and your heading!

9. Mail out postcards.

10. Purchase leads that are targeted and related to your business. If possible get their phone number and followup.

11. Bookmarks for libraries, don’t forget to talk to your librarian first.

12. Purchase cheap seed packets, put a tag on them with your website as well as a saying like, I am in the business of helping people grow.

13. Use your knowledge and publish a newsletter or ezine. One your build up your list you can offer paid subscriptions or ads.

14. Word of mouth (friends and family)

15. Forwarded emails – Add your testimony to your signature line.

16. Buttons

17. Pens to hand out with a short advertisement and your URL.

18. Welcome baby cards for hospitals.

19. If your domain name is a string words, try capitalizing each. This helps people who just take a quick glance remember it.

20. Create an information type handout that briefly explains your business.

21. When you go to a garage or yard sale, ask if you can leave a few of your flyers there.

22. Community Colleges. Every student needs a part time job.

23. Put a business card in all outgoing mail including anything that has a postage paid envelope.

24. Visit establishments you do business with (doctor offices, health food stores, karate/dance studios, etc) and ask if you can leave flyers.

25. Car magnets – You can put magnets all over your car.

26. Promote your business for free in local magazines, newspapers, community newsletters, etc. Many rely on voluntary writing contributions. Translate your knowledge into an article. It is free advertising and an effective way to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

27. Leave your business card in restrooms at restaurants or on cork boards around grocery stores.

28. Get a booth at school events and share what you offer.

29. Look into putting an ad in school sponsored publications (directories, PTA booklets, etc). Usually not to expensive.

30. Set up a free giveaway box in any store that will give you permission.

31. Post flyers at apartment complexes if they will allow it.

32. Place flyers under windshield wipers of cars.

33. Newspaper classified ads are cheap and effective. Ask about having your ad appear with a color background to make it stand out even more.

34. Buy a pre-inked, personalized stamp and put your ad on it. Stamp the back of any envelopes that you mail out.

35. When it comes to advertising and marketing, repetition plays an important part in your campaigns success.

36. We all get junk mail with the postage paid envelopes. Just send a flyer back to the company and use their return envelope.

37. Personalized T-shirts

38. Make up Gift basket raffles for Church bazaars, concerts held during summer, at your local community hall, or any town function. Do not forget to put your business card or some other advertisement in the basket.

39. Put flyers on car windshields at your kids sporting events.

40. Leave a business card with your tip for your waiter/waitress.

41. Reply to spam email with your own business advertisement.

42. Give your business cards to friends and family and ask them to give them out to people they know who would be interested in part time income.

43. Put up flyers at the local colleges, libraries and grocery stores.

44. Ask your local chinese takeout if you can post a flyer in their window.

45. Create a post it stack of your business cards with a glue stick and then post them at pay phones, etc.

46. Business cards with a magnetic back really stick in people’s minds as well as on their refrigerator.

47. Leave business cards by the change machine in the mall arcade or at the ATM machine.

48. Put your website address on your sun visor using vinyl letters.

49. Find an old metal tin (or new), put a magnet on the back, put your business cards in them and then just attach this to your car when you go into a store.

50. Be different and get noticed. When you are unique then you are one step ahead of your competition.

There are many ways to promote your business without spending a fortune. Think outside the box. Most people notice things that are different, something that draws their attention or even makes them laugh.

Keep it simple, keep it cheap and before you know it your success will be achieved without going broke.

Copyright 2007 Joe Rispoli

Every successful company uses some sort of pro-
motion to influence certain audiences – usually
customers or prospects – by informing or per-
suading them. Reasons for promoting a business
include: increasing visibility; adding credibil-
ity to you or your company; enhancing or improv-
ing your image; and bringing in new business.
The following cost-effective, easy-to-execute
ideas have the power to increase sales in a way
conventional advertising cannot. The key is to
find the methods that are appropriate for your
business, marketplace and professional style.

1. CONTESTS. As one example, a cookware store
decided to sponsor cooking contests. After send-
ing out a press release announcing a competition
for the best cookie or chocolate cake, a mailing
went out to the store+s customers soliciting en-
tries. Food editors, professional chefs and cook-
ing teachers were invited to be judges. Both the
winners and the winning recipes were publicized.
Essay and design contests are also possibilities,
such as a furniture store establishing a prize
for student furniture design. Pie eating, pan-
cake flipping, oyster shucking and grape stomp-
ing contests make sense for restaurants. Den-
tists can hold smile contests, while video ren-
tal stores can stage movie trivia quizzes.

2. NEWSLETTERS. Another good way to promote, par-
ticularly for brokers, banks and business consul-
tants, is through newsletters. They demonstrate
how much you know about your field, and do it in
a low-key, informative way. They help keep your
company high in the consciousness of your pro-
spects.

3. DEMONSTRATIONS. Demonstrations are an option
to attract people to your place of business, show
them how to best use your product, and establish
your credibility. A retail-wholesale fish outlet
holds cooking demonstrations twice a week, fea-
turing a different restaurant chef each time and
attracting substantial crowds. Recipe cards are
even given out. Wallpaper demonstrations, fa-
shion shows, gift wrapping, refinishing and com-
puter demonstrations have all worked well for re-
tailers selling products associated with them.

4. SEMINARS. Often more appropriate for business-
to-business marketing, seminars are the commercial
side of demonstrations. If you hold a seminar,
follow these rules for success:

* Schedule the event at a time convenient to most
attendees.
* Be specific in the invitation about when the
event begins and ends, who will be there, and
what the agenda is.
* Follow up the invitations with personal phone
calls.
* Charge for the seminar to give it a higher
perceived value.
* Follow up after the event to get people’s re-
actions.

5. PREMIUMS. Also called an advertising special-
ty, a premium is a gift of some kind that reminds
your customer of you and your service. There are
thousands from which to choose: key chains, cof-
fee mugs, refrigerator magnets, baseball caps,
paperweights – just about anything that can be
engraved, imprinted, silk-screened or embroidered
with your company name and phone number.

6. SPEECHES. Depending on your topic and your mar-
ket, you might want to speak before chambers of
commerce, trade associations, parent groups, sen-
ior citizens or other local organizations.

7. ARTICLES. Another possibility is to write an
article for a trade journal, reprint it, and mail
it off to your friends, customers and prospects.
This positions you as an expert, and is a partic-
ularly good way to promote a consulting business.

8. BONUSES. If you have a restaurant, give away a
glass of wine with dinner to introduce a new menu.
If you sell to retailers, give them a display fix-
ture with the order of a gross. If you sell of-
fice supplies, give away a new pen with a size-
able purchase. If you+re in the cosmetics busi-
ness, offer customers a free sample blusher when
they buy mascara and lipstick.

9. COUPONS. For best results, the price break
should be significant – at least 15 percent.
This is one of the least expensive ways to de-
velop new trade, and an excellent tool for eval-
uating advertising. However, one theory holds
that coupons draw people who only buy discount
and never become regular customers. So be sure
to monitor the results.

10. DONATIONS. Donating your product or service
to a charitable cause often results in positive
exposure to community leaders, charity board mem-
bers, PTAs and civic groups. While consumer pro-
ducts are desired most, many organizations also
look for donations of professional service time.
If you have a restaurant or a large meeting facil-
ity, consider hosting an event for a charitable
organization. This works best if volunteers for
that charity are potential customers.

11. SAMPLES. No matter what you do to promote
your business, giving potential customers a sam-
ple is an excellent way to attract attention and
make a positive impression. In many cases, it
makes just as much sense to spend your marketing
and advertising dollars on giving out your own
products instead of buying advertisements -
especially if cash is tight. The key is to give
samples to the audience you want to reach, i.e.,
software packages to computer user groups, or
nutritious snacks to health-oriented consumers.
In the food arena, where one taste is worth a
thousand words, firms now exist that test market
new products for large and small companies alike
through in-store demonstrations. A good demon-
stration company not only keeps track of how much
of your product was given away, but also submits
detailed reports on what people said about the
product and how much of it was purchased.

12. FREE TRIALS. If your product is too big or
expensive to give away outright, why not offer
a free trial to qualified customers? Try ship-
ping it out to prospects with no strings at-
tached. Most people will appreciate the oppor-
tunity to try the product, and hopefully many
will like it enough to buy it.

13. FREE SERVICES. If you can+t afford to give
away products, offering your services as a way
of generating new business can also pay off.
For example, if you own a retail clothing busi-
ness, send out a flyer offering customers a
free fashion consultation to draw them into the
store.

14. SPECIAL BENEFITS, RATES OR NOTICES. Smart
organizations go out of their way to make cus-
tomers feel important and appreciated. Frequent
flyer clubs are the most pervasive example of
loyalty-building benefits for customers only,
now adapted by many kinds of businesses. Most
software companies sell program updates to cus-
tomers at discounted prices. And advance notices
about sales or other changes or opportunities can
help cement customer ties.