By Warren Barnes
If you’ve got an interest in marketing your business using offline methods, then you’ll want to read this article in its entirety as I’m going to provide you with 5 key tips for marketing your locally operated business offline.
Over the past decade, many business – large and small have begun using the Internet to market their wares. And for good reason. The reach of the Internet is staggering. No longer are local brick and mortar businesses locked into doing business in only their immediate areas. It’s easy to do business around the world now. On top of the additional reach, significant savings can also be realized when marketing a business online. For as little as $7 up front and $4 a month, you can have a web site promoting your business around the world 7 days a week.
However, while many have moved the vast majority of their marketing online, a good number are starting to return to marketing their business via offline methods. Many simply feel more comfortable with the traditional methods of doing business while others simply haven’t gotten the bang for the buck they were looking for online.
As with online marketing, offline marketing requires that a business owner do some research before spending their marketing dollars. After all, what good is particular marketing strategy if it’s not appropriate for your business, timely and above all, cost efficient?
I’ve got five tips for you that will help you in marketing your local business online. I’ve used all of these and have had a great deal of success with them. But, as I said, make sure a tip you want to pursue is right for your particular business before moving ahead.
1. Cross Promotion
Work with another local business the compliments your business. For example, if you operate a local furniture store, work a deal out with a local TV shop in which you’ll buy x number of TVs at cost and give them out to your customers if they buy a particular living room set or buy a certain amount of furniture. Why would the TV shop want to give you the TVs at cost? For the exposure he’ll get with all the advertising you are going to be doing to promote the deal. You’ll say the TVs are coming from so and sos TV shop. Partnerships can be big win wins for both parties.
2. Advertise Through Another Business
If you operate a retail shop, check with your local grocery store chains. Many have a program where they sell advertising space on the back of the cash register tapes. This can be a very cost effective way of getting your name and offer in front of thousands of people each week.
3. Local Signage
After checking local ordinances, you may want to consider putting up signs on lamp posts and direction signs. You may also want to consider using the small real estate signs. They are great because they are easy to put into the ground and are normally pretty inexpensive, so if they get stolen after several days, you’ll still get the value out of them. But as I said, be sure to check local ordinances before doing this and check with property owners before putting signs on their property. Perhaps give property owners free or discounted product as a thank you for allowing you to use their land.
4. Advertise On Cable
Have you ever seen local ads on sporting events or TV shows that are on cable? Ever wondered how those local businesses could afford to advertise on those programs? It’s because local cable companies provide time for local ads to be run throughout the day ad significantly less cost than the big time networks. Their will likely be production costs involved, but you can’t beat the value for the dollar of advertising on local cable.
5. Newsletters
Consumers love to know what’s happening at their local businesses. What deals or new products are coming soon, what the business has been doing in the local community, how your customers can help you help the community and so on. Let them know if your business has adopted a local highway. Let them know if you or one of your employees is on a community board or non profit. You may even want to work with other business owners and put a combined newsletter together. The more you can keep you business in the minds of your customers, the better off you’ll be in the long run.
If you haven’t tried any of these tips before, give one or two of them a shot. I think you’ll find when you put any of these five strategies to work, you’ll see a significant increase in traffic and in sales in your locally run business. Making sure that your customers know who you are, what your business does, and what you are doing for the community can reap huge rewards. Many businesses find in addition to helping build business, these five tips can be very enjoyable to carry out as well.
Warren has been writing articles and producing how to courses online since 2005. He specializes in online business issues and currently operates a number of websites in a number of different niches. You can check out his latest website here: Wireless IP Phone featuring Phillips Phones.
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