WAHM Forums

Have any of you advertised your business, in order to reach your local community? If so, what has worked for you?


I have been toying with the idea of doing some advertising. Business is good, but I'm ready to kick it into high gear. However, in my area, I discovered that it is really expensive! To have a tiny itty-bitty ad in a local paper will cost about $60 a week. A week! Isn't that insane?


I think there are many avenues out there, such a board like this, to get our word out to the masses, but I would really love to target my local area.


Any thoughts, ideas, discussion we can get going on this is greatly appreciated!

Mellonie


Word of mouth has worked best for me. We have a local magazine than comes out every two months and I took out an ad there. It was a preety hefty price and I haven't gotten any business from itsmileys/smiley19.gif


I've sent out lots of direct mailings - some of those have worked. Also donations to silent auctions and the like have generated some business.smileys/smiley1.gif


Have you tried anything like that? Sponsering the cocktail hour for a business in your area? My DH is in the medical field and drug reps do it all the time. Sponser a class/CME/meeting and they provide the food or drinks etc. Maybe that would help. smileys/smiley2.gif Offer wine and cheese and they agree to leave your cards out and you are recognized in their program etc.


Just a thought!





Stephanie

Stephanie has a great idea with the sponsoring of something. What popped in my mind was your Chamber of Commerce. Join it and they have mixers every month or so. Perfect way to network locally as they usually support one another.


Chris

Word of mouth has been the best for me too. But fundraisers are working very well for me too. I offer incentives for bookings thru my fundraisers and the orders require each customers address, so I retain that info as well for future contacts and mailings.


good lucksmileys/smiley4.gif

i've participated in local church and synogogue holiday boutiques as a way to generate bookings. The silent auction donation is good too. Just talk to lots of people mellonie and offer your biz to everyone! I also advertised in my daughter's school flyer adn offered to donate a percentage of sales back to the PTO. The chamber of commerce is a good networking too. Hook up with a food consultant and do food and wine pairings..WE NEED a CA consultant LOL.





talk later





deb

Hi Mellonie smileys/smiley1.gif!


I've just lined up a bunch of fairs to promote TTV. A couple are bigger and more expensive so I have split up the days and the cost with my team.But the others are very small and just cost about $25.00 for the day. Which I think is a great investment. I can vouch for the fairs because last year I got a bunch of bookings and...consultants!!!! Look for fairs at the kids schools, churches,and town festivals.


Hope this helps!!!


Linda

I am a member of my local Moms Club http://www.momsclub.org . Most chapters have a newsletter with advertising. Members usually get free or discount ads, but even if you aren't a member the rates are usually very reasonable (less than $100 for the whole year).


Of course, only stay at home moms will see your ads, but it's a great start. Also, not a bad place to place recruiting ads, since many SAHMs want to make extra money (especially for the holidays!).


Good luck!


Melissa

Also look around for other publications like the monthly free papers that are distributed at restaurants and such. I have just sent in 2 ads for a monthly local one. The spots are about 1.5" x 2.5" on the childerns art page for $10 each. Our local paper has spots for $8 per week. Classifieds seem to be much higher. If you shop around you may find better deals. If I get any good response from my October ads I'll post about it.


Carol M

Lots of great ideas already~


I've put up tear tags wherever possible, and have gotten orders from them~smileys/smiley17.gif