Copyright (c) 2007 Chris Sullivan
Promotion and advertising can be a heavy expense, especially for
a new business that wants to make itself known in a community. A
home-based business, however, more often than not, has a very
limited budget when it comes to advertising. The home business
owner needs to make the public aware of his or her product or
service at the lowest possible cost.
One way is to write an article relative to your particular expertise and submit it to all the publications and media dealing in the dissemination of related information. In other words, become your own publicity and sales promotions writer. Get the word out; establish yourself as an expert in your field, and "tag-along" everything you write with a quick note listing your address for a catalog, dealership opportunity, or more information.
Becoming a guest on as many of the radio and television talk shows or interview type programs as possible is another really good way. Actually, this is much easier to bring about than most people realize. Write a letter to the producer of these programs, then follow up with an in-person visit or telephone call. Your sales copy should emphasize that your product or service would be of interest to the reader -- perhaps even saving them time and money.
Posting advertising circulars on all free bulletin boards in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, and beauty and barber shops, is another way to get free or very inexpensive exposure. Don't dismiss handing out circulars to all the shoppers in busy shopping centers and malls, especially on weekends. You can also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your area to had out circulars door-to-door.
Having a promotional ad relative to your product or service printed on the front or back of your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your return address are some of the more basic methods.
It is important to make note of all the trade journals or magazines that carry your type of advertising. Many mail order publications just getting started offer unusually low rates to first-time advertisers; a free-of-charge insertion of your ad when you pay for an order to run three issues or more; or special seasonal ad space at greatly reduced rates. And there are a number of publications that will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space--arrangement where all orders come in to the publication, they take a commission from each order, and then forward the orders on to you for fulfillment.
Many publications will give you a contract for space. In this arrangement you send them your ad, and they hold it until they have unsold space, and then at a price that's always one third or less the regular price for the space need, insert your ad. Along these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban neighborhood newspapers.
If you send out or publish any kind of catalog or ad sheet, get in touch will all the other publishers and inquire about the possibilities of exchange advertising. They run your ad in their publication in exchange for your running an ad for them of comparable size in yours.
Finally, there's nothing in the world that beats the low cost and tremendous exposure you get when you advertise a free offer. Simply run an ad offering a free report of interest to most people--- a simple one page report with a "tag-line" inviting the readers to send money for more information, with a full page advertisement for your book or other product on the backside. Ask for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and depending on the appeal for your report and circulation of the publication in which your ad appears, you could easily be inundated with responses!
The trick here, of course, is to convert all these responses, or a large percentage of them, into sales. This is done via the "tag-line," which issues an invitation to the reader to send for more information, and the full page ad on the back of the report, and other offers you include with the complete package you send back to them. Free advertising is just a matter of releasing your immagination, as we mentioned in the beginning of this article. You have a powerful force working for you that can help you reach your goals if you do that.
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