One of the first places small businesses go to advertise is the local yellow pages. Prices for yellow page ads can vary greatly, depending upon the size and how many other special effects are used, such as bold print, borders, colors, graphics, placement, and so on. They may typically run from as little as $70 for a simple name, phone and address listing to over $20,000 for multiple listed large ads with all the extras. These fees need to be paid each year for listing in that year's publication. That may not be too bad if your business is located in an area that is services primarily by only one brand of yellow pages, but it can get more costly and complicated if your business is located in a major metropolitan area where there are several different editions of yellow pages. The price of yellow page advertising would be doubled or tripled if one wished to advertise in all the major books.

A similar problem occurs when trying to advertise in the local newspapers. You may wish for your ad to appear in all of the local papers, and prices will vary depending upon the size and placement of the advertisement. When running multiple ads over a period of months or years, the newspaper advertising budget can get pretty high, and it can also get complicated trying to keep track of all the different ads.

Direct mailings can be effective, but are also time consuming and costly, with a need for paper, printing or copying, envelopes or postcards, paper and postage. You may take the time to get local addresses from the phone book or business to business pages, or you may incur another fee to buy mailing lists. Printing and processing the mailings takes time from the business, or another bill can be added to the list if you choose to hire another firm to do the direct mailings for you.

Another common option for small business is to print flyers and brochures for distribution. Although the costs for paper, printing or copying can be fairly inexpensive, getting them distributed can take a lot of time.

Billboard advertising can be very effective, but the price of a billboard typically runs about $400 to $600 per month in most cities, with rates going well over $2,000 for specialty billboards in high-traffic areas. In addition, you need to pay to have the billboard printed, and most companies require a minimum of three months advertising.

An alternative solution is to advertise on your personal or business car. Car advertising can be relatively inexpensive, as it is usually only a one-time charge, unless you decide to change your design. A magnetic door sign or decal will usually cost about $70 per door, making it under $150 for a vehicle. One of the newest forms of car advertising is the ?wrap,? which is a digitally printed adhesive vinyl that covers the whole car with the exception of some windows. Prices for a full color car wrap range from about $2,000 to $6,000, but again that is just a one-time fee, and the wrap is considered permanent although it can easily be removed. There are no monthly bills, nothing to keep track of, and no contracts ? all you need to do is simply drive your car around, or even leave it parked ? and this mobile billboard will be seen by thousands of people each day, with no extra effort on your part.