The key is to look around and see what type of marketing works the best in YOUR city?your town?your area. See which events have the biggest crowds and then see how they marketed it. Apply that marketing technique to your business or product. Add a little twist of your own and you got it! It's that simple!

I'll just be jotting down a list of techniques and any pertinent comments that may affect your success with a particular technique. Make sure you look at using as many of these techniques as possible to market your business. Even if you get just a mediocre result from the majority of the techniques, the cumulative affect of using all of them will be a BIG shot in the arm for your business!

SO?here we go!

Press Release: The secret to getting a press release published is to forget all about what you want to accomplish with a press release and concentrate on what the newspaper you're sending it to wants from your press release. Don't make your press release sound like a commercial? make it sound like a news story?answer the 5 "W"s, who, what, where, when, why. Call the paper and talk to them first, see what they think. Any small paper is always looking for relevant news?they'll work with you!

Posters: Make sure all you're trying to accomplish with any poster or printed advertising is to get the reader to go to a website or a phone number. Don't try to sell from a 8 X 11 piece of paper! Just get their interest and then give them someplace to go to get more information.

Door-To-Door: Be sure you're careful with this! Make sure the door-to-door thing is done legally! Pay some kids you trust to hand out your flier. Again, make it a teaser and then send them to your website or a telephone number.

T-shirts: A friend of mine has had huge successes using t-shirts that are imprinted with his logo and business URL. He gets the t-shirts for under $5.00 and gives them out free! Good buzz gets started each time he does this.

Free Papers: These papers are called a variety of things?free trader, green tab, free stuff. The secret is that almost everyone looks at them during the week! The ad rates for business ads are very reasonable and you'll find that the conversion rate is high in most of the papers. Again, use a teaser and send them to your site.

Local Cable Channels: The FCC mandated that each cable provider must provide free access to the community. Make use of that. You probably have a community service channel on your cable system. You know, with the crawling ads and that sort of thing. Usually very inexpensive and they do convert to a sale now and then.

Business Cards: You really need to make up business cards if you haven't already and get them out all over town. On bulletin boards, in rest rooms?everywhere you can that won't get you arrested for littering!

Speaking: speak about your business at Chamber Of Commerce meetings, Rotary Clubs, just about anywhere you can think of. Make you speech something like: "10 things everyone should know about [your specialty]" make the speech short and sweet and informative. Become a local expert in their eyes.

Team Up With Local Groups: Is your product or service something that a local group of Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, FHA, FFA?whatever could sell for you? If so, give them a percentage of the sale for doing so. Groups like this are always looking for fundraisers!

Finally, Use Your Eyes: What type of local advertising makes you see it? What do you notice? Write those things down and then add your own little twist to is and start doing it! The secret is to never try to sell from an ad like this. Give them enough to want more information and then send them to a website!

Copyright (c) 2006 Christopher T Robinson