We all know how powerful the internet is for marketing our home based businesses but the internet is not the only way to market your online home business. There are plenty of ways to market, advertise, and promote your business offline as well.
Here are six very good ways to market your internet home based business offline:
1. Business Cards – Every business person should have a business card, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Just because you have a home business or online business doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a business card. Even a basic, simple business card will at least help the people you network with to remember you when they go about their business, and give them a means for contacting you if they need to.
Even better than a basic, simple card, however, is a unique, eye-catching business card that makes a very good impression and is memorable to anyone who has it. A business card is a necessity, and that’s why every business person should have one.
By spending a little extra money to design an attention-grabbing logo, use a colored background, add a slogan or a catchy quote, and maybe even add a small photo of yourself so people who have your card can easily recall who gave it to them – you can maximize the benefits of having your own business card.
2. Giveaways – Everyone loves free stuff, especially when it’s cool free stuff. And if you hadn’t noticed how nearly every big company utilizes this winning marketing strategy, then you must be walking around with blinders on. Giving away freebies to potential customers is actually a tried-and-true method of attracting new customers for your home based business, both online and offline. Just make sure that whatever you give away has some obvious association with your company or product, even if it’s nothing more than your company name engraved, embossed, or otherwise emblazoned on the giveaway item. Otherwise people are liable to forget who gave it to them, no matter how much they love it.
3. Events – Sponsor an event. An excellent way to get the word out about your home based business is to sponsor events happening in your market. Consider intramural activities, sporting events, charity fundraising drives, concerts, popular workshops and seminars – the list goes on and on. Find out what events people who fit your target market are attending, and offer to help sponsor it.
Often you’ll even get your home business’s name printed on any advertising and promotional materials and souvenirs/memorabilia for said event – be they signs, t-shirts, hats, flyers, programs, etc. Associating yourself with an event that people attend for fun and enjoyment is a particularly effective (and unobtrusive) way to spread the word about your home business.
4. Classifieds – Believe it or not, people still read the newspaper. And just as it always has been, the classifieds section is consistently one of the most frequently and popularly read. As a small home-based business-person, you probably don’t have the money to put towards display ads in the rest of paper. Why even bother trying to afford that outrageous expense when the “big leaguers” already have that part of the market dominated? But the classifieds are still the place for small and home business. Just peruse your local classifieds and you’ll see what we mean.
5. Fliers – Post fliers in supermarkets, sign posts, in parking lots under windshield wipers, anywhere you can. This can be a great way to spread the word about your home business offline without spending very much money. But make sure you have permission first! You don’t want to get fined or piss off your potential customers with unwanted advertising.
A particularly good way to use fliers to build business is to hand them out at large public events. The personal touch adds an extra kicker to the effect of the ad, especially if you’re friendly and smiling when you hand them out.
6. Word-of-mouth – Never underestimate the power of a personal recommendation. Nothing spreads word about a worthwhile business faster than simple word of mouth. Ask your friends, family, and current customers to tell people about your business. All it takes is a few people to start talking about your business and it could turn into thousands of new customers.
So, there you go, six ways to take your online business to the offline world. Give them a try and see how much more money you make this year!
excellent advice. We sometimes forget about offline advertising because so many people only believe in online marketing these days. You can also get free business cards (you just pay the shipping at vista print.com, you can order a few differnt cards and see which one people resond to better. The only downfall is that they put a small ad on the back of the card but it’s worth a try.