best way of offline marketing?

Juliusanderson · 03-04-09

One of the best and most inexpensive ways to market your business locally is by word of mouth. Word spreads fast and this can be beneficial for freelancers who are trying to gain new clients and increase their popularity.Another way to get the word out regarding your freelance business in your local area is to take advantage of free local magazines/newspapers available in your vicinity.

In your views, which is the best way of offline marketing?

Candise · 13-08-09

Business cards are a great tool to assist in this approach, and are inexpensive if you do them yourself.

Flyers can also be effective if you are in the right niche

numlok · 21-08-09

Depending on the product/service you are selling, radio advertisements could be a great way to reach people. Most people listen to the radio while driving to and from work, so you have access to a large demographic. Flyers can be good too if you have the time to go around posting them everywhere and if your community allows that.

AFashionableLife · 21-08-09

Numlok has a great point there.
In one of my previous business' I used radio extensively, it worked very well and was quite cost effective also!

Cheers

great · 22-08-09

I think that banners advertising is the cheapest and most reliable way for propaganda and advertising, set the banner up in your target place, people will NOTICE one day!!!

1942 · 24-08-09

It really comes down to what you are selling.

- Physical signage
- Business cards
- Vehicle advertising
- Radio/TV (can be a bit more costly)

All these can be good things when used the right way.

advice12 · 01-09-09

Just like online promotion, you should never focus on one singular lead generation method. You need to balance your risk by having multiple sources of business.

Involvement in local business networks, advertising in local papers are great. Some other approaches are running free training courses, sponsorships, environmental advertising, partnerships with local businesses. Eg. graphic design studios - offer them a $ per lead or a subcontracting deal if clients ask them about a web site and they don't offer that service.

Long story short, there a plenty of ways to promote your business offline, some will work better for you than others, but don't limit yourself to one and continue to test the waters with new methods.

jrhyperbyte · 10-10-09

one to one retail and distribute of business cards

small business marketing · 18-10-09

Referrals and targeted direct mail are my two most successful ways of marketing offline.

I use what i call a 2 step advertising method for my direct mail. I NEVER try and sell something before they come to know, like and trust me. With the first direct mail piece, you can rarely achieve all that first up.

1. I build a good quality list of possible prospects.
2. I mail with an offer of a free report they can download from my website - called the "7 steps to small business marketing success"
3. If they visit my website to download the report, I capture their name and email - and now I have a fairly well qualified lead
4. I follow up with continued emails with more marketing insights etc - ie i give them value
5. at this point i also start to mention my coaching programs etc

I fond this method works very well for B2B and professional services types of businesses.

Regards
Gary

ASAmoto · 28-12-09

Referrals and targeted direct mail are my two most successful ways of marketing offline.

I use what i call a 2 step advertising method for my direct mail. I NEVER try and sell something before they come to know, like and trust me. With the first direct mail piece, you can rarely achieve all that first up.

1. I build a good quality list of possible prospects.
2. I mail with an offer of a free report they can download from my website - called the "7 steps to small business marketing success"
3. If they visit my website to download the report, I capture their name and email - and now I have a fairly well qualified lead
4. I follow up with continued emails with more marketing insights etc - ie i give them value
5. at this point i also start to mention my coaching programs etc

haha
quite usefull
thx