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100 Creative Ways to Advertise Your Biz,
Offline Ideas & Tips!
..1. Take a small zip close baggie (snack sizes work well)
and include the following in it:
Your Business Card, Business Oppty Mini Flyer, a Piece of
Candy such as hard candy or a lollipop, mini flyer of current host specials,
discount coupon (optional) etc.
Hand these out to the bank tellers, retail cashiers, at
your kids sport events, every where you go!
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.2. When I stay at hotels & motels I leave a mini
catalog, my business card & discount coupon and the mini coin canister
for the maid! I put her tip inside the mini coin canister! I have gotten 3
orders by doing this!
Be creative when you leave tips for Hotel Maids,
Waitresses, Waiters, Hair Dressers, etc. Don't just hand them your business
card, make it memorable!
You can also buy cute little beaded change purses at your
local dollar discount store!
..3. Print out flyers with your contact info (not your
personal address), your website address & email address along with any
current specials you are offering.
Then contact local area mobile home park offices, apartment
complex rental offices, housing developments etc and ask them if you can
leave fliers in their office or hang on their tenants doors. Give the office
employees a free gift or discount on their personal orders.
..4. Contact local area bridal supply stores, bridal gown
stores, caterers, tux rental centers, wedding dj's etc. Ask them if you can
leave your business cards & fliers about the great (Company Name) Bridal
Gift Registry for them to give to their customers.
Offer store owners a free gift or a personal discount for
helping you spread the word about your business.
..5. Daycare Centers! They are excellent to contact and
leave business cards and/or fliers at!
I print out a flyer of just a few items from our Tupperware
Children’s line and I attach my business card & a discount coupon. I get a
lot of orders by doing this!
So whatever company you represent, find some items that
cater to children or to moms and make up a flier!
..6. A lot of churches hold a Spring and Fall Fest! Contact
them about getting a table or a booth. A lot of times this will cost you
under $15.00 for a space!
Make sure you take products with you along with business
oppty fliers, plenty of catalogs, business cards etc.
Do a contest drawing at these types of events. Make up
entry blanks that gather the customer’s info so that you can initiate contact
with them again!
..7. Join your local area chamber of commerce! They are
always holding local business events that you can participate in.
..8. College Campuses! Dorms & Housing Students are
always looking to spend money! A lot of college students are also looking for
an extra income so target them with the Business Oppty too!
Drop off fliers and business cards to the College Student Center! They usually have bulletin
boards, tables and other things where you can leave your information at for
FREE!
..9. Contact your local area Welcome Wagon or Welcome to
the Neighborhood Group! Ask them about you leaving mini catalogs, fliers,
business cards, discount coupons, freebie mini gifts, etc with them.
They are always looking for additional items to place in
their Welcome Bags!
..10. Contact your local area hospitals and ask for Human
Resources Dept. The Majority of hospitals hand out New Mommy Diaper Bags
filled with products, samples and other stuff for New Moms who just had a
baby!
It's FREE for you to add in your information! I have gotten
party hosts, new customers and new recruits by participating in these types
of programs.
..11. Contact your local medical offices, particularly
Gynecology and OB Offices and Pediatric Offices and inquire about you leaving
information with them.
This is a way for you to target Parents of Children with the
home party oppty, the business oppty and new customer sales.
..12. Donate a Product to your local area Radio Station,
they have numerous contests and they are always looking for sponsors!
Your donation can be written off as a tax deduction plus
you will get FREE Advertising & Business Exposure for your donation!
..13. Donate a Product to your local area Bingo Halls! They
are always looking for sponsors of their Bingo Prizes! Bingo is BIG in a lot
of areas!
..14. Call your Chamber of Commerce and find out about
Local Area Job Fairs. Get a booth and set up info about the fabulous business
oppty!
..15. Call your Local Area Colleges and find out when their
next job/employment fair is. A lot of times you can get a booth or table for
less than $35 and you will get a lot of GREAT new recruit leads by
participating in events like these.
..16. Contact local area car dealerships. I have 2 in my
local area that hand out a small packet that I made up for FREE to their
customers who come in to take a free test drive!
..17. Target your local area gyms! You can get a table
space for $20 or less in most cases! Make sure you have 3-5 products on
display, plenty of catalogs, business cards and fliers.
..18. Network with others in your community who are in home
business. Find out what events and activities that they participate in. They
are usually "in the know" and can help you get started in
networking in your community.
..19. Contact Companies in your area to see if you can come
in and set up a table in the employee lounge or cafeteria for a employee
shopping break! These days a lot of companies will allow you to do this if
you ask them!
..20. Does your local area TV cable company have a local
information channel? Inquire about advertising! These ads will reach
thousands of potential buyers for you! I recommend you only use your website
address for these types of advertising and not your personal at home address.
..21. Contact local small companies and shops to see if you
can offer an exclusive discounts or freebie gift to their employees.
Companies are always looking for a way to "treat" their employees
to specials from the local surrounding community.
..22. Small Home Town Newspapers! I don’t get too
good of a response when I do big newspaper city ads, however... when I target
small town newspapers I usually get a great response. I even had them let me
place an ad on their wedding and engagement announcements page which I
advertised the Bridal Gift Registry.
So if you are going to do any type of newspaper
advertising, inquire about getting your ads on specific pages in the
newspaper that targets the group of people most likely to buy from you.
..23. Get a low cost outdoor banner printed up with your
business information on it. You can usually get them done for $55 or less
depending on who makes it.
You can have these outdoor banners displayed at outdoor
music/concert events, outdoor children’s sporting events, outdoor adult sport
events, outdoor neighborhood block parties, outdoor community events,
carnivals, fairs, etc.
..24. Take your business on the road during nice weather.
Contact local area parks & community centers to see what their schedule
of events are and inquire about setting up a booth or table.
This is a great way to network & market your business
to those in your community.
..25. Community Clipper Coupon Packs & Sales Flyer
Mailings. These days a lot of communities have mailings such as these,
contact them and see how you can participate and advertise your business.
..26. Contact small local area businesses such as hair
salons, massage parlors, boutiques, banks etc.
See if you can set up a table for 1 week with 3 of your
best selling products on it along with some catalogs, fliers, coupons and
your business card. Keep a basket on the table for any customer orders which
you can follow up on after you return back to pick up your display. Offer the
store owner or manager a free gift for allowing you to do this.
You can also offer to donate a prize for a contest if they
let you display the prize donated & get a copy of the contestants entry
blanks after the promotion closes.
..27. Contact local area pizza shops, diners, and deli’s
and coffee bagel shops to ask them about advertising on their paper
placemats! Customers do read those ads!
..28. Contact local area restaurants, bars and clubs and
see about advertising on their paper beverage coasters!
..29. Local Television Stations are always holding on-air
contests & website contests for their viewers, contact them about you
donating a prize or gift certificate to sponsor one of their contests! Great
business exposure for you!
..30. Attend Local Area holiday shopping events. Customers
who are ready to spend holiday shopping money turn out for these events by
the thousands! You can usually get a booth for less than $50.00 so they are
economical to participate in!
..31. Hold a local area community Block Party at your home
or local community center! Families are always looking for something to do
during the nice weather seasons!
Optional: Attend your neighborhood block party and set up a
table with your product offerings or samples. Get out there in your community
and get your business seen!
..32. Get your business listed in your cities telephone
book yellow pages! A lot of them also have a coupon section too!
..33. You can take this phone book advertising one step
further by finding out what company makes the plastic vinyl phone book covers
which have local business ads on them and get your business added to it!
..34. Get your business information printed up on pencils
and hand them out to local colleges and technical schools for them to hand
out to their adult students! This keeps your business information in front of
them! (make sure you only donate them to schools with adult students).
..35. Get a vehicle banner made for your automobile. I
recommend the vinyl window clings or vinyl cling ones that stick to your
automobile but don’t scratch or remove the paint. You can easily remove them
when washing your vehicle!
..36. If your city has a travel guide that tourists
request, contact that business and find out how you can advertise in it too!
..37. Local City Maps! These days even city
maps have advertising on them! You can usually get a small business ad printed
on them for an economical price. Don't advertise your personal location. If
you don’t have a business location then advertises your website address or
email address.
..38. Contact local area hotels, motels and bed &
breakfast inns and ask them if you can do up a Lobby Basket and leave it in
their Lobby.
What is a Lobby Basket? You make up little packs of info
about your business & products and put them into the Lobby Basket for
their patrons to take.
They usually have a pamphlet wall or area too with pamphlets
from local area attractions etc. If they don’t have a lobby basket area,
inquire about leaving your business info in their pamphlet area.
..39. Get your business info printed up on balloons! This
is very economical to do! You then distribute them to local community
centers, sporting events and other types of places where parents book their children’s
birthday parties!
These balloons can be displayed at the birthday party
giving you business exposure. You can usually get them done for .3-.8 cents
each. Your business name & website address is all you need on them!
..40. Find a few other self employed business owners in
your community and team up! You can all sponsor a local parade float, parade
clowns etc. Make up signs with your business info imprinted on them so that
you can receive some great business exposure during the parade!
..41. Get some T-shirts printed up with your business
information on it (both front & back sides) and hand them out to some
friends, family and co-workers and ask them to wear them out and about in the
community. This is their FREE gift for helping you to spread the word about
your business!
Optional: Get ball caps printed up with your business info!
..42. Get some canvas tote bags printed up with your
business information printed on it. Find a few ladies who are very active in
your community and ask them to use your tote bag and give it to them for FREE
under the agreement that they will use it every time they go out in the
community for errands & events!
..43. Get a license plate made up for your vehicle! If you
have your normal license plate on the back of your car, put your business
named one on the front of the car!
You can get one with just your business name on it for
about $20-$30 per plate!
..44. Wear a business name tag every time you go out into
your community! Get a Catchy Slogan printed on it such as:
A. Ask me about (your company name) Products!
B. I work from home, you can too!
C. Earn some FREE when you party with me!
..45. Local Area Magazines! Does your city publish a City
Magazine? If so, contact them about advertising or if they hold contests for
their readers offer to donate a product or service for their contest!
..46. Check out your local area State Fairs & Community
Carnivals, there are always a lot of them going on during seasonal weather.
Ask about getting a booth or table & set it up with
your business information! People love to shop at Fairs & Carnivals and
they are looking to spend money!
..47. Get some Business Card Magnets printed up and hand
them out every where you go! Have your friends & family pass them out
too!
People are more apt to keep a magnetic business card
compared to a regular one which gets shoved into a drawer or wallet. By
having a magnetized card, your business is kept in front of the potential
customer/client.
..48. When you give gifts to family, friends, neighbors,
co-workers etc. make sure you give them gifts from your own company! These
allow other people to see & touch your gift meaning FREE business
exposure for you! (plus, you bought the gift from yourself so you are saving
money!)
..49. Invite your spouse’s co-workers over to your home for
a little mingling party! Serve some refreshments or do a cookout BBQ and make
sure you have a table set up with some product displays!
If you sell kitchen or food products, make sure you use
them!
..50. Do a neighborhood children’s shopping party!
I do this before Christmas and again before Mother's Day. I
invite the neighborhood kids to come by and shop for gifts for their parents
and loved ones. They enjoy shopping on their own and parents enjoy a small
break from the children!
To make this successful make sure the products you are
offering are economical, I try to keep them under $25.00 each with most being
around $10.00 each. Have a table set up with some inexpensive crafting
supplies and let the children make their own greeting cards to go with the
gifts they have purchased or have a gift wrapping table set up so they can
personally wrap their gifts!
..51. Do a joint party with another consultant in a
non-competing business. Partying with a friend is always fun! You can hold it
at one hosts home, your home or at a local community center. Invite every one
you know and have others help you spread the word. Hang up fliers at local
centers & businesses too!
..52. Put an AD in the back of local high school yearbooks!
You can usually get these ads for around $20.00 which makes it affordable
advertising for you!
..53. Put an AD for your business in local Athletic Sport
Programs! You can find these at the High School Level, Minor League Level and
at Professional Sporting Events!
..54. Contact Local Churches & Religious Groups and see
if you can place an AD in their weekly church bulletins & program guides!
..55. Do you have a local Community Play House? If so, get
your business ad placed in their play programs! You can usually get ads in
them for less than $25.00
..56. Co-Sponsor a Local Youth Athletic Group! Baseball
teams, softball teams, cheerleading squads, gymnastic squads and swim teams,
etc. are always looking for sponsors!
Co-Sponsoring a team will help get your business noticed in
your local area!
..57. Get a Yard Sign! If you have a home business, consider
getting a Yard Sign printed up and proudly display it in your front yard!
..58. Does your neighborhood hold local Meet & Greets?
If so, make sure you go out and attend them! Get to know your fellow
community members!
..59. Donate a Raffle Drawing Prize to a Non-Profit Group
or Charity in your local community! They are always looking for prize
donations for their charitable raffles.
Note: Make sure you get a receipt for tax purposes!
..60. Do you have an Online Business & Website?
Consider getting some computer mouse pads printed up with your website
address & business name on them! This will keep your website &
business in front of them every time they sign online! This encourages them
to check out your website often for new products, updates & features!
..61. Local Bus Stops & Bus Sheds! Have you noticed
that a lot of them have local business advertising on them? Call up the
company and see how much it would cost you to advertise there too!
..62. Does your local area grocery store allow advertisers
to place business ads on the back of their cash register receipts? If so,
contact them about getting your business ad on there too!
..63. Local baby expo's and baby events/contests! Set up a
booth or table with your business info! These events are always very popular
and a great way for you to reach new customers!
..64. Watch your local newspaper for Wedding, Engagement
and New Baby Announcements! Make a list and then go to:
www.searchbug.com
to try to track down addresses. You can mail off your
business info to them announcing your business, bridal gift registry, baby
gift registry, etc.
..65. Stamp your business info to the outside of all
outgoing postal mail! Include your business card on the inside. Do this for
personal mail, business mail and for paying your bills!
..66. Contact your local Fire & Ambulance companies and
see if you can set up a table at their next BBQ Event or fundraiser event.
..67. Contact LOCAL Assisted Living Centers for Senior
Citizens (this is different then a nursing home!) and see if you can come in
& offer a shopping oppty. to their Senior Residents! Seniors can NOT get
out like they used too so they appreciate being able to shop from home and
the majority of them don't own computers & if they do, they are not
extremely computer savvy...so offer a one on one shopping experience with
them! They also appreciate the adult company!
..68. Are there local small summer concerts held in your
local parks? We have them here during the summer months! Ask about
advertising options during these community events!
..69. BUY little boxes of Smartie ™ Candies! Put your
Business info on one side & on the front side slap on a label that says
"Be a Smartie, Earn FREE (Your Company Name) w/a Party!" Hand them
out every where you go!
..70. Make up candy packs with your business info attached
to them and hand out to the Halloween Trick or Treaters!
..71. Exchange Business Cards, Fliers or Coupons with
another Home Party Consultant in a NON-Competing Business and place her
filler in your bags & outgoing packages & have her do the same for
you! Sort of "scratching each others backs".
..72. The PUBLIC Library! I go in there often and see all
kinds of local advertisements for businesses there! See if you can leave a
catalog & a few business cards!
..73. Do a CATALOG SWAP with another party plan consultant
(NON competing business). See if she will swap a few catalogs with you. You
hand out a few of her catalogs at the END of your party and have her do the
same! Hand them out as guests are LEAVING the party!
..74. I have a friend & fellow network member who
prints out for me...mint books...she prints a pretty graphic on it, along
with my business info...they look like matchbooks and inside is a piece of
peppermint hard candy! They are inexpensive too! I think I paid $8.00 for 40+
of them! She includes the candy too! I can refer her to you if you want to
try those! Tell Tonya that Shelly sent ya!
www.bboopsworld.com/
..75. Do a PARTY SWAP with a Consultant in another HOME
party business! (NON-COMPETING!) Tell her if she holds a (Your Company) Party
for you.....you will hold a XYZ Party for her!
..76. Ask about getting your info printed onto golf tee's
and golf balls & then donate them to a local golf course or mini golf
course!
..77. FOAM DRINK COZIES, the foam thingies you wrap around
a cold beverage can! See if you can get some of those with your business info
on them & hand them out at local sporting events!
..78. Indoor Concert Arena's. Have you attended a concert
lately? Tons of advertising by local and national merchants at concerts!
Check into doing some advertising!
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..79. Children LOVE Stickers! Buy a slew of stickers with
your business name on them....hand them out! Chances are that the kid's
parents will see the stickers too!
..80. Temporary Employment Agencies...again drop off
packets of info about Your Business Oppty to them. The Economy is sluggish in
a lot of the areas in the USA...ask Temp. Employment
Agencies to refer some clients to you who may be interested in a (Your
Company Name) Home Business!!! You could offer the staff a discount or free
gift for referrals.
..81. Print up some flyers and get permission from local
shopping centers to see if you can leave them on car windshields! Always ASK
permission first!
..82. Does your community print up FREE Renters Guides,
House Buying Guides Etc? (you can usually find them for FREE at your local
supermarket). If so, contact them about placing your business ad inside one!
..83. Got a local ice cream man who drives around in his
ice cream truck throughout your community? Talk to him about passing out
flyers or letting you add a logo onto his truck via a vinyl cling logo
banner!
..84. Do a web search for you local county, local township
and surrounding areas. I found tons of websites for my area with FREE online
business directories which I was able to get my website listed in. They also
have offline ADS that you can advertise in too! A great way to also find out
about upcoming local community events to participate in!
..85. Are there any professional moving companies in your
area? If so, contact them! They usually give out new business packet info to
their customers/clients to welcome them to their new home. See about adding
your business information to their "New Move" Packs!
..86. Local small town radio stations that are usually
found on the AM frequency usually offer very low-cost local area advertising
on their small radio station. A great way to get your business info out to
those in your local community.
..87. Get your business information printed out onto paper
text book covers! You can make them yourself! Donate them to local area adult
technical schools and colleges!
..88. Is there a local business in your area holding an
upcoming Grand Opening? If so, contact them! A lot of times they are giving
away freebies to the first few hundred customers plus they do heavy
advertising announcing their Grand Opening. This is a GREAT way for you to
capitalize on that!
..89. Get your business info printed up on inexpensive
bookmarks! Then give them to local area colleges, adult technical schools,
book reading groups, libraries etc. You can usually print up your own
bookmarks with your business info on them for less than .8 cents each! This
will keep your business info in front of those avid book readers! They are
also great to give away for FREE with customer orders!
..90. Put your Business Knowledge to Work! Offer to teach
classes to adults!
Examples: If you are with a kitchen/cooking company offer
to teach adults to cook! They are always looking for fast & easy ways to
prepare healthy meals!
If you are a scrapbooking consultant, offer to teach a
class to new moms on how to scrapbook new baby pages!
If you are a Bath/Body/Spa consultant offer to teach
pampering classes to women & moms!
You can find adult programs by contacting: Local Community
Centers, Local Civic Groups and a lot of High Schools & Community
Colleges offer evening classes to adults. (continuing education).
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This generates leads & sales and only takes a short
amount of time!
..91. Put the word out to your friends, family &
co-workers that you offer freebies to party goers. What do I mean?
Well, people who are holding baby showers, bridal showers,
birthday parties, anniversary parties etc. contact me about my freebies. They
make up party goodie bags and are always looking for things to stuff them
with. Depending on what type of party it is depends on what I donate!
I print out pretty bookmarks, recipe cards, candy wrappers,
gift bag tags, shopping lists, and chore lists etc. with pretty designs on
them along with my business info. I also attach a coupon. I keep my cost down
to .15 cents per person. An inexpensive way to reach new potential customers.
..92. Print out your own Re-ordering labels! If you sell
consumable goods (foods, spices, soaps, bath products, cosmetics etc) make
sure you stick on a small re-ordering info sticker with your business info on
it so that your customer can easily locate your information for placing
reorders! This is also important to do considering some customers purchase
items from you to give as a gift, this way the person who received the gift
will also know how to contact you and will become a potential new customer
for you!
..93. Establish a Referral program for your business and
print out referral coupons! Offer established customers a free little gift or
personal discount if they refer a new customer to you! I like to give out 3
Referral Coupons to every new customer I get so that they know they will be
rewarded for referring new customers to me.
..94. Print out Coloring Pages with a small section on them
advertising your business and donate them to local area restaurants, daycares
etc. I was able to find 4pc. crayon sets for ONLY .05 cents a box which I
also donated along with the printed out coloring pages! Parents hang them on
the front of their refrigerators after the children are done coloring them
which keeps your business in front of the parent daily! Cost: About .03 cents
for printed out coloring page with your business info located some where on
it and .05 cents for the mini box of crayons.
..95. Contact your local area Girl Scouts, 4-H Club and
other youth groups. Talk to them about you coming in to do a project with the
youth's in the group. You can also talk to them about your business
fundraiser program if you offer one. During the summer time there are a lot
of youth camps throughout the community. You can also find youth camps
through local churches. Some are seasonal and some are year long programs.
The YMCA is also a great resource!
For Example: If you are a Kitchen Consultant, come in and
teach the youth how to cook or about kitchen safety. If you sell pet
products, go in and talk about grooming a pet. If you sell candles, go in and
make some mini candles or teach them how to decorate them for gifts. Be
creative!
..96. If you are crafty with your computer you can print
out tea bag wrappers with a pretty design on them along with your business
information. I purchased a few boxes of individually wrapped tea bags and
then put my printed business tea bag wrapper over it. You can hand them out
throughout your community.
I like donating them to: Assisted Living Centers, Senior Community Centers, Daycare Centers (to be given to the parents
& teachers), School Teacher Lounges, and Employee Break Rooms etc.
Example of Cost: .03 cents for a printed color wrapper and
about .03-.05 cents per tea bag.
..97 Make sure you leave info about Your Business on your
answering machine or voice mail message! Not everyone who phones you knows
that you sell or represent a particular company! (especially those pesky bill
collectors & telemarketers).
..98 Take your outdated catalogs and randomly mail or
distribute them thru-out your neighborhood! Make sure you stamp it OUTDATED
and provide contact info for yourself so they can contact you if interested
to get a current catalog!
..99 Get Business Themed Banking Checks! Your bank checks
pass thru tons of hands that could become potential customers or party hosts!
If possible get your email address or website URL preprinted onto them! I
also suggest using preprinted postal address labels too! (try to get checks
that have pictures of some of the products you sell on them or at the very
least make sure some where on the check it says: Tupperware Consultant, Avon
Rep, and so forth.
..100. Get your business info printed onto matchbooks!
Donate the matchbooks to candle shops, smoke shops, clubs etc. to help get
your business name out in your community!
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