Cathy Lindsay asked:


Utilizing these few ways of advertising offline can be very beneficial in creating more visitors to your website.  If you don’t all ready use this strategy, consider implementing it into your business.  There are many potential customers out there just waiting to visit your site.  They just don’t know it yet. 

Passing out fliers can be very effective and also very expensive to have printed.  Creating  and printing them yourself can be a tremendous cost saver.  Make sure that your fliers will capture someone’s attention and keep them reading. You want them to stay interested. You may all ready know someone who needs a little extra cash that could pass them out for you if you don’t have the time.  Maybe even a trustworthy teenager in your neighborhood.  (There are places that will pay you ten cents or so a flier.  Just to give you an idea of how to pay someone.)  A mall parking lot is a good place to go and place them on cars.  Think of all the cars that are in a parking lot that size.  People do this often and it works.  

Business cards can also be very effective.  Match them to your fliers as best you can.  Pass them out everywhere you go.  Be aware of all the people that you come in contact with on a daily basis.  Such as the gas station, grocery store, the place you get coffee in the morning, etc…  How many of these people do you talk to?  Look for the opportunity to hand them a card and tell them to read it when they get time.  You can usually find a way in even the littlest conversations.

Postcards are another method that you can use.  Again, create your own and save money.  These are a little more difficult because they have to be mailed, which means that you need names and addresses to do this.  One way to get them is right out of the phone book. There are many people who all ready use this strategy.  For bulk shipping rates check your local postal service. 

Let’s talk about good, old fashioned word of mouth.  This is the first type of marketing ever used and is still going strong. 

Did you know that for years GNC’s only form of advertising was word of mouth?  They grew to be one of the most popular vitamin chains without any other form of marketing.  (They started using other means within the last eight years.) For a business to grow like this with only word of mouth is amazing.  This is probably the most powerful type of marketing in the world.

Think brilliance when you are creating your marketing products. You want to capture someone’s attention so intensely that they must read it in its entirety.  What would capture your attention?  If the person that is reading your flier/card doesn’t need the product or service that you are offering, there’s always a chance that they know someone who does.  If they liked what they saw they will pass it on, and then that person will pass it on, and so forth.  It will start a chain reaction that won’t stop.  You will be smiling all the way to the bank wondering why you hadn’t tried this before.

Jeff Casmer asked:

The Internet has become the largest medium of communication; and has presented a lot of business opportunities.

Online home based business owners tend to limit themselves to online marketing methods. Nevertheless, there is a huge potential to promote your home based business through some cost effective offline marketing strategies.

So what are the most effective offline marketing strategies for your home based business?

1. Word of mouth in your circle of influence Word of mouth is one of the best free advertising channels. We all have people we interact with on a daily basis, and these are potential customers. Make a list of all the people you know or interact with and how can you best tell them about your internet business. Be passionate about your internet business and always be prepared to tell someone about it when an opportunity to do so presents itself!

2. Mail-out newsletters and flyers Mail-out newsletter or flyers can be effective if you target it to a specific ‘group’. You could create one to distribute to local day care centers just as an example – and in your newsletter or flyer, highlight the benefits of an online business to the targeted group, for example earning money at home for stay at home moms or dads. Posting your home based business URL on bulletin boards can also be effective.

3. Use and give away free branded ‘stuff’ You can promote your business by having your URL on all your stationery, all written communication and other items you can give away for free. If you want to get a lot of people to know about your home based business, you will need to come up with some creative ways of promoting your URL. You can be limited only by your imagination. Have your business cards with your home based business URL. Give them out to people you meet, leave them about where you can, such as in your local coffee shop.

4. Newspapers and magazines Local newspapers are good for advertising your online business. Most local papers have ‘home business opportunities’ section, so you run a regular classified advert. In addition, contact your local newspaper or business-oriented magazine and let the business editor know you have a new business and web site and what you offer. Local newspapers are frequently interested in featuring local business people and their accomplishments. This is free advertising and should always be used. You can also contact your local magazine and offer to write a monthly or weekly guest column for them, and include your ‘author bio’ and home based business URL.

5. Joint ventures with offline business You can get into a joint venture partnership with an offline business which sells a complementary product or service to your home based business. If you can identify a partner that best fit your business, this is an important offline marketing strategy that can help you succeed in your home based business by enabling you to reach potential customers that you could not reach before. As an example, if you have a website selling fitness/health products or tips, you could prepare a leaflet and make a deal with an offline local fitness/health shop where they giveaway your leaflet to their shoppers with each purchase. The offline marketing strategies strategies outlined above can help you grow your home based business.