Help me figure out GOOD ways to advertise locally

1.) Join the local chamber of commerce. I did that and the week after joining, I was invited to a market event, where I went to talk to a bunch of business owners about my business for 90 seconds. I paid $25 for the ticket and got 3 new clients.

2.) Partner up with local people that have services that are complementary to yours, and do a JV.

3.) Go to local business Meet-Up events, and sponsor a meet-up. For like $5 you can sponsor local-meet-ups.

4.) Check out eventbrite, they usually have a lot of business related free events.

Go to events where there are a lot of business people, and if you DO printing, print yourself like 10 - 15 yard signs and stick them in high traffic places like by the post office, office depot, places that business people go to.

Hope that helps out.

Good job about going into local businesses. Now I suggest you take a more proactive approach and make them an actual offer.

Walk in tell them who you are and how you are giving a super deal on x service. Look around their place and make a suggestion.
"Hey a sign about this would look great right here"
'Ill bet if you had a big sign about this service right here people would buy it like hotcakes"

Normally we would charge x amount for this but as a way to say hello Im willing to do it for "super one time deal today.

Or give flyer with limited time offers on other printing services like copies, fliers , biz cards or whatever.

See what Im getting at , create demand, dont just say hi, drop off a card and wait for them to call you.

Why not read through the "Make $5000 per month and be a hero" thread (Offline Marketing forum) by Bob Ross.

You are in a great position to offer local businesses that type of thing because you ARE the printer.

Thanks for all the great ideas! I am going to look into them all and put some into place this week!

Craigslist. First place to get biz.
Reach out to local graphic designers,web designers, agencies etc.

- Partner with local company that help small business to advertise , help people to register company and so on . You can use your partner to reach all your target market.

- Use email blasting and flyer to reach local people which might reach your target market. It is effective and cheap cost.

- You can target well on Google , which check the keyword that most local people search on to find your service and rank it on the 1st page.

- List your service in all local directories site and even offline directories.

Since you do storefront lettering, I have a suggestion. Now keep in mind I don't know if you mean storefront signs or vinyl decals for glass.

If it is signs, get on with every single commercial leasing company that has storefronts to be on their recommended list of sign companies for their new tenants. Most will just go with whomever their landlord has on the list especially because if you worked on one store for the same landlord, they already have all your insurance, etc., on file and it's less work for the store owner.

If it is window decals, I would come up with a local marketing concept, and I would create free decals for all the stores with the website for your campaign on the bottom. Be very inconspicuous about this, or indirect, maybe even only use a QR code, because many commercial leases prohibit the store from having their sign makers information on the sign.

So say your promotion is shop downtown. you get the domain shopdowntowncity.com, give everyone free decals. You probably could even sell listings/ads on the website, have your business featured heavily as a sponsor of the site (even though you technically own it).

Its like how shops will proudly put a yelp or citysearch decal in their window. Or how the merchant account providers give them credit card decals for the windows. I guarantee you that owner will call you back for more decals and window displays because decals and window signage is very effective.

I have a brick and mortar store and this is what we do. We can't put decals on the glass but we can hang signs 6 inches behind the glass. Some locations can put signage against the glass using suction based sign holders (we have to hang from ceiling). We also have lots of wall decals, inside, because we're not restricted on that. I use Orcal Exhibition 631 because I won't get into issues for messing up the wall/paint when I take them down. The indoor decals provide little bits of information that get customers asking our staff questions. If someone had come to sell me that, I never would have purchased a vinyl cutter that only gets used twice a year (reminds me, I need to make more decals).

I call them conversation starters, and we use a combinations of large posters and decals to get customers to engage the staff because they want to know more. You could probably make a killing by presenting your solutions differently. A print shop is boring and honestly I only look for one when I look for it because I need it because I've already thought of the promotion. if you bring them the reason for printing AND the printing, they are unlikely to look for someone else to do it.

Someone mentioned to you that hero thread and you are perfectly positioned to offer that to businesses. You could offer them loyalty card packages (the punch card kind), customer appreciation campaigns, etc., all sorts of stuff. Just think outside the box.

NO ADS. And more importantly, no INEFFECTIVE ads.

If you sell yourself as a "print shop" you sell yourself short because printing (and even the accompanying design) is commoditized.

Another great source of advertising is Backpage. You can also do a phone bank, i.e., collect business cards for everyone in the area and in nearby areas and call them one by one offering your services and a first time customer discount. This works very well. You can also do some bench advertising and grocery coupons advertising.

Hope this will help grow your business.

All these are good tactics .. but there are some things to consider before tackling any one in perticular.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself....

What are you wanting to accomplish strategically?

What is your USP?

What is your ideal client?

What is your competitive advantage?

Remember the old saying... "Don't run off half cocked"......

Great Ideas in this thread and I am personally planning to join the local Chamber Of Commerce myself, but the sure way to generate traffic to your store is through a custom QR Code. Once you have one send it out everywhere around town and I can guarantee people will be eager to scan, getting them to scan when it's custom is the easy part. Directing them to the most efficient information is where strategy comes into play. People think because you don't have a website then the QR will do you no good, QR's are for way more than just generating traffic to your website. If you are serious implement one into your campaign.

Hey just clicked on your link in your Signature. ( Professional printing services at a fraction of the cost )

Where is your phone # ? it should be visable on all pages. I see you are located in Monmouth county but you have no information on your "About us" page other than Middletown. Another thing it says "Bayshore" Printing. You better re-think that. People will mistake that for Bayshore Long Island.