Seeking Success as a small business owner?

Question

Does anyone know wher i can post free advertisment for my catering company ? Marketing in Detroit,MI

Answer 1

A few free resources – check out the sources box for links:

1) Create a blog pertaining to your field

2) Use Yahoo! Local & Yahoo! Groups – Be sure to read the TOS for each one!

3) Write articles pertaining to your field and/or expertise.

4) Flyers & Business Cards - Who are your customers & where do they shop (e.g. grocery, home improvement stores, etc)? Post flyers where your customers frequent.

5) Advertise Locally -- Newspapers, Craigslist, Yahoo! Local

6) Word of Mouth -- Offer a great service & people will talk.

7) Mailers -- Send out coupons, specials, etc.

Also, consider signing up for an affiliate program. These programs enable you to advertise on other's sites (your affiliates) and once a sale is made to you, your affiliates & the program are paid a commission.

I listed a few handy sites & articles relating to marketing, promotion & advertising. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* 301 Do-It-Yourself Marketing Ideas: From America's Most Innovative Small Companies by Sam Decker
* Off The Wall Marketing Ideas: Jumpstart Your Sales without Busting Your Budget by Nancy Michaels, Debbi J. Karpowicz
* Guerrilla Marketing for Free: Dozens of No-Cost Tactics to Promote Your Business and Energize Your Profits by Jay Conrad Levinson
* Entrepreneur Magazine's Ultimate Small Business Marketing Guide: Over 1500 Great Marketing Tricks That Will Drive Your Business Through the Roof by James Stephenson

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 2

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Answer 3

The best kind of advertisement is when you have reached someone who is already looking for what you have to offer. If you want to advertise for free, you have three options that will bring you this kind of targeted traffic.

One of the best ways is to find forums that people who need your product would want to visit. If I had a catering company, I would probably start with forums for wedding planners or party planners. Make useful and interesting posts, and place an advertisement for your company or link to your website in your signature line.

Another useful tool is a blog. Publish updates to your menu, price changes, information about different gormet foods, even an interesting journal about where you have traveled latedly etc. Post pictures of large events you have catered recently, testimonials of satisfied customers. Just be sure you keep updating it regularly. Don't forget to ping your blog after you have posted.

There are a lot of free classified pages on the web. Just type in free classifieds on google, and you should be kept busy for days.

Also, if you have a web page, make sure it is optimized for the search engines. You will get free traffic when your page makes it to the first few pages of related searches. There is a lot of information about search engine optimization, and it makes a lot of difference.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Depends on your definition of "free."

Have you considered partnering with other companies who sell to the same people, and offering them a referral fee or commission? That way you have no out-of-pocket expense (except maybe some fliers or a sales letter) until the sale comes thru.

So for example, bridal shops, hotels that don't have a kitchen but do have conference rooms, large office buildings that have a concierge, golf courses, churches, chambers of commerce... anyplace that hosts meetings, or has customers who are hosting a meeting.

So this goes beyond "can I leave a stack of biz cards on your counter" and moves into "we should work together, here's what's in it for you if you refer people to talk to me and we do business."

To take it to the next level, after you have a reference or two to use, you could ask your past customer to allow you to send out an "endorsed mailing". It's a bit advanced and complicated to explain but works great. Contact me if you're interested.

Good luck,

Scott

Answer 5

Probably the best and lowest cost thing that you could do to not only protect and grow your company is to look into PrePaid Legal Services Business Plans. They offer low cost solutions to protect and grow your business.

A publicly traded company in business for 33 years, leveling the playing field for small businesses by giving them access to what Big Business has... consultants... Top Market Consultants at a low cost... People who want to see small business succeed.

If you would like to see what plans your business would qualify for as well as what we have to offer, contact me directly.

Answer 6

I used to work as a Product Manager in Microsoft's Small Business Marketing Team. I highly recommend visiting the following Small Business sites since they have lots of information that would be valuable and helpful.

http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/small-business-plus/sign-up.aspx

I also recommend advertising in the local search website. Check out the following websites that offer Local Search Advertisements:

Microsoft: http://local.live.com
Google: http://local.google.com
Yahoo: http://local.yahoo.com

Answer 7

try spamming. Its illegal but it works.