Offline Advertising

[Madam 2 U]

Offline advertising is the MOST effective way of advertising your business/site/domain. From different age ranges, ethnic backgrounds, white collar, blue collar... Your potential customers are unlimited. Why not try out some places with crowds, such as a mall, grocery store, or local park? How about a restaurant, gas station, or bar? Getting your hair cut soon... Try your local beauty salon! The possibilities are limitless!

Here are some other suggestions to get you started:

Advertising Around College Campuses:
If you live near a college, here are some fun techniques to try out! All colleges have bulletin boards. Post a flier at each bulletin board. You can even make tear tags (with your website address) at the bottom of the fliers for people to tear off. Check back often to post new fliers.
-Tape a business card with your web address on each college dorm door.
-Another tip for advertising around college campuses is to take colored sidewalk chalk and write your website address on the sidewalk. (Stay away during rainy days, though!)

Advertising With Fliers:
Fliers can go almost anywhere! You have an endless number of possibilities when it comes to fliers. Here are some examples:
-Visit a residential neighborhood. Roll up fliers and stick them on doors.
-Go to the parking lot of a mall, grocery store, etc... Stick your fliers or business cards on the windshields of cars.
-Blow up fliers and staple them to telephone poles. (Email addresses may be read easier than a long web address)

Using Business Cards:
Print out some business card size ads. These cards should have your website address printed on them. You will want to consider using a thicker type of paper, like card stock, for the best results.
- Been to any hotels lately? Leave some business cards in the room, lobby, or near a payphone.
-When paying your bills, drop a business card in with your payment.
- When you visit the doctor's office, dentist, etc... place a few business cards in the various magazines sitting around the tables.
- While visiting the post office, bank, etc... leave a few cards on the counters where people write their checks or prepare packages to be mailed.
- Laundromats are another great place to leave business cards. You can put a few cards up on the bulletin boards as well as placing them in magazines which are lying around.
- Go to a book store or the library and place a card in several different business books.
- When leaving a restaurant, why not add a business card with your tip.
- While visiting the restroom at a store, restaurant, etc... leave a few business cards on the counter.
- Why not leave a few business cards at places where there are payphones, such as a hotel, airport, etc...
- Many times, apartment offices will allow you to leave a few fliers or cards on the table. Don't forget about their laundry rooms or exercise rooms, too!

You are only limited to your imagination with offline techniques.
One more before I forget is in bathroom stalls! You think I am nutz but, What a better way to have an audience locked into your ad if they are sitting down staring RIGHT at it? Place a flyer on the back of a stall door in the bathroom so when they have a seat, they will be looking right at it. Add some tear offs to your flyers too so they can carry your email address or site out when they leave but your flyer will still be up for other potential buyers/customers.


All the best!

 

[peaudecastor]

Some really nice idea, thanks a lot..

It's a fact that when you sit on a toilet you are always looking for something to read heh!

 

[Madam 2 U]

No problem, I am a FIRM believer in offline advertising. Of course it takes guts to do it and you have to be a people person but, It is all worth it in the end! Glad you found it useful!

 

[phrone]

I strongly agree with you 12656! I typed up a few papers with my site adress on it " http://www.insayne.net/3pounds ", then i printed and cut them out. I taped them in the bathroom, on desks, in the locker room at school and I even taped some on PEOPLE's backs! I think i put out about 50 for so and I got about 100 new unique hits. I will be putting up my URL in stores and places like Hockey rinks, and other places along those lines.

I also agree with the toilet idea I put them on the doors in the bathrooms :p

But hey, it worked :D

 

[redhippo]

such cool ideas 12656 and phrone ttooo. thanks will keep this in my IDEA file

 

[Elefekt]

Originally posted by phrone
I strongly agree with you 12656! I typed up a few papers with my site adress on it " http://www.insayne.net/3pounds ", then i printed and cut them out. I taped them in the bathroom, on desks, in the locker room at school and I even taped some on PEOPLE's backs! I think i put out about 50 for so and I got about 100 new unique hits. I will be putting up my URL in stores and places like Hockey rinks, and other places along those lines.

I also agree with the toilet idea I put them on the doors in the bathrooms :p

But hey, it worked :D

Besides getting detention for vandalism yup those are pretty good ideas. I rather take my approach of putting a fine print adress on my work since i make fliers and stuff. This way i reach a few thousand people and dont bug anyone. Before my host f***ed me over i was getting some major hits.

 

[bensontwenty]

A variation on sticking them up everywhere is to have a bunch of tear-off slips in your wallet and 'accidently' drop one everytime you pay a bill in a supermarket/restaurant/bar etc. The assistant will pick it up to return it to youand you have a natural 'in' to talk about it. If they dont, then it is still lying there and somebody will pick it up. Dont put anything other than the web address on it and cusiosity will win! This worked for a recent market research survey we did.

 

[redhippo]

you are one sly one benson20:hehe: but another great idea

 

[bensontwenty]

Originally posted by redhippo
you are one sly one benson20:hehe: but another great idea

:lol: you got me - there aint no prisoners taken in the old marketing game tho. Marketing nowadays is so cutthroat that you need to be creative with your ideas. A lot of the old tried and tested ways, whilst still valid, have to be complemented by newer, more guerilla marketing techniques.

 

[redhippo]

saw one latest ad. painted on the BELLY of a pregnant woman
walking around!! in NY? ... sure got much attention.

some might say thats demeaning the female kind:tri:

as u say, its a tough world out there: no prisoners

 

[Evilhaider]

Some great ideas there Stephanie.

Thanks for sharing those with us.

 

[Redman]

Hey thats great ideas guys!! But, is it legal to advertise in public without permission of the city council???

 

[bensontwenty]

Originally posted by Redman
Hey thats great ideas guys!! But, is it legal to advertise in public without permission of the city council???

Strictly speaking no - but if you include on your website a template of your own logo and webaddress that your users could download and printout on to sticky labels 'for their own use' then if the council come and complain to the site you can point to that page and shrug your shoulders. :hehe: Make sure that you can produce download or page view stats if they come a knocking though and you should be fine:lala:

Another one I saw recently was to write the web address in chalk on the pavement so that when people are walking along, they notice it and it sticks in their head. The chalk gets scuffed away over time and disappears pretty quickly when it rains so there is no evidence left

 

[phrone]

Originally posted by bensontwenty
A variation on sticking them up everywhere is to have a bunch of tear-off slips in your wallet and 'accidently' drop one everytime you pay a bill in a supermarket/restaurant/bar etc. The assistant will pick it up to return it to youand you have a natural 'in' to talk about it. If they dont, then it is still lying there and somebody will pick it up. Dont put anything other than the web address on it and cusiosity will win! This worked for a recent market research survey we did.

LOL :lol: LOL