Free Advertising: A Powerful Way to Manage Your Business Expenses

Free advertising? With so many options out there in the ways to advertise, it is hard to know which direction to trust. Often, a combination of strategies works best, with fine-tuning and split-testing done constantly along the way. It would be great if you could just join a group and then "set it and forget it," wouldn't it?

In order for this method to work, however, you would have to align yourself with a company that under-promises and over-delivers on other benefits to you and your employees. That company would also have to have hundreds of thousands of loyal, active customers who are regularly searching for what you have to offer and who will always come to you first because of your partnership with them.

What I am talking about here is a Business Exchange, in which local and online businesses are searchable by location and business category. We have been a member of a really great business exchange for about 3 years now and are very happy with it. All we did was join as a business member , giving us the right to advertise nationally with them indefinitely at no additional cost. Many of the local businesses represented report a noticeable increase in their number of customers within the first two weeks of being a part of the business exchange.

There are other ways of getting free advertising, of course. Placing a decal on your car, van, or work truck is an excellent way of being noticed. Just don't make it too wordy. You don't want to be ignored just because no one has time to read all of your handy slogans. A short value-packed headline and a phone number or website is plenty.

Also, consider writing a press release written about your business. These "news stories" are constantly needed to fill in newspaper or e-zine space. There are many sources through which you can have your press release submitted for free. Before you begin writing, though, you may want to read a few to get a feel for the format. You want it to read like the news, not like the free advertising that it really is.

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