There are so many options when it comes to marketing your business. Some are easy and cost very little – some take up time and/or money. But really the only way to see if they work is to try them. Keep in mind that what works now may not work later, so stay flexible and don’t get discouraged. Ultimately, the best marketing tool is a happy customer. Positive word of mouth will always be the number one best advertising for your company. Reward your customers with smiles, great service, and discounts. Give them rewards for referring people. Rewards for referrals will give your wonderful customers that much more incentive to talk about how wonderful you are.

Cheap and easy marketing ideas:

1. Always have business cards or flyers or some kind of literature about your business with you. You never know where your next customer will come from.

2. Network, network, network. (Always with a pocket full of your own business cards for you to GIVE AWAY.)

3. Put an A-frame sign on a busy corner near your business (more on how that has worked for us at another time)

4. Walk around your neighborhood and hand out flyers with a coupon or an offer or something to make potential customers want to visit your business. Put these coupons in the hands of people you meet, on the cars you walk by, on telephone poles, and bulletin boards and anything else on which you can stick things.

5. Place an ad in a local publication. Not necessarily The Oregonian, but something specifically distributed to the residents of the neighborhood in which your business is located.

Let us know if you have any other fabulous marketing ideas that we can pass on to others. We are always looking for great recommendations from those with experience in the trenches.