Weekly Advertising Tip: Offline #1

I was on the fence as to what to write about this week. There are so many options, but I read a post this morning that gave me some new ideas, and I decided to go with some offline marketing tactics.

The article I was reading this morning was on 37 Ways to Re purpose a Single Blog Post. This was a good post, and it prompted me to think about how those older posts could be used offline. Particularly, the author mentions using those posts for a printed Home Business Newsletter. This is something that I plan to do in the near future. I even looked for newsletter templates, and Microsoft has plenty available right here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT010104328.aspx#

 If you have a decent color printer you should be able to get things started on your own. Once you find enough places to distribute your Home Business Newsletter, you may look into having them printed. For a single sheet, printed on both sides, then folded once to make a 4 page newsletter, you could reasonably expect no more than a few cents per copy at most print shops. 


Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Where could I distribute these?" Well I'm glad you asked... so to speak. Here are a few ideas of places you may find to place some copies of your Home Business Newsletter. First, look for any place that has a bulletin board. A magnetic clip of some sort, with a few copies fanned out, would be good use. What abotu the car wash or oil change place? Do they have magazines laid out? Maybe you could leave a few copies of your Home Business Newsletter lying around with the magazines. Same for the doctor's office or anywhere else with a waiting room.


Your public library may be another good place to check. They may have a place where you could leave some, and they may even know of other community resources that may be of benefit to you. I've heard of people inserting business cards into most of the books on business. The same could work here, but I cannot condone this activity.

There is always the option of blanketing parking lots or hanging them on front doors of houses, but these methods are not very effective.  Most of your newsletters will eventually find their way into the trash or storm drain. 


Be sure to have your contact info prominently displayed. Another consideration would be to allow a space on the back for a postage label. Now you are prepared for when people subscribe to your Home Business Newsletter. 


I would love to hear some other ideas you may have. If anyone has any other ideas for where to distribute their newsletters, please share in the comments section for all to read.