Where do you spend to promote your business?

[Bronze_Palms]

I spend on 

• Yelp
• Instagram

In the past I have invested in 

• Nextdoor
• Facebook
• Google
• The Knot

Curious if anyone dabbles in local magazines, high school brochures, etc.

[maxpete]

Great question @Bronze_Palms, thanks for starting this discussion!

Tagging some members for their take. @alexandriak, @DinaLRosenberg, @aaronc123, @TCSlaguna, and @CareyJo 

[TCSlaguna]

We haven't spent money on ads yet, it's something we will start in the next month.

So far, our efforts have been spent on posting updated products and store pictures on Yelp and Google, as well as social media posts on Facebook and Instagram. TikTok has been on and off for us (we need a team member to help us create the content). 

We haven't taken out ads in local magazines or newspapers, but we have been featured in a couple newspapers and a college newspaper. It always helps. 

[alexandriak]

What is your business? I see the knot so I'm thinking wedding related. 

You could do well advertising in the right magazines, especially local ones. Have you looked at any events in your area that would be a good match for you? You'd get face to face interaction with potential customers.

[CareyJo]

I totally agree with this - not sure what location you're in @Bronze_Palms but I would definitely be looking at events.  I also thought weddings when I saw The Knot.  If that's the case, hit those expos!  We have a bridal fair every year at the Civic Center in January.

Our towns in MT have what we call Alive @ 5 and they often have vendors of all sorts, you could set up a booth at some of those kinds of things as well.  If you haven't already checked, I would use the events feature in FB to look at what's coming up in your area within the next six months and then reach out to those coordinators for next year's event if you don't have time to get in now.  You'll find that a lot of them have their finger on the buzz and can tell you who else to hit up.  I would scour the public bulletin boards all over your town looking for those kinds of events that would suit you well.  You'll often find things like 31st Annual..... whatever and they have vendors buy booth space.  You could even go so far as to create your own little event.  Get several other like-minded businesses together that all have a service or product to offer for weddings.  You'd be amazed what you could do!  Let me know if you need ideas......

[Hailey]

@Bronze_Palms @CareyJo @alexandriak LOVE these ideas! My friend is a wedding planner and she always has a list of preferred vendors for anything bridal - So i would suggest some personally networking with local planners. You can also go to their instagram accounts and engage in their profile and followers, good for getting your account out there

[CareyJo]

Our two local newspapers and by local, I mean personally produced, not "big city" papers.  They maybe have a reach of 2,000 readers each.  They are both locally owned, reported and produced.  I personally know the owners.  One is from our town, the other from a neighboring town 36 miles away.  I pay for weekly ads, one is a biz card size, the other is a 2x2 square.  These are both super cheap.  I also pay for Christmas and graduation special ads every year and during our summer events, when we have extra ad space, I sponsor events.

We made the mistake of spending over 24k in about three and a half years on radio that never gave us a single dime on ROI.  I will never do that again, no matter how much marketing money I have to burn.  MT is one big small town, all spread out.  We're not Phoenix or NY City and we're not Coke or Pepsi.  We don't have the disposable income that they have to waste on that, not to mention we don't have the population to buy it.

I have chosen not to invest in FB ads simply because I can do so much myself.  Not to mention, again, living in MT, we want our potential clients to know we're a real, boutique business and we're not trying to sell them on something.  We're trying to sell them us and how we do business.  So I do a lot of posting and sharing.  I get a TON of people telling me that they found us on FB.  And yes, I ask every new customer how they found us, so I know where my money is most impactful.  We rarely get money from the paper, but it's cheap and people see it every week.  If I stop doing it, they will wonder where we went.

[alexandriak]

After some recent issues with IG I will also be pivoting away from advertising with the Meta company. I refuse to spend hundreds into the thousands of dollars a year on a platform that won't offer live customer support for a platform I advertise on. They offer support for FB but not IG. It's so ridiculous. I wish we had some locally owned papers in my area! 

[alexandriak]

Another thought I had as far as events go, see if your downtown area does anything like a First Friday. In my area we have First Friday every month. Shops stay open later, and they usually close two blocks to host vendors and activities.  Something like that could be super affordable and a good way to get your name out, especially if you offer a free kid craft or something.

[CareyJo]

Our town recently switched to First Thursday even though it doesn't rhyme because they found that too many people were out doing other things on Fridays and not attending.  I'm sure you can agree with the snow in PA but here in MT, we often have snow until the first of June, so come summer, which is when these events happen, people are out of town for the weekend.  We live for summer around here and travel as much as possible.  I was glad to see that they moved the night so more people can be involved/attend.

[alexandriak]

Nope I totally get that! Thankfully here in PA snow is usually a no go after March for us. We do our First Fridays year round, but only close streets May-October. 

I'm glad they moved the night for you guys! We're having the issue where our Downtown has grown so much that there's so much to do. People are scattered all over. We definitely need to look into some options to bring it back.

[DinaLRosenberg]

We really don't spend a lot on marketing at all... thankfully we've developed quite a reach on our own and do OK with organic. With that said we DO participate in different school journals to support the kids (school plays, etc) and are happy to help out with donations when it is a regular customer that is asking. 

[tranguyen]

This is such a great question @Bronze_Palms and a really great follow-up to some of our recent discussions around how to start marketing businesses and building a customer base too. 

For this week, we're highlighting this as our Question of the Week!

I can't wait to read everyone's insights ✨

[VanKalkerFarms]

I think in a year at our garden center we might spend $300 total on Facebook ads.  And that is it.  being here since 1961 and word of mouth and repeat business more than keeps us going and growing every year.

As for our bakery, it is all just Facebook posts, and for the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Paczki day (fat Tuesday) we'll spend $100-$200 on FB boosts.  We run a digital billboard also that is $500 a month for 6 months out of the year.

[Stacelyn24]

I primarily allocate my promotional budget to Google and Instagram platforms. Through analysis and tracking, I've found these to be the top two markets where my target audience is most active and engaged. Investing in these platforms ensures that my business gets the visibility it needs among the right demographic.

[Minion]

I rarely do any FB paid advertising.  Maybe a few hundred a year.  I'll drop some money on Googld Ads when they send me a promo offer of Spend xx get xx sort of deal.  I have been looking into a local billboard though which I think would be the best bang for the bunk around $395/month.

[AdamB]

I've always wondered about the efficacy of a good billboard. Depending on what the business is, it seems like it would be really effective for local businesses.

[AdamB]

As a follow-up question, has anyone had good luck sharing business cards with other businesses? I'm thinking of when you go into a shop and at the checkout counter are cards for other local businesses.

[tranguyen]

@Melwin I remember you mentioned using business cards in this thread. We'd love to hear more about your experience with it! 

[CareyJo]

We put our cards anywhere and everywhere we get a chance!  Bulletin boards, networking events, chit chat with a stranger - any opportunity.  We do have a few places that I can leave cards in a holder, where other cards are also.  I always have some in my handbag and my husband always has them in his wallet.

[rtfulk]

We don’t spend any money on advertising. We are mobile and travel most of the country working state fairs, we bring our products to the people and they can touch and feel and buy in person. We get a lot of website business from that after we have left the area. We also do live shows once or twice a month, that keeps our face and product in our customers mind. We always promote our next fair on the live shows. We do post a lot on facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, telegram, tumblr and mastodon.