Every business must have some sort of advertising. Conventionally, this has been fairly expensive, but it need not be, if you are marketing over the Internet. This is great for most Internet marketers, as most Internet businesses have a small to non-existent advertising budget.

Whichever kind of business you have, you ought to think about promoting it on and off line. I find it easier to reflect on the off line aspect first, because there are fewer options than with on line advertising and they can often be dismissed. For most businesses, off line advertising typically comes down to newspaper adverts, sign-written vehicles, free ads and handbills.

These types of advertising are very valuable for local shops and local businesses such as builders, glaziers, hairdressers et cetera, but they are relatively expensive. Here are a few unusual suggestions for off line advertising:

Try to give something away. This may sound expensive, but it does not have to be. For example, if you run a poodle parlour, you could write a leaflet on how to wash your dog or how to get rid of fleas. Advertise this give-away on line, in your shop window and in the newspaper. Encourage people to come into your shop to pick one up.

Ask your local newspapers whether they accept press releases. If they do get details of ideal length and subject matter and send them a press release whenever you take on new staff, win an award or start advertising a new product or service. Press releases should be free of charge.

Next time their is a local event, hire a booth and give a demonstration of what you do; take a survey of what you want to know; and hand out flyers. Stalls at Girl Guide Jamborees or Bring-And Buy sales are very cheap and you may meet thousands of people in person. Then hand out a press release out about the event.

Offer to present a prize to a local charity event and / or have the tickets made too. With your name on, of course. Hundreds or people will see you name linked with a good cause.

Run a competition with a prize. Run it in the local paper or from your shop. As a building firm, we on one occasion offered a man Friday free for a day. It ran over a three week time span and every week we required five trivia questions to be answered. The newspaper ran it free of charge.

Thousands of people entered and our cost was a day\’s wage. An old widow won him and she had him doing little odd chores about the house all day while she made him tea and sandwiches and had a good old natter. I think it made her year, but it got us a lot of goodwill and good publicity.

You could offer badges, coupons and novelties as lower prizes

Send out Christmas cards and promotional calendars to past and potential customers. A calendar will keep your name in front of someone\’s eyes all year around.

You could offer free seminars on the key features of your business. If you could talk in the community hall for thirty minutes, you could take questions and answers later on. Try the local Womens\’ Institute.

Some of these techniques can be used to promote an online business or website too.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on many subjects, but is at present concerned with Marketing Your Website. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at The Best Sales And Marketing Strategy.

If you have been using the Internet long enough to set up some kind of email address, you will probably have been invited to earn some extra money by filling in on line surveys.. These so-called paid on line surveys are targeted at the growing number of people who find themselves at home all day with a computer, little capital and no work. They are particularly targeted at stay at home mums and the jobless.

It is possible to earn a few dollars a month from some of these on line survey companies, but many of them are cons. They may make their money in a variety of ways, but usually the cash out figure for the person surveyed is quite high, often $50 or $100. It is hard to reach that figure at the rate of one $1 survey per week. However, they have you running back and forth to their site in the hope that you will click on one of their advertisements and they will get paid.

The first sign of a scam survey company is the up front registration fee. This is normally less than $50 and seems a good deal if you are going to be earning the thousands of dollars that they \’promise\’. Well, not really promise, because the disclaimer always states that you may not make as much as the \’people\’ who have sent in the testimonials that you read plastered all over their web sites.

Testimonials from people like \’Mary T., New York\’, completely undetectable, unverifiable, probably fabricated \’people\’, who declare to be earning enough money completing on line surveys to pay off the mortgage, buy a big car and go on holiday in the Seychelles every year. Rule number one for avoiding on line scams: never pay a fee on the promise of possibly earning money.

The cell phone rip-off is always very popular amongst con men and women. In this scam, you will be asked to authenticate that you are a real person by replying to a straightforward text message. What you are not told though is that you are texting a premium number which will in all probability cost you up to $5. The firm is sure that you will not become aware of this charge, especially if you are pay-as-you-go and do not receive monthly statements.

Another popular scam is where you are promised special offers or even cash for clicking on the adverts of the site\’s \’partners\’. You will be asked to ask for more details by clicking on a banner. You may be promised 30% off or five cents for clicking. What you are not told is that you will be pestered from now to kingdom come by telesales marketers. Health insurance, pet insurance, free holidays, you name it. The only thing that you can be sure of is that you will end up paying more.

Then there is the free magazine con. You are offered a free magazine on an exciting subject of your selection. Again they ask for your telephone number. What they do not say is that your free magazine comes with a subscription to their magazine which costs $19.95. The payment will be made to your phone bill and you will most likely never even notice it, which is what they are hoping for.

Never give out sensitive information over the Internet if you do not know who is receiving it. Phishing is also a profitable swindle, where an email is said to come from a bank or even Google or Yahoo. You are told that your account has been hacked and that you should corroborate your details. As soon as you do, your account will be compromised sure enough.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on many topics, but is currently concerned with Web Based Marketing. If you would like to know more or check out some great deals, please go to our website at The Best Sales And Marketing Strategy.