Advertising Your Business

The following is a great article by Marilee Parrish. It contains great information.

Today we’re going to discuss the remaining avenues you can utilize to advertise your business.

Newspaper Advertising

Advertising in the newspaper may be a good avenue for your business if your target market is in a certain age-range (40+).

Cons: Newspaper subscriptions are down all over the country. Most young families read their news online instead of leafing through a paper. It is also generally very expensive to run an ad in the paper.

Google and Facebook Ads

In my opinion, the top 2 places to advertise online are through Google and Facebook Ads. I have used both successfully, but I prefer Facebook ads over Google ads because Facebook setup is much more user-friendly and I also believe that the Facebook ads generate more long-term interest. In both cases, you can select your target market by using keywords that apply to your audience. In my case, I always prefer to post my ads on sites that “Christian Moms” visit, so I use those keywords. If you run these ads for a few days at a time, you can make a great impact on your market at a low cost.

Cons: Running the ads for long periods of time can get pricey. Make sure you read all the directions before you begin (especially with Google!) and set a daily price limit and run dates, otherwise you’ll end up paying a lot more than you think!

Ads on Prominent Sites

Many active websites sell ad space on their sites. The going rate varies but usually runs between $25-$100 a month. You will have a 125×125 “button” created and sent to the website. Sometimes the website owner offers to create the button ad for you at an additional fee. A few sites that I recommend for women to advertise their business on are: CWAHM.com, Market Mommy, The Work at Home Woman, Mommy Perks, SITS, and Living My Moment.

Cons: You may get clicks and you may not. You want to make sure that your “button ad” stands out from the rest to get maximum exposure.

PR Firms

As opposed to have just a button ad that sits on a website, which may or may not generate any interest, you can hire a PR firm to create content about your business and your products. Content draws interest much better than button ads. Ads on websites are often ignored whereas if a subject is interesting and an entire article is created about it, you’ll get readers excited about your product. PR Firms will often run a giveaway for you as well which helps generate even more buzz about your business.

Cons: Good PR can be expensive! Finding the right PR firm who will do a good job for you and is affordable can be a costly nightmare.

My recommendation: I have used these firms before and have found that Mommy Perks offers the absolute best service and has many affordable options. Mommy Perks is owned by Shara Lawrence-Weiss and I have never met another person who works harder to see her clients succeed.

Free Advertising

You want to make sure that you get your business out there on as many free sites as possible so that your brand and business becomes recognizable and its great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Place ads on Craigslist, Backpage, Living My Moment, you can post about your business in appropriate places on sites like CafeMom and SocialMoms, too. Never underestimate the power of a Facebook Fan page and a twitter account either. There are lots of free options out there to help you take your business to the next level.

Cons: Posting about your business online is very time consuming. Make sure you are updating your info regularly or it will get ignored.

MariLee Parrish is a Christian author of over 10 books and the founder and CEO of Mommy Bag Marketing, Inc. where their vision is to spread joy and Christian resources to moms across the country…one bag at a time! Please visit her website at www.mommybagmarketing.com to learn more.

I hope this information has helped you!

To Your Success!

Lori

Lori McDowell
Internet Ceo Moms
Helping Moms Work from home since 1999!