Seminars and product demonstrations. This type of presentation may be a class -- for example, cooking lessons at a kitchen supply store -- or you may want to demonstrate a product or service -- for example, if you offer framing services, ask a local photography club to let you demonstrate how to best preserve photographs. Seminars and demonstrations can add vitality to your business and provide value to customers. For more information, see Marketing Without Advertising, by Michael Phillips and Salli Rasberry (Nolo).

Expensive Marketing

Outdoor advertising. What about large outdoor signs like billboards? Considering current traffic statistics, you can probably get a decent number of exposures (number of viewers) for outdoor advertising. But the cost is prohibitive for most small businesses -- between $3,000 and $5,000 per month to rent a billboard. A less expensive way to reach people with outdoor advertising -- between $500 and $1,500 per month -- is to purchase transit advertising, such as shelter panels at bus stops or bus posters.

Radio and television. Radio (80%) and television (75%) reach more people than newspapers (70%) on a daily basis. Repetitious radio and TV ads can build awareness of your business rapidly. But for small business owners, using radio and TV can pose so many problems that it's probably not worth pursuing. First, you must target your advertisement so that you're reaching the right listeners or viewers. Second, you must allot quite a bit of your ad marketing budget to produce radio and television advertising. (You may pay $1,000 to $20,000 per minute for video production, depending on the quality.) Third, more than other forms of advertising discussed in this chapter, radio and TV ads require that you develop a style or angle -- for example, humorous, real-life, educational -- and that you engage listeners or viewers for 15 to 60 seconds of air time. Finally, the expense and uncertainty of their effectiveness make radio and TV ads an unlikely marketing tool for many small businesspeople.