Designers - **Business Thread**
 

Those of you who do mainstream / non-adult work (not for clients *in* adult) where else do you advertise your services and offers, right now we're doing a lot of stuff on Craigslist but it seems that there has to be more places to advertise both locally and nationally.

We're about to start an ad run in a local community magazine that is distributed around the bars, restaurants and clubs in the area, the ad cost us $350 so hoping we can see a return on that at least.

Obviously word of mouth and search engines play a big part of getting new clients but, where else is there?

Any suggestions on sites or services you utilize?

Find a popular restaurant/bar/club or whatever establishment that is frequented by a lot of business people. Offer them a free design, in return for promotion and have them place flyers/leaflets around the place for people to take. Make sure you also have a "designed by" link on their page.

If needed, do this with several places. There are other approaches you can take as well, but I'm not gonna get into those on here. Giving out free advice in public is against my religion.

:thumbsup
That would be indeed the best way to start marketing on a local level :thumbsup

I wouldn't say the best, but definitely a good way to start if you're on a tight budget though. There are much better ways, but again, not gonna explain those here. :)

[QUOTE]Find a popular restaurant/bar/club or whatever establishment that is frequented by a lot of business people. Offer them a free design, in return for promotion and have them place flyers/leaflets around the place for people to take. Make sure you also have a "designed by" link on their page.[\QUOTE]

Yup we already have done that with a couple of local places :)

We also include our 'designed by' link on every clients site we design.

Was more looking for online places to post ads regularly like we do on Craigslist though.

Get a list of all the mayors in shitty small towns near you.
Towns that have a few thousand people or so.
Offer to do the mayor websites for free if they don't have one or a shitty one, and explain how it will be used to get him re-elected, promote himself, etc...

Get a few politicians on your side, they spread the word like wild fire with all the small businesses they talk with. Can also offer them a referral fee.

LOL ... corruption rules. This might actually work out in Russia or Philippines.

Will work pretty much anywhere politicians run for public office.

That only works when the Mayors unemployed brother-in-law hasn't finished the website after two years of trying...

When I promo'd design work, I just walked around to all the local businesses.

Tons of biz out there... just go get it

Some of you would actually be surprised the results you got if you tried. Good luck.

I pass out my business card when I go out to eat or out with friends all over. The word gets spread fast if you do good work and understand the tools that mainstream business need.

Getting with the local chamber of commerce is another way for you to get some local business.
I do all sorts of bartering with local people as well. You can make some good deals with people that have a product you can use.

Most local business need websites it seems and are willing to pay for them. I have also ran ads on craigslist and several other local websites looking for help with design/programming or marketing. It's not easy to find good help these days because nobody wants to work. There is endless projects on the web and locally. It’s just a matter of hard you want to work to get it.

Fuck, i need a biz card asap!