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 If you are in direct sales or a home party plan company you
will want to market your business offline.
Here is a checklist of some Creative Offline Marketing
Ideas!
#1. Take a small zip close baggie (snack sizes work well)
and include the following in it:
Your Business Card, Business Mini Flyer, a Piece of Candy
such as hard candy or a lollipop, mini flyer of current host
specials, discount coupon (optional) etc.
Hand these out to the bank tellers, retail cashiers, at your
kids sport events, every where you go!
#2. When I stay at hotels & motels I leave a mini catalog,
my business card & discount coupon and the mini coin
canister for the maid! I put her tip inside the mini coin
canister! I have gotten 3 orders by doing this!
Be creative when you leave tips for Hotel Maids, Waitresses,
Waiters, Hair Dressers, etc. Don't just hand them your
business card, make it memorable!
You can also buy cute little beaded change purses at your
local dollar discount store!
#3. Print out flyers with your contact info (not your
personal address), your website address & email address
along with any current specials you are offering.
Then contact local area mobile home park offices, apartment
complex rental offices, housing developments etc and ask
them if you can leave fliers in their office or hang on
their tenants doors. Give the office employees a free gift
or discount on their personal orders.
#4. Contact local area bridal supply stores, bridal gown
stores, caterers, tux rental centers, wedding dj's etc. Ask
them if you can leave your business cards & fliers about the
great (Company Name) Bridal Gift Registry for them to give
to their customers.
Offer store owners a free gift or a personal discount for
helping you spread the word about your business.
#5. Daycare Centers! They are excellent to contact and leave
business cards and/or fliers at!
I print out a flyer of just a few items from our Tupperware
Children's line and I attach my business card & a discount
coupon. I get a lot of orders by doing this!
So whatever company you represent, find some items that
cater to children or to moms and make up a flier!
#6. A lot of churches hold a Spring and Fall Fest! Contact
them about getting a table or a booth. A lot of times this
will cost you under $15.00 for a space!
Make sure you take products with you along with business
oppty fliers, plenty of catalogs, business cards etc.
Do a contest drawing at these types of events. Make up entry
blanks that gather the customers info so that you can
initiate contact with them again!
#7. Join your local area chamber of commerce! They are
always holding local business events that you can
participate in.
#8. College Campuses! Dorms & Housing Students are always
looking to spend money! A lot of college students are also
looking for an extra income so target them with the Business
Oppty too!
Drop off fliers and business cards to the College Student
Center! They usually have bulletin boards, tables and other
things where you can leave your information at for FREE!
#9. Contact your local area Welcome Wagon or Welcome to the
Neighborhood Group! Ask them about you leaving mini
catalogs, fliers, business cards, discount coupons, freebie
mini gifts, etc with them.
They are always looking for additional items to place in
their Welcome Bags!
#10. Contact your local area hospitals and ask for Human
Resources Dept. The Majority of hospitals hand out New Mommy
Diaper Bags filled with products, samples and other stuff
for New Moms who just had a baby!
It's FREE for you to add in your information! I have gotten
party hosts, new customers and new recruits by participating
in these types of programs.
#11. Contact your local medical offices, particularly
Gynecology and OB Offices and Pediatric Offices and inquire
about you leaving information with them.
This is a way for you to target Parents of Children with
both the home party oppty, the business oppty and new
customer sales.
#12. Donate a Product to your local area Radio Station, they
have numerous contests and they are always looking for
sponsors!
Your donation can be written off as a tax deduction plus you
will get FREE Advertising & Business Exposure for your
donation!
#13. Donate a Product to your local area Bingo Halls! They
are always looking for sponsors of their Bingo Prizes! Bingo
is BIG in a lot of areas!
#14. Call your Chamber of Commerce and find out about Local
Area Job Fairs. Get a booth and set up info about the
fabulous business oppty!
#15. Call your Local Area Colleges and find out when their
next job/employment fair is. A lot of times you can get a
booth or table for less than $35 and you will get a lot of
GREAT new recruit leads by participating in events like
these.
#16. Contact local area car dealerships. I have 2 in my
local area that hand out a small packet that I made up for
FREE to their customers who come in to take a free test
drive!
#17. Target your local area gyms! You can get a table space
for $20 or less in most cases! Make sure you have 3-5
products on display, plenty of catalogs, business cards and
fliers.
#18. Network with others in your community who are in home
business. Find out what events and activities that they
participate in. They are usually "in the know" and can help
you get started in networking in your community.
#19. Contact Companies in your area to see if you can come
in and set up a table in the employee lounge or cafeteria
for a employee shopping break! These days a lot of companies
will allow you to do this if you ask them!
#20. Does your local area TV cable company have a local
information channel? Inquire about advertising! These ads
will reach thousands of potential buyers for you! I
recommend you only use your website address for these types
of advertising and not your personal at home address.
#21. Contact local small companies and shops to see if you
can offer an exclusive discounts or freebie gift to their
employees. Companies are always looking for a way to "treat"
their employees to specials from the local surrounding
community.
#22. Small Home Town Newspapers! I don't get too good of a
response when I do big newspaper city ads, however... when I
target small town newspapers I usually get a great response.
I even had them let me place an ad on their wedding and
engagement announcements page which I advertised the Bridal
Gift Registry.
So if you are going to do any type of newspaper advertising,
inquire about getting your ads on specific pages in the
newspaper that targets the group of people most likely to
buy from you.
#23. Get a low cost outdoor banner printed up with your
business information on it. You can usually get them done
for $55 or less depending on who makes it.
You can have these outdoor banners displayed at outdoor
music/concert events, outdoor children's sporting events,
outdoor adult sport events, outdoor neighborhood block
parties, outdoor community events, carnivals, fairs, etc.
#24. Take your business on the road during nice weather.
Contact local area parks & community centers to see what
their schedule of events are and inquire about setting up a
booth or table.
This is a great way to network & market your business to
those in your community.
#25. Community Clipper Coupon Packs & Sales Flyer Mailings.
These days a lot of communities have mailings such as these,
contact them and see how you can participate and advertise
your business.
#26. Contact small local area businesses such as hair
salons, massage parlors, boutiques, banks etc.
See if you can set up a table for 1 week with 3 of your best
selling products on it along with some catalogs, fliers,
coupons and your business card. Keep a basket on the table
for any customer orders which you can follow up on after you
return back to pick up your display. Offer the store owner
or manager a free gift for allowing you to do this.
You can also offer to donate a prize for a contest if they
let you display the prize donated & get a copy of the
contestants entry blanks after the promotion closes.
#27. Contact local area pizza shops, diners, deli's and
coffee bagel shops to ask them about advertising on their
paper placemats! Customers do read those ads!
#28. Contact local area restaurants, bars and clubs and see
about advertising on their paper beverage coasters!
#29. Local Television Stations are always holding on-air
contests & website contests for their viewers, contact them
about you donating a prize or gift certificate to sponsor
one of their contests! Great business exposure for you!
#30. Attend Local Area holiday shopping events. Customers
who are ready to spend holiday shopping money turn out for
these events by the thousands! You can usually get a booth
for less than $50.00 so they are economical to participate
in!
#31. Hold a local area community Block Party at your home or
local community center! Families are always looking for
something to do during the nice weather seasons!
Optional: Attend your neighborhood block party and set up a
table with your product offerings or samples. Get out there
in your community and get your business seen!
#32. Get your business listed in your cities telephone book
yellow pages! A lot of them also have a coupon section too!
#33. You can take this phone book advertising one step
further by finding out what company makes the plastic vinyl
phone book covers which have local business ads on them and
get your business added to it!
#34. Get your business information printed up on pencils and
hand them out to local colleges and technical schools for
them to hand out to their adult students! This keeps your
business information in front of them! (make sure you only
donate them to schools with adult students).
#35. Get a vehicle banner made for your automobile. I
recommend the vinyl window clings or vinyl cling ones that
stick to your automobile but don't scratch or remove the
paint. You can easily remove them when washing your vehicle!
#36. If your city has a travel guide that tourists request,
contact that business and find out how you can advertise in
it too!
#37. Local City Maps! These days even city maps have
advertising on them! You can usually get a small business ad
printed on them for an economical price. Don't advertise
your personal location. If you don't have a business
location then advertise your website address or email
address.
#38. Contact local area hotels, motels and bed & breakfast
inns and ask them if you can do up a Lobby Basket and leave
it in their Lobby.
What is a Lobby Basket? You make up little packs of info
about your business & products and put them into the Lobby
Basket for their patrons to take.
They usually have a pamphlet wall or area too with pamphlets
from local area attractions etc. If they don't have a lobby
basket area, inquire about leaving your business info in
their pamphlet area.
#39. Get your business info printed up on balloons! This is
very economical to do! You then distribute them to local
community centers, sporting events and other types of places
where parents book their children's birthday parties!
These balloons can be displayed at the birthday party giving
you business exposure. You can usually get them done for
.3-.8 cents each. Your business name & website address is
all you need on them!
#40. Find a few other self employed business owners in your
community and team up! You can all sponsor a local parade
float, parade clowns etc. Make up signs with your business
info imprinted on them so that you can receive some great
business exposure during the parade!
#41. Get some T-shirts printed up with your business
information on it (both front & back sides) and hand them
out to some friends, family and co-workers and ask them to
wear them out and about in the community. This is their FREE
gift for helping you to spread the word about your business!
Optional: Get ball caps printed up with your business info!
#42. Get some canvas tote bags printed up with your business
information printed on it. Find a few ladies who are very
active in your community and ask them to use your tote bag
and give it to them for FREE under the agreement that they
will use it every time they go out in the community for
errands & events!
#43. Get a license plate made up for your vehicle! If you
have your normal license plate on the back of your car, put
your business named one on the front of the car!
You can get one with just your business name on it for about
$20-$30 per plate!
#44. Wear a business name tag every time you go out into
your community! Get a Catchy Slogan printed on it such as:
A. Ask me about (your company name) Products!
B. I work from home, you can too!
C. Earn some FREE when you party with me!
#45. Local Area Magazines! Does your city publish a City
Magazine? If so, contact them about advertising or if they
hold contests for their readers offer to donate a product or
service for their contest!
#46. Check out your local area State Fairs & Community
Carnivals, there are always a lot of them going on during
seasonal weather.
Ask about getting a booth or table & set it up with your
business information! People love to shop at Fairs &
Carnivals and they are looking to spend money!
#47. Get some Business Card Magnets printed up and hand them
out every where you go! Have your friends & family pass them
out too!
People are more apt to keep a magnetic business card
compared to a regular one which gets shoved into a drawer or
wallet. By having a magnetized card, your business is kept
in front of the potential customer/client.
#48. When you give gifts to family, friends, neighbors,
co-workers etc. make sure you give them gifts from your own
company! This allows other people to see & touch your gift
meaning FREE business exposure for you! (plus, you bought
the gift from yourself so you are saving money!)
#49. Invite your spouses co-workers over to your home for a
little mingling party! Serve some refreshments or do a
cookout BBQ and make sure you have a table set up with some
product displays!
If you sell kitchen or food products, make sure you use
them!
#50. Do a neighborhood children's shopping party!
I do this before Christmas and again before Mother's Day. I
invite the neighborhood kids to come by and shop for gifts
for their parents and loved ones. They enjoy shopping on
their own and parents enjoy a small break from the children!
To make this successful make sure the products you are
offering are economical, I try to keep them under $25.00
each with most being around $10.00 each. Have a table set up
with some inexpensive crafting supplies and let the children
make their own greeting cards to go with the gifts they have
purchased or have a gift wrapping table set up so they can
personally wrap their
gifts!
#51. Do a joint party with another consultant in a
non-competing business. Partying with a friend is always
fun! You can hold it at one hosts home, your home or at a
local community center. Invite every one you know and have
others help you spread the word. Hang up fliers at local
centers & businesses too!
#52. Put an AD in the back of local high school yearbooks!
You can usually get these ads for around $20.00 which makes
it affordable advertising for you!
#53. Put an AD for your business in local Athletic Sport
Programs! You can find these at the High School Level, Minor
League Level and at Professional Sporting Events!
#54. Contact Local Churches & Religious Groups and see if
you can place an AD in their weekly church bulletins &
program guides!
#55. Do you have a local Community Play House? If so, get
your business ad placed in their play programs! You can
usually get ads in them for less than $25.00
#56. Co-Sponsor a Local Youth Athletic Group! Baseball
teams, softball teams, cheerleading squads, gymnastic squads
and swim teams, etc. are always looking for sponsors!
Co-Sponsoring a team will help get your business noticed in
your local area!
#57. Get a Yard Sign! If you have a home business consider
getting a Yard Sign printed up and proudly display it in
your front yard!
#58. Does your neighborhood hold local Meet & Greets? If so,
make sure you go out and attend them! Get to know your
fellow community members!
#59. Donate a Raffle Drawing Prize to a Non-Profit Group or
Charity in your local community! They are always looking for
prize donations for their charitable raffles.
Note: Make sure you get a receipt for tax purposes!
#60. Do you have a Online Business & Website? Consider
getting some computer mouse pads printed up with your
website address & business name on them! This will keep your
website & business in front of them every time they sign
online! This encourages them to check out your website often
for new products, updates & features!
#61. Local Bus Stops & Bus Sheds! Have you noticed that a
lot of them have local business advertising on them? Call up
the company and see how much it would cost you to advertise
there too!
#62. Does your local area grocery store allow advertisers to
place business ads on the back of their cash register
receipts? If so, contact them about getting your business ad
on there too!
#63. Local baby expose and baby events/contests! Set up a
booth or table with your business info! These events are
always very popular and a great way for you to reach new
customers!
#64. Watch your local newspaper for Wedding, Engagement and
New Baby Announcements! Make a list and then go to:
www.searchbug.com to try to track down addresses. You can
mail off your business info to them announcing your
business, bridal gift registry, baby gift registry, etc.
#65. Stamp your business info to the outside of all outgoing
postal mail! Include your business card on the inside. Do
this for personal mail, business mail and for paying your
bills!
#66. Contact your local Fire & Ambulance companies and see
if you can set up a table at their next BBQ Event or
fundraiser event.
#67. Contact LOCAL Assisted Living Centers for Senior
Citizens (this is different then a nursing home!) and see if
you can come in & offer a shopping oppty. to their Senior
Residents! Seniors can NOT get out like they used too so
they appreciate being able to shop from home and the
majority of them don't own computers & if they do, they are
not extremely computer savvy...so offer a one on one
shopping experience with them! They also appreciate the
adult company!
#68. Are there local small summer concerts held in your
local parks? We have them here during the summer months! Ask
about advertising options during these community events!
#69. BUY little boxes of Smartie (tm) Candies! Put your
Business info on one side & on the front side slap on a
label that says "Be a Smartie, Earn FREE (Your Company Name)
w/a Party!" Hand them out every where you go!
#70. Make up candy packs with your business info attached to
them and hand out to the Halloween Trick or Treaters!
#71. Exchange Business Cards, Fliers or Coupons with another
Home Party Consultant in a NON-Competing Business and place
her filler in your bags & outgoing packages & have her do
the same for you! Sort of "scratching each others backs".
#72. The PUBLIC Library! I go in there often and see all
kinds of local advertisements for businesses there! See if
you can leave a catalog & a few business cards!
#73. Do a CATALOG SWAP with another party plan consultant
(NON competing business). See if she will swap a few
catalogs with you. You hand out a few of her catalogs at the
END of your party and have her do the same! Hand them out as
guests are LEAVING the party!
#74. I have a friend & fellow network member who prints out
for me...mint books...she prints a pretty graphic on it,
along with my business info...they look like matchbooks and
inside is a piece of peppermint hard candy! They are
inexpensive too! I think I paid $8.00 for 40+ of them! She
includes the candy too! I can refer her to you if you want
to try those! Tell Tonya that Shelly sent ya!
www.bboopsworld.com/
#75. Do a PARTY SWAP with a Consultant in another HOME party
business! (NON-COMPETING!) Tell her if she holds a (Your
Company) Party for you.....you will hold a XYZ Party for
her!
#76. Ask about getting your info printed onto golf tee's and
golf balls & then donate them to a local golf course or mini
golf course!
#77. FOAM DRINK COZIES, the foam thingie you wrap around a
cold beverage can! See if you can get some of those with
your business info on them & hand them out at local sporting
events!
#78. Indoor Concert Arena's. Have you attended a concert
lately? Tons of advertising by local and national merchants
at concerts! Check into doing some advertising!
#79. Children LOVE Stickers! Buy a slew of stickers with
your business name on them....hand them out! Chances are
that the kid's parents will see the stickers too!
#80. Temporary Employment Agencies...again drop off packets
of info about Your Business Oppty to them. The Economy is
sluggish in a lot of the areas in the USA...ask Temp.
Employment Agencies to refer some clients to you who may be
interested in a (Your Company Name) Home Business!!! You
could offer the staff a discount or free gift for referrals.
#81. Print up some flyers and get permission from local
shopping centers to see if you can leave them on car
windshields! Always ASK permission first!
#82. Does your community print up FREE Renters Guides, House
Buying Guides Etc? (you can usually find them for FREE at
your local supermarket). If so, contact them about placing
your business ad inside one!
#83. Got a local ice cream man who drives around in his ice
cream truck throughout your community? Talk to him about
passing out flyers or letting you add a logo onto his truck
via a vinyl cling logo banner!
#84. Do a web search for you local county, local township
and surrounding areas. I found tons of websites for my area
with FREE online business directories which I was able to
get my website listed in. They also have offline ADS that
you can advertise in too! A great way to also find out about
upcoming local community events to participate in!
#85. Are there any professional moving companies in your
area? If so, contact them! They usually give out new
business packet info to their customers/clients to welcome
them to their new home. See about adding your business
information to their "New Move" Packs!
#86. Local small town radio stations that are usually found
on the AM frequency usually offer very low-cost local area
advertising on their small radio station. A great way to get
your business info out to those in your local community.
#87. Get your business information printed out onto paper
text book covers! You can make them yourself! Donate them to
local area adult technical schools and colleges!
#88. Is there a local business in your area holding a
upcoming Grand Opening? If so, contact them! A lot of times
they are giving away freebies to the first few hundred
customers plus they do heavy advertising announcing their
Grand Opening. This is a GREAT way for you to capitalize on
that!
#89. Get your business info printed up on inexpensive
bookmarks! Then give them to local area colleges, adult
technical schools, book reading groups, libraries etc. You
can usually print up your own bookmarks with your business
info on them for less than .8 cents each! This will keep
your business info in front of those avid book readers! They
are also great to give away for FREE with customer orders!
#90. Put your Business Knowledge to Work! Offer to teach
classes to adults!
Examples: If you are with a kitchen/cooking company offer to
teach adults to cook! They are always looking for fast &
easy ways to prepare healthy meals!
If you are a scrapbooking consultant, offer to teach a class
to new moms on how to scrapbook new baby pages!
If you are a Bath/Body/Spa consultant offer to teach
pampering classes to women & moms!
You can find adult programs by contacting: Local Community
Centers, Local Civic Groups and a lot of High Schools &
Community Colleges offer evening classes to adults.
(continuing education).
This generates leads & sales and only takes a short amount
of time!
#91. Put the word out to your friends, family & co-workers
that you offer freebies to party go'ers. What do I mean?
Well, people who are holding baby showers, bridal showers,
birthday parties, anniversary parties etc. contact me about
my freebies. They make up party goodie bags and are always
looking for things to stuff them with. Depending on what
type of party it is depends on what I donate!
I print out pretty bookmarks, recipe cards, candy wrappers,
gift bag tags, shopping lists, chore lists etc. with pretty
designs on them along with my business info. I also attach a
coupon. I keep my cost down to .15 cents per person. An
inexpensive way to reach new potential customers.
#92. Print out your own Re-ordering labels! If you sell
consumable goods (foods, spices, soaps, bath products,
cosmetics etc) make sure you stick on a small re-ordering
info sticker with your business info on it so that your
customer can easily locate your information for placing
reorders! This is also important to do considering some
customers purchase items from you to give as a gift, this
way the person who received the gift will also know how to
contact you and will become a potential new customer for
you!
#93. Establish a Referral program for your business and
print out referral coupons! Offer established customers a
free little gift or personal discount if they refer a new
customer to you! I like to give out 3 Referral Coupons to
every new customer I get so that they know they will be
rewarded for referring new customers to me.
Established customers are more apt to refer new customers to
you if they know they will be rewarded for that referral.
Verbal referral programs don't work well, so print up
referral coupons or referral promotion cards to hand out to
your established customers. I also like to put a "referral
reward" sticker in all of my Tupperware catalogs. You can
also add a sticker to the backs of your business cards.
#94. Print out Coloring Pages with a small section on them
advertising your business and donate them to local area
restaurants, daycares etc. I was able to find 4pc. crayon
sets for ONLY .05 cents a box which I also donated along
with the printed out coloring pages! Parents hang them on
the front of their refrigerators after the children are done
coloring them which keeps your business in front of the
parent daily! Cost: About .03 cents for printed out coloring
page with your business info located some where on it and
.05 cents for the mini box of crayons.
Try to find a design that relates to your business for the
best effect.
#95. Contact your local area Girl Scouts, 4-H Club and other
youth groups. Talk to them about you coming in to do a
project with the youth's in the group. You can also talk to
them about your business fundraiser program if you offer
one. During the summer time there are alot of youth camps
throughout the community. You can also find youth camps
through local churches. Some are seasonal and some are year
long programs. The YMCA is also a great resource!
For Example: If you are a Kitchen Consultant, come in and
teach the youth how to cook or about kitchen safety. If you
sell pet products, go in and talk about grooming a pet. If
you sell candles, go in and make some mini candles or teach
them how to decorate them for gifts. Be creative!
#96. If you are crafty with your computer you can print out
tea bag wrappers with a pretty design on them along with
your business information. I purchased a few boxes of
individually wrapped tea bags and then put my printed
business tea bag wrapper over it. You can hand them out
throughout your community.
I like donating them to: Assisted Living Centers, Senior
Community Centers, Daycare Centers (to be given to the
parents & teachers), School Teacher Lounges, Employee Break
Rooms etc.
Example of Cost: .03 cents for a printed colour wrapper and
about .03-.05 cents per tea bag.
#97 Make sure you leave info about Your Business on your
answering machine or voice mail message! Not everyone who
phones you knows that you sell or represent a particular
company! (especially those pesky bill collectors &
telemarketers).
#98 Take your outdated catalogs and randomly mail or
distribute them thru-out your neighborhood! Make sure you
stamp it OUTDATED and provide contact info for yourself so
they can contact you if interested to get a current catalog!
#99 Get Business Themed Banking Checks! Your bank checks
pass thru tons of hands that could become potential
customers or party hosts! If possible get your email address
or website URL preprinted onto them! I also suggest using
preprinted postal address labels too! (try to get checks
that have pictures of some of the products you sell on them
or at the very least make sure some where on the check it
says: Tupperware Consultant, Avon Rep, and so forth.)
#100. Get your business info printed onto matchbooks! Donate
the matchbooks to candle shops, smoke shops, clubs etc. to
help get your business name out in your community!
About The Author
Shelly Hill
I have been a working from home with a home party plan
company for 2 1/2 years. I also manage a successful online
women networking group. I have a total of 18 years of home
party & direct sales experience.
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