Dennis J. Smith

Besides promoting your business or cause online using social media, you still have to use some traditional offline marketing.  The internet has made it easier to use those traditional ways for marketing and keep the cost down.  In promoting a few of my business endeavors I came across VistaPrint.com.  I took the advice of a friend and picked up a copy of a local business journal.  From that I was able to gather the names of new businesses and their addresses.  I then created a database using a contact database template I downloaded for free from Microsoft.  I was able to add the information to the database and then use Word to print labels for the postcards I designed.  The postcards were easy to create online and keep the look and feel of my book.  I slapped on the labels and a $.28 cent postcard stamp.  The 100 postcards were free thought VistaPrint (special promotion) and I only paid for shipping plus for a few modifications I had made. Besides postcards there are many ways to catch the eye of a potential customer.  You could create a t-shirt with your businesses logo and web address and give it away as a prize.  With websites like VistaPrint you can even get your first t-shirt free plus shipping.  There are tons of ways you can promote your business or cause offline and bring those new customers to your online endeavors. Since I am promoting a book I used Overnight Prints and created a bookmark that I handout to potential customers.  The bookmark is something they can use and is always reminding others on where they can buy my book or join the Facebook fan page.  Make sure you add all important information such as Facebook page, Twitter User Name, blog address or website URL.  Keep your theme the same for all promotional items to make your brand stand out.  Notice how the postcard above has the same look at the bookmark to the left.  Both have the same look as the cover of my book. Have fun with your promotion and feel free to post a comment with link to your offline promotional designs.