Web Sites

Web sites today are practically mandatory. They are like business cards in the old days. You really should have one in today's marketing environment. The good thing is they are also fairly cheap. Many home business type companies will actually give you a website for free or next to nothing. Your job is to promote it once you have one. Again, for the price, it's normally smart to establish some kind of web presence. Try to keep it simple and professional. Once you are making a profit, you might consider an upgrade. Since we are talking about the web, let's throw "email messages" in here as a bonus. If you stay away from spam, email can be effective in letting others know that you are now a business owner.

Car Signs

Car signs are a favorite of many marketers. You can get a static cling banner for your back window or the magnetic signs that go on the doors. If you want to be a little bit more elaborate, you can have your message professionally done all over your vehicle. Since we are talking about cheap methods here, I would probably stick with the static cling signs. These signs really do work. It is not uncommon to hear stories of people being stopped on the road or in parking lots because a potential customer read your car sign and instantly wanted some information. If you do have a car sign, be prepared with business cards, brochures or some other information that you can easily hand out.

T-Shirts

T-shirts are another standby in the advertising and marketing world. The good thing about t-shirts is that you can wear it every day if you wanted (of course you would have to wash it) and really generate some effective passive marketing. Get a half dozen or more and you can have a little army of passive marketers running around with your message on their backs. You can visit a local printer or CustomInk online to get some basic design ideas.

Soap

Well, let's just say your budget is so tight that you don't even have enough money to buy a static cling sign for your car. Take a bar of soap and write your website address at the top of the windshield. You can also go to a local party store or office supply store and purchase giant markers that serve the same purpose. Next, drive around for a few weeks and see what happens. If you are really creative, find a few friends that will let you write on their car windows too. Tell them it is a temporary thing. Maybe you don't think it works to scribble messages on car windows. However, if you look around, you will probably find several auto dealerships that are using this method right now. Besides, have you ever seen a message on a car that you did not read? It does work.

Remember, marketing is a very important part of building your business. Be creative and have some fun thinking up new ways to promote your product or service.