Have you ever picked up one of those neighborhood rag newspapers and seen all of the small business owners that advertise their business? These folks obviously see the value in advertising and have some sort of a marketing budget–even though its probably shoestring. How many of them are trying to get the attention of the same type of client as you?
Ever thought about partnering with one of them? Since you’re talking to the same person, competing for the same dollar, why not put a partnership together, offer something that leverages the value of both of your offerings and halves your advertising cost?
And the right relationship is not always in what you think is the ideal partnership. The massage therapy center partnering with up with the beauty salon is an obvious one, but what about some more untraditional pairings? For example at the shopping center by my house I saw that the nail salon had partnered up with the dry cleaner to offer incentives to their clientelle. Brilliant idea: the customer is already in the shopping center doing one errand, why not make it more convenient and easy for them to accomplish two! These opportunities are everywhere. Just pick up one of these papers and get a sense of what others are offering.
You might even partner with the publisher of the publication and offer their advertisers something of value from you if they resign for another period of advertising.
