How Do You Advertise?

I'll be honest. Opening and maintaining a store seems to be easier these days IF you're internet savvy. Craigslist provides a lot of local advertising for free for my store. I also buy cheap ads on local university message boards, not more than $10 per ad. That gets me 100,000 views.

However, the typical ways a store buys visual advertising (signage, flags, etc.) is very difficult in my little town of Apex, NC. My plaza has no roadside marquee, no directory inside the plaza, nothing to welcome the plaza guests to our plaza. Therefore, I have no opportunity to grab over 80,000 cars that pass by the plaza daily.

So, let's throw some ideas together and help each other out! How do you advertise for your store, warehouse, retail space, specific items?

So, let's throw some ideas together and help each other out! How do you advertise for your store, warehouse, retail space, specific items?

I don't advertise as I don't have a store, but I googled "portable store signs" and the pic below is only one example of many that are available. One the size shown would give some exposure if you had an area near the street where it could be displayed (and secured). Multiple tenants would help defray the cost.



I once owned one of these on wheels and pulled it from KS to Texas where I used it for a year before selling it and moving to California. Worked well in the location in which I had it.

That's a good idea.. However, our township is very strict on the kinds of signs used. The one you show is prohibited. The tattoo shop in the plaza bought a flag to put in the ground by the road. The township confiscated it. The martial arts school next door to me put yard signs in the ground right in front of the plaza. The township made him remove them. It's very tough to get any kind of signage passed.

They'll allow signage, the township just wants their pockets greased. If I wanted to put a sandwich board out by the road, it would cost me $25 to apply for a temporary sign, and I would be able to keep it out there for a whole week!

I had actually started the thread to start a conversation about alternative advertising options among us who choose to participate. Things like flyer distribution, press releases, sign flippers, etc. I didn't mean to complain about Apex's strict sign laws.