Having your own business is not an easy feat. A big part of succeeding is knowing how to market yourself to your customers and making sure that you have their attention at all times. There are a lot of ways to market yourself, your brand, and your business. These days all the hype has turned towards online marketing, but we here at Teen Money Making Ideas believe in exploring all avenues, which means that we need to consider the possibility of selling your brand even without the help of the internet.

We also believe in the power of laughter, the element of surprise and daring to be different. So, without further ado, here are some unique and funny, 50 free ways to market yourself offline:

1. Make a picket. Persuade friends to enact a picket in front of your business location but instead of saying bad things, make them hold out signs like “This business is WAY too good” or “We demand MORE! Why do they have to close on weekends?”
2. Ride trains and buses and stick a flyer at the back of the seats. To get a passenger’s attention, headline your ad by saying “DO NOT READ THIS.” People will be too tempted not to.
3. Distribute Missing or Wanted posters all over the neighborhood that goes something like this: “WANTED: A client who wants to be pampered with attention and good service.”
4. Use weird objects or papers with different kinds of texture as your business card instead of going for the usual ones. For example, if you have a lemonade stand, you can make toothpick flags with your information on them then stick them in lemons and distribute the lemons for free!
5. Go to a park and choose one popular location and one that’s not so populated but not hard to find. From the popular location of your choice, draw footprints out of chalk leading away from the place. Have the footprints walk all the way towards the second location, where, upon arriving, the curious person who followed this trail will see more information about your business as well as a small treat or prize.
6. Get a gig and offer your service for free in exchange for advertising. For example, if you are part of a wedding band, you can offer to sing at some restaurants for free in exchange for being able to give out your business cards at the end of every performance or having your name displayed outside.
7. Get a fake tattoo with your business name and logo, and wear it on a prominent part of your body.
8. Advertise in your school by leaving post-its on random lockers with your information on it.
9. Fly a big kite in with your name and website visible from the sky.
10. Take advantage of waiting rooms and insert your flyers in between magazines. Better yet, make your own magazine and surreptitiously leave it there. Put a lot of interesting facts and trivia about a certain topic. Make it creative and unique. Then make sure you leave your information there.
11. Tell your friends (or you can even do this yourself) to hang out at local coffee shops all day and just talk about your product. Talk loud enough so the nearby tables can hear, and make it sound like you are really impressed with this business or this product. People who might be eavesdropping or who can’t help but hear will immediately know of your business.
12. Follow around a local reporter. If they happen to make a live broadcast somewhere, pass by the location of the report so you can get seen on TV and flash your product or information about you, or even just a banner with your website URL on it.
13. Volunteer to write an article for the newspaper. Be funny and creative and interesting, and make sure that you leave your audience wanting for more.
14. Capitalize on the season. If it’s summer, distribute handheld fans with cute designs with your name on it. If it’s winter, give out matchboxes with your information, perfect for lighting the fireplace.
15. Use your car. Decorate your car to catch attention and display information about your business.
16. Join contests or local gameshows and be the funniest contestant ever that people will remember you.
17. Go to a busy neighborhood and street and offer samples of your product. For example, if you are into baking, you might want to offer free taste tests to people.
18. Offer to host events or parties at your business location, or better yet, offer to *be* the host for the event. The more people get to know you and see your face the better you can market your business.
19. Get featured in the newspaper or magazine. Publications are always trying to find a great story. You can introduce yourself as a young entrepreneur who have done a lot to succeed. Even get featured on TV if you can.
20. Use direct mail to contact potential clients, but make your package unique by using different-sized envelopes or even different colored ones.
21. Strike a conversation with strangers. Prepare a speech that is short but informative so you can tell them all about you in a short span of time before they can get bored and walk away.
22. Better yet, prepare an elevator speech. Ride elevators in popular places where your target market hangs out. When you get to be alone with a few people, you can pitch to them your business and what you are all about.
23. Be friendly with your local waitress or hairdresser and confide in them about your business. Try to make it sound like juicy gossip, and be sure to leave them big tips always. They will pass your information along to the next customer.
24. Visit local internet shops and set the homepage to your website or blog.
25. Go to a mac store and do the same thing to the computers on display there.
26. Wear tshirts and other wacky outfits with your business name and logo on it. Be a walking advertisement!
27. Leave stuff on the doorstep. Do what kids are very prone to do – ring the doorbell and run away or hide in the bushes. But this time leave a special treat or a flyer on the doorstep.
28. Make a free demonstration to moms and housewives. Do this for free and even give away something. Be charming and friendly and an ideal example to kids everywhere. If they like you, they will talk about you to just about anyone they know.
29. Make free bookmarks and distribute them in bookstores and libraries for free. You can even insert them in random books. Just make sure that you don’t get caught! Put all your information on the bookmark, but make sure that you also create cool designs so a lot of people will like it.
30. Join clubs or attend get-togethers. Network and make new friends.
31. Be the entertainment at a party. Offer to get dunked in the pool or be the target in a tag/race in exchange for people promoting you or having your products as the giveaway at the end of the day.
32. Make helpful signs. For example, “Please throw your trash properly” or “Don’t leave your things unattended” and put your website url at the bottom of the poster. Offer to give these for free to cafeterias or restaurants in exchange for them displaying it in their store.
33. Seek the help of a celebrity for your cause. It doesn’t have to be somebody on the show business, it can be a popular athlete, news anchor or even a local guy who knows a lot of people. Make them believe in your cause and what you are all about and ask them to help you advertise your business.
34. Ask your family and friends if you can borrow their window spaces. Design their windows for free in exchange for putting your information up there. Use bold signs, big letters and bright colors to attract attention. Make sure that it can be seen from afar.
35. Put up a sign in your lawn. Make it big and use creative pictures.
36. Use your answering machine! Ask your mom and dad if you can change the message in your answering machine. You can use it to say a short spiel about your business before asking them to leave a message.
37. Form a group or alliance. Find other young entrepreneurs in your neighborhood and form a group. Together you can market yourselves better and host events or even attend events and get noticed.
38. Visit your neighbors. Go door-to-door and just socialize. Be friendly and get to know them better. In exchange you can tell them more about yourself and your business.
39. Play music in the park or in the subway. Get some friends to join you jam in places where there are a lot of people, and display a sign beside you advertising your business.
40. Volunteer in exchange for free advertising. Offer your services pro bono. For example, you have a tshirt business. Print shirts for a charity event in exchange for displaying your business name. Also ask the help of your local charity to promote you to their network.
41. Hold garage sales and slip in your business card in the bags every time someone makes a purchase.
42. Become a newspaper delivery boy and insert your own flyers in the newspapers that you deliver to every house.
43. Sign up to have a booth at a bazaar or trade show. Do some entertaining to make sure that you get people’s attention. Decorate your booth for maximum impact. Offer samples and business cards so you’re easier to remember.
44. Talk to your classmates during a class meeting. Say that you are working on a big idea and think you are onto a great thing, but you need their help in order to make it work. Give them discounts or freebies in return for their help, or you can say that your business will forever have a tagline like “Powered by the Class of 2010″ or something like that.
45. Go out and bring a lot of business cards and flyers with you. Pretend to fall in line somewhere and then after a few minutes, pretend to trip, fall down or be careless enough to accidentally let go of your things. While people help you pick them up they can see your flyers and you can chat and make a connection. End the conversation by giving them the flyer or asking them if they can distribute it, too.
46. Call your local radio stations and ask if you can advertise for free. Say you are a kid who want to make it big and need the help of someone kind enough to give them a chance.
47. Write to the mayor and inform him/her of your business. If your business is able to help other people, then all the better. Let the office know of your noble plans and request if you can seek assistance or at least an audience with a lot of people where you can pitch your business.
48. Attend networking groups or events. Research in your area if they do local meetups. These are people who are interested to talk about their business. This is your chance to talk about your business as well. Make sure that you make a good impression, are friendly and accommodating, and have enough business cards to give away.
49. When you go to stores who have a guest book or a sign-up list where you can leave your contact information, make the best of it by leaving your business name and email address, as well as a working phone number. If you can leave a message, do so by praising the store you have visited, saying how much you like it and would definitely come back and recommend it to friends, too. Sign off with your name and url to your website.
50. Be cheerful and chatty. Change your overall disposition towards marketing. From now on you will have to be friendly to strangers, and always be on the lookout for the opportunity to sell yourself and your brand.

About Erica: My name is Erica and I like writing and using my imagination in order to be productive. I believe that creativity is the key in becoming successful, no matter how young or old you are! :). So as the webmaster of TMMI, I'll be sharing some of the ways I found to not only make money but be creative too! Continue reading...

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