Best place to advertise in a small city?

My husband and cousin are starting up a small computer business and I'm trying to help them out by finding cheap and effective ways of advertising. I did up some flyers to send around town but I'm wondering, what usually catches your eye around your city?

Public Comments

1. School bulletin boards, churches, in front of Starbuck's, Target, Blockbuster... :-) Just word of mouth usually works really well in small cities, and going out to stores and other popular places--with permission, of course--is a great idea, too. Put flyers on windshields and doors if you can, and put ads in the paper and online if it isn't too expensive.
2. I'm wondering how small the town is . . . I live in what we call a small town, but 20,000 people may be large in the minds of some. Regardless, the best advertising is the kind for which you have to pay. It is true that word of mouth is effective in many areas, large and small, but the challenge is to get the first customers who will then spread the word. In my community the newspaper and radio are very effective, and since it's not a large media market it is priced to suit small businesses. The best advice you can give to your husband and cousin is to WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN! No one, no matter what they think they know, should ever start a small business without writing a business plan! Running a business is so much more complicated than simply knowing how to do the work and writing a business plan will force your husband and cousin to answer questions they never knew to ask. It will force them to work out a budget and to identify -- in advance -- where problems may arise. Incorporate advertising money into the budget. Have them contact the Small Business Administration and SCORE, both are organizations that offer FREE advice to small business owners. SBA is government funded and SCORE is volunteers. These organizations will help them to write a business plan and give them contacts to help them find the answers they need. And it's all FREE. Be sure to have your husband and cousin ask about marketing and advertising. The folks at SBA and SCORE will likely put them in touch will professionals in those fields who will give free advice. The advice givers are prohibited from then trying to sell services to the new business. I'll try to be frank without being rude: If your husband and cousin are not willing to do their homework, get advice and write a business plan then they are not serious about running a company and their business will fail. Try these links for more info: http://www.score.org http://www.sba.gov
3. You could get magnetic signs for your car(or window signs) A FREE way to get advertising would be to search this site and other forums and answer computer questions. Once you answer the question with relevance, you can invite them to visit your website. If you found this answer helpful, visit http://igotjokesnjokes.blogspot.com http://salesbullets.blogspot.com and click on a sponsor's ad (see how easy it is)
4. If you have a weekly thrifty nickle type advertiser it is a great way to get to the home business owner which will be a big part of your market This free e-book lists over 20 methods of advertising for free and many methods have hundreds of sites to market at.