Small Business Marketing Ideas – Using Door Hangers To Market Your Local Businesses

If you own or operate a retail business, door hangers are a great way to get your name out and get customers in your local area in the door. Most of the time, people only think about door hanger for the local pizza delivery place down the street but why do you think they use this method of marketing? Because it works very well and is usually where most of their business comes from. Adding door hangers to your marketing mix can be very effective and drive people from your local community in your door just as well a it does for the local pizza joint.

There are many companies that specialize in delivering door hangers to local neighborhoods for a very affordable price. You could also hire students from a local high school to do this for you and help out a couple of local kids in the process.

This works best with anyone in the food industry but almost any business that has a retail location targeting consumers can benefit from this type of marketing. If you own a massage spa you can promote a grand opening or a neighborhood special event to get people in the door to see who you are and the services your business offers. This is a great way to bring awareness that you are in their area. People love to find services that are in their local area. This is convenient for them and also gives them a sense of community when they spend their money with the business down the street instead of driving across town.

More and more, people are aware of the community and want to spend their money locally to build their community instead of buying somewhere else. Many times, they will even be willing to spend more to help out a local business instead of the cheaper guy online or that is further away from them.

So, find local neighborhood communities in your area that are your target market. You may need to do a little research to make sure that these areas are your target market. Be sure you are catering to people that are your target market. If you offer physical therapy for the elderly but your office is surrounded by communities of young couples, then you need to look a little further. You'll be wasting your money to market to these neighborhoods.

Find out as much information as you can about these neighborhoods. Income levels, are they married, do they have kids, etc. These all will tell you if this neighborhood is a good fit for your marketing. It will also tell you more about how to craft your door hangeras well as what offer to put on the door hangers.

Your offer is going to be the most important part of the door hanger. This is how you track how effective this marketing piece is for you. You want to know exactly how effective it is so you can evaluate if it is the right market. If it's not as effective as you think it should be, what's wrong? Is it the neighborhood you are promoting to or is it your marketing message? Is it the offer? These are all things you need to test in order to make your advertising dollar as effective as possible.

Here's a couple of things to keep in mind for your door hanger design.

Make it easy to read. No hard to read or script fonts. Make it simple for them to know exactly who you are and what you are offering them.

Be sure to include every way that they can contact you if they are interested. Phone number, website address, and physical address are all important. Be sure to include a detailed map if you want them to come in to your store. This makes it much easier for them to find you and also helps them realize that you are right down the street from them.

Always include an offer. Let's say you own a coffee shop. Offer a free drink coupon on a specific day with the coupon on the door hanger People love something for free and most of the time, people will come in with someone else so they will end up spending more money anyway. Plus, if they like your products, they will likely come back again and next time they will also tell their friends about it too.

Be sure to include at least one coupon on every door hanger. Discounts and freebies always get people to take action. Be sure they know they need to bring in the coupon when they come so you can track it and see the response.

Also include an expiration date. Any discount or offer you have should always have an expiration date. This encourages customers to come in sooner rather than later. They don't want to miss out on their free drink or even two for one offer. Not having an expiration date will let them think they can hold off and then they may end up forgetting completely.

Make the coupon stand out. Make it look like a coupon. Design your coupon to have a dashed line around it like they should cut it out. Also try to include a photo of your product. This also will increase response as they will see what it is they are getting.

Door hangers are a great way to get in front of local customers for any local retail location. From coffee shop and pizza joints to day spas and gyms, door hangers are a great way to promote locally and get the community aware of your business.