It would depend on the type of business. I have an appliance repair service business and when I started in 1998 I had to wait a few months before the local phone books came out. At the time, Phone books were the best way to reach people looking for my type of business. Since I needed to do something to get started right away, I tried direct mailing. I made up a nice looking flyer explaining what I do and I had a coupon on it for 10% off any repair. I paid a direct mailing company to send out 250 flyers a week to perfered areas. That company had labels with the homeowners name and address. I got enough work from that until the phone books came out. The phone books gave me a lot more work. The flyers were a good start and were relatively inexpensive. Today, the best way to reach potential customers is the internet. Having a website is the best thing you can do. Listing your business on merchantcircle is also a very smart thing to do. To save money, I learned how to build my own website and do my own SEO. If you're not able to learn how or if you just don't have the time to build your own website and put the work into the SEO, you should find an honest company to do it for you. I'm still in the phone books but the internet and merchantcircle are where I get the majority of my new customers now.
-Bob Meadows/Owner/Appliance Technician
B&D; Appliance Repair Service Palmdale, CA www.bdappliance.com [img]http://www.mojopages.com/biz/b-d-appliance-service/palmdale/ca/93551/39989227#image136510[/img]
Links: www.bdappliance.com