I was looking for some good reading material and came across this...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/18406/193-...arketing-Ideas

A lot of it may be more geared towards brick-and-mortar type businesses and some do require a bit of an investment, but there were some pretty good ideas in there.

For instance, #51 says to provide your friends, family and best customers with a couple of postage paid envelopes and copies of your sales material (brochures or what have you) and ask them to address them to their friends and have them include a "personal recommendation" on your brochure.

It would take them just a few minutes to do this for you and they would probably tend to send them to people who they think could really use your services (more targeted than just sending them to local businesses). If you gave 10 friends 2 mailers each, you've just reached 20 people who may have a real need for your services that you wouldn't have been in contact with otherwise AND you didn't have to do a thing except provide the materials.

Thanks Stephanie. I'm always looking for marketing ideas.

This is a pretty good idea. I like it.

Thanks Stephanie - this is very helpful!

Mary Harris
iVirtual Services

I really love that marketing idea!

Thank you for sharing!

Michelle

Thanks for sharing this. It very helpful.

Stephanie,

Thank you so much for sharing this article!

thanksf or sharing. I look forward to reading it.

Serena

Stephanie,
Thanks for sharing. I have heard of many of these but there are some that I have not. Thanks a bunch for sharing.

Thanks for the resource. I think this is a really good idea too. You don't have to give them to everyone at the same time, so you can work it in within your budget.

Good idea.