As a small business owner, I had limited options as far as advertising goes. I did not have a big budget to work with, and to me, every customer counted. I knew that advertising was imperative to building up clientele but I wasn’t sure which advertising avenue to explore. I owned a smaller deli that was successful, and I wanted to start offering catering services in order to make some more money. The deli business was going great; I had regular customers coming in for sandwiches and soups all the time. I really wanted to spread the word about my catering services because catering orders brought in a higher volume of sales.

I stuck with what I knew, I wanted to offer catered lunches for local business and for other functions. I developed a menu, calculated reasonable pricing options and packages, and decided that I really needed to get out there and advertise my new services.

I looked into a few different advertising options. I wanted to grab the attention of places that would offer catered lunches such as schools and businesses. I went out to several of these locations handing out menus to receptionists at the front doors, but no one called.

I decided on trying out some outdoor advertising. I had a few large professional signs made and I placed them in a few particular locations. I put one right out in front of my store on the street front so that passing motorists could see it easily as they drove past. The location of my deli was right in the middle of town, but the store front itself was slightly recessed from the street, it was the prime location for outdoor advertising. The sign optimized the location and brought attention to my deli.

I placed the next sign out on the corner of the entrance to a business park. I figured that it was another great location to get the attention of some of the potential clients that I was looking for. Then, I went to the neighborhood school and placed a few more of my signs out making sure that I wasn’t breaking any laws concerning their placement. I ended up having to put the signs a little ways away from the actual school building but along the main road to the school.

These outdoor advertising techniques worked out perfectly. Within one week I had booked five different catering lunches. Three were from the business park and two were from the schools.