Local Advertising

Local advertising is the way to go if you want to advertise for more home party bookings, as you'll want to limit responses to your general neighbourhood.

Advertising a local business can be done in several ways:

Local media

Not only are local newspapers and publications cheaper to advertise in, they’ll be targeting exactly the right area for your home party business.

Experiment with one advertisement at a time, so you can keep track of how much response you get from different publications or different sections of a newspaper (e.g. classified or display ads).

Aside from paid local advertising, you could also try doing a press release to send to your local newspaper. Obviously you need to find something newsworthy in your business to write about, but it’s great publicity if it gets published.

Sponsor or donate a raffle prize for a local event

This is a great way to generate positive publicity about your business and get your crafts known. Make sure the organisers have your full contact details, especially a website address if you have one, so they can promote your business when they promote the event. Also include all this information with the prize, as the winner may want to pass the details on to anyone who admires their new treasure!

Local bulletin boards

Putting up a flyer on the local newsagent’s notice board, or on a few villages’ bulletin boards might also lead to some more bookings. Keep these advertisements simple - just a picture of one of your crafts, a few benefits to hosting a home party and your contact details.

If it’s an open notice board then try attaching some of your business cards to the bottom for people to take with them. Always check first that you’re allowed to pin your advertisements on any bulletin boards – you don’t want to get the locals angry!

Ideas for other places to leave your flyers or brochures (once again, please get permission first):

• Hairdressers
• Beauty salons
• Doctors or dentists receptions (or any waiting rooms)
• Information desks at local shopping malls
• Dry cleaners
• Gym club receptions
• Local village shops e.g. newsagents, butchers, bakers
• Florists
• Supermarket bulletin boards
• Printers

Leaflet drop

If you’re happy to spend a little on printing some simple leaflets you can also distribute these locally. You can either do this yourself or pay someone else.

Local internet forums

Some villages and towns have their own websites and/or forums on the internet where you could let people know about your craft home party business. Just make sure you abide by any rules they have about local advertising and don’t spam!

And speaking of the internet, if you have a website that showcases your crafts, make sure you put your URL on any advertisements as well. Some people might not want to phone you based on an advert, but will be curious enough to take a peek on your website - and if they like what they see they might then either buy something or contact you about doing a home party. Also see whether you can advertise the fact that you do home parties on your website, as other customers might be interested.