Most all towns have a small newspaper, or at least a newsletter that goes out to all the homes.  Some are weekly, some monthly.  No matter what, there is a targeted audience for you in that paper.

Problem is, most of these small newspapers think they can still charge big money for advertising.  Afterall, they’ve got to pay those distrbution bills somehow.  But let your competition pay for those big  money spots.  You’re thrifty, especially with your advertising budget, so you just need to get creative.

For this example I’m going to use a local sporting goods store.  Since it’s spring, they’ll be wanting to move their baseball stuff.

Got some old items that aren’t moving?  Or perhaps some seasonal items you want to sell? Post them on your site (each item its own keyword-targeted page) and put a small ad in the classifieds section.  Make it short and post your URL (for more information).  Some papers have a ‘Bargain box’ for items under $300.  Lots of people look at this section just to see what’s out there, and since its highly random ads, they usually read every one of them.

Example: (Merchandise or Bargain Box)
New & used baseball helmets and gear.  From $12. www.LocalSportsStore.com
Classified Cost: ~$5-$15

Ever have a sidewalk sale?  Why not rename it a Yard Sale or Garage Sale?  Or just be generic.  They won’t know the difference.  You could even go so far as buying a domain name just for the sale and point it to a page about the sale on your real site.

Example: (Garage Sales)
Sale at 500 Main Street, Springfield. Items include baseball gear, hats and more for kids and adults. Saturday 7-3.  BaseballSale.com
Classified Cost: ~$15-$25

And of course if you’re having a big sale, you’ll need help.  Lucky for you, teenagers will work cheap.  Post a help wanted page on your website. Then promote it in the help wanted section of the paper.  (Note: This will only work for smaller papers.  Help wanted ads are usually really cheap, but that’s not the case in bigger papers)

Example: (Help Wanted)
Need 2 teenagers to help move boxes from 7-9AM.  $20ea See www.LocalSportsStore.com
Classified Cost: ~$5-$15

I also run a local town forum, where people talk about the events and politics going on in town.  When someone posts a help wanted on my site, I put an ad in the local paper saying something like ‘Dishwasher needed: see www.example.com’.  Very generic, but it works.

Some of these ideas may be require a little imagination on your part, but they are all pretty cheap ways to get your brand in front of local residents.  And that’s what you’re after.

Two things: You may want to Disallow the pages you create for these ads in your robots.txt since they won’t be around long.
If you link to them from your home page (which you should, since that’s where your sending the readers), make sure you nofollow them.  You don’t want them to take away even a little of your PR juice.