20 More Great YTB Travel & Other Business Building Ideas

Need more creative business building ideas? Check these out! These are great business building ideas, thanks to a contributer at WAHM!

1. Contact local small companies and shops to see if you can offer exclusive discounts or FREEBIES to their employees. Companies are always looking for ways to "treat" their employees to specials from the local and surrounding community.

2. Small Home Town Newspapers! Big newspaper ads tend to be costly, and they may not give you too good of a response, so try targeting small town newspapers! Many times you will get a great response. Some may even allow you to place your ad on their wedding and engagement announcements page which allows YTB RTAs to promote your Honeymoon & Bridal Registry in their newspaper.

So if you are going to do any type of newspaper advertising, inquire about getting your ads on specific pages in the newspaper that targets the group of people you are most likely to attract.

3. Get a low cost outdoor banner and some signs printed up with an eye-catching slogan and your business information on it. You can usually get them done reasonably priced.

You can have these outdoor banners displayed at outdoor concerts, picnics, church fairs, family and class reunions, outdoor children’s sporting events, outdoor adult sports events, outdoor neighborhood block parties, outdoor community events, carnivals, fairs, festivals, etc.

The smaller signs can also be posted strategically in high-traffic areas, near interstates, highways and more.

4. Take your business on the road during nice weather. Contact local area parks & community centers to see what their schedule of events are and inquire about setting up a booth or table.

This is a great way to network & market your business to those in your community.

5. Community Clipper Coupon Packs & Sales Flyer Mailings. These days a lot of communities have mailings such as these, contact them and see how you can participate and market your business.

6. Contact small local area businesses such as hair salons, massage parlors, boutiques, banks etc.

See if you can set up a table for 1 week. During this week, promote three of your best selling travel specials such as the Spa Vacations found on your YTB website, and include your fliers, business cards and other information. Put a basket on the table with a sign behind it asking for business cards from anyone interested in a home-based business. Be sure to follow up on these later. Offer the store owner or manager a free gift for allowing you to do this.

You can also offer to donate a prize for a contest if they let you display the prize donated & get a copy of the contestants entry blanks after the promotion closes.

7. Contact local area pizza shops, diners, deli's and coffee bagel shops to ask them about promoting your business on their paper placemats! Believe it or not, customers really do read these ads!

8. Contact local area restaurants and clubs to inquire about promoting your business on their paper beverage coasters!

9. Local Television Stations are always holding on-air contests & website contests for their viewers. Contact them about donating a vacation or cruise voucher to sponsor one of their contests! This will be GREAT business exposure for you!

10. Attend Local Area holiday shopping events. Customers who are ready to spend holiday shopping money turn out for these events by the thousands! Depending on where they are held you can usually get a booth for a reasonable price, and if they are a bit pricey, go in with others in your TEAM to make them more economical to participate in!

11. Host a Community Block Party on your street or at a local community center! Families are always looking for something to do during the nice weather seasons!

Optional: Attend your neighborhood block party and set up a table with information about your business and fliers outlining some of the specials you are offering. Get out there in your community and get your business seen!

12. Get your business listed in your cities telephone book yellow pages! Many of them also have a coupon section too!

13. You can take this phone book advertising one step further by finding out what company makes the plastic vinyl phone book covers which have local business ads on them and get your business added to it as well!

14. Get your business information printed up on pencils and hand them out to local colleges and technical schools for them to hand out to their adult students! This keeps your business information in front of them! (Make sure you only donate them to schools with adult students).

15. Get a vehicle banner made for your automobile. Options include the vinyl window clings or vinyl car magnets that stick to your automobile. These are good because they don’t scratch or remove the paint, and you can easily remove them when washing your vehicle!

16. If your city has a travel guide that tourists request, contact that business and find out how you can get your business included in it too!

17. Local City Maps! These days even city maps have advertising on them! You can usually get a small business ad printed on them for an economical price. Be sure to include your website address, email address and business phone number.

18. Contact local area hotels, motels and bed & breakfast inns. Ask them if you can make up a Lobby Basket and leave it in their Lobby.

What is a Lobby Basket? You make up little packs of info about your business & products and put them into the Lobby Basket for their patrons to take.

They usually have a pamphlet wall or area for pamphlets from local area attractions etc. If they don’t have a lobby basket area, inquire about leaving your business info in their pamphlet area.

19. Get your business info printed up on balloons! This is very economical to do! You then distribute them to local community centers, sporting events and other types of places where parents book their children’s birthday parties!

These balloons can be displayed at the birthday party giving you business exposure. You can usually get them done for .3-.8 cents each. Your business name & website address is all you need on them!

20. Team up with your TEAM or find a few other self-employed business owners in your community and team up! You can all sponsor a local parade float, parade clowns etc. Make up signs with your business info imprinted on them so that you can receive some great business exposure during the parade!

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Regina Osei is a successful mentor and coach who teaches her YTB Team members and other business owners how to succeed in business and how to market their businesses using diverse strategies and approaches both online and offline. If you are interested in starting your own online travel business and want the benefit of a mentor who is committed to your success, join our team today at http://regina.vacationmedia.net. If you have questions, e-mail me at: reginaosei@gmail.com or call 901-221-1630(1)