Places to Post a Free Local Ad

By Rhonda Campbell

If you want to save money and spotlight your business to local crowds, consider developing a local ad. It may be well worth it. In fact, a BIA/Kelsey report shows that advertisers are refocusing on local markets. According to the Media Post’s December 26, 2012 ” Social Ad Spending Trending to Local Markets” article, “the local segment of U.S. social media advertising revenues will grow from $1.1 billion in 2012 to $3 billion in 2016.”

Increased Focus on Local Ad Markets
The article continues, “While roughly three-quarters of social media spend this year is estimated to be national, that share is predicted to drop to about 68% by 2016.” Higher response rates could be what’s driving the switch back to the local ad. Of course, entrepreneurs who own brick and mortar stores may be realizing that, by focusing on area residents with a local ad, they could not only increase their social media marketing response rates, they could also drive more customer traffic to their offline storefronts.

Fortunately, there are several places to post a free local ad on the Internet. Offline, newspapers and regional magazines, journals and radio and television stations are places where you can place a local ad and possibly reach millions of area residents. To save money on television ads, consider creating and placing a local ad on independent cable channels.

Online places to post a free local ad include:

• Local Ad List (http://localadlist.com)
• Stumble Here (http://www.stumblehere.com)
• Super Ads (http://www.superads.com)
• Local Sale Ads (http://localsaleads.com)
• Craigslist (http://www.craigslist.org)


Additional places to post a local ad (although they may charge a fee for you to post a local ad) include:

• Local Ad Buy (http://www.localadbuy.com)
• Bing Ads (http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/local-advertising)
• Yahoo Local Ads (http://local.yahoo.com)
• City Search (http://www.citysearch.com)
• Reach Local (https://cc.reachlocal.com/register/clogin.php?cb=1)
• Dex Knows (http://www.dexknows.com)
• Yellow Pages (http://www.yellowpages.com)
• City Slick (http://www.cityslick.net)

You could also place a local ad in small community newspapers, the ones that are generally delivered via the mail without a subscription. Don’t ignore these community newspapers, as some of them are distributed by the thousands to local businesses like beauty salons, barber shops and local grocery stores.

Sources:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/189931/social-ad-spending-trending-to-local-markets.html#axzz2GH2ydWja (Media Post: Social Ad Spending Trending to Local Markets)