I’m sure you have been on Craigslist for one reason or another. Whether you are looking for a great deal on a piece of furniture or looking for a job, Craigslist has become a “go-to place” for most online deal hunters. However, Craigslist can prove to be an excellent avenue for business promotion. Whether you have a small business that you operate on a part time basis or a thriving business which has become a time consuming lion, Craigslist can help to increase in profits and popularity.
The two main components to successfully promoting a business on Craigslist include reaching the target audience and running a marketing campaign to attract your target audience. Let’s dig a little deeper in these two areas to see how we can best benefit from both.
Reaching Your Target Audience
Promoting a business on Craigslist isn’t a difficult process. It has some similarities to the process of promoting your business offline. The main similarity is that you must determine your target audience and where they are hanging out.
Even the most well thought out and innovative marketing campaign will fail if it isn’t reaching the intended audience. So be sure to categorize your ads correctly to ensure they reach your audience. The majority of posts on Craigslist are available free of charge with the exception of job listings in certain major cities. Therefore, small business owners can take advantage of a free posting on Craigslist to reach their target audience in a number of different locations.
Here’s an example of a company offering moving services in Nashville, TN. A small moving company that is relatively new might want to take advantage of the free advertising available on Craigslist. To have the best opportunity to reach the target audience this company should place a services offered posting under the labor and moving category for the counties in which the services are offered. By placing the post this way it will be more likely to reach an audience of those who are planning a move in the desired county than it would if the same exact advertisement was placed as a job advertisement under the category of labor or transport.
Besides being free for most postings, Craigslist offers additional benefits. The most significant benefit is a large audience. Craigslist receives over 20 billion page views per month.(at the time of this post) With such a large audience, who wouldn’t want to promote your business on Craigslist. However, be careful to categorize the ad correctly to ensure your reaching your target audience.
Effectively Marketing on Craigslist
Marketing effectively on Craigslist is not very different from other forms of media. One of the most important elements of an effective marketing campaign on Craigslist is dynamite copy that appeals directly to the target audience. Hiring a freelance writer skilled in writing sales copy is an excellent idea. As the business owner you might be quite knowledgeable about your business but do you have the skills to convey the purpose of the business while effectively convincing those who read the posting to perform a specific action or “call-to-action?” That call-to-action may include visiting a website and making a purchase, requesting additional information about the products or services or performing some other desired action such as visiting a traditional store or place of business.
The other component to marketing effectively, as previously mentioned, is placing your advertisement in the correct section of Craigslist. Categorizing correctly is important, but it’s also important to place the advertisement in the right physical location. Products and services which are only offered in a limited area such as a particular city or county should be advertised only in these exact locations. However, if you offer products through your website you might consider placing an ad in all of the locations to where you are willing to ship to.
If you haven’t used Craigslist to reach your target audience, give it a try. And if you have other tips on using Craigslist for promoting your business, please share them in the comments section below.
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I iound your article to be really interesting and helkpful. Before reading this I had never thought of using Craigslist for business info. MANY THANKS.
You’re welcome Doreen!