What do you do to market yourself??

As we all have our unique talents....I've heard some of you mention being great at the marketing aspect of the business.

Besides business cards I have done numerous free parties and events to "get our name out there". So I would LOVE to hear your approach

What do you do to market yourself? What works great and what doesn't?

Working a restaurant is great marketing. I get tons of business from it(I'm looking for a new one as mine is taking off the season

Have your business cards & give them out like crazy, while shopping, at the doctors, dentists, kids school, after school activities, etc. I also put one with my tip when I'm at a restaurant(be a good tipper if you do this one

Facebook updates regularly. Invite people to follow you on fb. This way they can know where you'll be face painting at public events. You'll start to get regulars that will follow you from event to event.

I'm on every free party website out there. Some people do well on kiji & craigs list.

Market yourself at events, give out lots of cards & have a sign up sheet for future clients.

I'm repeating myself (so what's new, right ) but I swear by direct mail - I mail postcards to all clients, past clients, targetted potential clients... I pick a target market for each mailing so I don't spend a fortune in postage and keep track of the responses.

If I get responses from a certain group I will keep sending them cards periodically, if I get no response I don't bother sending them anything for a few years.

And a response isn't just a call and booking... it is also someone calling me to say that XX tattoo parlour told them to call me about a temporary tattoo... that sort of referral is just as useful to me as a direct contact!

I use the postcards as reminder cards, birthday cards, thank you cards...etc.

It is my single biggest marketing method and works.

get your website and info listed on every single FREE directory site you can find... search "face painting" or "parties" or "entertainment" etc. with your city or area and see what listings come up... get your info on all of them.

kijiji is a free classified website that I always keep active ads on... it's kijiji.com in the US and kijiji.ca in Canada.

if you can find a parenting group/forum in your area, you can get your stuff on there too.. they are generally pretty cheap to advertise, or you can at least start networking with them and mention it to them "behind the scenes" if you don't want to pay for advertising directly.

This weekend is a perfect opportunity besides... put your card or a coupon or a colouring page in with the treats you give out this weekend!

For Halloween, I made over 150 goodie bags with my postcard inside as well as treats and coupons for McDonalds.
I bought approx 10 McD's coupon books and tore them apart.
A big bag of cheesey Ritz (incase of allergies) , some candies, homemade chocolates, etc...and my postcard. Ties up in a Halloween bag from the Dollar Store....voila.
I am giving several people around the city and surrounding areas them to hand out for me. Get my name out to different areas all in one night.
At first I thought it was tacky...but, then I thought "if my daughter got one would I be upset?" No. Sometimes when people hand make goodies and I appreciate a name and address in the bag for reassurance.
So, we'll see how it goes.
All expenses for these are a write off as well.

I volunteer at a large local church. My best friend is one of the children’s teachers so she keeps me informed of all the events that they have going on. Every once in a while I paint faces for a party, for a play, or whatever. It’s only about once a month or so and I have gotten a ton of business from it! I think the fact that I’m volunteering my time makes the church members remember me and they also get to see my work and how happy the children are! I always make sure I talk to the adults around and tell them I do birthday parties and leave a lot of business cards for them. The church, in return lets me post a large advertisement on the bulletin board.

Other that being out at events and making sure I hand out business cards, my biggest form of Marketing and where I get a lot of bookings is from facebook.

I made a business page for free, and make sure I keep it regularly updated with new faces and where I am painting next. It is fun when you see the same people from facebook following you around.
Running small competitions I have found to be a great way to attract more 'fans' and when 1 person joins all of their friends see and will check you out too, its a great chain effect.

THANKS to all of you for getting my mind turning.
I am a going to try.... all of it!!

I try to come up with new ways to get my name out there...for instance tonight, I took full advantage of it being halloween and put a business card in the bag with every piece of candy handed out. Knowing the parents will check the stash before allowing kids to have any.

Daizy, do you pay for facebook ads, or just get new fans by word of mouth? I have a facebook page for my busines and was wondering how to attract more followers. Thanks.

I am very, very poor about marketing - I just don't have the stomach for it. The two things that work for me: word-of-mouth (most of my bday parties result in another booking or two) and painting in the park while my girls are playing.

I have a great facebook page, but it goes nowhere

I am just now starting to figure out my marketing strategy. I am in the process of making up some Christmas flyers. I am going to do some direct marketing to Day Care Centers, schools, and other children's entertainment facilities like Bounce Houses and so on. I did make a face book page. Got a call for Halloween but was too booked.

I am getting ready to go to some regular businesses too. I am trying to get things as booked for next year as I can...we will see. Every one here has such great ideas...I am trying everyone that has been suggested to me!!!

A friend of mine hired me to paint at a local live band/movie night this past June. It's one of those weekly outdoor free events the city holds over the summer. Well I painted for a good 3 hours and was slammed (It was free for anyone to get painted). I had business cards out on my table next to my big mirror and tip jar, and I know I gave out a decent amount of them. That was about 3 weeks after I officially started my business, and since then I've gotten at least 3 jobs I know of from people directly from that event, plus 3 or 4 more that stemmed off of those initial gigs. Next year I plan on doing it for free a few times, and possibly in a few cities, just for the good exposure.

I also have a good online presence, a good website, and a facebook page. I plan on paying for some advertising space in local family magazines this spring as well.