OLD-SCHOOL LOCAL ADVERTISING: ANYONE USE IT TO FIND TARGETS?
Has anyone used local advertising to find target businesses, especially print?
I'm doing a geo-restricted search in South Florida and my dad suggested that I advertise in the Miami equivalent of Crain's Chicago Business (which is, as far as I know, the South Florida Business Journal). I thought it was an interesting idea: I've considered trade magazines, but the drawback is that trade magazines tend to cover larger geographies. Overall, non-digital advertising like print or radio actually seems like a good way to target the kinds of businesses searchers acquire: ROI may be better than digital and the owner of a business with a 30+ year operating history is more likely to read magazines or listen to radio (again, generalizing here).
Whereas I haven't considered ads, if your search criteria is narrow enough that you can pull a mailing list from sources like Experian (which can be customized by geography, industry, sales, etc.) then you can mail them direct. Considering the demographic I think you're looking for (boomers), I found this successful. I sent 20 letters as a test and received 4 solid upstream leads (20%). The letter was templated with the exception of the opening sentence highlighting something special about their business. Make sure sure to hand sign the letter and the envelope! If you think this may work for you, feel free to reach out. Personally, I'm doubling down on this particular effort.
Happy hunting.
P.S. to anyone looking at Experian's mailing list: their portal is currently not accepting new registrations for some reason