Getting my foot in the advertising door | Marketing | Writing Forum

I stay away from CL like the plague. Occasionally you'll find a gem advertised there (as in gigs), but it's rare. I don't think it's worth the time to look given how much competition is also there. Generally CL is just somewhere the bottom-of-the-barrel buyers go when they want cheap labor.

I hold off on paid advertising unless there's a dry spell or other marketing tactics aren't working. In most cases it isn't necessary and it won't last (like an ad in a targeted trade pub). I'm not sure of the exact client base you're targeting, but if you're thinking about local classifieds, I'd guess you're targeting business clients rather than publications. In that case, you might be better off with cold calls and direct mail campaigns than classified ads. You can always start small for testing and scale it later.

If you do want to stick with traditional ads, make sure they're in places where your target market is. The local paper might help a bit if you're limiting yourself to local clients. But otherwise I'd opt for trade publications and related websites first.