Imagine that you have recently opened a new type of hair salon. Your clients are, for the most part, young families. Your shop offers great kid cuts, a fun atmosphere, and all at a great low price. But how do you market it? Well, you could take out some billboard ads, but that’s pretty pricey. TV and radio spots are up there as well. Since you’re just starting out, you’re probably really watching your pennies, and are operating on a shoestring budget.

Lots of small-business owners decorate their cars to advertise their businesses. Some even go to the extent of having their vehicles painted with the business’s logo and a slogan or two, along with a name, phone number, website and e-mail address that potential clients can use to contact them. This is a good idea, but you can’t drive your car into the grocery store or the mall or the movie theatre, so how else can you get your business out there? You could try handing out leaflets, coupons, etc… which you probably will. I don’t know about you, though, I practically run the other way when someone tries to hand me a flyer or comes at me with a clipboard!

Perhaps the best way for you, the small business owner, to market you business is to use T-shirts. The big companies use it too, but they’re also up on billboards, TV and the radio. Since these avenues of advertising are probably beyond your reach at the current time, getting some custom t-shirts printed up is a great idea.

Chances are, your business already has a logo; all that’s required is for you to take the logo in to a custom t-shirt shop (or upload it to one online), pick some t-shirt colors, and get ready to market your business–all right there on your back! Getting a group of shirts printed up is fairly inexpensive; be sure to order a few in each size so that you can hand them out to your employees (if you have any), friends, and family members. They’ll love getting a new tee to wear, and you’ll be getting some free advertising time in the form of your friend’s or family member’s clothing when they go to the beach, the grocery, the library, or the park (or anywhere else they go, for that matter). While you may not be able to convince them to wear your shirt everyday, once or twice a week will spread the word about your business.

Let’s go back to the car idea. As I said, this is a good one, and gets the name of your business out there to be seen. There is one problem, however, and I think it’s a big enough one that it bears mentioning. The majority of people who will be reading your car will also be driving. It’s awfully difficult to write down the information they need in order to get in touch with you if they’re trying to drive! Of course, there’s always the drivers who are eating, chatting, texting, reading, and putting on lipstick, and can not be relied upon to get the information accurately, all while avoiding an accident. Plus, who can remember all that info from a car speeding past?

So, using t-shirts printed with your business’ logo and basic information is a good idea, and one that will help you market your business with little cost and almost no effort.