Trade show marketing report brought back some memories today on my earliest marketing experiences that I'd almost forgotten - the art of small towns, small business and posters!

When I was in my mid-teens, I opened my first business, a retail bicycle shop. Needless to say, funds were tight. But, I had some advantages, namely that I was the only bicycle shop in one particular county, and was able to serve two other nearby counties due to location. I had about a 15 mile radius from which I could pull customers. I reasoned that the most effective way to get new customers, besides word of mouth, was to ask every business that I felt my customers might go into in that 15 mile spread, if they'd mind putting up my poster for bicycle repair. I had the posters professionally done and printed on very bright colored paper. To no surprise, nearly every business said, "sure, hang it on the bulletin board over there."

I put posters in grocery stores, shoe stores, hardware stores, gas stations, restaurants and every other business I could think of where my customers might find me. I know, pretty basic stuff, but at 14, it seemed brilliant.

The best thing was, it worked! Posters, coupled with the powerful word of mouth network in small town America kept that business afloat for years until I decided to close down and move off to college.

Looking back, I think it could be just a form of affilate marketing or 'link swapping', as I was keen to host advertising from my friends in the community as well. The bottom line is: Never underestimate the power of simple local advertising and more importantly, the power of local businesses to scratch each other's backs.