Most small businesses in communities around the country spend thousands of dollars each year in advertising to no avail. They waste money on ads that do not pull in customers like it should and yes those many businesses often include real estate professionals too. Even with that said, there are the small advertising opportunities, which it seems do great and cost next to nothing.

Consider if you will advertising in a high school booster club's program. Perhaps it is for the football team or the high school band. Each one of those students and their parents also live in the local community and these parents would rather support local small businesses and local realtors, who care about their community and that support their kid's school.

If you are a community-based business and as a realtor you ought to be, then you will get extra kudos from customers and you may find them doing business with you and referring you much more over the big name competition.

So many realtors fail to advertise in these types of programs and it is amazing that they will pass up an opportunity to put a business card size add in the program, which will only cost them about a hundred bucks and will be seen by nearly every single person in the school and most of all the parents. It is simple and it is cheap, thus it makes a statement about your company and your place in the community.

Any real estate business can make a profit and scrape the cream off a community without giving back, but this does not make sense for longevity of the firm. If you support the community through the thick and thin of upturn and downturn cycles in our economy, they will support you thru the turbulent times as well.

If you are one with your customer and actually part of the community and you support the customers who support your business year in and year out; you will find your business becoming successful over time. Something to contemplate in 2008.