Advertise. If you advertise, they will come. Advertising is crucial to having a successful sale, and advertising in many forms will help ensure you reach as many potential customers as possible: signs, flyers, newspaper ads, online ads and word-of-mouth should all be used to get the word out, and get it out early. Advertise at least a week or two ahead of time.

 

Signs. First and foremost, you must post large, readable signs. Remember, most of the people who will be reading your signs are moving by in a vehicle, and are probably more than 25 feet away. If they can’t read it, they won’t bother. Your signs should have large, bold, dark letters on a white or brightly colored background. Try to keep the content of the sign to the follow items:

 

-         type of sale (garage sale, yard sale, moving sale),

-         address, dates and time,

-         few keywords (to describe the majority of your sale)

 

At Local-Deals, we recommend the following for homemade signs:

 

-         heavy poster board (at least a half sheet of the larger size) in white or fluorescent yellow

-         thick black permanent marker, or stencils and black paint.

-         numbers and letters about 3 inches high

-         bold arrows pointing traffic in your direction

-         dates of your sale and not just the days of the week

 

Thinner paper or washable markers will sag and run if it rains, or blow away if it’s windy. Pens and pencils are impossible to see from a distance. Your address should be the most prominent part of the sign – don’t make your customers try and hunt for it. Bold arrows pointing traffic in your direction is a big plus. And if your signs are posted in an area that has many other sale signs, you’ll want yours to stand out and get noticed. Believe it or not, to some folks, a wimpy sign means a wimpy sale, and not worth the effort of finding. Also, make sure that you put the dates of your sale and not just the days of the week. People may be skeptical of a sign that just says “Sat. and Sun.” since it isn’t clear if the sale was last weekend or next weekend. (By the way, remember to remove your signs as soon as your sale is over.)

 

About keywords: Folks often go hunting for specific kinds of things. If you are getting rid of all those baby clothes and toys and some household items, just put BABY, HOUSEHOLD on the sign. If you are emptying out the garage of old tools, camping gear, yard equipment, just write TOOLS, YARD, CAMPING. Customers appreciate this extra bit of info, and will often look for signs that specify what they want. If you are doing a major purge of the entire house and garage, you might want to just say HUGE SALE or TONS OF STUFF!! This will get lots of attention. Just make sure that the message is short and to the point.  If you are emptying out the house, you might want to say ESTATE SALE, or MOVING SALE, as these usually indicate folks are getting rid of everything and are willing to deal. When someone asks “Where are you moving?” just answer “I’m not moving. My stuff is”.

 

Flyers. Post flyers on area bulletin boards. Many churches, small restaurants, hardware stores, libraries, or drug stores have boards right inside the door for anyone to use. Talk to the managers at these locations and take advantage of this usually free opportunity with a flyer with pull-off address tabs and a map.  Many employers have bulletin boards for employees to use, and this is a great way to let people know about your upcoming sale. Post one on your employee bulletin board, and give some to friends to post at theirs.

 

 

Newspaper ads. This is a great way to get the word out early for your sale. ALWAYS post the ad a least one week or two ahead of time, and definitely check out both local community papers as well as the larger papers. Often, an ad placed in one local paper will be advertised in several, as community papers are usually part of a larger printing network. Do your homework on this and check out the prices for each. Some newspaper ads can get pretty pricey, and may be more than you are willing to spend. Consider having a multi-family or block sale and splitting the ad cost with your neighbors.

 

Online advertising. Online advertising is a great way to get your ad out there, and at Local-Deals.net, has the added advantage of allowing customers to easily map to your sale. If you have high-demand specialty items, such as antiques, vehicles, collectibles or appliances, you can post this in your online ad and draw customers from longer distances. Online advertising gives you the advantage of lengthier descriptions without the added cost you’d get in a newspaper. You can even post photos of your sale items to really get their interest! A word of caution about online advertising!  There are plenty of sites out there, some of which will charge you to post a basic ad, some are free, and still others that have annoying sign-ups just to post a free ad. Some will even sell your personal information. Read the privacy statements! At Local-Deals.net, we will never sell your personal information. Never, ever! And your basic sale ad is always free and does not require any sign-up.

 

Tell all your friends and neighbors! The bigger the sale, the better! Tell your neighbors about your sale, and they just might join you and have one too. Then you can advertise a MULTI-FAMILY sale. Even if they don’t choose to have one, at least they’ll all know you are.