I just launched my apartment rental site last week and only have $500 to tell everyone in Toronto that I'm open for business. Should I spend it on traditional low cost marketing like posting flyers in laundry mats and supermarkets? Should I spend it new methods online like PPC and banner ads? Don't think $500 will get my site much attention to people in Toronto. Any ideas or comments are much appreciated. Thank you for your time. rentitfast.ca
You would be surprised at how much traffic you can get when advertising in your local area on the net. I live in a one horse town and cannot believe the local traffic I get. And yes, PPC would be good if you target that area, as will as surrounding areas.
Honestly, I think you'll get the most bang for your buck with traditional (cheap) offline marketing. It takes more time and effort, but you can get a lot of flyers out there for the same price as a few PPC clicks (which are expensive in the real estate niche). Also, look at posting (legitimately) on Craigslist. Once you have a listing on your site, you can advertise on CL and if you do it right that should bring in some great (free) local traffic.
If you use PPC make sure you know what you are doing. I agree with dlm too craigslist can be a great resource especially in the housing market. Many people use it frequently for that kind of stuff. You might also want to check backpage.com and kijiji.com and try it out. They're all free.