With thousands of new people moving into the Dallas Fort Worth metro area it

becomes increasingly important for local businesses to reach these new potential

customers and for the consumers to be able to find the businesses.

As with any major metro area, advertising mediums are prolific and can easily drowned

the potential customer for these businesses to the point that they become numb to any

type of advertising.

We moved into the DFW Metroplex two years ago and had to figure out how to

navigate this sprawling mass of humanity. When it comes to locating businesses

and professionals to take care of our needs we use the following mediums:

1. Yellow Pages

What at one time was my second favorite book on Earth has rapidly diminished

to the point that I don't use the phone book any longer. If you are still a yellow pages

user than you have plenty of chances to use them because besides the major directories

of AT&T, Verizon & Yellow Book, several small publishers also publish and deliver books.

For content, AT&T has by far the most advertisers in their phone books which will give you

a lot of businesses to contact.

2. Internet

Now the dominate source for getting information from entertainment to professional

services.You will find information on Google, Yahoo etc., local business directories and

social networking/blogging sites. With the economy the way it is, 100's of businesses

are going out business each month. So verify with follow up phone calls, before following

the Internet information, before heading out to the local small businesses.

3. Direct Mail

I am convinced these pieces of advertising are the only thing, besides bills, that keeps the

post office in business. The benefit to the people who move in the area is that you will have

plenty of information from local businesses and coupons saving you time and money. Just be

careful, just because a shiny piece of sales material shows up at your home doesn't ensure

you that the company offers quality products or services. A lot of start-up companies use these

to get their initial customers and if they don't get a good return may go out of business before

they really get started.

4.Local Shoppers

There are still a few free shoppers you pick up at the local grocery store. The Green Sheet is

one of the most popular papers. You will find small service companies, restaurants with coupons,

furniture store sales and a lot of classified ads by private parties.